Matzo Crack

Matzo Crack

Adapted from Marcy Goldman and David Lebovitz by Blue Heron Kitchen

If there’s one confection you add to this year’s seder table, make it this one, Crack. You can prepare it now and keep it in the fridge or freezer (but you may finish it before your seder). 

It’s simple to prepare and lifts matzo out of the dessert onto the dance floor. Crack is why you should get the 5 lb. (Israeli) for free or $2.99 (Streits or Manischewitz) with the coupon at Stop and Shop, (even if you live alone or you're Catholic or Hindu or Muslim or Christian or Jain or Gujarati or a devout Atheist). Passover is a culinarily peculiar holiday, when practicing Jews cease eating anything that’s leavened for an entire week. It's all about matzo and potatoes. 

This confection is addictive. If you don’t like matzo, you’ll like it now.

If vanilla extract isn’t in your Passover kitchen, don’t worry – omit it.

Play around with semi-sweet or dark chocolate. Omit the chocolate and make Caramel Crack (try light brown sugar and don’t forget the vanilla extract – or scrape ½ a vanilla bean into the caramel before pouring it over the matzo).

I’m going to make another batch later with dark chocolate and I'll sprinkle crispy bacon chopped candied ginger on top! 

The story of Passover is all about the Jews being enslaved and then not. Israel needs to sing “Let My People Go” and replace “My” with “Their” .. It's time to let the Palestinians that are grossly encamped "Go". What a perfect Passover is would be - no more hypocrisy! 

To those who celebrate, Happy Passover! If not, grab a box of matzo and make this - a couple of times. Got matzo? .. make Crack .. or matzo brei.

peace and love,

jane

Ingredients:

4 (6-1/2-by-6-inch) sheets unsalted matzo

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into large pieces

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

¾ tsp. kosher salt

¾  tsp. fleur de sel* (see below)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups excellent quality semi or dark chocolate chips

1 cup toasted sliced almonds or other toasted coarsely chopped nuts

* Don’t waste your precious fleur de sel in the caramel – use kosher salt. But do sprinkle fleur de sel on top for a perfect sweet and salty finish.

Procedure:

Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with 2 overlapping pieces of aluminum foil that wrap over the edges of the baking sheet or parchment that extends over each side of the baking sheet.

Arrange the matzo in a single layer on the baking sheet, breaking pieces as needed to fill any empty spaces.

Place the butter, brown sugar, and 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir with a rubber spatula until the mixture comes to a boil, about 5 minutes. Continue to boil, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes more.

Remove from the heat, add the vanilla (or not)  - add it slowly, because the caramel may bubble up and seize. (That’s okay.)

Pour the caramel over the matzo and spread it evenly using an offset or silicone spatula.

Place the (careful, it’s hot!) baking sheet in the oven and bake until small bubbles cover the surface and the caramel is fragrant (do not let the caramel burn), about 10 minutes.

Remove from the oven, sprinkle with the chocolate chips. In about a minute or two, the chips will have softened.

Using an offset spatula, spread the chocolate evenly over the caramel. Immediately, sprinkle with the toasted nuts and remaining 3/4 teaspoon fleur de sel.

Refrigerate the brittle until cool, about 15 minutes. 

Break into pieces and serve.

The matzo crack can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature or refrigerated for up to 1 week. This freezes well (and like Mallomars or Thin Mints ... you know where I'm going.)

Vegan Nut Butter Cookies (with variations!)

Vegan Nut Butter Cookies
(With Variations!)

Thumbprint variation!

This recipe came my way from a lovely blog I subscribe to called Goodness Is.

I chose to share this with you for several reasons. One was because I'd never baked cookies without eggs. Have you? The other, because having just had shoulder surgery, I don't have full range of use of my right wing now. This is a recipe I could produce without my right arm!

So, grateful to not have to crack an egg with one hand (yes, I can), and after reading the fine print on the pain pills, I've not only concluded that my Kitchen Aid isn't heavy machinery but that because its name is Kitchen Aid, it has been added as an adjunct to my physical therapy protocol.

With a skeletal crew, Blue Heron Kitchen is open operating!

My friend Rick (of Rick's Chrain fame), took one bite of these and said they'd be great without the chocolate chips. The cookie part, he thought was great. My neighbors, who have been helping me out during this needy time, and who have a toddler, really loved them, and immediately asked for the recipe. They loved the chocolate chips. What I'm not crazy about is the 'look' of these. The finish is a little anemic. Maybe if you dip them in something like toasted coconut or ground nuts, they'd look prettier. (I suppose an egg wash is out of the question.)

By now, you've probably figured out that I'm not a vegan. I wouldn't publish this recipe if they weren't seriously delicious. They're knockouts.

Don't be discouraged by the oat flour or spelt flour ingredients. First, you can buy these products easily at any good health conscious market. Bob's Red Mill sells these flours online, you can buy them at Fairway markets if you live in the NY metro area, or go to a good health food store. I'm turning to markets other than Whole Foods. My local Whole Foods is gross. It's crowded, poorly stocked, prices are stupid, staff is friendly and mostly vapid and basically unknowledgeable. Whole Foods should act their pricetag, not their preservative size.

