M & M’s (Macaroons and Matzah Candy)

Like with any dinner party, there’s a lot to prepare for a Passover Seder, even if you’re only having a few guests. So anything that can get done in advance is a huge help.

This past Monday marked the fourth consecutive year that Jackie and I made macaroons together. (I think we can officially call it a holiday tradition!)These flaky and sweet, two-bite morsels, drizzled with semi-sweet chocolate, have become an integral ending to our festive meal s and making them together, an especially enjoyable way to check something off the “to do” list. And this year, since we had a chunk of uninterrupted time while our kids were in school, we even whipped up a batch of chocolaty chewy Matzah crunch.

I was having dinner at my house that night and was a bit mess phobic, and Jackie was sweet enough to host our macaroon making date. To save some time (since we were making a quadruple batch of macaroons), I beat the egg whites and created the coconut mixture at my house. (Some smart advance prep work as it turned out.) I even texted (see I’m hip!) Jackie to pre-heat the oven so all I’d have to do is scoop and bake, giving Jackie plenty of table top space to mixed her ingredients.

Jackie and I had a thoroughly enjoyable time together in that hour and half time slot. While our macaroons baked, fragrantly filling Jackie’s house with a sensationally sweet scent, we sipped coffee together; and while we drizzled chocolate atop the golden coconut, we talked about random life things. I left Jackie’s house smiling, with several trays of macaroons in both arms, thankful to have cooking with friends, especially during the holidays.

Chocolate Drizzled Macaroons
Makes 2 dozen macaroons

Macaroons are the perfect cookie to make with friends since they are not labor intensive, the jobs can easily be distributed, and they can be made in large quantities in a short amount of time. Everyone leaves with a large batch. If baking with two friends, make three batches of the coconut mixture.

What you’ll need:

2 -3 friends
8 ounces sweetened angel flake coconut
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 stiffly beaten egg white
1/8 tsp. of salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Mix coconut, vanilla extract, salt and condensed milk together in a mixing bowl. Beat egg white until stiff. Fold the egg white into the coconut. Form the coconut mixture into balls and place one inch apart onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven until golden for approximately 12- 14 minutes. Melt the chocolate chips in the oven for 1 minute until melted. Cool cookies on a cooling rack and drizzle melted chocolate over the macaroons using a small spoon.