It's Passover time! Which means lots of dietary restrictions. If you are interested in what the actual rules are, click here for information about general laws regarding eating kosher, and here for specific restrictions for Passover. Basically, because the Jews had to flee Egypt quickly, they had no time for their bread to rise and had to eat matzah, an unleavened bread similar to a cracker. So, when making baked goods, matzah meal has to be substituted for flour to keep the items kosher for Passover.Martha has one specifically marked "Kosher for Passover" recipe in her cookies cookbook, Kosher for Passover Chocolate Chip Cookies.
These cookies call for matzah meal as well as matzah farfel instead of flour. Because kashrut requires that dairy and meat not be eaten together at the same meal, and meat is typically served at most seders, this recipe is also dairy-free, using vegetable oil instead of butter and dairy-free chocolate chips. Matzah meal is by no means a perfect substitute for flour, and kosher for passover desserts have a deservedly bad reputation. Unfortunately, although these cookies are edible and not horrendous, they certainly not amazing either. They are crisp and crunchy, and the walnuts give them a nice flavor ... but I will definitely not be making these during the rest of the year.
The cookie most people associate with Passover are macaroons, typically the ones prepared by Manischewitz. Martha has a coconut macaroon recipe in her cookbook, so I decided to try it out, since nothing in the recipe is trafe for passover.
The recipe I chose has several variations, for simple plain coconut macaroons, chocolate chunk or chocolate macaroons. They were incredibly simple to make with very few ingredients, just coconut, a little sugar, egg whites, vanilla and a dash of salt. On the website, it appears that this recipe has been removed, and replaced by this one, which also calls for condensed milk. In any case, these were very simple and very good, kind of like a Mounds Bar.
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