What's important is that you understand the gluten profile of these flours: Oat flour is low in gluten. Spelt is fairly low in gluten. So, you can substitute, if necessary. Try other low gluten flours: cake flour can be a good substitute for the oat flour. Try whole wheat pastry flour and white cake flour if these less common flours aren't readily available or you just don't want to purchase them. The nice thing about the Bob's Red Mill flours is that they come in small bags. You keep them in the fridge and you don't feel like you've got five pounds of something you'll never use again.

Nut butters: I used almond butter because I had more in the house than peanut butter. I ground it myself at the supermarket. You don't have much choice over the texture, but you know what's in it and that it's fresh. If you use peanut butter, they'll taste more of peanut butter, which isn't a bad thing. Smooth will give you a different (my preference) product than chunky. Salty  butters would be fun. I'd omit the salt in the recipe and add a little more chocolate to balance the salt. Yum. A great variation on this are thumbprint cookies! For these, I use peanut butter and my favorite jam. 

If you're allergic to nuts, try sunflower seed butter or tahini. But if you use tahini, the tahini taste may dominate. If you do, please let me know!

I wrote about coconut oil in my plain cake recipe. I'm still not entirely sure about this fat, but I still have a jar of it. It's sweet and very delicious; and if you like the scent and taste of coconut, you'll like using it. For years, coconut oil was slammed and buried as one of the worst possible fats - it would dig you an early grave. I'm waiting for fois gras to be released from prison.

Vegan Nut Butter Cookies
(With variations)

Adapted from Goodness Is by Blue Heron Kitchen

Ingredients:

3/4 cup whole-wheat spelt flour

3/4 cup of oat flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup peanut or almond butter (or nut or 'not nut' butter of choice), smooth or chunky, but smooth will give you a better 'bound' cookie

1/3  cup pure maple syrup, or treacle (Lyle's Golden), or a combination or the two

2 tablespoons of coconut oil

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

optional: 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips (or chopped dark chocolate)

here are a few variations: 

PB & J!: make them into thumbprints! (I would omit the chocolate chips, but you can leave them in and have an pb/j and chocolate orgy!) Roll them into balls and make an indentation in the center of each one. Place about 1/8 of a tsp. of your favorite jam in the center. 

omit chips and substitute chopped nuts of the same variety of the nut butter you used 

play around with extracts and decrease vanilla and add a small amount (1/4 tsp. almond extract)

add some chopped up dried fruit, such as apricots or dried cherries!

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350º F. and line a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper, silpat , or oil the pan (remember, these are vegan, so don't cheat and use butter)

2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and salt and set aside.

3. In another bowl (or in the bowl of your electric mixer), combine nut butter, coconut oil, maple syrup (or treacle - I mixed the two and loved the result. You could probably use brown rice syrup too. I haven't tried honey.), extract and mix for several minutes until well-combined.

4. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just incorporated. Dump in chocolate chips (or other additions) and fold in by hand.

5. Using rounds teaspoons or a small cookie scoop, space them about an inch apart on the cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with your hand (just a little bit!)

6. Bake for about 10-12 minutes (I baked them for 10 minutes). If you bake them longer, they'll be dry.

7. Transfer to a rack to cool. 

Yield 16-20 cookies.

Warm, with a glass of milk, these will make your eyes roll into your head. Wrapped, they'll stay moist for several days. You can freeze them, but they probably won't make it to the freezer.

My "leftie" vegan cookies

Passover "Mandel Bread"

As if you don't have this recipe (it's the Jewish equivalent to the "NY Times Plum Torte" that Craig Claiborne sighed and published every year.) I think it was first published in The Jewish Press. I credit it to my mother. Thanks, Mom!

I just learned that the pork roast and Molly Kugel seder I'm making dessert for this year has increased to over 40 guests. We'll have to slug it out over the single 9" flourless chocolate cake (wait for the post .. it's a winner!); and I do have about 12 dozen macaroons - many varieties!

But, it's time to pull out the matzo cake meal - akin pouring a little more water in the soup pot for the dessert table. As long as there's Rick's chrain, delicious pork, Molly's kugel and plenty of wine, I'll be content. And I'll enjoy watching everyone devour these desserts.

Oh... check the macaroon page for another variation, a macaroon that I dedicate to my friend, teacher and mentor, Suvir Saran, a self-proclaimed "Jindu", I call it a "Suviroon"!

peace and love,
jane

Passover Mandel Bread

(from Mom)

Blue Heron Kitchen

CREAM TOGETHER:           2 cups sugar

                                                ½ pound butter or margarine

ADD:                                       6 eggs, size large, one at a time, beating well after each egg

SIFT TOGETHER:                 2 ¾ c. matzo cake meal

                                                ½ tsp. kosher salt

                                                ¾ c. potato starch

Fold dry ingredients into egg, butter, sugar mixture

ADD:   1 cup chopped nuts and 6 oz. chocolate chips or chopped bar chocolate (or omit the nuts, as I do and just add 12 oz. of chocolate chips)

Form into 4 - 2” wide [about ½-3/4” high] loaves [two loaves per cookie sheet – width, not length] and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix.

Bake on cookie sheets at 350 degrees for 45 minutes [less], slice while warm into 1/2” pieces.

Yield:  4 loaves