This is a favorite dessert [from Ann Grundfest Gerache, Vicksburg, Mississippi] served at community Passover seders sponsored by Vicksburg’s Congregation Anshe Chesed.

Game plan: As soon as the macaroons have cooled, store them in an airtight container to keep them crisp.

Note: Recipes in Marcie Cohen Ferris’s book Matzoh Ball Gumbo were compiled from a diverse mix of Jewish Southerners who have blended religion and region through home cooking.

This recipe was featured as part of our Southern Seder menu.

  • Yields: 35 to 37 macaroons
  • Total: 50 mins

Ingredients (6)

  • 3 large egg whites, at room temperature
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • Pinch salt
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup roughly chopped pecans
  • 35 to 37 pecan halves, for topping

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325°. Grease 2 or 3 large baking sheets or line the sheets with foil and grease the foil.
  2. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer at medium speed, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt until frothy. Increase the mixer speed to high and continue beating, adding the brown sugar gradually (in small handfuls) and scraping the bowl once, until the whites form stiff, glossy peaks. (This will take a few minutes.) With a large rubber spatula, fold in the pecans.
  3. Drop the batter by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart. Press a pecan half into each, flattening the cookie slightly.
  4. Bake until the macaroons are set and feel hard and crisp, about 35 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely, then store in airtight containers.

From MATZOH BALL GUMBO: CULINARY TALES OF THE JEWISH SOUTH by Marcie Cohen Ferris. Copyright © 2005 by Marcie Cohen Ferris. Used by permission of the University of North Carolina Press.