“You don’t have to be Jewish to love Levy’s Real Jewish Rye,” was the tagline of an advertisement that became a case study in brilliant marketing. And it’s the line that came to mind the first time I served these no-bake morsels. I made them for a friend for Passover, the Jewish holiday during which nothing leavened is eaten and cracker-like matzo stands in for the daily loaf. Now I make them all year long, just because they’re great.
ON-DEMAND: Listen to Faith and Dorie talk about this cookie recipe as well as several other cookie recipes from Dorie’s book on The Faith Middleton Food Schmooze.
Excerpted from Dorie’s Cookies, published by Rux Martin/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Copyright © 2016 Dorie Greenspan. Photographs © 2016 Davide Luciano and Claudia Ficca.
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Nothing more than crumbled matzo, dried fruit—I like raisins or cranberries here—and chocolate chips bound together with melted chocolate and butter, the morsels are crunchy and chewy, a bit salty, a lot chocolatey and the kind of simple sweet that could become one of the things you find yourself craving often.
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- 1 cup (120 to 160 grams) plump, moist raisins or dried cranberries
- 1/2 stick (4 tablespoons; 2 ounces; 57 grams) unsalted butter cut into chunks
- 6 ounces (170 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 pieces (about 115 grams) unsalted matzo crumbled (about 2 cups)
- 1/2 cups (3 ounces) chocolate chips (semi-sweet, milk, or white chocolate or butterscotch)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Put the raisins or cranberries in a heatproof bowl, add enough very hot tap water to cover them and set aside to soak. When you’re ready for them, drain and pat them dry between paper towels.
- Toss the chunks of butter into another heatproof bowl, cover with the chopped chocolate and place the bowl over a pan of simmering water (the water shouldn’t touch the bottom of the bowl). Heat, stirring occasionally, until the ingredients are melted and smooth; don’t heat so much that the butter and chocolate separate. If the bowl is large enough to hold all of the ingredients, you can continue working in it; if not, scrape the butter and chocolate into a larger bowl.
- Working with a flexible spatula, stir in the salt, followed by the bits of matzo. When all the pieces of matzo are coated with chocolate, stir in the chocolate chips and dried fruit, stirring until everything is chocolate coated.
- The best way to shape these is to use a small cookie scoop, so you can neatly pack the matzo. If you don’t have a scoop, use a rounded teaspoon for each cookie and cup your hand to press the mix into the spoon and shape it. However you’re shaping the cookies, put them on the baking sheet as you go. When all the mix is used, slide the baking sheet into the freezer to set the chocolate, about 20 minutes. Once the chocolate is set, the cookies are ready to be served.
The cookies can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 4 days or packed airtight and frozen for up to 2 months. They’re surprisingly good snacked on straight from the freezer.
