Passover Food: From Yuck to Yum!

I always recall Passover being a time for close friends and family to sit down and share a leisurely evening of the retelling of Moses and the Jews' exodus from slavery in Egypt. The songs, the stories, the plagues (plastic frogs and red wine drops of "blood") laughter and of COURSE, the delicious food. Brisket slathered in gravy, sweet carrot tzimmes, Grandma's matzoh ball soup...these are all tasty memories I eagerly looked forward to each spring.

However, when the first and second night have "passed over" (heh) and it's time to go back to school/work for the remaining six days with no chametz (bread), I was always sadly disappointed by the everyday meals that followed: Breakfasts of Chocolate "Cripsy Oh's" (more like "cardboard oh's" as my dad used to joke), lunches of matzoh and cream cheese sandwiches with a hard boiled egg from the school cafeteria, dinners of leftover chicken and soup and desserts of coconut macaroons and jelly fruit slices.
Needless to say, this would get boring very, very quickly.

Lucky for me, I had an adventurous mother who stormed the kitchen with fresh exciting recipes. We both discovered that we were gluten-intolerant and finding Kosher for Passover recipes became more typical for every day use. Here's one of my favorites that you will fall head over heels for!

François Payard’s Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies
2 cups chopped walnuts (can use pecans or almonds too!)
2 cups of confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder (recommend Droste)
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large egg white at room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Illustrations by John Burgoyne
(Photo: Kang Kim)

1.) Preheat oven to 350 F
2.) Spread walnuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 9 minutes until they are golden and fragrant. Let cool slightly, then transfer to a work surface and coarsely chop them.
3.) Line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.
4.) In a large bowl, whisk (or combine in an electric mixer on low speed) the confectioner's sugar with the cocoa powder and salt followed by the chopped walnuts. While whisking (or once you change the speed to medium), add the egg whites and vanilla extract and beat just until the batter is moistened (do not overbeat or it will stiffen).
5.) Spoon the batter onto the baking sheets in evenly spaced mounds and bake for 14-16 minutes.
6.) Bake at 350 until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked; shift the pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through to ensure even baking. (not necessary to move pans).
Slide the parchment paper with the cookies onto 2 wire racks.
7.) Let cool and enjoy!

Recipe from New York Magazine Online