Best Matzoh Baklava Recipes

BEST MATZAH BALLS

Steps:

• Whisk eggs and olive oil in a bowl until combined; stir both amounts of club soda and salt into egg mixture. Mix matzo meal into wet ingredients to form a workable dough; if mixture is too wet, stir in 1/4 cup more matzo meal. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Wet your hands and form matzo ball dough into walnut-size balls. Gently place matzo balls into boiling water. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer matzo balls until tender, 25 to 30 minutes.

EASY MATZO

Steps:

• With the racks positioned the top third and middle, heat oven to 500 degrees.
• In a large bowl, use a wooden spoon to stir together all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour and kosher salt. Add in 1/2 cup water and the 1/4 cup oil, and stir until a pliable dough forms, adding more water if the dough seems dry.
• Lightly flour a work surface, and knead dough briefly until it becomes smooth. Cut dough into 4 even pieces. Re-flour your work surface, if necessary, and use a rolling pin to roll out 2 pieces as thinly as you can, about 6 to 8 inches in diameter. (They should be almost translucent.) Aim for rounds, but don't worry if they are oblong.
• Transfer each matzo to a separate cookie sheet, and prick each one all over with a fork. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt, if you like. Bake until golden all over and lightly browned in spots, about 7 to 12 minutes. (Timing will depend on how thinly you rolled the dough.) Transfer matzos to a wire rack and let cool.
• While first batch is baking, roll out remaining dough. If you have enough baking sheets, transfer the rolled dough onto another two sheets. If not, use the warm sheet trays you used in the first batch, being careful while transferring and pricking the dough with a fork. Bake and cool.

HOMEMADE BAKLAVA

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the almonds, pistachios, 2/3 cup sugar, and 1 teaspoon ground cardamom in a medium bowl; stir to combine.
• Brush a 10-by-13-inch baking dish with clarified butter. Lay one half-sheet of phyllo in the prepared dish, and brush with clarified butter. Repeat with five more sheets of phyllo, brushing them with butter and stacking them in dish.
• Sprinkle one-third of the nut mixture over the phyllo, and top with the remaining six sheets of phyllo, brushing each sheet with clarified butter before adding the next. Repeat two times, until all the nuts and phyllo are used.
• Using a very sharp knife, cut phyllo stack lengthwise into seven strips. Cut across strips diagonally, 1 1/4 inches, apart to make diamonds. Pour the remaining clarified butter over the pastry. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes.
• Place remaining 1 1/3 cups sugar and the water in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil, stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon cardamom; continue to boil for 10 minutes until syrup has thickened slightly. Remove from heat, and stir in the lemon juice and rose water. Pour over the baked pastry.

MATZAH

Steps:

• Move an oven rack near the top of oven and preheat oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C). Preheat a heavy baking sheet in the oven.
• Dust a clean work surface and a rolling pin with 1 teaspoon flour, or as needed. Place 1 cup of flour into a mixing bowl; set a timer for about 16 minutes (18 minutes maximum). Start the timer; pour the water, about 1 tablespoon at a time, into the flour. Stir the water and flour together with a fork until the dough forms a rough ball, remove the dough to the prepared work surface, knead rapidly and firmly until smooth, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
• Divide the dough into four equal pieces; cut each piece in half again to get 8 pieces total. Swiftly roll each piece into a ball. Roll each piece of dough out into a 5-inch pancake, dusting the top and rolling pin with flour as needed. Gradually roll the pancakes out to a size of about 8 inches, increasing the size of each by about 1 inch, then letting the dough rest for a few seconds before rolling again to the finished size. Roll from the center out. The bread rounds should be very thin. Using a fork, quickly pierce each bread about 25 times, all over, to prevent rising. The holes should go completely through the bread. Flip the bread over, and pierce each piece another 25 times with the fork.
• With at least 5 minutes left on the timer, remove the hot baking sheet from the preheated oven, and place the rounds onto the baking sheet. Place the baking sheet onto the rack near the top of the oven, and bake for 2 minutes; turn the breads over and bake an additional 2 minutes, until the matzot are lightly browned and crisp.
• Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Lightly anoint each matzah with olive oil, using a brush, and sprinkle generously with salt.

CLASSIC MATZO BREI

Steps:

• Under cool running water, rinse matzo sheets until they are quite wet. Set it aside and let sit to soften while you prepare the pan.
• Place a large, preferably nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add butter. Once it melts and the foam subsides, break matzo sheets into bite-size pieces and add to pan. Sauté matzo in butter until it browns all over, about 2 minutes.
• Add eggs, salt and pepper (if you're making the dish savory) to pan and scramble the mixture until it is just set but still light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Sprinkle with sugar (if you're making it sweet) and toss well.
• Serve matzo brei sprinkled with salt and topped with chives (savory), or with salt, additional sugar and maple syrup (sweet).

MATZOH BAKLAVA

Steps:

• Briefly pass each sheet of matzoh under cold running water until wet on all sides. Layer sheets between damp paper towels and let stand until somewhat pliable but not soggy or falling apart, about 2 hours.
• While matzoh is softening, make syrup
• In small saucepan over moderately high heat, stir together 1 cup water and sugar. Bring to boil, then lower heat to moderate and cook, uncovered, until syrupy and thick, about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in lemon juice, honey, and rose water and simmer 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool, then chill until ready to use.
• Assemble dessert
• Preheat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir together walnuts, pistachios, brown sugar, cinnamon, and cardamom. Separate out 1/6 of nut mixture and reserve for topping cooked baklava.
• Transfer 1 sheet matzoh to counter. Press rolling pin once over sheet from one end to other to flatten. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat. Transfer to 8-inch-square pan and brush with melted margarine. Sprinkle with 1/5 of unreserved nut mixture.
• Roll out second sheet of matzoh and transfer to pan. Brush with margarine and sprinkle with nut mixture. Repeat with remaining matzoh sheets and remaining nut mixture, ending with matzoh sheet brushed with margarine on top.
• Bake until golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer to rack and immediately pour chilled syrup over. Sprinkle with reserved nut mixture. Let cool, then cover and let stand at least 8 hours and up to 3 days. (Do not chill.) Cut into small squares or diamonds and serve.