No Bake Matzo Brittle (aka Chocolate Caramel Matzo)

This recipe really speaks for itself.  It's matzo covered in a layer of delicious caramel that snaps satisfyingly, just like a brittle should, and that caramel is covered in a thin layer of chocolate.  There can even be sea salt or chopped almonds sprinkled on top.

This is a fantastic snack, an easy dessert to make without turning the oven on, and it's great for entertaining.  Given that Passover begins this Monday the 25th, I thought it was an appropriate time to share this recipe.  I'm not Jewish, but I grew up with a good number of Jewish friends, so matzo  (note: singular is matzah) is a familiar thing to me.  I've had matzo brownies, matzo chocolate chip cookies, and matzo ball soup (which I love), but this is by far my favorite way of using matzo.  Of course, if you don't have any matzo on hand, you can also make this recipe with saltine crackers.

I feel like I must say, before sharing this recipe, that the photos really don't do this justice.  Melted chocolate and caramel are hard to capture with a digital camera in a way that captures all the beauty of the two.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies

I don't like brownies.  Really.  I don't see the appeal in them.  Most brownies just taste like chocolate and flour, and I don't mean that in a good way.  I find 99% of brownie recipes to be one note. They are dense, and taste of cake-y chocolate with no real character and after about one bite, they get incredibly dull.  If a dessert requires a cup of coffee, a scoop of ice cream, or whipped cream in order to be good, then it is not a good dessert.  Good desserts should be able to stand on their own.

So it goes without saying that I rarely ever make brownies, yet here I am, posting about a brownie recipe.  I like this recipe so much the first time I made it, I had to make a second batch the next day to be sure that it wasn't a fluke.  This is no mistake: this recipe is gold.

The brownies that this recipe turns out are just sweet enough, but not at all cloying.  You don't need coffee or milk or ice cream to make these good.  In fact, I've eaten them for breakfast.  The espresso in the batter heightens the deep flavor of the dark chocolate, and the cinnamon adds a warm background fragrance.  Best of all are the lingering notes of black pepper and cayenne pepper.  They add just enough heat to makes your tastes buds light up, but it isn't at all overwhelming.  In fact, I find the spiciness rather comforting.  Of course, you can adjust this to your liking.  The first time I made this recipe, I omitted the cayenne pepper but used freshly ground black pepper.  It was delicious.  The second time I used both.  Also delicious.  Seriously, I have no complaints about this recipe.

If you're like me and you don't normally make brownies, I beg you to make an exception in this case.  Or if you the type of person who loves brownies, I highly suggest trying these.  The recipe is very easy to make.  I did this in a food processor for easy clean up, but you can also make this with a standard mixer.

Happy Holidays all!

This pictures speaks for itself.  Make these brownies.

Candied Pomelo Peels

I'm not really a candy maker, but I suppose everyone needs to go outside their comfort zone at some point, and so I briefly ventured into the land of boiled sugar, and I can tell you now that it's not as scary as some people make it seem.

Let's start from the beginning though:  My sister recently went on a trip to California, where we have a lot of family on my mom's side.  When she went to visit a few of our great-aunts and uncles, they gave her some pomelos from their backyard garden to take home.

These pictures aren't edited; my hands just tend to be this odd pink-purple color in the winter because of the cold.

Pomelo, for those of you who don't know, is a large citrus fruit common in Southeast Asian that is comparable to a grapefruit, except that the pomelo is much less sour.  The peel of the pomelo is very thick and it has much of the wonderful fragrance and oils of the fruit, much like the orange peel (in terms of the orange).  I've eaten and seen recipes for orangettes, and I've heard vaguely of people candying pomelo peels, but it never occurred to me as something I might do.

This time, however, after my mom peeled the fruit, we looked at the gorgeous peel left behind and my mom commented upon how wasteful it felt to just throw it away.  I mentioned the recipes for candying the peel and, on a whim, we decided to try it ourselves.

The peel was cut up into matchsticks and then blanched to remove some of the bitterness in the pith.  Then we boiled it in a sugar water mixture for over an hour.  It was essentially a two day process, since we left the candied peels over night to dry before I coated them in sugar and chocolate the next day.

I definitely like the chocolate-coated peels more than the sugar coated ones, but my mom likes both, and she thinks these would be great in a cake (most likely flavored with rum), chopped up and mixed in the batter.  I will have to report back to you on that.  In the mean time, here's a treat to nibble on.