Salted Toffee Matzo aka Matzo Crack

Every year for Passover my mom buys the giant 5 lb box of matzo and every year we are left with 2-3 boxes at the end of the holiday that goes to waste. Lets be real, its not the most tasty item in the world and after being force fed it for a week straight, no one wants to eat anymore of it then they have to.

I was originally going to make this at the beginning of the holiday but time got away from me and I ended up making it last night [Passover ends tomorrow night], but it is so delicious that I am going to just turn the rest of the matzo in this toffee candy. Completely covered in butter, sugar, & chocolate..problem solved!

Orange Angel Food Cake: Passover Edition

Who says you can't have cake during Passover? With the creation of matzo cake meal, anything is possible nowadays. Although I guess the purpose is to give up items such as cake, bread, & cookies but why not get around it if you can find a loophole? Its all kosher!

This is one of the best ways to hide the matzo that you are sick of eating after one day, because it doesn't taste like a "passover version" of some food you crave during that long week. Instead, just a light & airy fresh cake.

our seder table

With some juicy strawberries in an orange syrup, this cake is deeelish!

Vanilla Bean Macaroons

It's Passover again and the seder was hosted and prepared by yours truly. In between the brisket, matzo ball soup and side dishes, I really wanted to bake a few Passover sweet treats. So, instead of eating those dreadful canned coconut macaroons I thought why not make my own? It can't be that hard right?

Actually, its pretty simple. It is a three-step process and in no time you can enjoy delicious Passover cookies. They came out so much better than I could have imagined and I would definitely bake these even if it wasn't Passover.

Hamantaschen

In honor of Purim yesterday, I baked some hamantaschen which I typically do every year. You know, those funny triangular-shaped cookies usually filled with jam. I used to make these with my grandma, and I remember the first time I made them on my own- I was 15 and I was in a cooking class at school and we had a project to cook/bake and present a dish. I made these Hamantaschen and instead of the traditional jam fillings, I made a marshmallow chocolate one.

 
 I stuck to my grandma's dough recipe that I use every year and made some with apricot and raspberry jam. I tried something new this time though and made some with a chocolate filling, almost a brownie-like batter. Delicious, but many of them lost their pretty triangular shape because they were over-filled.

I found the filling recipe in Jewish Home Cooking by Arthur Schwartz, and although the recipe says to fill each with 2 tsp of chocolate, I only used 1 tsp and next time would probably use about half that.

They are pretty simple cookie to make, sometimes they get a little misshapen, but its okay because they always taste great!

First timer!!

Last night was Rosh HaShana, which is the Jewish new year. It is now the year 5771 according to the Jewish calendar.  My family celebrates with a big dinner so I was in charge of the cooking and baking.

The Menu:
-round challah, which is customary for the new year instead of a braided one.
-gefilte fish with sliced carrots (yuck, i've never been a fan)
-romaine salad with a homemade vinaigrette
-herb-roasted Chicken
-roasted carrots and baby red bliss potatoes

Dessert: 
-sweet noodle kugel
-rugelach

-chocolate babka
-& of course apples and honey!

I was only able to take picture of the rugelach on my cell as i was taking them. In the future I promise to remember to use my digital camera. Recipes & pictures after the jump!