Passover baking is a great annual challenge in the Jewish kitchen because Passover dessert recipes cannot use flour, yeast, soy milk, or even pure vanilla, and shifting from flour to matzah cake meal and potato starch is not intuitive, even for experienced bakers. As dessert is an important part of the seder meal, you need fabulous desserts to end your evening. Here are a couple of choice recipes from From the Kosher Baker: Over 160 Dairy-Free Recipes from Tradition to Trendy (Brandeis University Press, 2010).
MARBLE CHOCOLATE MATZAH
Serves 12
1/3 cup slivered almonds
10 ounces pareve dark bittersweet chocolate, chopped or broken into 1-inch pieces
1/3 cup pareve white chocolate chips
3 large or 4 small pieces of matzah
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a jellyroll pan with parchment. Spread the almonds on the pan and toast for 15 minutes, stirring the nuts after 10 minutes. When the almonds are toasted, remove the pan from the oven and slide the parchment off the cookie sheet.
While the nuts are toasting, melt the dark chocolate in one heatproof bowl and the white chocolate in another. You can do this either on the stovetop in a double boiler or in the microwave. If you use the microwave method, be especially careful with the white chocolate chips so they do not burn.
When the almonds are toasted, use a large knife to roughly chop them into pieces about one-third of their original size. Mix the nuts into the melted dark chocolate.
Line one large or two smaller cookie sheets with waxed paper and place the matzahs on top of the waxed paper. Spread the dark chocolate and nut mixture all over the matzah slices to cover them entirely on one side with the chocolate.
Drop clumps of the melted white chocolate randomly on top of the dark chocolate. Use a toothpick to swirl the chocolates to create a marble effect. Place in the refrigerator to set for one hour and then break into pieces to serve. Store in the refrigerator for six days or freeze for up to three months.
STRAWBERRY MOUSSE
Serves 8
16 ounces fresh strawberries
1 tsp imitation rum extract, optional
2 tsp confectioners sugar
juice of 1 lemon
6 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp unflavored kosher gelatin powder
1 cup pareve whipping cream
Remove the stems from the strawberries and set six of the strawberries aside. Take the six strawberries, slice them each thinly, and place them in a small bowl with the rum and confectioners sugar. Mix to combine and then place in the refrigerator.
Cut the remaining strawberries in half and place in a blender or food processor fitted with a metal blade. Purée the strawberries completely, scraping down the sides of the processor bowl or blender so that all the strawberries pieces are puréed.
Place the strawberry purée in a small saucepan. Add the lemon juice and sugar and stir. Cook on medium-low heat for five minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sugar melts. Add the gelatin, whisk, and then remove from the heat. Strain into a medium bowl, pressing hard to get as much strawberry purée through as possible, and place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes, stirring twice during that time.
In bowl with an electric mixer on high speed, whip the whipping cream until stiff. Remove the strawberry purée from the refrigerator and fold in the whipped cream in four parts. Scoop the mousse evenly into the ramekins and smooth the tops with the back of a spoon. Cover with plastic and place in the refrigerator for three hours or overnight.
To serve, remove from the refrigerator and place a few of the rum-soaked strawberry slices on the top. Store covered in the refrigerator for up to three days.
Paula Shoyer is the owner of Paula’s Parisian Pastries Cooking School in the Washington, D.C., area. She trained in Paris, receiving her pastry diploma from the Ritz Escoffier École de Gastronomie Française, and teaches classes in French pastry and Jewish baking across North America. The author of The Kosher Baker: Over 160 Dairy-Free Recipes from Traditional to Trendy, Shoyer is also a freelance writer with monthly columns in Whisk Magazine and at kosherscoop.com. Originally from New York, Shoyer lives in Chevy Chase, Md., with her husband and four children Her next book, The Holiday Kosher Baker (Sterling 2013), a fresh approach to baking for the Jewish holidays, will be released in October 2013. To learn more, visit PaulasPastry.com and kosherbaker.blogspot.com.