Chocolate-Toffee Matzoh/Crackers for Passover!

Okay, well, I didn't actually make this for Pesach itself, but we happened to have a left-over box of matzoh in the pantry (from the last time I made this, several weeks ago) and it was just begging to be used. This is one of the easiest, tastiest recipes I have made in a really long time. But before we get to the specifics, let's take a look at the giant tray of matzoh:


Keep in mind that this is one of our lovely 16"x24" pans, nearly half gone, and I had to rush to take this picture before more people went at it.

So, the recipe (again, this covers one of our huge pans, reduce in size as you see fit -- the original, which is about half of this, calls for an 11"x17" pan):

11-12 sheets matzoh OR an equivalent amount of Saltine-like crackers
2 cups butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
kosher salt*
vanilla extract
semi-sweet chocolate chips (somewhere in the neighborhood of 2-3 cups)
nuts (optional)

Real simple here. Cover your pan with foil (there's nothing worse than caramel stuck on baking pans). The pan should have at least a little lip, to keep everything inside and together, but nothing elaborate is necessary. Lay out your sheets of matzoh or crackers on the sheet, filling all available space. Break pieces to fit if necessary. Preheat your oven to 350 F.
Melt the butter and sugar together in a saucepan until combined, and then boil for a couple of minutes. Enough to thicken it, but too long and it'll burn. Don't stress too much about it, you have a pretty wide window. Take off heat and add in the vanilla and salt. Pour it over your prepared tray of matzoh/crackers.
Stick that baby in the oven for 15-25 minutes, longer if it's larger, keeping an eye on it after you've hit 15. It'll bubble, which is fine, and when it starts to fall, that's when you know you're done or nearly so.
Pull it out of the oven and sprinkle the chips over the entire tray. You'll want enough so that the resulting chocolate can cover everything, but not so much that the dessert is entirely chocolate. Give them a couple minutes to melt from the heat of the pan, and then spread them out over the slowly cooling toffee.
If you feel the need/desire, garnish with nuts. I've seen variations with slivered almonds, chopped pecans, pistachios, and any number of other things. The choice is up to you.
Refrigerate/Freeze until it reaches a temperature you'd like to eat it at. For some people, this is ice-cream-frozen. For others, more room-temperature is ideal. Again, personal preference. Take it out, break off a piece, and enjoy!

*Add enough salt to get the taste to your liking. There's a lot of sweet here, and some salt will help balance out the flavors. Keep in mind that if you're using salted matzoh or a salty cracker, you can drastically reduce this (if not completely remove it).

~Chef G