I never baked for Pesach. Frankly, the entire subject led me to despair. What can you possibly bake with matzo meal and/or potato starch that justifies the ingestion of hundreds of empty calories?Because of that, my standard Pesach desserts were strawberry fluff(two egg whites, one cup sugar, one bag frozen strawberries, process together and then freeze) and fresh fruit salad.

B-O-R-I-N-G!!!!!

Then I got the Joy of Cooking.

Last I checked the Joy of Cooking still has no Passover section (though it does include a reasonable recipe for gefilte fish) and it’s filled with recipes for lobsters, rabbits, squirrels etc. . But among it’s 900 plus pages is a gem which I now share.

Irma Rombauer calls it Pecan Drops . I call it a taste of heaven

I wonder if this is what Manna tasted like?

I’m pretty controlled but this is one cookie I can’t resist I think there is something magical about the brown sugar, pecan, meringue combination. I nearly ate the entire first batch all by myself and that was the batch that flopped. (I used previously frozen egg whites which failed to form a solid meringue and the cookies expanded into ugly, but nonetheless very yummy cookie blobs, The photo is from the second batch.)

Pecan Drop Cookies .

Preheat your oven to 325 F or 160 C

Grind one cup of pecans. Watch it. Just a few pulses or you’ll have pecan butter (you can substitute with hazelnuts)

Process 1 and 1/3 cup brown sugar until it becomes powdery

At the same time whip three egg whites until they are stiff but not dry. Caution: This is a noisy operation. Wear ear plugs. Don’t do this during the baby’s nap time!

Slowly add the sugar to the egg whites beating constantly. Then fold in the ground pecan

Drop batter onto baking sheets with a teaspoon and bake for 15 minutes (in some ovens this might take longer)

Bet you can’t eat just one.

Does not freeze. Also don’t bother to make this in hot humid weather.