Sunday was the most fun (and chaos) that I have had in a long time. I worked with the wonderful children of the Oraynu children’s school. From JK to grade 7 we made some special passover foods. Specifically we made the Nut Free Charoseth for the Oraynu congregation’s passover seder.

Here are the cast of characters

and the recipe:

Nut Free Charoseth for the Oraynu Congregation  - Serves 1 seder

Ingredients
225    gram    Raisins
100    grams    Figs
200    gram    Dates
50    gram    Apricots
2        Apples
2        Orange — zest and juiced
1/4    cup    Honey
1/4    tsp    Cloves, Ground
1    tsp    Cinnamon, Ground
1/2    tsp    Ginger, Ground
160    ml    Wine, Dessert, Sweet
Instructions
Chop figs, dates and apricots into small pieces. Use knife or scissors. Peel and core apples. Chop into small pieces. Using microplane zester or grater remove zest from oranges.
Cut oranges in half and juice.
Put all dried fruits into saucepan, add chopped apple, orange zest and orange juice, spices and wine. Bring to boil, then turn to low heat and simmer for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until everything coheres into a sticky mass. If your mixture seems too chunky you can put in into a food processor or use an immersion blender to make it finer.

Sorry that my recipe is bilingual (metric/imperial), it’s much easier to weigh figs than to figure out what 1/2 a cup is. The proportions aren’t really important you just need about 2 cups of dried fruit.

Here it is simmering away.

This is the recipe that you’re waiting for. I called it Chocolate Matzo Buttercrunch. It really went over well with everyone who tried it. It’s sweet, crunch, buttery, chocolatey and addictive.

Chocolate Matzo Buttercrunch - Serves 12
Recipe By: Michelle Wolfson

Ingredients
4 1/2    sheet    Matzo
1    cup    butter
1    cup    brown sugar
12    ounces    chocolate chips

Instructions
Line a cookie sheet with aluminim foil or parchment. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Fill cookie sheet with matzo, you may have to break a few. In a medium size saucepan over medium heat melt butter and brown sugar, increase heat and bring to a boil. Boil for exactly 3 minutes stirring constantly. Spread butter/sugar mixture evenly over matzo. Bake pan for exactly 5 minutes.
Take out and let cool for a  minute or so and then sprinkle the chips over the top. Wait 5 minutes or so until the heat of the matzo mixture melts the chocolate chips. Spread out choclate evenly. Put in refrigerator to harden.
Break up into pieces.

Recipe Notes

Notes:    This is one of my favourite Urban Legend recipes. Using only 4 ingredients you create an irrestitable treat that is quick to make.
Little ones can help out lining up the matzo at the beginning but some of the later steps are too close to the heat for preschoolers.
You don’t need any cooking skills to produce excellent results but you do need to pay attention and follow the timing as given.
This should yield at least 40 pieces but I have known it to disappear in about 5 minutes.

First we lay out the matzo

 Then we bring the butter and brown sugar to a boil

 Once it comes to a full boil we start timing and let it boil for 3 minutes.It will look something like this.

Pour the mixture out over the matza, use a spatula to spread it out and then pop it in a 400 degree oven and let it bake for 5 minutes.

 After baking the sugar will be more even and it will look something like this

We use the heat of the baked buttercrunch to melt the chocolate chips. Wait a minute or so for the buttercrunch to set up after you remove it from the oven. Distribute 10 to 12 oz of chocolate chips over the surface and then wait 5 minutes.

Use a spatula to spread out the chocolate and then put it in the fridge to harden.

I hope that you enjoyed making the buttercrunch. Write to me and tell me how it went.

Our day also included Matzo Ball Soup. I didn’t include the recipe earlier but I’ve had a request for our recipe (thanks Omri) so here it is:

Streit’s Matzo Ball Recipe - Serves 12

Ingredients
1    cup    Matzo meal
4    large    Egg — beaten
1/4    cup    Oil
1/4    cup    Soda water
1    tsp    Salt
1.5    litres    Stock, Chicken

Instructions
In a bowl beat eggs, add soda water, oil and salt.  Mix well.
Add matzo meal and stir thoroughly to combine. Leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Bring chicken broth to a boil, reduce to simmer. Using a small scooper, scoop matzo balls into soup and let simmer for 15 minutes. If you don’t have a scooper just use a small spoon and drop little balls into the broth.

If you don’t have any home made chicken stock President’s Choice Organic Chicken broth makes a good substitute.

The secret to good matzo ball soup is Love, throw a little into every matzo ball.