Looking for more incredible Healthy Passover Recipes? Dive into new and exciting ways to enjoy Kosher for Passover dishes while maintaining a balanced diet. Explore our extensive collection of Vegetarian and Vegan Recipes for Passover, ensuring your holiday table is both delicious and health-conscious.

Ingredients You’ll Need for These Wholesome Macaroons

If you’re weary of traditional Passover desserts that often rely heavily on eggs, oil, refined sugar, and matzo meal, and you’re yearning for a genuinely wholesome and delicious treat, then you’ve found exactly what you’re looking for. These almond macaroons stand apart. They are meticulously crafted without any refined sugar, no added oil, and no eggs, making them a superb option for a variety of dietary needs. Furthermore, they are entirely grain-free, bursting with incredible flavor, and boast a perfectly tender yet slightly crunchy texture. As an added bonus, they are remarkably freezer-friendly, allowing you to prepare them in advance and enjoy them whenever a craving strikes. Everyone who tries them simply adores these healthy, delightful cookies!

• Nuts: I personally adore the harmonious combination of walnuts and almonds for these macaroons, as they offer a balanced depth of flavor and texture. However, the beauty of this recipe is its flexibility: you could literally pulse almost any variety of nut – think pecans, cashews, or even hazelnuts – into a coarse meal, and these macaroons would still turn out absolutely divine. Experiment with your favorites!
• Nut Butter: For the best results and a wonderfully moist texture, my go-to choice is a smooth almond butter with a naturally drippy consistency. Look for brands that list only almonds (and perhaps a touch of salt) in their ingredients, avoiding added oils or sugars. This ensures the purest flavor and best binding properties.
• Maple Syrup: These cookies achieve their ideal level of sweetness and a touch of warm, earthy notes with just a modest amount of pure maple syrup. This natural sweetener provides a healthier alternative to refined sugars, contributing to the “no sugar added” profile of these treats. Ensure you’re using 100% pure maple syrup, not pancake syrup which is often corn syrup-based.
• Chocolate: While entirely optional, I wholeheartedly recommend taking these already delicious almond macaroons to the next level by dipping their bottoms in some luscious melted dark chocolate. For an even more elegant and gorgeous cookie, a delicate drizzle of chocolate over the tops adds a beautiful finish and an extra layer of indulgence. Choose a high-quality dark chocolate for the best flavor.
• Sea Salt: A tiny pinch of fine grain sea salt is crucial here. It doesn’t just add saltiness; it beautifully enhances and balances the sweet and nutty flavors, making every bite more profound and memorable. You can adjust the amount to your preference or omit it if you’re on a very low-sodium diet, but I find it truly elevates the taste experience.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine your almond butter, pure maple syrup, and fine grain sea salt. These are your wet ingredients that will bind everything together.

Using a sturdy spatula, stir these ingredients together thoroughly until they are completely well incorporated and form a smooth, uniform mixture. Ensure there are no streaks of individual ingredients.

Next, place your whole walnuts and almonds into the bowl of a food processor, ensuring it’s fitted with the “S” blade. This is where we create our nutty base.

Process the nuts for about 20 seconds initially, then continue to pulse them in short bursts. The goal is to achieve a crumbly, coarse meal-like texture, similar to a rough flour. Be very careful not to overprocess, or you’ll quickly end up with nut butter instead of the desired texture!

Gently fold the prepared nut meal into your bowl of wet ingredients. Begin to combine them, ensuring the dry and wet mixtures are well integrated.

Continue mixing, using your spatula to pull the almond butter mixture from the bottom of the bowl upwards. Mix until all ingredients are uniformly combined, forming a cohesive, nutty cookie dough batter. Avoid overmixing once combined.

Using two teaspoons or a small cookie scoop, “drop” mounds of the cookie dough onto your prepared parchment-lined baking pan. Leave some space between each cookie.

Continue this process until all of the batter has been used. This recipe typically yields about 24 perfectly sized vegan almond macaroon cookies, ready for the next step.

Lightly dampen your hands with water. Then, gently roll each cookie mound into a smooth, round ball. Aim for a size roughly equivalent to a golf ball for consistent baking and an appealing presentation.

OPTIONAL: For an extra touch of elegance and an indication of the delicious almond flavor within, gently press one thin slice or sliver of almond into the very center of each cookie dough ball before baking. This adds a beautiful visual element.

