A new spin on this dangerously delicious Passover dessert, with white chocolate and spicy rose sugar. Recipe and variations below.
OUR FAMILY MAY NOT HAVE EVERY ETHNIC GROUP, BUT WE’VE GOT A LOT OF ’EM. English, Scottish, Polish, Jewish, Cherokee—and that is just a fraction of it. We are part of the portrait of America, the welcome everyone! stream that keeps reviving and renewing and invigorating us all: One family, one people, one house.
When we started planning for Passover, a couple of weeks ago, the foremost thing I was worried about was dessert. So many truly kosher-for-Passover desserts are borrrrrrring. This year I had great hopes for a couple of things, especially a cake with a great deal of roasted, ground nuts and lots of eggs, plus dates steeped in wine, lemon zest and cardamom. That experiment can best be described as unfortunate: it came out tasting like a slightly fragrant cardboard box and leaving me close to despair. But as I was poking around online, I kept bumping into versions of Matzoh Crack, a recipe primarily featuring sheets of matzoh, caramel, plenty of chocolate and sea salt. Some recipes may more politely refer to it as ‘matzoh crunch,’ but this stuff is definitely crack.
Frankly, this recipe is all over the Intertubes. The original was created 20 years ago by Marcy Goldman of betterbaking.com; since then numerous bloggers have run with it. All the descendants are very near her original—and all share its amazing rich simplicity.
And the addictiveness. You may want to strategize about this one. What Marcy warns about her version is true for all of them: “Make a box for yourself before Passover and one box to serve at your seders.” You could also make a bunch and bring it in to your office, where it will last about 3-1/2 minutes.
If, like us, you are planning a nontraditional seder, for a blended family or a boundless social group, this is an honorable dessert.
Matzoh Crack
Ingredients
- 5 or 6 sheets unsalted matzohs
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- 1 cup firmly-packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, plus 1 tablespoon
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate)
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips (or 1-1/2 cups of either of these chocolates)
- 1 cup toasted sliced nuts (see Kitchen Notes)
- Other toppings (see Kitchen Notes)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF. Completely line a rimmed baking sheet (approximately 11” x 17") with foil, making sure the foil goes up and over the edges. Put a sheet of parchment paper on top of the foil.
- Line the baking sheet with matzoh. You’ll need to cut up some of the pieces to complete the job. Interestingly, although every sheet of matzoh comes perforated, the perforations never, ever help you break the cracker in any remotely linear way. I recommend cutting up the matzoh by laying each board on a smooth, flat surface, taking a serrated bread knife and pressing down with its blade between, not along, the lines of perforations. (Insert heavy sigh here.)
- In a 2- or 3-quart heavy saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together, over moderate heat, until the butter is completely melted, everything is mixed together, and the mixture is beginning to boil. Stir the mixture constantly, as it simmers, for three minutes. Turn off the heat. Add 1/2 teaspoon sea salt and the vanilla, stir well, and right away pour it over the matzoh. Use a spatula to spread it around evenly.
- Put the pan in the oven. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Keep an eye on it! It is going to get all bubbly and seething looking. That’s okay. But watch the edges carefully. If they start to darken, take the pan out of the oven for a minute, then return it. You want to bake for about 10 to 12 minutes altogether.
- Remove the pan from the oven, turn off the oven, and set the pan on the stove top or counter. Drop the semisweet chocolate chips over half the surface and the white chocolate chips over the other half. Slide the pan back into the warm oven for a minute. Take it out, then using a spatula, spread the melty chocolate chips evenly over the caramel. (Use a different spatula for the white chocolate chips.) Once everything is nice and spread around, immediately scatter the chopped nuts and the remaining tablespoon of sea salt over the entire surface. Then add any other flavorings you may want to use.
- Set the baking sheet on a rack and let it cool completely. When the toppings are fairly set, it will help to remove the matzohs carefully from the pan and let them dry on racks.
- Once the sheets are completely cool and set, break into pieces. To get perfect linear strips, use a serrated bread knife. Or just break and crack them into strips and chunks. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
- We will be serving this stacked on serving plates. Another handsome presentation, when you succeed in cutting this into long strips, is to stand the pieces vertically in glass tumblers.
- Theoretically it keeps well for a week. We are unable to confirm this statement.
I have a weird affection for matzoh, especially given that I’m not Jewish. I’m happy with just about any topping, but this does look particularly special. Speaking of passover cakes, check out the NYTimes food section today. They had a great looking recipe in an article about an Iranian passover feast.
