Passover goodies

In less than one week, the Jewish holiday of Passover will be upon us.  For 8 days, I won't be able to eat anything leavened (such as almost every single type of baked good) or pretty much anything that expands during cooking (such as rice and pasta).  It's a diet rich in protein, potatoes, and chocolate, at least for me.  No rice.  No pasta.  No soy products.  No bread.  No peanuts or peanut butter.  No corn.  No cookies.  No brownies. 

Scratch off "no cookies" and "no brownies."

Sure, the dietary restrictions over Passover are stringent, to say the least.  But I don't want you, the faithful JulieBakes reader, to think that just because I can't eat any of the baked goods you'd expect to see from me normally, that I won't be baking at all.

Over the years I've collected some good kosher for Passover recipes that use potato starch and matzah meal in place of the flour, or simply just no flour.  A brownie recipe from a patient.  A mandel bread recipe from a friend.  A hazelnut thumbprint cookie recipe from SmittenKitchen.  Meringues with chocolate chips that we've been serving in the family for years.  My mom's flourless chocolate cake.  Matzah candy, a recipe my mom got from her friend.  Of course I'm not going to make them all.  My mom makes the chocolate cake and candy, and my grandmother makes the meringues and a nut cake (I'm not a fan of nut cake; although there are a few nut cakes in my life, and I love most of them).

But then I got the brainstorm to make French macarons for Passover...they are, after all, almonds, sugar, powdered sugar, and egg whites.  Maybe some flavorings, but definitely no flour.  Or corn.  Or soy.  Or rice.  So in my book they're completely kosher for Passover!  (Don't worry, the ones I'm making for Passover will be more traditional than these pink lemonade ones I made yesterday...think chocolate + ganache.)

Stay tuned for some of these Passover-friendly recipes to come over the next two weeks.