Gluten-Free Carrot Macaroons

By: Christine F

Happy Sweet-Tooth Friday!  This is Christine with a special gluten-free edition of STF. You’re going to love this simple recipe for vegan macaroons made with carrots!

When I last checked in with you guys I had just decided to eliminate meat from my home cooking.  I made a list of this week’s dinner menu with a lot of my NMA favorites like smoky black bean burritos, lentil sloppy joes, and sweet potato chickpea curry.  These are my tried and true meals- the ones that never leave me poking around my plate wishing for chicken.  I also hit up my local library and couldn’t resist a couple more vegetarian cookbooks.

I checked out one called The Oats, Peas, Beans & Barley Cookbook by Edith Young Cottrell.  What a delightful little book!  Maybe you’ve heard of it— it’s been around since the early 70’s!  My copy has library due dates stamped in it from 1984!  Of course nowadays I just swipe my keychain library card with its barcode and self checkout the books!

The author puts a lot of emphasis on whole foods, urging you to avoid foods that have nutrition lost in processing, and seek out those with their natural balance of nutrients intact.  Some of the nutrition facts are a bit out of date in their focus on protein and many soy-centric recipes.  However, there are soy recipes I’ve never seen before, like how to make your own tofu, soy milk, soy sour cream and whipped topping!  Even homemade wheat tempeh!  Though these certainly don’t have a place in my daily diet, it is really cool to know that there is a way around all the processed and prepackaged convenience food.

For now, I’ve got a couple of the recipes on my list like Lentil-Oat Waffles, Split Pea ‘Golden’ Nuggets, and Bulgar Chickpea Patties.  I checked out this book for my personal dinner planning, but I was totally psyched when I came to the dessert section.  Tons of low sugar, naturally vegan recipes!  It was love at first sight when I read the recipe for “Golden Macaroons,” made golden of course by carrots.  Why didn’t I think of that?!

For my version, I decided to go gluten-free because the flour was already playing second fiddle to the coconut and carrot.  Macaroons don’t need a delicate cake-like crumb from wheat.  If you’ve been avoiding rice flour because of its gritty reputation, this is the recipe you gotta try!  These little heavenly nuggets just melt in your mouth.  I made them with white rice flour that I had left over from a cake order, but I think they’d be even better with brown rice flour.

I couldn’t get my hands on unsweetened coconut flakes (anybody seen it?) so I cut out the rest of the sugar called for in the original recipe.  In the end I did add just a smidge of agave nectar to help keep the balls together.

Here’s my version:

Vegan Gluten-Free Carrot Macaroons

1 packed cup grated raw carrots (1-2 medium sized carrots)

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup canola oil

2 cups coconut flakes

3/4 cup rice flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp alcohol-free vanilla extract

2 tbs agave nectar

optional garnish: 1 handful semisweet chocolate chips, melted.  I use Tropical Source brand which are vegan and gluten-free.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix all the ingredients together except for the chocolate in a large bowl.

Lightly grease a cookie sheet.  Wash your hands and pat the mixture into 24 balls, slightly smaller than golfballs.

Place balls on pan 2 inches apart and bake for 30 minutes, rotating once.  Use a spatula to remove the macaroons from the pan.

If desired, drizzle melted chocolate over the macaroons with a fork.

These carrot macaroons are just divine!  There’s a decent amount of oil in them (about 1 tsp per macaroon) so they are definitely a treat.  But for people with celiac disease, this treat is well-deserved!  These macaroons do backflips over your standard vegan gluten-free desserts.  Heck, I’ll say it:  They’re better than regular macaroons!  The carrot adds a really nice subtle flavor that goes naturally with the coconut.  And the gorgeous color is perfect to welcome in the new season.

I hope you give this simple stir-together recipe a try.  I’d also like to hear from anyone else about their experiences with The Oats, Peas, Beans, and Barley Cookbook.  Any longtime vegetarians have this on their shelf?  Have any of you actually made your own soy milk?  I’ll keep you updated with my experiments.

Until next week,

Stay Sweet!

xoxo Christine