Sweet and chewy, these low carb salted caramel macaroons are a delicious grain-free cookie! Snack happy and healthy.
Inspiration is everywhere. Someone asked me recently how I come up with all the recipes that I make and that’s my answer: inspiration is everywhere. Everywhere I look, there’s another recipe idea for me. I am constantly making little notes to myself about things that might make good low carb or keto recipes. If I am out and about, I will stop in my tracks and shoot an email to myself because I don’t want to lose the idea. This often happens when I am out at a store and see an interesting conventional cookie or cake. I pick up the box, look it over, and think “Yep, I can make this!”. This is a regular occurrence for me at places like Trader Joe’s. And this recipe was indeed inspired by a box of Trader Joe’s cookies.
Their version are little coconut macaroon thumbprints with a center of caramel. I had some leftover egg whites to use and it seemed like the perfect application, but I wanted to make them even easier. So I made some of my salted caramel and mixed it right into the macaroons. Since traditional macaroons often take sweetened condensed milk, my caramel sauce was the perfect texture and consistency to use in its stead.
They were gorgeously chewy and delicious. Good on their own or drizzled with a little chocolate!
Please see my low carb Salted Caramel Macaroons on A Sweet Life.
Tony says
What happened to the recipe?
Carolyn says
A Sweet Life has gone under, sadly.
Hayal says
I tried these last night and while they taste wonderful, mine turned out extremely dry. I only had shredded coconut so used that and followed the recipe exactly. I think the measurements need to be different for flaked and shredded coconut because shredded coconut absorbs much more moisture than flaked. Do you think it would be better to reduce the coconut quantitiy if using shredded only? I also ended up with way more cookies than the recipe says 🙂
Carolyn says
Hi there… I used shredded too, as you can see from the photos (no big coconut flakes). So the amounts should be correct for that. I rather suspect something else went wrong, perhaps over-baking. Every oven is different!
Kristen says
I can’t find this recipe on A Sweet Life. The link doesn’t work and I can’t get it to come up on the website either by searching for it. I would really like to try it though, thanks!
Stacey Grytdal says
I think I cooked the caramel too long but these still are delicious. They really taste like samosas. Delicious. Thanks!
Lisa Norton-Quaid says
I must say thank you Carolyn so THANK YOU for bringing us all these wonderful recipes. I made these cookies today and can’t believe how incredibly delicious they are. I followed the recipe exactly and they turned out perfect, moist and chewy. I am a happy girl!
Julie says
Made these today First time I do a caramel sauce and while it darkened it did not thicken. That caused some concern over the wetness of the batter and I added a bit more coconut in order to firm it up. Took longer to bake, and as I took them off the silicone mat I was concerned they would not hold up. Fortunately they were fabulous when cooled.
Rather than top off with melted chocolate, I added mini sugar free chocolate chips into the second half of the batch. Not as pretty as yours but taste wonderful.
Cant wait to try this again after mastering the caramel.
Carolyn says
Glad to hear they worked out!
Julie says
Why both kosher and regular salt in this recipe? The recipe directions only say to add “salt” in both step 3 and 4. Is step 3 supposed to be “kosher salt” and does it matter if instead I use sea salt or table salt?
Carolyn says
Step 3 is kosher but yes you can use sea salt. It’s for the “salted” part of the caramel sauce. Step 4 is a pinch more salt (table salt or fine sea salt), because it helps whip the egg whites.
Sharon says
These are fantastic. Even my non-keto friends loved them. I love your site. Thanks for providing such wonderful recipes.
Carolyn says
You’re welcome!
Sharon Peevy says
I can’t find the recipe for the Salted Caramel Macaroon cookies..please tell me what I’m doing wrong. Thanks!
Carolyn says
Click the link that says “Please see my low carb Salted Caramel Macaroons on A Sweet Life”
Marv says
Keeper number 1,487 out of 1,487. These were delicious, thank you!!
–Marv
Carolyn says
Thanks, Marv!
Chris says
They are delicious – of course anything with that ymmy caramel sauce is delicious! But mine didn’t look as good as your picture…they were flatter and more spread out.
Candace @ Cabot says
Macaroons are my absolute favorite. I can’t wait to take this recipe for a test-drive!
Sherie says
I love heavy cream and prefer to use it rather than milk or half and half (especially in my coffee!), but have a very difficult time finding it without carageenan. Have you found a brand without this additive?
Love your recipes. Haven’t found one I didn’t like yet! Thanks so much!!
Mariam says
I don’t think Trader Joe’s heavy cream has any additives….
Carolyn says
Actually, I think they have gellan gum in theirs now. At least at my local TJs they do.
Deb says
Carolyn- Is serving size 1 macaroon?
Also is it really only 2 egg whites for the whole
Recipe? Thank you for all of the wonderful recipes
And your hard work. Enjoying the mini cinnamon
Roll cheesecakes this weekend-absolutely delicious!
Carolyn says
Yes, and Yes. Although you could make them smaller and then you can have two. 🙂
Ebee says
Hi Carolyn, thank you for the recipe! I saw it this morning and hope to try it today. What sort of coconut did you use: a fine flake, like Bob’s Red Mill, or a coarser flake? I have some of both, and thought a mixture of the two might create a pleasant texture.
Carolyn says
Well, normally I would use shredded but I didn’t have quite enough when I was making these so I used flaked too. So you’re right, a mixture is perfect. You could just do one or the other as well.
Ebee says
Thanks! Looking forward to them.
Pam says
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am so glad you come up with these recipes. I am no cook, but eat low carb/keto for my diabetes. Thank you for giving me choices!
Carolyn says
You are most welcome!