Passover Chocolate Chunk Bars is a recipe that was originally recommended to me by Karen. Karen's version is originally from A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman. That version uses an 8x10 inch pan, but Karen uses a 9 inch square pan, which is about the same size and makes a pretty hearty bar.
As usual, I decided to try a smaller batch. Karen mentioned the bars didn’t brown much, so I used dark brown sugar instead of light. The results were great! The bars are easy to cut and hold together well, even though they have a sandy texture from the starch and matzo cake meal. If you can’t find matzo cake meal, you can grind regular matzo meal in a coffee grinder, which is what I did.
Passover Chocolate Chunk Bars
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
¾ cups dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
⅛ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup matzo cake meal
½ cup potato starch
3 ounces dark chocolate, cut into chunks
½ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8 inch square metal pan with parchment paper, non-stick, or greased foil.
Cream butter with both sugars in a large mixing bowl. Mix in egg, salt and vanilla. Stir in matzo cake meal and potato starch; then add chopped chocolate and toasted nuts and stir until well mixed.
Spread in pan (wetting hands slightly will help make this easier) and bake 25 minutes at 350, until set – be careful not to overbake. The bars will appear done around the edges, but should look kind of moist in the center. They will set up more as they cool.
Let cool completely on a rack, then cut into 12 bars.
Anna says
Abi, that's funny. It's like Valentine's Day in April!
Abi says
I think I need new glasses. I read the title as 'Passion Chocolate Chunk Bars' and thought "George loves chocolate, maybe I should make these."
Not the same.
Anna says
Clumbsy Cookie, thanks for providing the link to your blog. I'm going to check it out.
Also, to anyone who might know, what is the correct way to spell Matzo? I see it as Matzoh and Matzo. Is it one of those words with more than one spelling?
Clumbsy Cookie says
Anna,
I've discovered your site by "accident" and I must say i really liked it. I came here allready a few times but never left a comment. It's good to know someone shares my love for cookies, lol!
I have never heared of matzo until I went to live with a jewish family, we don't have it in my country. But I remember enjoying their recipes during Passover time, I'm sure these bars you posted are great.
Heather D, I have a friend that lived in Columbus GA for 1 year and I'm afraid to say she was allways complaining that there was nothing there! Well I'm sure she was exagerating and you'll find something interesting to do there!
Anna says
Heather,
You can cookie-jack all you want.
I've never been to GA, so I can't help you, but I'll bet someone else has some info.
Katrina,
Yes! Cheesecake definitely tastes better the second and even third day.
Heather D says
I know this is a cookie-jack here, but I am traveling to Columbus GA later this week. Never been there & know nothing about it. Anyone familiar with the area? Besides the chain restaurants, anyone know of any good local places?
Anna says
Karen, I'd love to hear what you think. I'm sure yours are equally good if not better, but I wanted to try making them thinner. The brown sugar did help make them nice and dark. It may have changed the taste and texture a bit from what you are used to, so it will be interesting to hear what you think of these compared to the original.
Katrina says
So last night I didn't really like the Pineapple Cheesecake Bars very much, but today they were yummy! Others that I shared them with loved them, too. Does cheesecake get better with a little aging?
Thinking about trying the "dump" cake next. The boys will love it!
Karen says
I'm so glad they turned out. I think I'll try them your way this year!