Our Favorite Chocolate-Toffee Passover Treat Also Incorporates an Easter Surprise
Sheets of matzo are covered in caramel and chocolate and topped with Easter candy for a dessert suitable for both Passover and Easter.
Serves24
Prep25 minutes
Cook15 minutes
When you develop sweets and treats for a living, as I do, the people in your life tend to expect abundant, exceptionally yummy baked goods on the regular. Generally, I have no problem with this; I am completely on board with making delicious things for the ones I love! But every spring, because our families celebrate two different holidays, my treat-making gets just the tiniest bit harried. Enter my baking savior: matzo bark.
I first discovered matzo bark when a Seder guest brought it to share post-meal. I was serving the standbys, namely flourless chocolate cake and coconut macaroons with mini chocolate chips, but to say that they played second (and third) fiddle to the bark is an understatement. It was impossible to eat just one piece of the stuff, and so I ate many — as did everyone else.
A Multi-Faith Twist on Matzo Bark
Before creating my own version, I dug into matzo bark’s history. The original version, often called chocolate toffee “crack,” calls for saltines. It was cookbook writer Marcy Goldman who first subbed crackers for matzo to create “matzo buttercrunch,” as she calls it in her book Jewish Holiday Baking. Since then, Kitchn, David Lebovitz and Smitten Kitchen, to name just a few, have published versions of Goldman’s recipe.
My own recipe took shape pretty quickly. I am Jewish and my husband is Catholic, which means my matzo bark is a culinary hodgepodge meant to satisfy all the sweet teeth in the room, regardless of religious upbringing or faith. I tinkered with the original recipe just a bit, increasing the salt and vanilla in the toffee and calling for a tad less chocolate. But where I really put my stamp on it is topping it with Easter candy, a move that not only excited the younger set and made the bark appear more festive, but one that paid the most delicious homage to my hybrid family of four, and the two holidays that we celebrate each year. (Moreover, it is worth noting that once the celebrations for each are over, it’s a pretty spectacular way to use up both the half-eaten box of matzo as weIl as the pastel colored Easter candy hiding in the bottom of my boys’ baskets).
If you, too, celebrate both Passover and Easter, consider topping your matzo bark with Easter candy (just be sure to double check the candy is Kosher for Passover). After adding your pink, blue, and yellow candies of choice, a sprinkle of flaky sea salt does wonders for cutting the sweetness of the candy and elevates the bark in a way everyone can get behind.
Chocolate-Toffee Matzo Bark with Easter Candy
Sheets of matzo are covered in caramel and chocolate and topped with Easter candy for a dessert suitable for both Passover and Easter.
Prep time 25 minutes
Cook time 15 minutes
Serves 24
Nutritional Info
Ingredients
- 4 sheets
matzos
- 1 1/4 cups
packed dark brown sugar
- 2 sticks
(1 cup) unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon
vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons
kosher salt
- 1 cup
assorted pastel-colored Easter candy, such as M&M eggs, regular M&Ms, Peeps, or pastel sprinkles
- 1 to 1 1/2 cups
bittersweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
Flaky salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Place 4 sheets matzoh on the baking sheet, breaking them up and arranging as needed to fit together to form a single layer.
Place 1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar and 2 sticks unsalted butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, whisking occasionally, until the butter melts. Reduce the heat to medium and continue to cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 3 minutes.
Remove from the heat and whisk in 1 tablespoon vanilla extract and 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt. Pour the mixture over the matzoh, then spread into an even layer with an offset spatula.
Bake until the caramel darkens and is bubbly, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, if using large pieces of Easter candy, coarsely chop 1 cup.
Remove the matzo bark from the oven and immediately sprinkle 1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips over the caramel. Let sit for 5 minutes for the chocolate to melt.
Use the offset spatula to evenly spread the melted chocolate over the caramel. Sprinkle with the Easter candy and flaky sea salt. Refrigerate until completely chilled, about 1 hour. Cut into squares and serve cold. You may serve the bark at room temperature as well but the chocolate can get a bit melty.
Recipe Notes
Storage: Once sliced, store in the refrigerator tightly wrapped in plastic wrap up to 1 week or in the freezer up to 1 month.
Ingredient/Equipment Variations:
- If you do not have an offset spatula, you can spread the caramel and chocolate with a butter knife or the back of a large spoon.
- You can use saltine crackers instead of matzos.
- You can use a different kind of chocolate. I like 1 cup bittersweet, as Easter candy is super sweet and I like it contrasted with the not-as-sweet, smaller amount of chocolate.
This post originally ran on Kitchn. See it there: Chocolate-Toffee Matzo Bark with Easter Candy