Ebony and Ivory: Passover Cookies Two Ways

Whether you celebrate Passover or not, try these Mexican Chocolate Passover Cookies and Passover Chocolate Chip Blondies!

I was really excited about this month’s Improv Cooking Challenge and creating a recipe on the Ebony and Ivory theme. But, life happened, and I’ve got a lot going on right now so my writing has taken a bit of a back burner even though I’ve still been cooking up a storm and building up my repertoire of recipes to share later on. So I was going to bow out of the challenge. However when doing my Passover baking I realized the desserts I was already planning to make would be perfect. Alone, they both qualify as ebony and ivory. The Mexican Chocolate Cookies are lovely dark treats with a crispy outside and chewy interior, lightened in color by a coat of powdered sugar. In contrast, my Passover Blondies are, well, blonde in color (we’ll call it ivory) and studded with yummy ebony chocolate chips. So they’re both black and white and together, as you can see, they exemplify light and dark, ebony and ivory.

Now as some of you may know, Passover can be challenging to bake for since a lot of my typical ingredients for baking are out of the question. No flour is a big one. So creativity is essential to come up with substitutions that don’t taste like cardboard. I’m proud to say that my Passover guests agreed that these desserts would be delicious year round. One other great thing about both of these recipes is that they’re both gluten free and dairy free too.

Just as a heads up, both recipes take a little bit of planning ahead, the Mexican Chocolate Cookies because the dough needs to be refrigerated for several hours or overnight before shaping and baking, and the blondies because you need vanilla sugar. Now if you already have vanilla sugar you’re golden, but if not it takes 24 hours to make. But overall they are both easy without excessive hands on time.

These desserts are lovely to serve as a seder dessert (so pin for next year, I know I’m a little late for this year but I couldn’t get the cleaning, prepping, baking, AND blogging done in advance) but they are truly fantastic anytime during Passover or otherwise. Despite my Ebony and Ivory theme, no need to be strictly black and white and only enjoy these treats during Passover!

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Mexican Chocolate Passover Cookies (adapted from The Holiday Kosher Baker)

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen cookies

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup potato starch

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1. In a mixing bowl combine the oil, sugar, cocoa, eggs, and vanilla. Then add in the potato starch, salt, and cinnamon and mix until fully combined. Refrigerate overnight (I refrigerated mine for 7 hours which was enough).

2. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll walnut sized pieces of cookie dough in confectioners’ sugar then place on the cookie sheet at least 1 1/2 inches apart.

3. Bake for 14 minutes. The cookies will still be somewhat soft, but not raw. Let cool slightly then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Passover Chocolate Chip Blondies (adapted from The Holiday Kosher Baker)

Yield: 24 bars

nonstick cooking spray

2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup vegetable oil

2 tablespoons vanilla sugar (see below)

3 1/4 cups ground almonds or almond meal

1/4 cup potato starch

1 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Coat a 9×13-inch baking pan with nonstick spray then fit in a piece of parchment paper to coat the bottom and sides of the pan. Coat the parchment with cooking spray as well.

2. Beat together the sugar, eggs, oil, and vanilla sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Add in the ground almonds and potato starch and mix fully. Stir in the chocolate chips, then add the batter to the prepared pan.

3. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the edges are brown and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool then remove the parchment paper from the pan and cut into bars.

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Vanilla Sugar

Yield: 1 cup

Slice a vanilla bean down its entire length. Add to a container of granulated sugar. Cover and let sit overnight.

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Check out other bloggers’ takes on the Ebony and Ivory Improv Cooking Challenge theme here:

White Chocolate Macademia Blondies

We’ll end this week’s tour de Hawaii with one of my favorites, white chocolate macademia cookies. I’ve always loved the white chocolate macademia nut combo and when someone once brought me back one of those tins of Mauna Loa macademias from their Hawaiian vacation, I was hooked. Did you know you can buy all kinds of macademia flavors at Costco in Hawaii? I loved the local flair. Yes, we went to Costco on our Hawaiian vacation, just to check it out…my husband got a Hawaiian shirt there and everything.

On our way to the airport when departing from Moloka’i, we stopped off at the macademia nut farm. There we learned the process by which their macademias are picked, opened, and roasted and had the opportunity to dig in ourselves.

Those macademias, straight from their shells, were delicious…though made me appreciate the already cracked, roasted, and salted ones a whole lot more!

So there is definitely a fond place in my heart for macademia nuts and I knew I wanted to highlight them in my last post about Hawaii (for now…I actually still have a few more Hawaiian cookbooks to cover later, maybe next year when I need a mid-winter pick-me-up).

Thus, these White Chocolate Macademia Blondies were created. Meanwhile, I didn’t realize it at the time when planning this post at the end of my Hawaii themed week, but today is National Blonde Brownie Day. So these blondies are not only delicious…but it was fate!

I took the recipe I used for White Chocolate Peppermint Blondies and in my Black and White Brownie Blondie Swirls, and changed it up just a bit. I used only vanilla extract instead of a splash of peppermint extract and I mixed white chocolate chips and roasted macademia nuts in with the batter as well as pressing them onto the top of the bars before baking them. Quick and easy…only one bowl needed, so easy clean up too!