Place the baking sheet into your preheated 325°F (160°C) oven and bake for exactly 15 minutes. The edges should be lightly golden, and the centers set. Avoid overbaking to maintain their tender texture.

Once baked, carefully transfer the warm cookies from the baking sheet to a wire rack. It’s crucial to let them cool completely here before you attempt any decorating or prepare them for storage. This ensures they firm up and hold their shape.

Melt your chosen dark chocolate chips in the microwave in 20-second intervals, stirring well after each, or using a double boiler until smooth. Dip the bottom of each completely cooled cookie into the melted chocolate. Ensure an even coating.

Lift the cookie, allowing any excess chocolate to drip off, then turn the cookie upside down onto a piece of parchment paper placed on a tray. This ensures a clean, flat chocolate bottom.

Carefully transfer the tray with the chocolate-dipped cookies into the refrigerator. This step is essential for the chocolate to harden quickly and set properly, giving you that satisfying snap.

Once the chocolate bottoms are completely firm, flip the cookies right side up so they are resting on their hardened chocolate base. If desired, use any remaining melted chocolate to artfully drizzle over the tops for an extra decorative touch and more chocolatey goodness. Return them to the refrigerator briefly to set the drizzle.

Debra’s Pro Tips for Perfect Vegan Macaroons

Achieving bakery-quality vegan almond macaroons is easy with these expert tips:

• Save Money on Nuts: Don’t splurge on whole walnuts if you’re just going to process them! Buying walnut pieces or even larger broken walnut parts is generally less expensive than whole walnuts, and since you’ll be pulverizing them into a coarse meal anyway, there’s no visual difference in the final product. This is a smart way to keep your baking budget in check.
• Precision with Nut Processing: This is a critical step! When processing your nuts, there’s a very fine line between achieving the desired crumbly, coarse flour-like texture and accidentally creating a sticky, gummy substance that resembles nut butter. Pulse the nuts in short bursts (5-10 seconds at a time) and check the consistency frequently. You want distinct small pieces, not a paste. Over-processing will make your macaroons denser and less crumbly.
• Salt – The Flavor Enhancer: While the sea salt is optional if you’re strictly adhering to a low-sodium diet, I highly recommend including it if your diet allows. The small amount of salt doesn’t just add a touch of savory; it genuinely enhances and brings out the natural sweetness of the maple syrup and deep, earthy flavors of the nuts. It creates a beautiful balance that makes these cookies even more irresistible, especially when paired with chocolate.
• Consistent Cookie Size: For even baking, try to make all your cookie balls roughly the same size. Using a small cookie scoop can help immensely, or simply practice rolling them by hand to a uniform golf ball size as suggested.
• Cool Completely: Patience is key! Ensure your macaroons are entirely cooled on a wire rack before you attempt to dip them in chocolate. If they’re still warm, the chocolate will melt or not set properly, leading to a messy finish.
• Chocolate Quality Matters: For the best chocolate-dipped experience, choose a good quality dark chocolate. The flavor really shines through. If you prefer, sugar-free or unsweetened chocolate can also be used if melted with a bit of a neutral oil to thin it out slightly for dipping.

Storage & Freezing Instructions

Proper storage ensures your delicious vegan almond macaroons stay fresh and delightful for as long as possible. Here’s how to best store them:

• Cool Completely First: Before storing or dipping in chocolate, it is absolutely essential that your cookies are completely cool to the touch. Warm cookies will create condensation in an airtight container, leading to sogginess, and will cause melted chocolate to run rather than set.
• For Chocolate-Dipped Cookies: If you’ve opted for the delicious chocolate dip or drizzle, flash freeze or refrigerate the cookies until the chocolate has fully hardened. This prevents the chocolate from smudging or sticking to other cookies when stacked for storage.
• Airtight Container is Key: Always store your macaroons in an airtight container. This keeps them fresh, prevents them from drying out, and protects them from absorbing any unwanted odors from your refrigerator.
• Freezer-Friendly: These cookies are wonderfully freezer-friendly! For optimal freezing, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until solid (this is called flash freezing). Once solid, transfer them to a freezer-safe airtight container or a heavy-duty freezer bag, separating layers with parchment paper if stacking.
• Shelf Life:
  • At room temperature: Your cookies will maintain their freshness for up to 1 week.
  • In the refrigerator: They can be stored for up to 2 weeks.
  • In the freezer: Properly stored, these macaroons will last beautifully for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature or in the refrigerator before enjoying.

Vegan Almond Macaroons dipped in Chocolate

Rate this Recipe