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Created by Penny Wantuck Eisenberg, cookbook author and baking expert. Amazing Dessert Recipes.

You are in for a treat – Penny has shared her recipes for both vanilla and chocolate macaroons.

Vanilla is essential for this macaroon so if you cannot find Passover vanilla, use vanilla sugar or vanilla bean. Some packaged vanilla sugar is extra-strength, so check the package for the amount to use. Coconut has a tendency to either fluff, or pack when it is measured in cups. Because of this, the moistness of the cookies will change every time you make them, unless the coconut is weighed and remains constant.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons matzo cake meal
2 tablespoons potato starch
3 large egg whites
1 teaspoon Passover vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey
7 ounce bag (2-5/8 cups) sweetened coconut

Directions:

PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 350°F, with an oven shelf in the middle of the oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Put the sugar, coconut, matzo meal and potato starch in a food processor bowl. Pulse-process for 10 seconds to grind the sugar a little more finely. Add the egg whites, vanilla, and honey. Process until everything is well mixed.  Place the coconut in a bowl and stir in the egg mixture.

Drop the mixture by well-rounded tablespoon onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. Using slightly damp hands, shape the dough into a tear-drop or “kiss” shape.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the macaroons tops are beginning to brown and the cookies are barely firm to the touch. Slide the parchment onto a cooling rack.  Drizzle with chocolate, or dip the bottoms into chocolate, if desired.

Fudgy Coconut Macaroons

If you’d like to make fudgy macaroons with sweetened coconut, use the above recipe, substituting cocoa for the potato starch.

The following recipe is from my CD-rom, Amazing Passover Desserts. While experimenting with lower fat recipes, I developed this one which I think is more fudgy and delicious than my recipe originally published in Passover Desserts.

I like these macaroons on the underdone side so that they are slightly fudgy in the middle. The timing is crucial, and you will have to experiment to see how long to cook them in your oven. Macaroons can be made with or without potato starch or matzo cake meal. Those made with neither will be moist and soft, but it will be easier to either under or over-bake them. Those with potato starch will be slightly firmer, and those with matzo cake meal will be slightly chewier, my personal preference.

Ingredients:

9 ounces unsweetened coconut (about 3-1/2 cups, lightly packed) (if using sweet coconut, see the recipe above using cocoa instead of potato starch)
1/4 cup Passover cocoa (Dutch-process if you can find it)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons matzo cake meal, or potato starch, optional

4 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon Passover vanilla extract, or water
1/4 cup honey

Directions:

PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 325°F, with oven shelves in the middle and lower third of the oven. Place parchment paper on 2 cookie sheets.

Put the coconut, cocoa, sugar, and matzo meal (if using), in a food processor bowl. Pulse-process until the coconut is finely ground, about 10 to 20 seconds. Add the egg whites, vanilla, and honey. Process until everything is well mixed, 10 to 20 seconds.

Use a pastry bag with an extra large star tip (6-8B) or cut a 1-inch hole in the end of a pastry bag. Onto the parchment lined sheets, pipe out mounds that are 1-1/2-inches in diameter and 1-1/2-inches high. With your fingers, shape the tip to a point to make the traditional "kiss" shaped macaroon. Alternatively the batter can be spooned onto the sheets using a tablespoon.

BAKE for 13-15 minutes or until the crust dulls, switching the positions of the cookie sheets after 7 minutes.

If desired, garnish the macaroons with melted chocolate, either drizzled over them or the bottoms dipped into the chocolate (set them in an egg-crate to dry).

To see step-by-step instructions of this recipe, go to: Amazing Desserts - Passover Macaroons

How to Quick-Temper chocolate for small decorating jobs:
The following method isn't 100% if you don't have a thermometer, but for little decorating jobs, where you will be using the tempered chocolate quickly ( like for decorating or dipping a dozen macaroons) it will, hopefully, do the trick:

Start with 4 ounces of chocolate, finely chopped. Place 3 ounces in a microwave-safe bowl that won't get hot - plastic or Pyrex is a good choice.

Heat the chocolate on defrost (#3) for 1-1/2 - 2 minutes. This should be sufficient to get the chocolate melting. If it hasn't started to be liquidy, you'll need to give it a little more heat (if you have a thermometer, you want to keep the temperature under 110 degrees F.). Add the remaining chopped chocolate and keep stirring until the chocolate is melted and smooth. (The temperature of the chocolate should have dropped down to about 85 degrees). Now, reheat the chocolate for 10 seconds on defrost (#3). This should bring the temperature to between 88 and 90 degrees F. QUICKLY, decorate or dip your baked goods.

Notes:

Recipes: Passover, Desserts, Macaroons, Parve, Kosher