Almond & Coconut Macaroon Stuffed Peaches

My first encounter with anything resembling a coconut macaroon has to be the topping that sat upon my mum’s famous raspberry coconut slice.  Like all mothers of the eighties, mum found all of her recipes in her trusty Australians Women’s Weekly Recipe Box.  Mum still has the recipe box perched inside of her pantry and flicking through the recipe cards under categories such as ‘The Important First Course’ and ‘Fabulous Fish Dishes’ brings back countless nostalgic childhood memories. 

 I remember as a kid however my greedy attention was always more focused on the categories of ‘Homemade Confectionery’ and ‘Favourite Cakes’ rather than anything savoury.  In fact, I remember baking the Easy Mix Butter Cake due to the fact it had pink icing and to this day I can still remember the delight and joy of retrieving my perfectly baked butter cake from the oven impatiently waiting for it to cool enough so that I could slather it in the pink icing and sprinkle with angelic white shredded coconut.  Ah I thought it was the height of sophistication!

My latest delve into the coconut macaroon realm though comes thanks to an over abundant supply, yet again of delightful peaches.  Faced with a kitchen bench full of peaches I needed a recipe that used a whole lot of peaches and fast!  I did not want to face the travesty of having these gorgeous plump yellow fleshed darlings going to waste.  I was going to make another crumble but I didn’t want the peaches to be cooked to an unrecognisable mush, no I wanted to retain and magnify all of their peachy glory so I came up with almond and coconut macaroon stuffed peaches.

I began by halving the peaches and removing their stones (plus a little extra peachy flesh so that I could greedily stuff even more gorgeous macaroon filling into them).  I then snuggled the peaches tightly into a baking dish and got to working on my almond and coconut macaroon filling. 

The almond and coconut macaroon filling is a breeze to prepare.  Simply combine coconut, almonds, sugar, vanilla, flaked almonds and eggwhites in a bowl and mix until combined.  You then take tablespoon sized amounts of the mixture and press into each peach.  I couldn’t help but overstuff generously pile up the filling so there would be the perfect peach to macaroon ratio in each and every delicious bite.

The peaches intensified significantly in the oven, after their roasting they were sweet and juicy and heady with gorgeous peach aromas.  The macaroons cooked to become golden and crispy on the outside however remained deliciously chewy in the middle.  The coconut and almonds were the perfect tropical flavour match for the peaches and with a drizzle of fresh cream Rob and I were in dessert heaven.  Enjoy! K xxx

Almond & Coconut Macaroon Stuffed Peaches

Adapted from Martha Stewart

INGREDIENTS

6 peaches, halved, stones removed

1/2 cup sugar

2 large egg whites

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup flaked almonds, chopped

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Pinch of coarse salt

Cream to serve

METHOD

Preheat oven to 170°c.  Place peaches cut side up in an oven proof dish.  Whisk together sugar and egg white in a large bowl and stir in the remaining ingredients.  Take tablespoon sized amounts of the mixture and press into each peach.  Continue until all peaches are filled.  Bake macaroon stuffed peaches until golden-brown about 15 to 20 minutes.  Serve warm with cream.