I was so excited when I found this bag of organic jelly beans free of artificial colors and gelatin at the grocery store (Fortinos, for those of you in Ontario).
The ingredients list appeared to be vegan (Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Grape Juice Concentrate, Pectin, Citric Acid, Ascorbic Acid, Colors Added (including Black Carrot Juice Concentrate, Turmeric, Annatto), Natural Flavors, Confectioner’s Glaze, Carnauba Wax, Organic Sunflower Oil), but after I did a little research on the company’s website I discovered the jelly beans are vegetarian but not vegan (they didn’t say why so I emailed them to inquire). It turns out confectioner’s glaze is the culprit. It’s a clear coating used for candy (and other non-edible products under the name “shellac”) and is derived from secretions of the female lac bug. After a quick Google search I came across Vegan Sweets jelly beans. If anyone knows of any other vegan jelly bean brands out there, feel free to give them a shout-out below!
Anyway, I discovered this little recipe snafu, of course, after making my lovely Easter macaroon nests. All the pictures were shot and edited and the post was written up ready to be published. Rather than giving you a recipe that wasn’t 100% vegan, I decided to go back to the drawing board and create something new. Thankfully, the answer came to me quickly – macaroon thumbprints. Since the “nests” already looked like the beginnings of a thumbprint cookie all I had to do was fill the well with jam. It just so happened that I had a fresh batch of chia seed jam waiting in the fridge. Last week, I made a batch using a bag of frozen raspberries. It worked like a charm!
Love, love, love!
Macaroon thumbprints with raspberry chia jam, it is. You know what, I think I like these even better than the original recipe. Much more my style, anyway.
The macaroon dough comes together so quickly. Then you simply shape the dough into nests (I just typed breasts – those work too!), fill with jam, and bake at a low temperature – 275F seemed to work nicely for me. Baking at a high heat can brown these babies long before they are cooked through so it’s best to take a slow and steady approach with the heat. I’m sure they would also work beautifully in the dehydrator if you have one.
Oh and one last thing I should mention. I used unsweetened flaked coconut as opposed to unsweetened shredded coconut (which I normally use in my recipes). I used the longer flakes because I thought it would yield a more rustic looking cookie, but if you only have the shredded stuff on hand that will work fine too.
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Coconut Macaroon Thumbprints with Raspberry Chia Seed Jam
Yield
10 Macaroons
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Ingredients
For the Macaroons
- 1.5 cups unsweetened flaked coconut
- 1 cup almond flour (or almond meal)
- scant 1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt
- 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut butter, softened (no subs- this binds the cookies together)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
For the Chia Seed Jam (makes about 1 cup)
- 3 cups frozen raspberries
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup, or to taste
- 2 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Directions
- For the chia seed jam: Add frozen raspberries and maple syrup into a medium pot and bring to a simmer. After 5 minutes or so, stir in the chia seeds. Continue to cook down the mixture for about 15 minutes, or until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Chill in the fridge for a couple hours to thicken it up even more.
- Preheat oven to 275°F and line a baking sheet with a non-stick mat or parchment paper. If you have a non-stick mat, use it because it will help prevent browning on the bottom.
- In a large bowl, combine the coconut, almond flour (or meal), and salt.
- Melt the coconut butter over a very low heat. I suggest using a double boiler so it doesn’t burn.
- Add the maple syrup, softened coconut butter, and vanilla into the dry mixture and stir very well until combined. The dough will be very wet and sticky, but this is normal.
- Grab a couple tablespoons of dough at a time with your hands and drop it onto the baking sheet. With a wet finger, press a well into the middle and lightly shape the outsides if necessary. Repeat for the rest. Fill each well with jam. The macaroons don’t spread out so there’s no need to space them far apart.
- Bake at 275°F for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan and bake for another 10-20 minutes (I baked for 40 mins. total – but you may need less depending on your oven) until the bottoms are lightly golden and browned, but not burned. If you have a hot oven, I suggest watching it closely or even reducing the heat to 250F. Place pan on a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes and then transfer each macaroon onto the cooling rack until completely cool. The macaroons will be very soft at first, but will firm as they cool. I enjoy them the most chilled, straight from the fridge.
Tip:
You can probably swap the maple syrup for another liquid sweetener of your choice. Also, if you can’t have almonds, you might be able to swap the almond flour for oat flour. I haven’t tried this yet myself though so be sure to report back if you try it out.
Nutrition Information
(click to expand)
For no-bake chocolate macaroons, be sure to see this post.
I hope you have a great start to your (hopefully short) work week!
I LOVE this – because I actually printed your original macaroon recipe with the intention of making jelly bean nests!!!
I have to say this is my favorite cookie recipe IN THE WHOLE WORLD!!! I always at least double this recipe. I don’t like bigger chunks of coconut so I place the coconut in my food grinder so it’s finely ground. Also I wasn’t able to find coconut butter in my area so I did sub this with finely ground coconut flakes with slowly adding in coconut oil to a butter consistency and have made these many times with great results. ( bind nicely). One word YUM highly recommend this recipe.
Love your bunny spoon! Adorable.
You are so sweet for creating a new 100% vegan recipe for your readers.
I am just wondering what was the green filling in the original egg nest recipe?
