Passover Crunchies

Passover begins Saturday the 19th at sundown. Basically, the celebration of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, this is a time when families and friends come together to recant the history of this exodus with stories and foods symbolic of this time. Now that's a really rough explanation but for those of you who have seen the Ten Commandments - the epic Charlton Heston movie - you'll have a sense of the history. It's important to note that it's not only Jews in the world who celebrate this time of year. Catholics also celebrate The Passover, although the symbolism and tribute to events is varied.

As the Jews left Egypt they were unable to leven bread and created an unleaven flatbread called matza (matzo, matzoh -everone spells it differently) To this day, during the period of Passover, it is forbidden to consume foods that contain leavening agents. It's kind of like a Jewish lent if you will. Matzoh is a pretty bland, tasteless cracker type of bread that takes on interesting appeal when mixed with large quantities of butter, eggs, jams etc. For those who have never seen it, here's a package of matzoh.




My good friend shared a confectionary recipe with me that's super simple, perfect for Passover and has kind of an almond roca kind of flavour to it (well, maybe that's a bit of a stretch - but it's good anyways).

Matzoh crunchies are so easy to make, and even easier to eat and you'd never know it was made of matzoh. We're entering this recipe for:



Lori Lynn at Taste With The Eyes sets the most beautiful table for her guests to celebrate Passover. Do make a point of checking out her blog - easy on the eyes and beautiful recipes too.

Ingredients:

3-4 (more or less) unsalted matzohs, enough to fit on to and completely fill your rimmed cookie sheet
1 cup unsalted butter (1 cup = 1/2 lb or 2 sticks)
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup (or more) chocolate chips
toasted almond slivers or slices

Process:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Line a large cookie sheet with foil over the top edges and fold under; then cover the tinfoil with parchment paper



3. Place the matzohs onto the baking sheet, breaking as necessary to fit. It's okay if they overlap a little.



4. In a saucepan, combine the butter and brown sugar and cook over medium heat (stirring constantly)



5. Remove the butter/sugar mix from the heat and pour it all over the matzoh, covering completely



6. Place the baking sheet in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 350 F
7. Bake 5-15 minutes checking every few minutes to make sure the mixture is not burning. If it's browning too quickly, reduce oven temperature or open the oven door for a minute. It should be bubbling all over and starting to turn colour.
8. Remove baking sheet from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips all over the bubbly mixture matzohs. Let stand for a few minutes until chips start melting. If you're impatient like I am, turn heat off oven and just put pan back in for a couple of minutes to melt the chocolate chips.



9. While chocolate is still soft and melted, spread with spatula for even coverage and sprinkle with toasted almond slivers/slices






10. Put into the fridge to cool and harden (about 10 minutes) and then break into pieces. You have matzoh brittle!!