Matzah "Crack"

I've made several new things lately that I've been wanting to share, but I haven't posted much lately due to lack of decent photos.  Lately my camera has been M.I.A. a lot--it's always where I'm not, or it needs batteries, or I don't have time to download and edit, etc.  I took these with my phone (and it's of the "un-smart" variety), so I apologize up front for the poor quality of the pictures, but this recipe is so good, I just had to share. 

I heard last year about making toffee using a matzah base, but I tried one recipe and I wasn't really impressed.  Then this year I decided to try again for our Passover Seder that my church was hosting. (Yes, we are an equal-opportunity celebraters, we celebrate most of the Christian holidays, and also many of the Jewish feasts and festivals.)

This time it was a real winner!

Ingredients:

• 4 sheets of Matzah (matzos)
• 1 c (2 sticks) butter or margarine
• 1 c packed brown sugar
• 1 to 1 1/2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
• chopped nuts (optional)

Step 1--- line a baking sheet (one with a raised edge, not a flat cookie sheet) with foil, and put a layer of matzah edge to edge in the lined pan.

Step 2-- pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Meanwhile in a heavy saucepan over medium-high heat (I use set my burner between 7 & 8 on a 9-pt knob) melt the butter or margarine, then stir in the brown sugar.  Continue to cook, stirring regularly, until the mixture comes to a boil, then cook for about 3 minutes more.  At first is seems as though the butter and sugar are not not really combining, but as it cooks it becomes somewhat foamy, and when it starts to pull away from  the side of the saucepan as you stir, remove from heat and pour immediately over the matzah, spreading over all of the surface.

Warning: This is HOT.  Be very careful.  And do not under any circumstances try to lick the spoon, however tempting it may be.  It will burn the taste buds right off your tongue.  Set the spoon aside and test ti periodically with your finger.  When you can touch it without is sticking to your finger and raising a blister, then and only then can you scrape the spoon and eat the caramel sauce you just made. 

Bake at 350 for about 10-12 minutes, until it's brown and looks sort of "set" with little cracks all over it.

Step 3-- allow to sit for just a minute or two, then sprinkle all over with chocolate chips.  After two or three minutes the chocolate chips will start to get shiny, which means they've melted and softened enough to start spreading.  Sprinkle with chopped nuts of your choice--I used finely chopped pecans, but I've seem other versions on line that used chopped pistachios, walnuts, even a sprinkle of sea-salt. 

And now for the hard part--you have to let this cool completely or it won't "set" enough to cut or break into pieces.  I stuck the first batch in the fridge to cool, the second I tried to leave out on the counter, but I finally had to put it in the fridge to firm up as well.

I made two pans, one with nuts, one without.  I even tried a version with nuts and toffee/caramel sauce but no chocolate, but it was a different recipe, and I didn't like the flavor. I want to try that again later this week with this recipe for the sugar/butter mixture. 

All I can say about this recipe is--now I know why they call this "crack"--it's crispy and crackly on the bottom, you can crack or cut it apart--and it's perfectly addicting!

Until next time--good cooking, and good eating!

This post linked to:

Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam
Works for Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family