As you could tell from the top photo in this post, I usually make both raspberry macaroons and chocolate macaroons for Passover. They have the same characteristics – easy to make, moist, and truly delicious.
These macaroons get their flavor from two sources of chocolate – cocoa powder and melted chocolate. The melted chocolate helps keep them moist, and the cocoa gives a good depth of flavor.
Many years ago, after I had moved to Texas and bought my house, I was hosting a dinner party and looking at recipes. I had decided to serve salmon as the main course, but didn’t know how I wanted to flavor it.
Growing up in Oregon, we ate salmon almost every week, usually for our Friday night Shabbat meal. My mother usually cooked it simply by poaching it in the oven. While I always enjoyed it (except for a couple of years in high school where I got sick of eating salmon every week), it was clear that most people were used to eating fish either seasoned in an interesting way before cooking or having it served with a sauce.
Like many Jewish kids, my family always had a can or two of macaroons during Passover. I certainly enjoyed them, and as an adult I continued to buy them in addition to the sweets I would make.
In 2012, I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen, and it totally transformed my thinking. It had never occurred to me a) how easy it is to make macaroons* and b) that I could make my own macaroons for Passover!
I don’t remember how I managed to stumble upon this recipe, easily five or six years ago. However, it instantly intrigued me – a naturally gluten free chocolate cookie made entirely with cocoa powder? Plus the addition of cinnamon and chili to give it a little complex flavor? Sign me up!
I make this quite often, it is a go-to any time I need a gluten free cookie. But it is also a huge favorite with gluten eaters, because all that cocoa powder packs a huge chocolate wallop without being too sweet.
