My daughter-in-law makes beautiful challah, the traditional braided bread so popular at Jewish celebrations. That made me curious about what kinds of foods might be associated with Passover, which begins on April 8TH this year. Being a cookie baker, I naturally gravitated toward the sweet end of the spectrum. When I discovered Matzo Crack, I had to give it a try. All I can say is “a-MAZ-ing!” Think of it as a combination candy and bar cookie, leaning more toward the candy side. It has a crispy, flaky Matzo layer, topped with buttery toffee, melted chocolate, toasted pecans, and a sprinkling of sea salt to bring it all together.
“Once in a young lifetime one should be allowed to have as much sweetness as one can possibly want and hold.” Judith Olney
Matzo Crack is ridiculously easy to make and impossible to resist once it’s cut into bite-sized pieces. Some people break it into uneven shapes (hence the name Matzo Crack) and others cut it into squares. I did a bit of each and ended up cutting most of it into squares. When (not if) I make it again, I may go with the cracked approach. I started with the excellent recipe on The Spruce Eats website and made a few small changes to make it my own.
My Matzo Crack Recipe
Cookie specifics
Matzo Crack. Is it a candy? Is it a cookie? Think of it as a combination of both, leaning more toward the candy side. It has a crispy, flaky Matzo cracker layer, topped with buttery toffee, melted chocolate, toasted pecans, and a sprinkling of sea salt to bring it all together. When you take a bite, the chocolate melts in your mouth and the toffee adds a lovely buttery goodness. The crunch from the matzo and the nuts rounds it all off. Delicious.
Shapes
Once it’s cooled, the pan of Matzo Crack can be broken into irregular pieces or it can be cut it into squares for more uniform pieces.
Sizes
I used a bench scraper to cut mine into 2-inch squares.
Original Recipe from This Talented Baker
Matzo Crack from The Spruce Eats. Leah Maroney’s instructions are excellent and her photos are wonderful. You will definitely want to visit her site. She also includes several variations that sound delicious.
My Version
For my version of Matzo Crack, made several very small tweaks.
- I roasted the pecans before chopping them.
- I used unsalted Matzo because that’s all that was available to me.
- I also used salted butter in the toffee layer.
- I substituted dark chocolate for the semi-sweet chocolate chips. I love dark chocolate so I use it often in recipes that call for chocolate.
Cookies
Matzo Crack: matzo, butter, brown sugar, chocolate chips, pecans, sea salt
Plate, Box or Bag?
Food Container. Nothing fancy about this! I put the cut-up pieces into two airtight food containers, thinking that it would be plenty to tide us over. Within a day or so, there was only about a half of one container left! Did I mention that Matzo Crack is irresistible?
Mailing. Because of the current “shelter-in-place” mandate, I wasn’t able to mail any of this delicious candy. But it will be one of the first things I share with my remote group of family and friends.
What I’ve learned...
These cookies were made with the best ingredients I could find and baked in a small batch of two dozen. I’ve experimented with less expensive ingredients, but have come to the conclusion that flavor is best when I use the best. Why spend all this time baking and decorating if taste and texture are just so-so? Decorating the cookies takes time, but it’s an enjoyable process for me and I know that those who receive them appreciate that. Life is just better when you can share something you love with someone you love. Don’t you agree?
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