Diary of a Secret Housewife: Caramel Chocolate Matzoh Crunch

Since it's Passover, I've had to do without my all-too-frequent stops at the local bakery for chocolate chip cookies or red velvet cupcakes.  Sure, I could use the holiday as a reason to cut down on my carb and sweets intake and get myself trimmed down for bikini season.  Alternatively, I could use the holiday as an excuse to cover all the "kosher for Passover" items around my house with caramel and chocolate and get myself plumped up to fill in some mumus for the summer.

I chose the latter option.

I made Marcy Goldman's "My Trademark, Most Requested, Absolutely Magnificent Caramel Matzoh Crunch."  With a title like that, you know it has to be awesome.

And it was.

Here's what you need: 4-6 unsalted matzohs; 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter or unsalted Passover margarine; 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar; and 3/4 cup coarsely chopped chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate.


Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a large cookie sheet completely with foil. Cover the bottom of the sheet with baking parchment — on top of the foil.

Line the bottom of the cookie sheet evenly with the matzohs, cutting extra pieces, as required, to fit any spaces.

In a 3-quart, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the butter or margarine and the brown sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil (about 2 to 4 minutes). Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and pour over the matzoh, covering completely.

(I wasn't very careful to pour the caramel evenly across the matzoh, so I had to do some spreading afterward with a spatula.)

Place the baking sheet in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 350°. Bake for 15 minutes, checking every few minutes to make sure the mixture is not burning (if it seems to be browning too quickly, remove the pan from the oven, lower the heat to 325°, and replace the pan).

Remove from the oven and sprinkle immediately with the chopped chocolate or chips. (I also added some crushed candied nuts and a bit of fleur de sel to half of the matzoh, just for a bit of added crunch and dimension.) Let stand for 5 minutes, then spread the melted chocolate over the matzoh. While still warm, break into squares or odd shapes. Chill, still in the pan, in the freezer until set.  (I wasn't able to fit the pan in my freezer, so I put it in the fridge instead; it was fine.  This was after I ate 1/4 of the matzoh straight out of the oven.  Restraint is not one of my strong suits!)

The resulting confection was -- hands down -- the most heavenly sweet thing that ever came out of my kitchen.  My favorite were the chunks with fleur de sel: the salt not only balanced the sweetness of the chocolate, it also added a bit of crunch and texture to the chewy caramel layer.

I could not stop eating it.  I had caramel chocolate matzoh crunch for an afternoon snack, for the first course of dinner, and for dessert yesterday.  Thank goodness we had some visitors today who gleefully polished off the remainder, because otherwise mumu season would be here early.

If you're celebrating Passover, and you have 5 boxes of matzoh sitting around and no will to have yet another matzoh and margarine "sandwich," make this.  Even if you're not celebrating Passover -- heck, even if you've accepted Thetan as your savior -- go get a box of matzoh from the supermarket -- trust me, it'll be on sale -- and make this.

What are you waiting for?  Go now.