Jennies

Jennies has been baking coconut macaroons since 1960, and the story behind the name is a family one. Longtime owner Arnold Badner, whose father kept an office in the original Jennies factory back in the 1950s, named the cookies for his youngest daughter, Jennie. Badner earned the nickname the Macaroon King over five decades in the business, and in 2018 he became the subject of a documentary by that name, filmed between the factory floor and the triathlons he still competes in.

For most of its life the company baked in a century-old factory in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, turning out thousands of macaroons a day, many of them destined for Passover tables: the classic recipe was three ingredients, egg whites, honey, and shredded coconut, and a flourless cookie made kosher was a natural holiday fixture. Long before "clean label" was a phrase, Badner sold the macaroon as a simple, natural food, making Jennies an early player in American health food.

Today the bakery operates as Red Mill Farms in Moosic, Pennsylvania, still family-owned, still small-batch. The macaroons are certified gluten-free, USDA Organic, non-GMO, peanut-free, and OU Kosher Pareve, joined by a line of unbaked coconut bites. The recipe philosophy has not moved an inch in sixty years: real coconut, a short ingredient list, and a golden, chewy finish.