Baking with Matza

What Jews do with matza during the Passover festival should be an inspiration to bakers everywhere, whether you are Jewish or not, and whether you use matza or not. One Hundred Things to Bake With Matza might be the title I choose for my autobiography one day. You would think that eight days (or seven for the reform minded) of abstinence from all things containing a raising agent (corn, pulses and peas included if you are a hardcore Ashkenazi) would make most people retreat to a world of omelettes and grilled fish with a variation on the simple salad for the entire week - and for years I was one of those people, celebrating the minute I put all my Passover kitchenware away, with a massive pizza and several beers, both Banned Substances during Passover. But no. For many, Passover presents a classic Masterchef-like baking challenge. How many ways can you create something edible from a sheet of matza? We will leave aside matza ball soup, matza brei (don't even ask) or, hilariously, matza lasagna (which my kids love). Let's stick with the sweet stuff. Passover cheesecake, with matza meal in the crust instead of digestive biscuits. It's delicious. Granted, you need a pneumatic drill to cut the base, but once achieved, it is a yummy, buttery, sweet mixture that holds its own perfectly under its vanilla cream topping. Chocolate walnut macaroons, with quantities of egg white to create and hold the biscuit shell. Every modern woman is acquainted with the classic flourless chocolate cake that in the 21st century has overtaken the traditional almond slab (plava) beloved of our parents and grandparents. But the Oscar for applied matza baking, goes, in my view, to the chocolate caramel matza bites. There are two reasons for bestowing the crown on this particular baking feat. The first is, because against all odds it is ridiculously yummy. It is the perfect replacement for things like millionare's shortbread, chocolate peanut butter squares or Rocky Road (actually, there is nothing wrong with making Rocky Road at Passover as long as you don't use Maltesers, etc etc...except that making different stuff at Passover is part of the point).  Here is how you do it. Line a tray with foil and then with baking paper. Cover it with sheets of matza, the bogstandard kind. Boil up soft brown sugar and butter. Off the heat, add vanilla and rock salt. Pour the concoction over your matza. Put in the oven to bake for 15 mins, check regularly to ensure it doesn't burn. Take it out. Shake loads of milk chocolate chips all over it. Leave for five minutes for the chips to melt. Then spread with a spatula, leave to harden, then break into bits and serve. It will be gone in seconds. Which leads me to the second reason for the crown, which is - why, oh why, would you do this to matza? The purpose of matza is to remind us of the Exodus story every time we put this cardboard stuff in our mouths. But turning it into a horribly moreish teatime fixation, transcends its purpose. It turns it into something pretty damn fabulous, a possible contender for the Great British Bake Off final, which, though it may toy somewhat with the ultimate purpose of Passover, does make the whole week of abstinence a lot less gloomy prospect. Matza baking. Come on. Roll up your sleeves and grab that brown sugar. You know you want to.