Hey Amy, Thanks for asking as I meant to mention this in the post. For the filling, I mixed 1/3 cup coconut cream (the cream from the top of a full-fat can of coconut milk), with 1-2 tsp maple syrup, and 1 tsp fresh lemon juice. I filled each well with this mixture. Then I mixed a bit of shredded coconut with natural green food colouring to make “grass” – add this on top of the coconut filling and top with jelly beans. hope this helps!
Those jelly beans are so cute! I think I’ve seen them sold in bulk at my local organic food shop. I was trying to decide between jelly beans and gummy bears for my Easter candy treat. The gummy bears won.
I’m a sucker for macaroons and really want to give this recipe a try, but unfortunately can’t pony up the cash for almond flour. Do you know if spelt or coconut flour would work? I’d do the suggested oat flour but am out of oats after baking oatmeal cookies this weekend.
Hi Kat, Good question. I probably wouldn’t try spelt flour as I think it might make these delicate cookies a bit too dense? I could be wrong though – maybe you’d only need to add 1/2 cup. Coconut flour might work, although I’ve never used more than 1/4 cup of it at a time as I find it has a strong flavour. It would be an experiment for sure. If you have whole almonds you can try making almond meal at home by processing 1 cup in your blender on the highest speed until a fine meal forms. goodluck!
If you have a Trader Joe’s near you, they sell Almond Meal that is more affordable than most of the almond flour brands. A bag is $6.99 near me. Some blogs will say it isn’t interchangeable with Almond Flour, but I use it anyway and don’t see any poor results.
I love the dedication you put into researching ingredients to make sure they’re 100% plant-based and cruelty-free. Thank you for that! Shame the nests didn’t work out, they looked great.
Love that bunny spoon :)
Hi Angela,
These look amazing! I am allergic to nuts … would you suggest a flour that is alternate to Almond? I am ok with gluten!
Thanks :)
Joanna
Hi Joanna, I would try oat flour – although I’d probably start with 3/4 cup and go from there. The batter should be very sticky. Goodluck!
These look amazing – they’re perfect for Passover, too. Macaroons are delicious no matter what, but the addition of the raspberry-chia seed filling sounds absolutely divine!
Pardon while I pick my jaw up off the floor!! Those look soooooo good! I’d have to a seedless raspberry jam for mine because I freak out at a seedy texture but I can handle chia seeds since they get soft in there. I know…weirdo.
These are too perfect! The only thing I don’t have is the coconut butter :( I love using chia in jam! Fabulous :)
I’m going to try a raw version of this in my dehydrator!!! Can’t wait! Looks beautiful Angela! xx
I cannot wait to makes these and that raspberry chia jam looks amazing. Thank you for all the great inspiration on your blog. I’m not quite vegan but I sure am making much better choices now thanks to people like you!
Thank you Paige, that means a lot to me!
Beyond excited to make these. I’ve read SO much good stuff about Chia seeds.
These look delicious! Coconuts, jam and chia seeds – 3 of my favorite things!!
Unfortunetly, I had the same problem you did with the jellybeans. I only skimmed the ingredients in the store, and somehow missed the confectioner’s glaze. Thank goodness I double-checked the ingredients when I got home and saw the confectioner’s glaze before I ate any! So dissapointing :( Your nests look super cute, too! I am looking forward to making the thumbprints, though. Yummy :)
After having made your blueberry chia seed jam I quickly made raspberry jam in the microwave this morning when my waffles needed a lift. I threw some frozen organic raspberries in the microwave w. agave syrup and then added chia seeds after. I microwaved it about 30 seconds and stirred, followed by 1 minute back in the microwave. They came out just as good as the jam I cooked on the stovetop. I think your chia seed jam idea is genius and I’m so glad it can be thrown together quickly.
I wouldn’t have thought that would work, thanks for sharing!
So I could use a different berry in the jam? Blueberries or strawberries or blackberries? I am tragically allergic raspberries.
They look absolutely fantastic. And your photography is brilliant :-)
These macaroons are perfect for Easter and look so tasty! I love when I can get a little nutrition from a cookie- best of both worlds! :)
I absolutely love the ingredient list in these and wouldn’t you know….I have some coconut butter that needs to be used! My kiddos are going to love these with the jelly beans. Another option is skinless almonds for the eggs….not as colorful, but way healthier!
That’s a good idea…I hadn’t thought of that! Now I wish I put some on in these photos. ;)
I can’t wait to make these! Angela, maybe you have mentioned this before elsewhere in another post but where do you get your coconut butter? I have never seen it anywhere. I also live in southwestern Ontario. Thanks :)
Hey Joanna, I actually make it at home…much, much cheaper. I process 2-3 cups (I buy no-name brand of shredded unsweetened coconut in the yellow bag) in my 12-cup processor until it turns into a butter consistency. It takes about 10 minutes max to process into a butter, but usually 5 minutes for me.
These look incredible! Much better than with the jelly beans in my opinion :)
I also just wanted to let you know that I recently found out that “nautral flavors” as a listed ingredient usually means there is some GMO or MSG hidden inside! That’s why I love the chia seed jam so much more!
Yea I’ve read some things about natural flavours recently too. It’s annoying that they can stick an “umbrella” term on something and don’t have to tell people what it really is.
What is coconut butter? I have never heard of it before! I am dying to make these cookies, they look amazing!
Hi Marcy, Coconut butter is made from the flesh of coconut. I make it at home in my processor by processing 2-3 cups of unsweet. shredded coconut until a butter like consistency forms. I have a couple posts on this recipe on the blog if you search for it. enjoy!