Coconut Macaroon Brownies

Coconut Macaroon Brownies \ Zoë Bakes photo by Zoë François

These coconut macaroon brownies are a delicious collision of two of my absolute favorite treats. They are the brilliant marriage of chewy coconut macaroons and the fudgiest brownies you will ever eat and we have Jake Cohen’s new book, Jew-ish, to thank. I grew up eating coconut macaroons at Jewish holidays and they were typically out of a box, that felt like it had surpassed its “Best By” date some decades earlier. Don’t get me wrong, I still loved them, but they had very little in the way of flavor or texture, they were just sweet and as a hippie kid, that was enough. As I got older, they failed to excite me and I learned just how easy and delightful a homemade macaroon was. At about the same time, I started making Ina Garten’s outrageous brownie recipe and I realized, in a profound way, just how much I needed chocolate in my life. But, those two recipes never found themselves stacked together in a pan and baked as one. That is what Jake did and it is a stroke of genius.

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Flourless Chocolate Lava Cake for Passover

Flourless Chocolate Lava Cake with Blackberries for Passover (gluten free) | Photo by Zoë François

The chocolate lava cake has got to be one of the most popular desserts to ever hit American dessert menus. The story goes that Jean-George Vongerichten created it in New York, sometime in the 80s. Others claim it goes farther back in history and should be credited to the French. Whoever was the first to pull a chocolate cake from the oven too soon, to discover that it was thoroughly baked on the outside and still warm and gooey on the inside, was a genius. Since the 80s nearly all restaurants have created a version of chocolate lava cakes. Some of the recipes, including Vongerichten’s, are not actually flourless, but for Passover it must be. The version I have created is made with bittersweet chocolate, cocoa powder, butter and egg whites. It is just a touch lighter in texture than many recipes, due to the whipped egg whites. If you need to make the dessert parve (no dairy), you can replace the butter with your favorite margarine or butter substitute, but not oil. These can be prepared a few days ahead, refrigerated and baked just before serving. Read More