I hope you’ve enjoyed our brief vacation through some Hawaiian themed dishes. I still have a few Hawaiian cookbooks waiting to be experienced so we’ll revisit Hawaii someday soon. In the meantime, be sure to share some of these treats with your Ohana! Until next time, Aloha…

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White Chocolate Macademia Blondies

Yield: 8×8-inch pan (about 9 large blondies)

nonstick cooking spray

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 large egg

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white chocolate chips, divided

3/4 cup macademia nuts (I used roasted and salted), divided

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 inch cake pan with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick spray.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix together the butter, egg, sugar, and vanilla with a fork. Then stir in the flour until just combined. Add in 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of macademia nuts.

3. Pour the batter in the pan, smoothing out the top with a spatula. Press the remaining chocolate chips and macademia nuts on top of the batter.

4. Bake for 23-25 minutes (23 minutes for very moist and chewy/25 minutes for crispier on the outside but still very moist and chewy inside). Let cool in pan before slicing.

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White Chocolate Peppermint Blondies

We’ve moved from pumpkin to peppermint around here, folks, and here’s a quick and easy recipe for a yummy dessert to share with friends or bring to a holiday party (or heck, enjoy for yourself). I previously shared a delicious blondie recipe in my Brownie Blondie Swirl post and decided to modify it slightly to fit the flavors of the current season. The great thing about this recipe is it basically uses one bowl, I don’t need to break out the Kitchen Aid mixer (hence fewer dishes to wash), and I was able to easily get it prepared after my son’s bedtime, leaving me more time for sleep watching Carrie Underwood in The Sound of Music. I love the original Sound of Music. I could (and do) watch it at least once a year on TV even though I own the DVD. But I digress…

This recipe is really a keeper. What a great use for White Chocolate Peppermint M&M’s! These blondies are thin and soft, chewy and buttery, with crisp M&Ms in each bite. Plus they look quite festive with the bright red and white candies dispersed throughout. I made them to give away but I’ll tell you, fresh out of the oven they were so good I halfway contemplated staying up even later to make another batch right away…thankfully I’ve got another bag of the M&Ms at the ready!

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White Chocolate Peppermint Blondies (modified slightly from Averie Cooks)

nonstick cooking spray

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled

1 large egg

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

9.9 ounce bag white chocolate peppermint M&M’s, divided

The Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8×8 inch cake pan with aluminum foil and spray with nonstick spray.

2. In a mixing bowl, mix together the butter, egg, sugar, vanilla, and peppermint with a fork. Then stir in the flour until just combined. Add in 1 cup of the M&M’s.

3. Pour the batter in the pan, evening out the top with a spatula. Press the remaining M&M’s on top of the batter.

4. Bake for 23 minutes. They will still be soft and moist. Let cool in pan before slicing.

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Related articles

• Black and White Brownie Blondie Swirl (thedinnerpages.wordpress.com)

Black and White Brownie Blondie Swirl

I made these amazing Candy Corn White Chocolate M&M Blondies three times Halloween week with rave reviews. Today I was talking about them at work and someone mentioned to me that she ate them together with a brownie and found them heavenly, which got me thinking….could I create a hybrid blondie brownie swirl and create that heavenly effect all in one bite? After getting my munchkin off to bed, I decided to try it. Because what else would I do with an extra hour for daylight savings? Sleep?

So I present to you what I’m calling the Black and White Brownie Blondie Swirl.

First I made brownie batter, adapting a recipe from Cooking Light Way to Bake. After preheating the oven and prepping a 9×13 cake pan with aluminum foil and nonstick cooking spray, I got started. I combined the dry ingredients, flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl.

I melted together 1/3 cup of butter and 2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate in the microwave for a minute, stopping to stir every 15 seconds. After letting it cool a little I added a cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of skim milk, vanilla extract, 2 egg yolks, and a whole egg and whisked it all together.

I combined the butter mixture with the dry ingredients and set aside the brownie batter for a bit.

I then moved onto the blondie batter. I melted a stick of butter in a microwave safe bowl, then added a cup of light brown sugar, a tablespoon of vanilla extract, and an egg and stirred until smooth. I added a cup of all-purpose flour and mixed until just combined, then threw in a cup of white chocolate chips.

I poured the blondie batter into the prepared pan then spooned the brownie batter on top.

I swirled the batters together with a knife to create a pretty marbleized effect and popped it in the oven.

Twenty minutes later…and voila!

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Black and White Brownie Blondie Swirl (adapted from and inspired by Averie Cooks and Cooking Light Way to Bake)

For the brownies:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup unsalted butter

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup skim milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large egg yolks

1 large egg

cooking spray

For the blondies:

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 large egg

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup white chocolate chips

The Recipe

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prep a 9×13 inch baking pan by lining it with aluminum foil and coating the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

2. For the brownies, mix together the flour, cocoa, and salt. Melt the unsweetened chocolate and butter in a large microwave safe bowl for 1 minute or until smooth, stopping to stir every 15 seconds. Cool sightly then add milk, sugar, vanilla, whole egg, and egg yolks. Whisk together then add the butter mixture to the dry ingredients, stirring until moistened and fully combined. Set aside.

3. For the blondies, melt the butter in a large microwave safe bowl. After it cools slightly, add in the egg, brown sugar, and vanilla and stir until smooth. Add the flour and mix until fully combined. Then stir in the white chocolate chips.

4. Pour the blondie batter into the prepared cake pan. Spoon the brownie batter on top of the blondie batter, then swirl together with a knife.

5. Bake for 20 minutes or until a knife inserted into the center comes out nearly clean. Let cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

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