April 8, 2009 Boston Globe
Serves 12
Now in its 10th year, the dessert restaurant Finale never had a line of desserts created specifically for Passover. It would get requests each year for flourless options and the only one was a dark chocolate decadence cake. Eventually the chain had enough requests, says executive pastry chef Nicole Coady, that it was time to expand the menu. Passover begins this evening with the first Seder. Coady, who hails from a small town in West Virginia, says, “I never knew anything at all about Passover.” She turned to her colleague and friend Judy Rosenberg, owner of Rosie's Bakery, for consultation. (While the desserts are not technically kosher for Passover, they are kosher-style, that is, they contain no flour or other forbidden ingredients.) With Rosenberg's help, Coady developed a range of offerings, from blueberry cheesecake with a matzo crumb crust to snacks like chocolate-dipped almond macaroons and chocolate-caramel matzo crunch. A version appeared in Rosenberg's 1996 cookbook, “Rosie's Bakery Chocolate-Packed Jam-Filled Butter-Rich No-Holds-Barred Cookie Book.” Since then, she changed the ratio of butter to sugar, and altered a few techniques. She also switched from semisweet to bittersweet chocolate. Says the baker: “Because of the sweetness of the caramel, I feel the contrast with bittersweet is more interesting, more intense.”
Adapted from Judy Rosenberg
source: http://www.boston.com/lifestyle/food/articles/2009/04/08/chocolate_caramel_matzo_crunch/
tags: Passover, vegetarian