Matzoh Caramel Buttercrunch
By mitzzy
From A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman, Whitecap Books.
Ingredients
- 4-6 unsalted matzoh boards or sheets
- 1 cup unsalted butter or unsalted Passover margarine
- 1 cup light brown sugar - packed firmly
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate - coarsely chopped
- 1 envelope passover vanilla sugar or 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract*
- If you use vanilla at Passover, use it. If not, the white vanilla sugar, for Passover, is fine. Or you can leave it out entirely.
Preparation
Step 1
Preheat oven to 375 F. Line doubled up, rimmed cookie sheets completely with foil. Cover bottom of pan with baking parchment - on top of foil. This is very important as mixture becomes sticky during baking. Line bottom of pan evenly with matzoh boards, cutting extra pieces of matzoh, as required, to fit any spaces on the cookie sheet as evenly as possible.
Combine margarine or butter and brown sugar in a 3 quart, heavy-bottomed, saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Continue cooking 3 more minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla powder or extract. Stir well, and then pour or spoon over matzoh.
Place in oven and immediately reduce heat to 350 F. Bake 15 minutes, checking every few minutes to make sure mixture is not burning. If it seems to be browning too quickly, remove from oven, lower heat to 325 F. and replace.
Remove from oven and sprinkle matzoh boards immediately with chopped chocolate or chips. Let stand 5 minutes then spread melted chocolate over matzoh. While still warm cut into squares or odd shapes. Chill in refrigerator until set. This makes a good gift. You can also serve it in confectioners' paper cups as a candy.
Variation:
You can also use white chocolate, coarsely chopped (or both white and dark) and chopped, toasted almonds (sprinkle on top as chocolate sets).
White sugar:
If you prefer white sugar, or if you can't find kosher brown sugar (i.e. for Passover) follow these directions:
Place 2 cups of white sugar in a heavy bottomed saucepan with 2 tablespoons of water.
Heat on low to medium until sugar dissolves.
Continue cooking until mixture turns medium amber.
Pour over matzoh which is laid out on baking sheets.
Spread and sprinkle on chocolate chips.
NO BAKING for this version.