Nutty Toffee Matzo Crunch
Made with just a few ingredients, and as many customizable toppings as you can imagine, crispy, crunchy, buttery, caramelized, nutty, chocolatey Nutty Toffee Matzo Crunch is an easy to make delight that gives Easter chocolate a run for its money.
Servings: 36 pieces
Ingredients
- 4-5 sheets plain matzo
- 1 cup (226 grams) salted butter
- 1 cup (215 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 1.5 cups chocolate chips I used semi sweet; bittersweet would be fine too.
- ½ cup toasted slivered almonds
- ¼ cup crushed toasted pistachios
- ¼ cup cacao nibs
- a generous pinch of flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°F degrees.
- Line a standard baking sheet (11”x 17”) with foil, followed by a layer of parchment paper on top.
- Place whole sheets of matzo tightly together to cover the base of the pan, breaking sheets into smaller sections to completely cover the base of the pan. Don’t worry if some of the edges are jagged, they will get hidden later on.
- In a large heavy bottomed saucepan, melt the butter and sugar together over medium heat, whisking occasionally until both ingredients are liquid. Once the mixture starts to bubble and reach a boil, whisk constantly for 3 minutes. The toffee mixture will be light and opaque, and will start to thicken and pull away from the edges, but should still be quite viscous and whiskable.
- Quickly and carefully pour out all of the toffee mixture on top of the matzo, and use an offset spatula to spread the toffee evenly over the matzo (although no need to get too fussy about it because as the toffee quickly cools it will become harder to spread so don’t worry too much).
- Place the pan with the toffee covered matzo into the preheated oven for 15 minutes to further caramelize. Throughout this time the toffee will visibly bubble. It shouldn’t burn at this temperature, but keep an eye out just in case, and if your oven runs hot, reduce the temperature by about 25 degrees or pull the pan out early.
- Set out a baking rack on your kitchen counter, remove the pan from the oven carefully after the allotted baking time, and place on the rack. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the toffee, and leave for 5 minutes, letting the residual heat melt the chocolate.
- After 5 minutes, use another clean offset spatula to spread the chocolate evenly over the toffee. Then sprinkle on the toppings to your heart’s delight.
- Leave the pan of Nutty Toffee Matzo Crunch to come to room temperature, then place in the fridge until the chocolate has fully set.
- You can either break the matzo crunch apart like brittle or bark, or use a knife to cut semi-regular pieces. Store extra pieces on the counter in a biscuit tin, although don’t expect your batch to last very long!
Notes
A quick note on safety: while cooking sugar and butter together for toffee is quick and easy, temperatures can get very high when cooking sugar, so take extra care so as not to touch the toffee mixture with bare hands or handle the pan without the appropriate heat safe protection.
If you don’t have matzo on hand, plain and crisp crackers could work, such as saltine or ritz style crackers, although I have not tested this substitution.
If gluten free, substitute gluten free matzo or crackers, and if vegan, use the dairy free chocolate of your choice.
Other optional toppings in addition or instead of my suggested toppings could include: toasted shredded coconut, chopped dried or freeze dried fruit, sesame seeds, chocolate sprinkles, chopped peanuts, hazelnuts, or pecans - you get the idea! Use what you love!
This recipe was adapted from David Liebowitz, who in turn adapted it from Marcy Goldman.