Gluten Free, Vegan Passover Round Up Part 1

Passover is my favorite holiday, mostly because of all the amazing food.  It’s funny that a holiday which eliminates yeast and breads was my favorite holiday even before I was gluten free. Every year, I anxiously await the usual treats: beef brisket, matzah ball soup, sponge cake with fresh whipped cream and, my all time favorite, carrot kugel. This year, I felt the same excitement until I realized that all the dishes I just mentioned have some form of gluten, eggs  and  / or dairy.  What was I supposed to eat for Passover?

I spend the holiday with Girlfriend’s family and know I won't be able to eat many of the dishes.  So, I volunteered to bring dessert and started experimenting to find a dessert worthy of the old classics.  I found some great recipes which I will share with you throughout the next few days.  Unfortunately, my attempts at altering carrot kugel have been unsuccessful.  The original recipe requires 9 eggs and, so far, I haven’t figured out how to alter an egg-free version while maintaining the appropriate consistency.  I still have a few ideas up my sleeve, so hopefully I’ll be sharing the recipe with all of you very soon.

Luckily, my dessert attempts were much more successful.  I found some great recipes for a couple different chocolate flourless cakes which I will share later this week.  Today we will focus on gluten free and egg free macaroons. Since Passover requires elimination of all leavening agents (e.g. flour), it is fairly easy to find gluten free macaroons at the grocery store.  Finding egg-free macaroons is another story.  Living Without magazine comes through as usual with a great gluten free, sugar free, egg free and dairy free Macaroon recipe:

I made a few changes in my version to eliminate vanilla extract which is one of the 40 foods I am ‘sensitive’ to and try to avoid when I can. Living Without suggests using honey or agave and I used agave (of course!). It was really difficult to find unsweetened shredded coconut. Whole Foods used to sell it, but recently discontinued the product.  So, I reduced the amount of agave required in the recipe and used sweetened coconut. The results were still delicious! Come back later in the week for a continuation of Gluten Free, Vegan Passover Round Up where I will share some delicious chocolate cake recipes.