With Passover now just over a week away it is time for me to stop pretending that it isn’t imminent and to start getting down to planning. Most years by this time I have menus set and the desserts finalized, but this year it seems to be that I am going to be figuring this out closer to the actual Seders. The one thing I know for sure is that I will not be making any big fancy desserts for the Seders. As much as I love big show stopping fancy desserts, I find that people tend to be so full by the end of the seder they end up barely eating them. An assortment of cookies and candies always seems to go over better, with people nibbling a cookie here, a marshmallow there. I save the big fancy desserts for Shabbat and holiday meals later in the week, when people aren’t quite as stuffed.

The only thing I am sure will absolutely be on our seder menu this year are these Double Chocolate Passover Cookies. (And the marshmallow frogs, the kids would rebel if we didn’t have frogs).  I was inspired to make these after making my friend Melissa’s amazing Passover Chocolate Chip Cookies last year. I made them three times during Passover last year alone, that is how good they are, you should absolutely try them! Her secret is using pudding mix in the cookies to make them tender and delicious. She uses vanilla pudding, but I decided I wanted to try a variation with chocolate pudding instead to make a chocolate variation of these awesome cookies. After a bunch of tinkering I ended up leaving the pudding mix behind, and using extra cocoa powder and potato starch instead of the pudding mix (My first attempts were way too sweet because of all the extra sugar in the pudding).

I am very pleased with the end result. They are intensely chocolaty with a soft chewy texture. The kind of cookie that is just right for dessert after a big meal, but is also perfect for an afternoon snack. I imagine I will be making these over and over throughout the holiday.