The Exceptional Passover Brownie

In 2006 New Yorker Claire Sauerhoff submitted her recipe for chocolate brownies with walnuts to a nationwide competition for the best brownies in the country. Although she was an amateur home cook who baked simply for the joy of making desserts for friends and family, others knew that that her exceptional brownies were ready for the big leagues.

She won that competition, besting thousands of other submissions to be named the People's Choice Award as the country's "best darn brownie." The award gave her the courage to change her career, become a professional pastry chef, and open a bakery called The Exceptional Brownie.

Today Claire bakes 8 kinds of brownies, plus honey cake, hamentashen, cookies and other sweets and sells them both online and also in a select number of New York kosher grocers. Everything she makes is kosher and uses the best chocolate, butter and other ingredients.

Her bakery is still new and doesn't yet have a kitchen that lets her bake according to the precise rules for Passover. But that doesn't mean you can't benefit from her brownie genius for the holiday.

Here is her recipe for The Exceptional Passover Brownie. It uses Passover cake meal in place of flour and no leavening agent, keeping within the holiday's precise dietary rules.

Choose a bittersweet chocolate (it has a deeper flavor than semisweet) that is certified kosher for Passover as well as the other ingredients. Make sure you do not use unsweetened baking chocolate. Use the best available bittersweet chocolate and consider trying one of the Israeli brands, such as Elite, Paskesz, Lieber's or Carmit, or Alprose which is from Switzerland. Look for these brands in the special kosher for Passover section of your supermarket or at a kosher market (we've noted a few from our merchant database).

For the cocoa, which rounds out the chocolate flavor in the brownies, Claire suggests using a Dutch processed cocoa as it’s less acidic. Use your favorite nuts: walnuts or pecans are traditional but almost any nut, including almonds or peanuts, can be used.

To achieve a fudgy result, be careful that you don't overbake the brownies. After 35 minutes, begin to test for doneness with a cake tester or a toothpick that you stick in the middle of the pan. You're looking for the tester to come out with just a little batter on the end.

As Claire wrote when she sent us this recipe: have a sweet Passover!

Makes 9 to 12 brownies.

Ingredients

6 tablespoons of margarine or butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs (extra large size)
11 oz. premium quality bittersweet chocolate
3/4 cup Passover cake meal
1 tablespoon cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped nuts

Preheat oven to 350° F.
Prepare an 8-inch square pan by spraying it with a non-stick spray or by coating it with butter or margarine.
Melt the chocolate in the microwave, a double boiler, or in a glass bowl set over a pan filled with simmering water. Put aside.
In a bowl using a wooden spoon or with a stand or hand-held electric mixer, cream the margarine or butter and sugar together.
Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well until completely combined. Add the melted chocolate, scraping the bowl with a spatula to get all the chocolate added.
In another bowl, the stir cake meal, cocoa and salt together. Stir in these dry ingredients and then add the nuts.
Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.
Transfer to the prepared baking pan.
Bake for approximately 35 to 40 minutes.

Let cool completely before cutting.