Category Archives: Holiday

Not all Matzo is Created Equal …

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And after many years of making this Passover treat, we think you might agree that there’s nothing like (or wrong) with covering matzos with browned butter and sugar to make a caramelized sauce and then, as if that wasn’t enough, adding dark chocolate chips to melt and spread upon them. Here’s the basics of what we did:

Ingredients:

5-6 whole matzos

1 stick of butter

1 cup of brown sugar

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Line two jelly roll pans with parchment paper, make sure to include the edges
  3. Cover the sheets with matzos, break into pieces if need be in order to cover the entire sheet
  4. In a small saucepan, melt butter and sugar and slowly bring to a boil over medium heat
  5. Once at a boiling point, caramelize the mixture by stirring frequently for another 3-4 minutes
  6. Remove the butter from heat and pour over the matzos on the prepared pans, using the back of a spoon to spread evenly, edge to edge
  7. Put the sheets in the oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, checking often to ensure the butter is bubbling, but not burning
  8. Once bubbling consistently, remove sheets from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top
  9. Let sit for about 5 minutes until chocolate chips begin to melt, then spread evenly over baked matzos
  10. Let cool completely and then break into pieces. Store in airtight container until ready to serve …

… if you can wait that long! If there’s one thing we learned about these matzos, it’s impossible to eat just one piece, in fact, the recipe is so easy to follow, we always make double batches (some for what we like to call, “home consumption”) and some for our Seders and snacks during Passover. Enjoy!

 

 

 

The Macro-Economics of Passover Macaroons

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So, every year I do the same old thing – a couple weeks before Passover – I head to the supermarket and search high and low for that surreptitious end cap stocked with the latest (but ever the same) boxes of Passover matzos and other intolerable snacks. But this year, however, I vowed, that aside from my ONE box of necessary matzos, I would not purchase, not even one can of the classic Passover treat, those tiny, smushed, completely overpriced coconut macaroons! No, this year I set out to make my own … and the result was better and easier than I imaged … not to mention much more economical.

First, I must confess, I looked at plenty of recipes before I used a variation of most, with one specific modification, I did not want to use ground almonds (or almond flour), purely because I didn’t want to invest in it … the idea was to make an inexpensive macaroon with my kids. Here’s what I ended up with, Purely Decadent Chocolate Chip Macaroons – and I must add – the only ingredient I purchased was a bag of Great Value Brand Shredded Coconut for $1.72, everything else, I had in my pantry … how’s that for macaroon economics?

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

2/3 cup sugar (most recipes called for 3/4 to a cup of sugar, but I generally reduce the measurement)

2 egg whites

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips

Pinch of table salt

Method:

  1. Line baking sheet with parchment. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, combine coconut, sugar, egg whites, vanilla and salt
  3. Add chocolate chips, ensure the ingredients are well mixed
  4. With wet hands, form 1-2 tbsp. of mixture into a haystack-like shape, or little domes about 1 inch apart
  5. Bake until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from pans to cool. Macaroons should slide right off of parchment
  6. Store in airtight container for up to 5 days

In the end, my girls and I ended up baking two batches – one with straight chocolate chips and the second variation by adding diced crystalized ginger into the mix – all together, our efforts yielded 32, rather large and relatively inexpensive, but oh, so tasty, coco-nutty morsels of Passover goodness! See some pictures below. -April

Mixing:
Here is the picture with chocolate and ginger:
This is the just chocolate chip batch:
Ready to bake:
Just out of the oven: