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On Passover, dessert choices really feel restricted. No leavened meals are allowed, so the same old recipes for truffles, cookies and the like are out.
Flourless desserts and/or desserts made with matzo meal are honest sport, and there are some nice recipes on the market (and loads of not-so-great ones). For me, there is just one non-negotiable, must-have Passover dessert: chocolate-covered caramel matzo.
Or, because it’s extra generally recognized, Matzo Buttercrunch.
The proficient baker Marcy Goldman got here up with and named this recipe within the mid Nineteen Eighties, and printed it in her first cookbook, “ The Treasury of Jewish Cooking.” It turned a word-of-mouth sensation, shared from cook dinner to cook dinner first on paper and now all around the web.
Generally, it is referred to as Matzo Crack (it’s that addicting).
However there are nonetheless of us who haven’t skilled it, and I can’t bear that thought.
The fundamental premise: You make a easy caramel/toffee combination with melted margarine or butter and sugar, with a little bit of salt. This combination is poured and unfold over sheets of matzo, after which baked to additional caramelize it and trigger it to set. Chocolate chips are sprinkled over the recent, caramel-covered matzo, allowed to melt, after which unfold in a high layer of melted chocolate, which cools and corporations up.
I like to complete with some flaky sea salt or chopped peanuts, sprinkled on proper after you unfold the melted chocolate. (Be certain that there are not any allergy issues when you use nuts.)
Then, the cooled matzo is lower or damaged into items.
A Montreal native, Goldman educated as a pastry chef. “We realized that simply because one thing is Passover-appropriate doesn’t imply it deserves a spot on the desk. It has to style improbable,” she says.
“It is a false impression that we now have to endure Passover meals, particularly the baking.”
There’s a comparable, non-Passover, chocolate- and toffee-covered cracker dessert, normally made with saltines or soda crackers. There are additionally variations made with graham crackers. Seeking to appease her choosy toddler, Goldman questioned if would work with matzo. And it absolutely did.
“I by no means dreamed it could grow to be so viral,” she says of the recipe that is grow to be a Passover dessert staple/phenomenon.
Goldman makes her Matzo Buttercrunch all through the month main as much as Passover, explaining that the primary batch by no means makes it to the Seder dinner. Through the years, she has performed with plenty of variations, a favourite being one with white chocolate marbleized with apricot jam. Pistachios are additionally a preferred topping, she says.
TIPS
— Earlier than you even start making the caramel, prep your rimmed baking sheet. Line it with aluminum foil, masking the pan utterly, together with up and over the sides. Then place a sheet of parchment over the foil. This retains the caramel from spreading underneath the foil and makes the matzo straightforward to drag off of the pan.
— Search for kosher-for-Passover chocolate and different components if you’d like a kosher desk throughout the vacation. For those who’re making ready a dairy-free meal, use margarine as an alternative of butter.
— Don’t be tempted to unfold out the melting chocolate chips too shortly. They’ve to melt from the warmth of the caramel.
— Earlier than breaking the chocolate matzo, I typically put it within the fridge it for half-hour or extra to agency up totally. Then break it up and retailer in a cool place, even within the fridge, till shortly earlier than serving.
— I like so as to add a teaspoon of vanilla to my caramel combination.
For those who’re utilizing margarine, Goldman recommends on the lookout for the block margarine, not the whipped stuff in a bathtub. She additionally says you need to whisk the caramel vigorously when you use margarine, so the caramel doesn’t separate.
This recipe may be made as much as 4 days forward of time. If it is refrigerated, take away it about quarter-hour earlier than serving to return to room temperature.
Chocolate-covered caramel matzo recipe
Right here it’s, tailored from Goldman’s web site. She notes that the recipe doubles simply and freezes effectively. She suggests serving small items in confectioners’ paper cups as a sweet.
INGREDIENTS
4-6 unsalted matzo boards or sheets
1 cup unsalted butter or unsalted Passover margarine
1 cup gentle brown sugar
3/4 cup chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 levels F. Line a rimmed baking sheet utterly with foil, after which cowl that with a chunk of parchment paper. That is essential, because the combination turns into sticky throughout baking. On high of the parchment, line the pan evenly with matzo boards, chopping further items of matzo as required to suit any further areas on the cookie sheet as evenly as attainable.
Mix butter and brown sugar in a 3-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan. Cook dinner over medium warmth, stirring consistently, till combination involves a boil. Proceed cooking 3 extra minutes, stirring consistently. Take away from warmth and spoon or pour over matzo.
Bake quarter-hour, checking each jiffy to ensure combination shouldn’t be burning. If it appears to be browning too shortly, take away it from the oven, decrease warmth to 325 F and substitute.
Take away from oven and sprinkle the matzo boards instantly with chopped chocolate or chips. Let stand 5 minutes, then unfold the melted chocolate over the matzo. Whereas nonetheless heat, lower into squares or odd shapes. Chill in fridge till set.
