I just love Spring holidays, both Easter and Passover are favorites of mine. When I was a little girl, I would stare in amazement at all of the Easter baskets, chocolate bunnies and jelly beans lining the shelves in the stores. I would beg my mom to buy me one, but being raised Jewish, we obviously didn’t celebrate Easter! She would say, in her very sweet voice, “Audrey, it’s not our holiday so we don’t do Easter baskets!!” I think that secretly, she really didn’t want me eating any more chocolate than I was already consuming!
Fast forward to the day I met my now husband Sam ( he celebrates Easter!) I will never forget our first Easter together. He bought me the most beautiful basket, filled with all kinds of goodies, and the rest is history!
It’s been a super fun 32 years together, celebrating every single holiday. I feel like I have the best of both worlds, celebrating both Easter and Passover and enjoying all of the delicacies that come with both celebrations.
As a health coach and being super conscious of what goes in my body as well as what I feed my family, I’m always looking for healthy options for the traditional desserts we all love.
One thing I enjoy this time of year is a chocolate covered macaroon. I’m a huge fan of dark chocolate, so that’s what I used, but feel free to substitute milk chocolate if that’s your preference.
Here’s a great recipe that I think you and your family will enjoy for years to come, for Easter or Passover!
Ingredients
- 1-3/4 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
- 4 large egg whites
- 3 tbsp finely ground hazelnut or almond flour
- 1/4 pure maple syrup or low sugar Lakanto maple syrup
- 1 tsp organic almond extract (not necessary if you don’t have)
- 1-1/2 cups of dark chocolate like Hu chocolate chunks or Lilly’s for a lower sugar alternative
- 1 tsp extra virgin coconut oil
Directions for the macaroons
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the coconut flakes, almond or hazelnut flour, egg whites, maple syrup, and almond extract and stir to combine.
- Form into 1.5 inch balls/mounds and arrange on parchment lined baking sheet. They will be sort of wet at this point which is fine.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until the bottoms are just beginning to turn light brown (don’t let them get brown)
- Remove from oven and let them cool completely.
Directions for the chocolate
- In a small saucepan over low heat, stir the coconut oil and chocolate chips together until melted, then remove from heat.
- Once the baked macaroons are completely cooled, set up a new sheet of parchment paper and get ready to dip.
- Dip each macaroon in the chocolate mixture and set down on parchment paper to cool. Once completely cooled the chocolate will form a shell and they’ll be ready to serve! Store leftovers in an air tight container in the refrigerator.
