Raw German Chocolate Macaroons

My Mom gave me a bag of fancy shredded coconut and told me to make something good out of it.  I made a cake decorated with it, which will be shared in the near future in case you are interested, but I also decided to make some coconut macaroons.  Because she loves coconut macaroons, and I have to agree with that, because they are pretty darn delicious.  I could have just made the classic coconut and left it at that, but I wanted to make something a bit more exiting and something that included chocolate.  So I ended up making German Chocolate Macaroons.

I know there are plenty of good recipes out there for baked macaroons, and I have made some but really my favorite are the raw ones.  So I made these raw.  They are really pretty simple to make, easy and hard to mess up. They got a bit of a caramel flavor thanks to the dates, and instead of adding chopped walnuts I added walnut butter to help hold them together.  Just a few tablespoons of raw cacao powder was enough to make them taste like the classic cake. The mixture was quite delicious, and I ended up with a few less macaroons because of that since I had to taste it to make sure it was good...several times...just to make sure, you know?  Of course you do, stuff like that is hard to resist.

I dipped them in chocolate once they were finished to make them extra good.  These tasted like German chocolate cake but were so much easier to make, and of course portion controlled.  I couldn't wait to share them with my Mom and see what she thought about them.  They were sooo good.  If you are looking for a simple and easy dessert that tastes amazing, give these a go!

Raw German Chocolate Macaroons
Makes 12

Macaroons:
1 1/2 cups finely shredded unsweetened coconut, divided
1/2 cup pitted soft medjool dates (if they are not soft, soak them in filtered water and drain well before using in the recipe)
2 Tbsp raw walnut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp cacao powder
1/4 tsp sea salt

Raw Chocolate:
1/4 cup raw cacao powder
1/4 cup raw cacao butter warmed to liquid (or coconut oil may be used instead)
2 Tbsp raw coconut nectar or maple syrup

Place 3/4 cup coconut, dates, walnut butter and vanilla and sea salt in the food processor and process until smooth and well combined. Add cacao powder and remaining 3/4 cup coconut and pulse until the mixture holds together. Form mixture into 12 balls (they will be fragile before dehydrating, so be careful) and stick a clove into the top of each. Place in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes.
To make the chocolate, whisk together all ingredients until smooth, in a small bowl.  Lay out a piece of parchment, and line up the macaroons on it. Drizzle the macaroons with the chocolate (I like to put it in a plastic bag, and cut off the corner and squeeze it out to drizzle it).  Allow the chocolate to set (which will happen faster if you place them in the freezer for about 5 minutes).  Store extra macaroons in the fridge.

*Note, since dates can vary in softness and moisture levels (depending on if you soaked them or not), if the macaroons seem too dry, add more dates (before adding the last coconut).  If they seem too wet, add more coconut.