Flourless Desserts for Passover – NYT Cooking

The best Passover desserts triumph despite (or because of) the dietary restrictions of the holiday. The traditional requirement to avoid wheat flour and all grain-based foods except for matzo leads straight to nutty, tender tortes leavened with whipped eggs; crunchy matzo toffee in countless variations; fudgy flourless chocolate cakes and piles of not-too-sweet coconut macaroons. The holiday also celebrates the arrival of spring, so recipes that feature bright strawberries, tangy rhubarb and sunny lemons are especially welcome.

Types of observance vary, so feel free to adapt these recipes to your needs. Seek out kosher for Passover powdered sugar if you avoid kitniyot. Skip recipes with baking powder if that is your preference. And opt for vegan plant butter sticks and non-dairy whipped topping if you’d like to keep a dessert pareve after a meat meal.

(View our complete collection of Passover desserts here. For even more Passover recipes, see this collection.)

Genevieve Ko’s recipe for a meltingly tender, deeply chocolaty cake is surprisingly simple to pull off, making it an ideal addition to a Seder menu. Instead of chopping chocolate, use chocolate chips, melting them with butter and then stirring in cocoa powder for deeper flavor. The cake emerges from the oven with a soft, fudgy center, ready to pair with berries, a dollop of whipped cream or a minimalist dusting of cocoa powder.

Recipe: Flourless Chocolate Cake

In Carolina Gelen’s twist on Marcy Goldman’s legendary matzo toffee (below), instant coffee is dissolved into the caramel to balance out all that sweetness, and a final sprinkle of coffee beans over the chocolate delivers another kind of crunch.

Recipe: Matzo Coffee Toffee

This ingenious layer cake from Carolina Gelen is sure to be the centerpiece of any Passover dessert table. Eight layers of airy cake and rich (but dairy-free!) chocolate mousse are punctuated with the tart brightness of fresh raspberries. Thankfully, the cake isn’t nearly as tricky as it looks: It is baked in two sheet pans, then halved to create four cake layers — no tricky splitting required. For the most striking presentation, be sure to cut the cake with a sharp knife and wipe it clean between slices.

Recipe: Flourless Layer Cake With Chocolate and Raspberries

Unlike French macarons, coconut macaroons can be cloying and sticky. In this version from Susan Spungen, equal parts sweetened flaked coconut and unsweetened grated coconut keep the sugariness in check. You can make them even less sweet by skipping the sweetened coconut and using twice the amount of unsweetened instead. A final drizzle of melted bittersweet chocolate and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt provide a delicious counterpoint to the coconut.

Recipe: Coconut Macaroons

This cake may be beige, but it’s anything but boring: The delicate crumb holds plenty of toasty nuttiness and bright citrus flavor, which pairs beautifully with fresh berries. David Tanis adapted the recipe from his friend Salvatore Massina, whose inspiration was the tarta de Santiago, a beloved almond cake from Galicia, Spain. Store-bought almond flour can be a bit too finely ground for this recipe, but if you can’t track down whole blanched almonds to blitz in the food processor, feel free to pulverize an equal weight of slivered almonds.

Recipe: Tender Almond Cake

Caramel, coconut and chocolate are an unforgettable combination, as any fan of the Samoa and Caramel deLites cookies from the Girl Scouts can attest. In this recipe from Carolina Gelen, fudgy Medjool dates, nutty brown butter, brown sugar, rum and a healthy pinch of salt become a thick, butterscotch-like paste, ready to form into balls and drench in melted chocolate.

Recipe: Toasted Coconut Rum Balls

Think of schaum torte (“foam cake” in German) as a nutty cousin to pavlova, that crisp round of airy meringue topped with whipped cream and anything else that strikes your fancy. In this version from Joan Nathan, the meringue mixture includes roasted hazelnuts and chopped dark chocolate for added flavor and crunch. Make the meringue up to a day ahead of time and store, loosely covered, at room temperature — ready to top with whipped cream and berries as the Seder draws to a close.

