Baked Coconut Balls

Name: Baked Coconut Balls
Total time: 35 min
Yield: About 2 dozen
Cuisine: moroccan
Ingredients: 3 cups/255 grams unsweetened shredded coconut, preferably Bob’s Red Mill; 3 tablespoons apricot, raspberry or orange jam, or maple syrup or honey; 1/2 teaspoon baking powder; 3 egg yolks; 1/4 to 1/2 cup/31 to 62 grams confectioners’ sugar; 1/4 cup apricot jam; Ground pistachios, slivered almonds or rainbow sprinkles

Recipe from Yuki Levinson

Adapted by Ron Lieber

Baked Coconut Balls — Melina Hammer for The New York Times

Total Time: 35 minutes
Rating: 4(148)
Comments: Read comments

During the traditional Mimouna celebration at the end of Passover, many Israeli Jews lay out an elaborate table with sweets. Because dietary rules during the holiday ban flour from the house (including frozen cookies that contain it), the treats are usually flourless. Here, ground coconut turns the texture of these cookies into a soft and pleasantly cloudlike. —Ron Lieber

Featured in: Celebrating Mimouna and Its Dose of Post-Passover Carbs

or to save this recipe.
Subscriber benefit: give recipes to anyone
As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.
Subscribe
Share
Print Options
Include recipe photo

Ingredients

Yield:About 2 dozen

For the Cookies

3cups/255 grams unsweetened shredded coconut, preferably Bob’s Red Mill
3tablespoons apricot, raspberry or orange jam, or maple syrup or honey
½teaspoon baking powder
3egg yolks
¼ to ½cup/31 to 62 grams confectioners’ sugar

For the Glaze

¼cup apricot jam
Ground pistachios, slivered almonds or rainbow sprinkles

Ingredient Substitution Guide

Opt out or contact us anytime. See our Privacy Policy.

Preparation

Step 1
Make the cookies: Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a medium bowl, add the coconut, jam or syrup or honey, baking powder and egg yolks and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined.
Step 2
Squeeze the mixture together to form small balls, about 1 inch wide, and roll them in confectioners’ sugar to fully coat. Transfer the balls to a parchment-lined baking sheet lightly coated with cooking spray, spacing them 1 inch apart. Bake for 10 minutes.
Step 3
Meanwhile, prepare the glaze: In a small pot over medium-low heat, whisk together the apricot jam and ¼ cup water until warm. Remove from heat and pour into a small bowl.
Step 4
Let the balls cool completely on the sheet pan, then dip one side into the glaze. Return to the pan, glaze side facing up, and sprinkle immediately with the pistachios, almonds, sprinkles or anything else you wish.

Ratings

4 out of 5

148 user ratings

Have you cooked this?

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Comments

Kate4 years ago

The description says ground coconut, but the recipe says shredded and doesn't mention grinding it into flour. Don't make our mistake: we used coconut flakes, crushed up fairly fine, thinking that was close enough. The mixture didn't hold together whatsoever, just turning into a flaky goop. Not wanting to waste it, we ended up spreading it on a cookie sheet, dusting with sugar, baking it, and then breaking it by hand into flat uneven "cookies" once it cooled. They do taste good, though.

Jacob7 years ago

Doubled the recipe for a friend's party. My nearest grocery store didn't have unsweetened coconut, so I used sweetened coconut and left out the confectioners' sugar. They needed closer to 30 mins in the oven to cook through, and were definitely on the sweeter side with the apricot glaze, but they got rave reviews.

SAnton7 years ago

Description says ground coconut, the ingredients list says shredded coconut. Is shredded coconut ok, I don’t have a food processor to grind them.

Traci D4 weeks ago

Agree with other reviewers, these balls did not hold together. I even tried with ground coconut flour and literally could not form balls. Ended up tossing the entire batch without baking. Such a waste.

VC1 month ago

Shredded coconut did not work and a waste. I'm trying to figure out how to turn this mixture into something usable.

MB2 years ago

1. I also used shredded coconut per ingredient list. Very crumbly; wet your hands while forming. My jam was thick; perhaps honey etc and/or ground coconut would’ve been easier to form. A flatter top vs a sphere makes room for toppings 2. My pistachios clumped when I ground them, but mixing in the leftover confectioners sugar loosened them. 3. Cookies were fragile after baking so I ladeled on the glaze instead of handling cookies too much. I plan to serve in mini paper cups due to fragility.

Private comments are only visible to you.