Smart Sweet: Raw Macaroons

By Jamie Webber

It’s finally Friday and that means it’s time to celebrate with a little treat…a raw, amazing, sweet treat with a perfect consistency that just melts right in your mouth. I just ate one but my mouth is watering again just thinking about it!

I decided to make raw macaroons because this weekend we are welcoming 13 of our Reboot Success Stories to New York City to be filmed for an upcoming commercial. Since they are traveling from all over the country, we thought it would be nice to welcome them with a healthy little treat that’s low in calories, sugar and fat. Just one or two is really all you need! And they’ll be soaking in the benefits of coconut butter.

Coconut butter is one of my absolute favorite things to dip my spoon into. It’s seriously the most delicious, decadent flavor and creamy consistency that makes you think you are breaking all the “healthy” rules. But you aren’t. I love when that happens. When you enjoy coconut butter, you are ingesting so much goodness. Let’s look at some of the benefits:

It’s known to boost immunity since it has high levels of lauric acid.
It may even help rev up your metabolism to help aid in weight loss and increase your energy.
It’s full of healthy saturated fats that are actually known to reduce cholesterol and heart disease.
It has enhancing properties for the skin to help you glow from the inside out and helps moisturize and promote skin elasticity.

Okay, fine. I’ll eat a spoonful every day.

A quick note on the difference between coconut butter and coconut oil:
Coconut oil is only the oil that is extracted from the coconut meat.
Coconut butter is the whole meat of the coconut pureed into a creamy butter.
You get the amazing benefits from both.

Now that we know this treat is good on so many levels, here is the recipe, adapted from one of my favorite blogs, Detoxinista:

Here are a few more images of these tasty things:

Ingredients

1 cup/250 ml. coconut butter
2 cups/450 g. unsweetened, shredded coconut flakes
3/4 cup/175 ml. pure maple syrup, or honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon Himalayan salt or sea salt

Chocolate Sauce (optional):

1 tbsp (15 g) cacao powder
2 tbsp (30 ml) maple syrup
1 tsp coconut oil
Pinch of sea salt

Directions

Mix the coconut butter well so the oil at the top is mixed with the creamy, harder mixture on the bottom. You might need to melt the coconut butter if it is hardened. Just add it to a bowl and zap it for 30 seconds.
Add all of the ingredients (not the chocolate sauce ingredients) into a bowl and mix well until you reach a sticky batter.
If using a dehydrator (this will give your macaroons and harder outside with a gooey inside), set it to 118 degrees. Line the racks with parchment paper. If using the freezer method (this will give your macaroons a little bit harder consistency but will be equally delicious), line a pan with parchment paper.
Drop a small scoop of the batter onto the parchment paper. Mine were about 1/2 inch/1.75 cm., but if you want larger, you can do 1 inch/2.5 cm.
If you want to drizzle a few with chocolate, add all chocolate ingredients to a bowl and whisk until well combined. Take a spoon and drizzle the chocolate from side to side over the macaroons. Here’s a quick look at the chocolate being drizzled:
Place in dehydrator at 118 degrees for 12 hours. OR place in the freezer for an hour until they are hardened.

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 12 hours

Total Time: 12 hours, 15 minutes

Servings: 50

Serving Size: 1-2

Calories: 70

Fat: 6g

Trans Fat: 5g

Cholesterol: 0mg

Sodium: 15mg

Carbohydrates: 4g

Fiber: 0g

Sugars: 3g

Protein: 0g