An Unwitting Chocolate-Covered Matzo Face-Off

There's chocolate-covered matzo and then there's chocolate-plastered matzo, with a thick-as-fudge top layer that snaps when you try to break off one reasonably-sized piece... and then another... and another.

(There's also chocolate-covered matzo adorned with toffee or hazelnuts or sprinkles, but I consider myself a C.C.M. purist.)

Every year I make chocolate-covered matzo, and every year I forget just how much chocolate goes on top of it. For 4 to 6 pieces of matzo, my recipe (which is actually my mom's recipe), calls for an entire pound of milk chocolate and an entire pound of semisweet. (Plus 12 tablespoons of butter and 3/4 cup sugar.)

Chocolate-Covered Matzo

View Recipe

Ingredients

4	to 6 sheets of matzo (depending on how thick you like the chocolate layer)
1 1/2	sticks butter
3/4	cup sugar
14	ounces kosher for Passover semi-sweet chocolate
14	ounces kosher for Passover milk chocolate

4	to 6 sheets of matzo (depending on how thick you like the chocolate layer)
1 1/2	sticks butter
3/4	cup sugar

14	ounces kosher for Passover semi-sweet chocolate
14	ounces kosher for Passover milk chocolate

Food52 about 8 years ago

42

There's matzo under there somewhere... Fill a sheet pan with matzo. Break up the whole pieces to cover the entire tray. Bring a lot of butter and sugar to a boil on the stove, then pour it over the matzo. Put in a hot oven for 3 minutes, then sprinkle a ridiculous amount of chopped dark and milk chocolate over top. Wait a few minutes, spread out the oozy chocolate with a spoon, then freeze for as long as you can handle.

2 comments

But since I trust the recipe (and my mom), I use that absurd amount of chocolate anyway, saying a little prayer that it will all melt down. And it always does.

When editor Ali Slagle, who is not Jewish and does not observe Passover but who does have a whole Food52 collection called "Matzo"!), went to recreate it, she did not have the same faith in the truckload of chocolate called for in the ingredient list.

She doubled the amount of matzo, butter, and sugar, but kept the amount of chocolate the same. This was the result, as positioned to the left of my own:

Ali's was still addictive, and nothing I would turn away, but the chocolate layer was much thinner, more of a smear than a slather. The entire confection was flimsier, too—without a solid layer of chocolate, the C.C.M. melts a bit faster when outside of the fridge (and your office is warm); it gets a little soggier.

(You'll remember, maybe, that Ali and I have baked the same desserts in the past—that time was a draw; this time, she admitted that my dessert was superior.)

So add 2 pounds of chocolate to 6 sheets of matzo and don't gape at the ratio. You only eat chocolate-covered matzo once a year, so why not do it right? (Just kidding—you eat it more than once a year, but you should still do it right every time!!)