Lemon Curd Coconut Macaroons

These are not the almond paste macarons of Paris pastry shops; these are old-fashioned coconut macaroons, the kind with shredded coconut bound by a meringue. The lemon curd thumbprint center is the upgrade that takes them from familiar to memorable. Citrus brightness against the chewy, sweet, slightly toasted coconut is the whole point.

Whip the egg whites with a teaspoon and a quarter of lemon juice until stiff peaks hold. The acid stabilizes the meringue and keeps the cookies from collapsing in the oven.

Fold the coconut in gently. Folding is a noun and a verb here: turn the spatula under the meringue, lift over the top, rotate the bowl. Stirring deflates the whites and the cookies bake flat instead of mounded.

The center indent goes in before baking. A small thumb press or the back of a measuring spoon makes a clean dimple, and a teaspoon of lemon curd nests in it through the bake.

Watch the oven temperature. The recipe says cookies should NOT brown. If yours start to color, drop the oven 25 degrees. Properly baked, these stay snowy white with a faint golden cast around the bottom.

Pro Tips

• Use unsweetened shredded coconut for cleaner lemon flavor, or sweetened for a more caramelized cookie. Both work; they’re different cookies.
• Bake on parchment, not foil. Foil conducts heat aggressively and causes the bottoms to brown faster than the tops set.
• The lemon-or-apple-wedge trick from the recipe note is real. A piece of fresh fruit in the cookie tin keeps the macaroons from drying out for up to a week.
• Use store-bought lemon curd if you don’t want to make your own. It works fine and saves a step.

Variations

• Swap lemon curd for raspberry or apricot jam for a different fruit-and-coconut profile.
• Drizzle melted dark chocolate over cooled macaroons in zigzag stripes.
• Use chopped toasted hazelnuts or almonds instead of coconut as the recipe note allows. The result is a more European-style macaroon, denser and nuttier.