Eureka! A moment of culinary brilliance and a mom hack came together nearly four decades ago and created an unprecedented Passover miracle– matzah buttercrunch.
The widely acclaimed Passover dessert was created in 1985 by Marcy Goldman, a desperate-to-feed mother of a picky toddler and ingenious kitchen creative.
Goldman’s matzah buttercrunch is also known as matzah toffee crunch, matzah crack or matzah brittle. It’s a sweet and savory treat made by layering matzah with homemade toffee (just brown sugar and butter!), chocolate, and nuts. The recipe is a perfect blend of flavors and unbeatable layered crunch, especially thanks to the matzah itself.
“I dreaded how my son’s appetite would dip during Passover and I thought: what can I make for dessert that he will eat? What's simple and fun, Passover-correct?” Goldman shared with Jewlish. “Success! He loved it - we all loved it - and it upstaged every other dessert on the Seder table.”
A simple recipe that tastes amazing was a welcome change from the dry, crumbly, tasteless Passover desserts past generations tolerated.
“It was so easy too - I felt guilty getting all those compliments. It was something you create in your own kitchen and you think: wow - this is good - but you don't realize the impact of it until others experience it and then you know you sort of have something unique.”
So unique in fact, that it changed the landscape of Passover dessert menus thereafter.
If that sounds dramatic, perhaps it is, but going viral pre-Internet is a fabulous feat.
Although originally created to please one singular toddler, Goldman went on to share the dessert first with The Montreal Gazette in 1986 and later published it again in her own cookbook A Treasury of Holiday Baking in 1998.
“I was really amazed how quickly it caught on. But in those days, I was freelancing for every major food section of every major U.S. and Canadian city newspapers, as well as the regional Jewish newspapers. I began to see my own recipe at other people's homes - people got it out of newspapers and magazines I wrote for. Then it turned up in Jewish community cookbooks as the recipe just got passed around until no one really knew its domain,” Goldman said.
And so, the recipe became a trademark holiday treat.
“I love seeing people acknowledge the recipe and me although it's been around so long and is so well 'used' that people think it is their own family recipe - since it's like it's 'always been there'” Goldman said.
Matzah buttercrunch comes together quickly and easily and has “plate appeal”. Like winter holiday’s chocolate bark, matzah buttercrunch can be adjusted and beautified with additions like crushed nuts and drizzled white chocolate. It looks fancy on the table and makes a great gift.
All of these elements were already enough to put matzah buttercrunch into the Passover hall of fame.
And then the internet hit.
Before avocado toast, banana bread, and sourdough tutorials, Goldman’s matzah buttercrunch swept virtual taste buds. You no longer needed a 1986 newspaper clipping or a copy of Goldman’s classic holiday cookbook to have access to the original recipe- or its many internet adaptations.
The ease and taste of the recipe was highly lauded and shared from blog to blog, home cook to home cook, gaining it even more popularity over 20 years after its inception.
Once the recipe joined the internet around 2008, copycat recipes started popping up in high places. Sometimes with recognition to the original chef: The New York Times and David Lebovitz.
“Last year I noticed several Martha Stewart YouTube videos that show even Martha creating it! Now that's a real compliment. It's also in so many cookbooks by pros and community cookbooks that I just take pride that I had a hand in contributing to how we celebrate the Jewish holidays at the table. It's not the Red Sea parting miracle, but it's something.” Goldman quipped.
The recipe has stood the test of time in Goldman’s home as well.
“I just triple the batch and each year I create a new variation,” she shared. “I like using homemade preserves which I smear into the melted chocolate and create a preserves chocolate marbled version. It's more springy. I also crush up the matzah buttercrunch, and use it to coat my chocolate tortes or dust on Passover brownies for a toffee-like crunch. I use shards of the stuff on top of cakes and make an edible sculpture of it too.”
Bonus tips from the mastermind Marcy Goldman herself:
- Double sheet the baking pans as directed.
- Cover the top one with foil and then parchment paper.
- Also used sided pans.
- Make a double batch - one batch alone will never make it to the seder table.
- Experiment with toppings - crushed pistachios, or sea salt or dried fruit - anything you like. Be bold.
You can find Goldman on her website for more Passover recipes. She also recently released another cookbook, The Newish Jewish Cookbook, available on Amazon.
For our variation, try this Almond Caramel Matzah Crunch.
