Chocolate Macaroons: Passover

The San Francisco Chronicle's Food section did a Taste Test of 5 different store-bought Chocolate Macaroons for Passover. None of them made the grade. Conclusion: it's better to make your own!

Here's a simple but great recipe for Chocolate Macaroons. These will take less than an hour. What a great treat to take to the Passover seder. This recipe is adapted from Epicurious.com, a recipe from Bev Heinecke of San Anselmo, CA. You can use chocolate chips, but I always have high quality chocolate around, so you might want to take a few good bars and break them up.

These macaroons are not the usual gooey coconut macaroon you might be expecting, but they're fabulous. More like a brownie/meringue. Oxymoron? They are kosher for Passover.

CHOCOLATE MACAROONS

Ingredients
1 1/3 (8 ounces) cups dark (70%) chocolate, broken up into small pieces, divided
2 large egg whites
pinch of salt
1/4-1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon Madagascar vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups sweetened fresh flaked coconut

Preparation
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 1 cup chocolate  in microwave-safe bowl; microwave on low setting at 10-second intervals until chocolate is melted, stirring occasionally (or melt in a double boiler). Cool just to room temperature.

Using electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, then vanilla, beating until whites are thick and glossy. Fold in melted chocolate and coconut, then remaining 1/3 cup chocolate (broken into small pieces the size of mini-chips).

Drop batter by heaping teaspoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing 1 1/2 inches apart.
Bake cookies 10 minutes. Reverse sheets. Bake until tops are dry and cracked and tester inserted into centers comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 10 minutes longer.
Cool cookies on sheets on racks.
Store airtight at room temperature up to 2 days.