Colorful Passover Coconut Macaroons

When my friend Ansh chose Holi, the festival of colors celebration, as the March Progressive Eats theme, I thought I would be too busy to join in the fun. This year at least, Holi coincides with Passover. I couldn’t imagine how I would fit a Holi-themed dish into my Passover preparations. But then, I dreamed of Colorful Passover Coconut Macaroons.  These morsels are not only a perfect culinary mixed marriage, they also allowed me to join the Holi-themed party and prepare for Passover at the same time. 

Holi celebrates the arrival of spring and the triumph of good over evil. Although it began as a Hindu religious holiday, Holi is now widely celebrated by other communities as well. Holi’s significance goes beyond the bright colors that are its trademark. Still, the colors are what are most notable in many descriptions of the holiday that I found. 

Passover also celebrates Spring and the triumph of good over evil. The holiday traces the Jewish slaves’ escape from Egypt. The Haggadah, which guides celebrants through the Passover meal or Seder, tells that story through prayers, songs, food, and ceremonial glasses of wine.

I cook and bake like crazy as the holiday approaches. From Passover rolls, to charoset, to Passover-friendly desserts, I am all about the food of this holiday. My macaroons are never store-bought and often slightly off-beat. I’ve done nut-free macaroon pyramids and coconut almond macaroons that my daughter called Meringuroons.

So why not marry the color theme of Holi to the traditional coconut macaroon of Passover? Adding another macaroon recipe to my repertoire seemed like the perfect solution. And so I created Colorful Passover Coconut Macaroons, my fun and delicious Holi Passover sweet. 

These macaroons celebrate both holidays, but you can enjoy them without celebrating either one. In fact, you can make them just because they make you smile. 

Before we get to the recipe, a few tips on colorful macaroon-making.

How to Make Coconut Macaroons with Sprinkles

• What are macaroons? First of all, macaroons are not macarons. Although both are delicious cookies,  macaroons are typically round or at least tall sweets made of coconut and/or chopped nuts. By contrast, macarons are ground almond sandwich cookies with a buttercream filling. For a history of these cookies and how they developed, see this fascinating article.
• The macaroon base. Most macaroons use beaten egg whites as their base. Some recipes also call for sweetened condensed milk, while others require just coconut, egg whites, sugar, and flavoring. I took a middle route with this recipe. Although most recipes that use sweetened condensed milk call for an entire 14 ounce can, I use only half that amount. I use 3 egg whites, not 2 like the recipes that use a full can of condensed milk do.
• The egg whites. In recipes that call for whipping or whisking the egg whites to stiff peaks, incorporate them into the batter gently, by folding the egg whites in batches. The aim is to mix them in without deflating them too much. Have patience when you beat the whites. And stay at the lower end of your electric mixer’s speed range. While a higher speed may whip them more quickly, they will be less stable than if you do it more slowly. I started at speed #2-3 on my stand mixer and never got above speed #6.
• The coconut – Like all Jewish foods, there are infinite variations on macaroons. How your macaroons turn out depends to a large extent on which type of coconut you use. You can find recipes that use sweetened or unsweetened, flaked or shredded, toasted or not, and plenty of combinations. I chose to toast half of my sweetened, shredded coconut. The toasting lends a deeper more concentrated coconut flavor to the macaroons. But that step is totally optional. 
• Adding sprinkles – The color in sprinkles has a tendency to bleed. To minimize that bleeding, add them as a last step and do not over mix the batter once you have added them. I used homemade chocolate sprinkles (yes, it was crazy and I’ll probably never make them again) and wildly expensive decorations that included stars as well as straight sprinkles because they were the only colored sprinkle-like topping I could find on short notice. Next time, I’ll plan ahead and order Dutch sprinkles of various types. Sweet alert – they’re delicious for non-Passover snacks and breakfast with bread and butter too! 

These Macaroons

Macaroons are easy to make. With just a few ingredients and a bit of mixing, you get an impressive result. This version uses sweetened condensed milk and a combination of types of coconut. I like an intense flavor, so I toasted some of my coconut. If you’re pressed for time or don’t care about highlighting the coconut taste, skip that step.

As a confirmed chocoholic, I added chocolate sprinkles to the sprinkle mix and coated the bottom with chocolate. I even drizzled a bit of chocolate on the tops of several. Of course, they would still be delicious without the chocolate. Normally I’m all about being non-judgmental. Still, I consider skipping chocolate in this case to be both foolish and unwise. But hey, they’re your macaroons. 

A side note – I went completely crazy and made homemade chocolate sprinkles. Although they taste incredible, the process led to unbelievable kitchen chaos. If you are sane and buy yours, treat yourself to Dutch real chocolate sprinkles. The difference between real chocolate sprinkles and the plastic stuff is considerable. 

Welcome to Progressive Eats, our virtual version of a Progressive Dinner Party. This month’s theme is a Holi Celebration – Celebrating The Festival of Colors, and our host is Ansh who blogs at Spiceroots.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a progressive dinner involves going from house to house, enjoying a different course at each location. With Progressive Eats it’s a virtual party. The host for the month chooses a theme and members share recipes suitable for a delicious meal or party. Then you can hop from blog to blog to check them out. Come along and see all of the delicious fiesta inspired dishes!

Holi Celebration

Beverages

• Spiced Mango Drink (Aam Panna) – The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Strawberry Lassi – Shockingly Delicious
• Thandai -Aromatic Almond Milk – Spiceroots

Savory

• Potato (Aloo) Samosas – Karen’s Kitchen Stories
• Easy Saffron Rice (Gluten Free) – The Heritage Cook

Sweet

• Colorful Chewy Coconut Macaroons – Mother Would Know (you’re here)
• Strawberry Meringue Cake – That Skinny Chick Can Bake