Matzo Brittle

Note:  After I posted this I found a recipe for the matzo crunch on weightwatchers.  Their recipe is obviously healthier (only 1/3 cup sugar and butter) - but does it taste as good?  Probably not :)

What a weekend!  It started off with a Passover sedar at Josh's parents house on Friday night, and then on Saturday we headed to NJ for my family's sedar. 

Josh's mom is a fantastic cook, so I knew the food would be great, but I always like to bring something anyway (in addition to the kosher for passover wine that we found from the vineyard that we visited in Israel!).  I figured I'd bring something little, a snacky-snack to add to whatever she made for dessert.  I had come across a recipe for saltine cracker crunch, and figured, why can't I substitute matzo?  It was sort of an experiment, but it came out great!  I brought the leftovers to my house and they were gone in about 2 minutes (mostly by my dad).  I even made another batch while I was at my parents house for my mom to bring to work (and my dad to eat...)

WARNING - this recipe is in no way healthy, but it is kosher for passover, so I figure that's just as good.

Matzo Brittle:

• ~4 sheets of matzo
• 1 cup of salted butter, cut into a couple of large pieces (if you only have unsalted butter, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the recipe)
• 1 cup of packed brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• nuts or other toppings (optional) 

First, if you're anything like me you hate doing dishes.  In order to avoid washing a very sticky cookie tray, cover the entire tray in tin foil and then line with parchment paper.  Then, cover the parchment paper with matzo.  You'll need to break up the matzo to have it fit, so don't worry about using those broken pieces from the bottom of the box!

Next, preheat your oven to 300 degrees.  In a small saucepan combine the 1 cup butter with the 1 cup brown sugar.  Place over medium heat and wait for the butter to melt with the sugar.

Once completely melted, wait for the mixture to start boiling.  Once boiling, stir for about 3 more minutes, or until the caramel seems thickened.  Make sure to stir constantly so the bottom doesn't burn.

Once the caramel seems thick, take it off the heat and add the vanilla (and salt if you used unsalted butter).  Then pour over the matzo, and spread around to cover the matzo completely.  You'll want to work quickly since it will start to set.  After the caramel is completely covering the matzo, put the tray in the oven for 15 minutes.  I set the timer for every 5 minutes so I would remember to keep checking it.  If the caramel starts bubbling too much you'll want to open the door a little to drop the temperature. 

After 15 minutes remove the tray and pour the chocolate chips over the caramel.  You'll use about half a bag of chocolate chips (or more if you want a lot of chocolate!).  Wait about 5 minutes for the chocolate chips to get melty and then spread them over the entire caramel covered matzo.  At this point you can also add some chopped nuts, marshmallows, sea salt or any other topping you'd like.


You can either leave it out on the counter to harden, or put the tray in the fridge to hurry up the process (obviously what I did - Josh and I couldn't wait to try this!).  Once it's completely hardened just take a knife and cut up the sheets any way you'd like.  I like mine to look rustic :)

This is a very quick and easy snack to leave out for people to munch on or to send home with people (just put in little cellophane bags and tie with a cute ribbon).  However you choose to share these, they'll be sure to be a hit!