It’s Spring! It’s Passover! It’s Easter! It’s time for cookies. Time for these, a recipe from DORIE’S COOKIES (and a fabulous photograph from Davide Luciano).
I first made these as a Passover dessert and they were just right: free of wheat and leavening, as foods for Passover must be, and familiar as a play on the popular-for-Passover coconut macaroon. And then, after Passover ended, I kept the recipe on the top of the pile to make for friends who were on gluten-free diets.
The cookies themselves, really macaroons, have just four ingredients: almonds, coconut, sugar and egg whites. Made in a food processor, they come together in 5 minutes. Roll the dough between your palms to form little balls, press an indent in their bellies and pop them into the oven, then decide what you’d like to fill them with. I like them with a thick chocolate ganache, but they’re wonderful with jam (the traditional filler), Nutella, cookie spread,
peanut butter or citrus curd. If you fill them with chocolate and they remind you of Almond Joy, I’ll understand.
A word on the almonds and egg whites: To get the best texture, start with sliced (my preference) or slivered almonds and grind them in the processor. If you use almond flour instead, the macaroons will be heavy and their texture won’t be nearly as interesting; when you use the processor, you get a somewhat uneven mix. It’s nice to have a few larger pieces of nuts here and there. As for the whites, I can’t give you an exact measurement for them. In all likelihood, you’ll need both whites, but just before the last bit goes into the processor, pinch the dough: If it holds together and feels as though you’ll have an easy time rolling balls between your palms, call it quits.