Prep Time 10min Cook Time 20min
Ah, the internet. Thanks to the comments on epicurious, I made this with salted butter, and added vanilla and almonds to the original recipe. The thing you won't have realized before you make it is the way all of the caramel is going to seep through the matzoh's holes and coat even the bottom with a layer of crunchy, delicious caramel. Oh, it is so, so good.
It really doesn't matter if you're Jewish or not, because this will be the most addictively delicious thing you have every had a hand in making; honestly, it could be one of the ten plagues, it's so dastardly. It's from famed cookbook author Marcy Goldman's recipe ('A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking'). She calls it "My Trademark, Most Requested, Absolutely Magnificent Caramel Matzoh Crunch," and this is really not an exaggeration.
by Catherine Newman
What you'll need
- 4-6 unsalted matzohs (we used 5)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) butter (we used salted)
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup slivered almonds toasted in a 350 oven until fragrant and golden (5-10 minutes)
How to make it
- Heat the oven to 375 and line a large cookie sheet completely with foil, then cover the bottom of the sheet with baking parchment (on top of the foil). Don't skip this step, since the caramel gets wildly sticky during baking.
- Line the bottom of the cookie sheet evenly and completely with the matzohs, cutting or breaking extra pieces, as required, to fit.
- In a medium-sized, heavy-bottomed saucepan, combine the butter and the brown sugar, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil (about 2 to 4 minutes). Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly; it will get very thick and fluffy. Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla, and pour it over the matzoh, using a heat-proof spatula to spread the caramel and completely cover the matzohs (or using a butter knife, which won't work very efficiently, but you forgot to get out the spatula and were panicking a little about the hot caramel).
- 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). Note: I read many comments about burning problems, and ended up reducing the oven heat after about 4 minutes. Also, I wasn't sure when it was done, but at a certain point it seemed to be quite brown and done bubbling and I took it out of the oven.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle immediately with the chocolate chips (it won't seem like enough, but it will be). Let stand for 5 minutes, then spread the melted chocolate over the matzoh and top immediately with the almonds. While still warm, break into squares or odd shapes (I wanted odd shapes, but opted instead to cut it up with a pizza cutter so that I wouldn't get chocolate all over my hands). Chill, still in the pan, in the freezer until set.
