Macaroons

Macaroons are made every Passover season. They are unleavened and the egg whites mixed with the coconut binds the cookie together. This recipe allows the sugar to spread to the edges and caramelize. These cookies are so easy to make, yet they taste so good. For a variation, add the cocoa powder to the mixture and make chocolate macaroons.

Ingredients

• 14-ounce package of sweetened shredded coconut
• 4 large egg whites (beaten)
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon grated orange zest
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
• ½ cup of cocoa powder (optional)

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 340° F.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper
3. Combine the coconut, sugar, orange and
   lemon zest, and salt.
4. Beat the egg whites and add to the mixture.
5. Place heaping tablespoons of the mixture on the pan, and space 12 macaroons (3” wide x 4” long).
6. Cook the macaroons for about 20 minutes or until the edges start turning brown.
7. Cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes

Yield: 12 – 2oz macaroons

Meet the Chef

Mitch was raised in a traditional Reform Jewish home near Boston. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Massachusetts and focused on a culinary career. Mitch worked at some of the finest kitchens in Boston including the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, The Parker House and Le Meridien, achieving his goal of cooking with the best chefs in the world. In 1982 Mitch moved to San Francisco and cooked at some of the top restaurants on the West Coast as well. Mitch had a chance to work with other top chefs who introduced a new and lighter style of cooking to America, which became known throughout the United States as New American Cooking.

His destructive lifestyle, however, was detrimental to his career and he could no longer keep up with the high demands and pressures of cooking at the top. He was eventually fired from his job at Stars, once a top restaurant and one of the most creative kitchens in the country. He realized that his life was a wreck and prayed to God for the first time in years. The next day, he quit smoking and drinking. As Mitch began to trust God for the first time in his life, he talked with a Christian co-worker about the Bible and finally began to grasp the Gospel message. Mitch accepted Yeshua (Jesus) into his life in 1987.

Mitch now serves as Vice President of U.S. Ministries for Chosen People Ministries and oversees all recruitment, training, mentoring and leadership of the entire U.S.-based missionary staff. Mitch is married to Kina, a second-generation Jewish believer, and they have two daughters, Kaelee and Alana, and a son, Joshua.