I make this! Every year. It goes perfectly with the intensely gooey Passover Brownies I make. I will have to bump up the sea salt, though, now that you mention it. I have a beautiful wine salt from Bordeaux that would be amazing with the dark chocolate version. Lovely!
You’re right, crack absolutely. I wouldn’t be able to stop until it was gone, and then I’d be doing god knows what on the street just to buy one more.
I’m sending this to a friend. Her husband is Jewish, she’s a fantastic cook (The Restless Chef), and I’ll hope for the best.
Having sampled two of Marion’s practice runs for this post, I can attest that this stuff is crack. I liken it to a gourmet (with a capital G) twix bar. The carmelized sugar taste is so intensely appealing, and the sea salt is incredible with the chocolate. I plan to celebrate Easter this year by making this Matzoh dessert, which should be humorously confusing to my family.
I’ve been meaning to make a variation of this for years. I’m afraid you’re DEFINITELY convincing me to do it this year. How our waistlines suffer for our art!
(Did I say YUM?)
Laura, thanks, I really enjoyed that article! Now I want to make those sweet and sour stuffed grape leaves. That recipe, I see, includes one of my mother’s household staples, sour salt.
Jill, please let us know how it turns out with that salt. I used a fairly coarse French sea salt but if I could get a really black salt, wouldn’t that look cool on the white chocolate?
Altadenahiker, you could just show up at your friends’ door with the ingredients.
Jodi, thank you! Let us know what everyone thinks.
Tinky, yes, the sweet, sweet suffering!
I’ve had a version of this recipe before – and it really IS crack. So delicious!
it’s TOTAL crack. I just posted a version, in fact, but I’m inspired by your use of rose salt and will have to break out my specialty salts…I’m thinking chopped Marcona almonds + dark chocolate + smoked salt = delicious.
Oh yum. I would be in real trouble with that around.
Don’t you love the ethnic mix of today’s families? Makes for more interesting potlucks, that’s certain!
Thanks, Alta!
Nishta, I just tried yet another version, with white choc, rose sugar and Hawaiian black lava salt, and, yes, it definitely = delicious. Also, I just was poking around on your blog, and it is very cool.
Mimi, I do love it and the feeling we are all connected.
Oh my lord. This is heavenly
Seems we’re both on a Passover roll here….though mine is more “traditional” (whatever that means!) I’ve never even heard of this before, and now I WANT IT!! Chocolate and sea salt? And it’s OK for Passover? Pass some over here!!!!!
We’re making this for Easter! Thank you! 🙂
Just made this and all I can say is oh boy. It is sensational. I ordered the eSutra rose sugar and wow. I can’t wait for the girls coming over tonight to try it. I did make 2 batches.
Thanks, Wizzy!
Toni, the butter is the thing to watch out for when it comes to kosher rules–as mentioned in the Kitchen Notes, this is only kosher if it follows a non-meat meal.
Bianca, enjoy!
Thank you, Lisa, and I am so glad you got that sugar from eSutra. I love that stuff. It’s also great on top of simple sweet rolls and think how pretty it would look sprinkled on white icing. So much deliciousness, so little time.
Dear Marion –
Thanks for the shout out! This looks absolutely fantastic. I will definitely be making it. We’re always interested in how people use our products. We applaud the inventiveness!! Mind if I put a link to this on our blog?
Sincerely,
Kristyn
Heavens, this sounds fantastic and truly addictive!
Oh, and it looks lovely, too. 🙂
You know, it never ever occurred to me that there must be a baker’s tool for perforating matzoh! And certainly didn’t know it was called a reidel. Love all the info I learn reading the interwebs. 😉 This looks terrific. And butter for me, please.
What a wonderful, different dessert! I am not much of a baker, so this is a perfect “dessert” recipe for me! Thank you!
Love this recipe! Have had versions of “matzah crack” and frankly am afraid to make it, since I’m afraid I’ll eat the whole batch, to the detriment of my waistline!!! But I may try this one this year.
PS If you haven’t tried Joan Nathan’s Chocolate Souffle Roll (From her “Jewish Holiday Kitchen”) affectionately known in our house as “Mocha Cake Roll” as in “what do you mean we’re not having mocha cake roll this year”, you really should try it! It has nothing but eggs, chocolate, coffee, sugar multiplied by 2. Anything but boring!!!