I was a lucky little girl.
I got to celebrate Hanukah and Christmas, Rosh Hashanah and Thanksgiving, Passover and Easter.
Always the food lover, most of my memories of these holidays are of the edible variety. Potato laktes, pirogies, veggie stuffing, hard-boiled egg hunts, and matzo.
Lots of matzo.
Perhaps matzo is one of those things that tastes better because of the memories associated with it, it’s really just the simplest cracker possible. In any case, I generally enjoy it and wasn’t going to let passover, er, pass-over without crunching through a few sheets.
But I really didn’t want to go the store when my noon matzo craving hit. What’s a lazy girl to do but make her own!
Homemade Whole Wheat Matzo and Port Charoset
I followed a recipe! Well, you know, mostly.
Adaped from Baked Bree.
- 2 c. white whole wheat flour (mine was so not Kosher)
- 1 c. water
- 1.5 tsp. sea salt
Baked Bree describes that in order to keep things Kosher you must only take 18 minutes from start to finish to make these crackers. While none of my ingredients were actually Kosher I thought it would be kind of fun to time myself anyway.
Pre-heat the oven to 450*
Prepare a baking sheet with parchment or cookie sheet liner
GO
After 5 minutes my dough was mixed and kneaded.
I used my new
food scale* to measure out nine 2 ounce balls.
Time to roll.
I rolled these out as thin as I could to ensure crispness (and quick baking!).
While the crackers baked I got to work on the
charoset.
- 20 grams chopped walnuts
- 1/4 cup port
- 1 medium grated Golden Delicious apple
- lots of cinnamon
Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
Most Charoset uses honey and red wine but I thought that Port would be a nice stand-in for both.
Confession: I didn’t make the 18 minute deadline. I maybe could have if I’d skipped the pictures and the weighing. It was kind of fun to move fast and at least attempt it though!
Kosher or not, it’s pretty tasty!
One of the traditional ways to eat Matzo and Charoset is the make an open faced sandwich.
Spread on some ground horseradish (I prefer the kind without mayo).
Top generously with Charoset.
Chow down.
I’m off to move some more dirt.
* Thanks for all the great feedback on food scales. I ended up going with the cheap one from Bed, Bath, and Beyond (The Biggest Loser Taylor scale) because I had a coupon (of course, it’s B,B, and B) and because I am trying to avoid mail-ordering things (bigger carbon footprint + s &h fees). It’s so fun to have a scale!
