Coconut Macaroons

I first had an interest in baking after watching my Nan make her amazing fruit cake when I was a little girl. It wasn't until I moved out of home at 21 that I started making my own cakes and baked treats (I grew up on a lot of microwave meals and boxed cake mixes.)
I ended up with a few baking books in my first year of living with my now-husband since I had my own kitchen to play in. My very favourite recipe, and one I've been dying to veganise for a long time is coconut macaroons. I'd never heard of the other macaroons - one's with 2 halves and a filling in the middle - I always thought they were called macarons, my bad!
The hardest part was finding a non dairy sweetened condensed milk. I've tried making my own, and failing. But then in the past few months a couple of versions have popped up. One being soya, and the other coconut. I wasn't sure how well it would work and if the consistency was correct, but when my friend offered me a tin that she'd bought and not got around to using I had to give it a try.
So I can happily report that it worked, that the coconut macaroons taste just as gorgeous as I remember, and that there is now a vegan version available for anyone else who would like to try them.
You're welcome ;)

Ingredients:

45g plain flour
1/8 tsp salt
225g desiccated coconut
175ml sweetened condensed soya or coconut milk (check your local vegan store or chinese supermarket. Wing Yip sell cans)
1tsp vanilla essence
 
Makes 16

Preheat oven to gas 4/180c/350f
Line 2 baking trays with greaseproof paper or grease with butter.
Mix the flour and salt together in a bowl, stir in the coconut.
Pour in the milk and add the vanilla and stir from the centre to make a very thick mixture, make sure its all combined.
Drop heaped tablespoons of mixture onto your baking trays leaving a gap of 1in between them.
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown, remove from oven and leave to cool on a rack before serving.