Recipe: Chocolate-Hazelnut Schaum Torte

Yossy Arefi’s tender, lemony carrot cake, blanketed with a tangy glaze and toasted sliced almonds, is a lovely thing to set out on a festive table, but it’s also a not-too-sweet treat to keep around the house during the days of Passover. Whipped eggs and a touch of baking powder keep the cake light and lofty., while the grated carrots and almond flour in the batter ensure that the cake will keep for a few days without losing moisture. It’s just the thing to enjoy with a cup of tea in the afternoon (or to sneak a slice of at midnight).

Recipe: Flourless Carrot Almond Crunch Cake

Brownies are a crowd-pleaser no matter what time of year, and they’re especially ideal for Passover because their dense, rich texture allows you to skip the flour without much difficulty. In this recipe from Brian Levy, melted semisweet chocolate and cocoa powder deliver deep chocolate flavor, while a touch of almond flour provides structure. Be sure to bake the brownies until barely set; by the time they cool completely, they’ll be irresistibly fudgy, even to those who claim they don’t have room for dessert.

Recipe: Flourless Fudgy Brownies

An undisputed crowd pleaser of the Passover table, this classic treat, which Melissa Clark adapted from Marcy Goldman, makes optimal use of those sturdy, crunchy sheets of matzo, transforming them into a salty-sweet, snackable treat. As for toppings, the recipe is endlessly customizable, but don’t stress about which options to choose — you can always try something else when you make it next year.

Recipe: Chocolate-Caramel Matzo Toffee

With its deep almond flavor and subtle notes of cardamom, this Persian cake, adapted by Joan Nathan from Soraya Nazarian, bakes up with a moist and springy texture. It takes well to flavorings, so feel free to add a bit of rosewater or orange zest to the batter if you like. The batter is quite dense before the egg whites are folded in, so lighten it by stirring in a cupful of beaten egg whites before folding in the rest in thirds, as one reader suggests.

Recipe: Almond Cake With Cardamom and Pistachio

These bite-size, no-cook treats, which are traditional in Moroccan Jewish homes, transform a fixture of the Seder plate into an elegant dessert. Like other Sephardic varieties of haroseth, this recipe from Melissa Clark features dried fruits instead of the fresh apples more common in the Ashkenazi versions. Blended together with nuts and a bit of pomegranate juice (or Manischewitz!), the mixture forms a paste that’s easy to shape into balls and roll in grated coconut. It’s an ideal dessert to make with kids, and any extras make a terrific Passover-friendly midday snack.

Recipe: Haroseth Truffles

Coconut may have dominated the macaroon discourse, but these macaroons, adapted by Joan Nathan from Eileen Dangoor Khalastchy’s family recipe, depend on crunchy bits of almond and walnut instead, making them a terrific option for those who aren’t fans of coconut. The dough comes together quickly, with the nuts pulsed in the food processor, and then stirred with egg whites, sugar and a touch of cardamom. Fill the thumbprint indentations with raspberry jam or vary the fillings depending on the opened jam jars you have in your fridge.

Recipe: Almond-Walnut Thumbprint Macaroons

This recipe, from Claudia Roden, the Cairo-born Jewish cookbook author, breaks all the rules: Boil two oranges until tender, then remove the seeds and blend them, peels and all, into a thick purée that you stir into a mixture of eggs, almond flour, sugar and baking powder. (Astute readers also suggest a dash of salt.) Once in the oven, watch it transform into a fragrant, citrusy cake. Tangerines, clementines, mandarins or Meyer lemons will also work here — just use about 1 pound of the fruit.

Recipe: Claudia Roden’s Orange and Almond Cake

A double dose of bittersweet chocolate richness, from both bittersweet chocolate chunks and a generous amount of cocoa, provides depth and structure in these nicely portable gluten-free cookies from Melissa Clark, which she adapted from a recipe by Erin Jeanne McDowell. If you avoid corn products during Passover, seek out kosher for Passover powdered sugar (often made with tapioca starch instead of cornstarch).

Recipe: Flourless Cocoa Cookies

What makes these cookies different from all other cookies? These dense, chewy little treats, each crowned with a whole blanched almond, are a sweet taste of history. The origins of this Joan Nathan recipe can be traced back to the Sephardic communities in the 15th century. Perhaps this year they’ll find a home on your table, too.

Recipe: Almendrados (Almond-Lemon Macaroons)

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