A benefit of writing about food is getting offers of cool new foods to try. I recently sampled The Matzo Project matzo and matzo chips, Otto’s cassava flour and AYO almond milk yogurt.
Artisan Matzo NOT for Passover
If you are one of those Jews who dreads eating matzo during Passover, The Matzo Project is for you.
Actually, it is specifically NOT for Passover. It’s a year round baked cracker that happens to be vegan, gluten free and Kosher. Just not Kosher for Passover.
It is also packaged in adorable, witty boxes and has flavors that even a Bubie (Yiddish grandmother) will love. Everything matzo – try it with whitefish salad. Salted matzo chips – dip it in salsa. Cinnamon sugar chips – perfect with Nutella.
Best of all, the harissa chips (The copy reads: “A little spicy for me, but my Joshy loves them”) are light, spicy and utterly addictive. Not words usually associated with matzo.
The Matzo Project products are made in Brooklyn. Naturally.
Gluten free – and Passover – Baking
Passover desserts were a sad substitute when I was a kid. Strange fruit gels and heavy, overly sweet cakes dominated. Then I discovered flourless chocolate torts. Nothing had to be be changed for Passover – they naturally contained no flour.
For more Passover baking, and year round gluten free baking, almond flour is my friend. I recently tried cassava flour from Otto’s Naturals. This flour, made from yuca, can be substituted 1 for 1 for all purpose flour.
Recipe: Chocolate chip peanut butter cookies
¾ cup firmly packed almond flour
¼ cup cassava flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
Dash cinnamon
½ cup natural butter ( I like 365 from Whole Foods, which is runny)
½ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silpat baking sheet.
Whisk together the flours, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Pour in the peanut butter, maple syrup and vanilla extract, and mix thoroughly. Stir in the chocolate.
Chill dough for 5 minutes in the refrigerator .
Scoop dough, one tablespoon at a time, in mounds onto the baking sheet, leaving a couple inches around each cookie.
Bake for 11 – 12 minutes, until lightly brown. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then slide the parchment paper onto a cooling rack to finish cooling.
If you don’t like to bake, try the grain-free cookie mix. Well, you still bake, but the mix has the sugars cassava flour and baking soda already in it.
Vegan Breakfast
My last pre-Passover breakfast was triple almond overnight oats. I used almond milk and AYO almond yogurt to soak the oats, and stirred in almond butter and mango. The vegan overnight oats were nutty and delicious.
AYO almond milk yogurt sources its organic almonds form its family farm in California. There are vanilla, blueberry, strawberry and peach flavors.
Note: I received samples of some of these products but was not compensated. Opinions expressed are my own.
WheelsandEats 