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SOUND THE TRUMPETS
Please allow us to introduce the newest, most fun page on the TAAP website: our recipe and interview page (It will shortly be migrating to its own tab - but we couldn't wait for the website fandangle stuff to be done - so it's gonna live here for now) ! In this space, we will feature vegan recipes as well as in-depth interviews with rock-star animal advocates (who will also be sharing recipes! it's a recipe bonanza!). We are so excited to get this party started!
Below, we are sharing a recipe celebrating each of the three major holidays that are all coinciding at present: Passover, Ramadan, and Easter. We're happy that our inaugural post is as inclusive as we at TAAP strive to be. Whether you celebrate one, two, or none of the three holidays, there will be treats that we promise you'll find delicious!
Chocolate Toffee Matzo for Passover
The most delicious kosher-for-Passover treat happens to be one of the easiest, most fool-proof recipes we ever encountered. You can play around with ingredients, with toppings, with timings -- you can make a mess of this and in the end, it'll still come out incredible. It's sugar and chocolate, after all!
For those who don't know, matzo is the unleavened bread (basically an unflavoured cracker) that the Israelites made during their exodus from Egypt. While fleeing from the evil Pharaoh and his forces, the escaping slaves did not have time to allow their bread dough to rise -- they were fleeing, after all. So when they baked their bread - their unleavened bread - the result was the crisp, flat matzo. Jews commemorating Passover will eat matzo and avoid bread, pasta, and many other foods made from grains. (Some even avoid beans and soy and all kinds of stuff but we won't get into that!) It's basically Atkins-plus-matzo.
Although the saying '10 Jews, 11 opinions' proves true when it comes to eating matzo in general (it's gross! no it's great! it's constipating! it's great with (vegan) butter!), I'm pretty sure everyone agrees that chocolate-covered toffee matzo is amazing. I mean, we're covering a cracker with a brown sugar caramel and then covering allathat with chocolate. You cannot lose!
Oh, btw, we're making a big ass batch here. Trust me, it's addictive, and it freezes well.
INGREDIENTS
• 10-12 sheets of matzo
• 2 cups vegan butter
• 3 packed cups brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon fine-grain salt
• 1.5 - 2 cups chocolate chips, possibly more (like I said we aren't so exact with this recipe)
• flaked sea salt to taste
• Toppings of choice
DIRECTIONS
1. Lay out all the matzo sheets on parchment-paper-lined baking sheets. Lay out in one layer; you can break some into pieces to fit but it's easier to work with whole sheets.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F
3. In a small saucepan, mix the butter and brown sugar and bring to a boil. Keep whisking this mixture until it thickens, a few minutes
4. Keep whisking as you stir in the vanilla and salt. It's like when Ross and Chandler have to whisk constantly while drinking their instant coffee.
5. Once it seems smooth enough and thick enough to you (it really doesn't matter too much, it's getting baked), or you get tired (about 3-4 minutes), pour the hot hot mixture (carefully) over the matzo and spread it around with a spatula.
6. Place the baking sheets in the preheated oven and cook for 12-15 minutes (until bubbly and...well...done. It's not an exact science. It'll be fine.)
7. Remove from the oven and IMMEDIATELY pour chocolate chips over the hot hot sheets. (That's why the chip count is an estimate; just pour to your heart's content.)
8. Let the heat of the baked caramelized sheets heat up the chocolate chips for a few minutes and then take a spatula and spread them to coat the matzo
9. Sprinkle with sea salt, or crushed nuts, or dried fruit, or candied ginger, or literally whatever the heck you want, while the chocolate is still melty so the toppings stick
10. Put the baking sheets in the fridge to cool and harden. When they're all set, break the matzo into pieces with your hands and put most of the pieces in your mouth. Store the rest in a ziplock bag or tupperware, It'll keep for a long time and freezes well.
Yes you're welcome.