Passover or anytime Vegan Chocolate-Dipped Macaroons

Regardless of the weather, the springtime holidays of Passover and Easter start next week. Offer a recipe from Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy Free Desserts for Passover or Easter. I’ll be posting the Easter recipe, which is really cute, in a couple of days.

The recipe I chose as my Passover recipe offering is the Chocolate Dipped Macaroons. These taste great and  are healthier than  the the egg-white and white-sugar based Pesach macaroons my grandma Ida and my mom, bought. They are more compassionate too!  My vegan version has triple coconut goodness: unsweetened dried shredded coconut, coconut flour and coconut milk beverage. Chia seed gel replaces the egg whites. Until I was writing this post, I missed another major positive! These cookies are made without added fat! They contain no oil! Wonder how I missed that until now?

The photo of the macaroons was taken by vegan superstar, Lisa Pitman, when she was testing recipes for Vegan Chocolate. Lisa is  co- author of author of the gorgeous ebooks, Tiny Treats and Edible Gifts and blogs at the The Vegan Culinary Crusade.

Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons

Passover, like all of my family’s gatherings, was food-centric, and dessert was no exception. After dinner, we always had two kinds of Passover macaroons on the table: a bakery version and a canned version. The ones from the bakery were certainly better than the canned, but I admit to favoring the latter as a child. Today, I make a delicious, preservative-free version of that canned cookie that appears on virtually every Seder table. But it wasn’t easy. Replacing the egg whites found in every macaroon recipe proved a tough puzzle to solve. Commercial egg replacer and starches made a cookie that tasted powdery with a texture not even close to what I was after. One afternoon, wondering what to do with the bowl of white chia gel I was whisking, I thought, “Egg white!” In short order, I had made a cookie too good to eat only on Passover, and one that you certainly don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy. I used Bobs Red Mill Shredded Coconut and Coconut Flour and So-Delicious Dairy Free Coconut Milk Beverage. (I was lucky enought recently to test the new carageenen-free beverage and it’s great). Use any quality brand you like of course.

Note: 1 1⁄2 teaspoons / 4.5 grams whole white chia seeds yield the 1 tablespoon ground seeds needed for the recipe, but that is too small a quantity to grind. Grind at least 3 tablespoons / 30 grams and store the ground chia in a small covered jar in the refrigerator for up to 6 months.

• 7 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons / 99 grams organic granulated sugar, divided
• 1 tablespoon / 10 grams ground white chia seeds
• 3 tablespoons / 45 ml water, at room temperature
• 1⁄4 cup / 33 grams coconut flour
• 1⁄4 teaspoon aluminum-free baking powder
• 1⁄2 cup plus 2 tablespoons / 52 grams toasted shredded coconut, divided
• 3 tablespoons / 45 ml plain or vanilla coconut milk beverage
• 1⁄2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 3 ounces / 85 grams dark chocolate (62 to 72%), melted and kept warm in a water bath, for dipping

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 375°F / 190°C. Line a rimmed baking sheet with a sheet of parchment paper.
2. Lightly grind 7 tablespoons / 91 grams of the sugar in a blender and set aside until needed.
3. Put the ground chia in a small bowl. Pour the water over the chia. Set aside for 5 minutes undisturbed and then whisk hard. The chia gel will be lumpy at first but will smooth out as it hydrates. Whisk a few more times while you sift the dry ingredients. (You can make the gel ahead of time and refrigerate for up to 3 days. Whisk vigorously before using.)
4. Place a wire mesh strainer over a medium bowl. Add the coconut flour, the 7 tablespoons of ground sugar, and the baking powder to the strainer and stir with a whisk to sift the ingredients into the bowl. (If any small bits remain in the strainer, add them to the mixture in the bowl.) Stir 1⁄2 cup / 40 grams of the shredded coconut into the dry ingredients.
5. Whisk in the chia gel. Use a silicone spatula or your hands, if necessary to get the gel thoroughly mixed into the flour mixture. Add the coconut milk beverage and the vanilla extract and mix with a silicone spatula, pushing hard on the dough until it holds together when squeezed in your fingers.
6. Form the macaroons. Use a 1-teaspoon measure to scoop out rounded teaspoons of dough. Squeeze the dough hard in the palm of your hand so that it sticks together, and then roll into balls.
7. Coat the macaroons. In a small bowl, mix the remaining 2 tablespoons / 12 grams of coconut and 2 teaspoons of sugar. Roll the dough balls in the coconut- sugar mixture. Press each ball on the baking sheet to flatten the bottoms.
8. Place the baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 350°F / 180°C. Bake for 14 minutes until the bottom of the macaroons are lightly browned.
9. Set the baking sheet on a wire rack. After 3 to 4 minutes, lift the macaroons off the baking sheet onto the rack. Cool the macaroons to room temperature and then refrigerate until cold before dipping the bottoms.
10. Dip the bottoms of the cold macaroons in the melted chocolate. Set the coated macaroons on an acetate sheet, plastic wrap or parchment lined tray and refrigerate until the chocolate is set.

You’ll find three variation of the recipe: Chocolate-Covered, Coconut Almond and Chocolate Chip Coconut Macaroons in Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts. 

* Other perfect for Passover recipes in Vegan Chocolate include the the Dukkah-Spiced Chocolate Covered Matzoh, and the Mendiants. 

* I think that favorite holiday desserts have to do as much with our own personal traditions as the actual sweet, so to be able to veganize ‘tradition’ feels wonderful to me, and very natural. I’d love to hear about your traditions and favorites. Would you please share them?  

* Check out my newsletter later this week for Baking Tips and an Easter or Anytime Dessert.

* If you like Vegan Chocolate: Unapologetically Luscious and Decadent Dairy-Free Desserts, would you please consider helping to spread the word with tweets, facebook posts,  a blog post, or a review on Amazon.com! Thank you so much.

Warmly,

Fran