(photo from davidlebovitz.com)
Even if you are not Jewish, you must RUN to your nearest place-where-there-are-Jews and buy a box of matzah. You must then RUN home and make a giant batch of this stuff. Seriously. Trust me – it’s THAT good.

When pastry chef David Lebovitz posted this recipe several months ago, I bookmarked it out of loyalty to a fellow Jew-slash-chef. Anyone brave enough to claim that this was the stuff of legend, AND be baking it a full four months early, had to be on to something, right? The recipe then got lost in a sea of bookmarks, until such time as another food blogger posted her version of this and reminded me of its existence. I will freely admit that I cut and pasted the recipe that very second and abandoned my computer to go and make some.

By the end of the day, I had endured several burnt fingertips and was surrounded by a sea of chocolate-smeared napkins. Not because I am a particularly messy pastry chef, but because I am an impatient so-and-so whose nose and eyes could no longer handle the absolutely heavenly caramel smell and the shiny molten chocolate layer on top. I ate rather more of it than I originally intended, AND I ate it before it was technically ready to eat, hence the scorched skin. Luckily for me and my Seder guests, the recipe yields enough that I had some to serve on both nights and even a few scraps to give the kids in the days after.

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Any way you break it (ha!), Passover is a Candy Addict’s worst nightmare. A vast majority of candy these days is simply not kosher for Passover, largely because it is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup. Most Ashkenazi (Eastern European) Jews do not allow the consumption of corn or legumes during the holiday, so corn syrup sweetened stuff is a no-go zone. Most Sephardic (North African/Middle Eastern/Spanish) Jews do allow legumes and corn, but even those who don’t mind the corn syrup have to bid adieu to their favorite classic treats – anything with crisp wafers (see ya, Kit Kat), malt (buh-bye Whoppers), crispy rice bits (No Crunch bar for you!)

Traditional Passover candies tend to be those that will not offend anyone in either the legumes or no-legumes camp. They’re mainly a collection of Joyva Ring Jells, those hideous pink jelly rings covered in dark mockolate or those completely horrible cherries floating in cough syrup coated with mockolate. Not all kosher candy is bad, it’s just that Passover candy in particular is mostly a disaster. Over these eight days, my sugar highs tend to be the result of a few too many (handfuls of) home made meringues.
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After a night of taste-testing tons of candy, I was ready for something unique and delicious. I found what I was looking for in a sample box sent to me by the people at Halvah. The Joyva Sesame Crunch bar has a wonderfully distinctive flavor and texture. The bar is thin and flat and made up of four simple ingredients: sesame seeds, sugar, corn syrup, and honey. It’s Awesomely Addictive.

My favorite candies are usually coated, filled, or mixed with chocolate, but the Sesame Crunch bar is in a league of its own. It’s slightly sticky, crispy, and satisfying, and naturally honey-sweet. If you buy the bars from halvah.biz, they’re only fifty cents per bar. The waistline expansion factor isn’t bad either—a 1.125oz bar has 190 calories, and according to the manufacturer, the candy’s kosher.

I haven’t looked for the Sesame Crunch bars in stores because I still have one left from my sample stash, but I’ll be on the hunt during my planned Labor Day Weekend candy shopping spree. I gotta have some more!

• halvah.biz
• joyva.com
• Buy Joyva products at amazon.com

candy, sweets, candy reviews, sesame, halvah, joyva, kosher

I got an email about a week ago from a reader asking:

I would like to know if you know if there is any kosher certification either in the states or the U.K. regarding Smarties.

After clarifying whether he meant U.S. or U.K. Smarties (he meant U.K. Smarties), I started poking around online and couldn’t find the answer so I went straight to the source and asked Nestle. After a few days I got the reply:

Thank you for contacting Nestlé. We welcome questions and comments from our consumers.

Smarties is a Nestlé brand marketed by Nestlé outside the United States. Nestlé does not import it into the United States. We have been informed by Nestlé Canada, that the Smarties manufactured in Canada are not Kosher Certified.

We appreciate your interest in our products and hope you’ll visit our website often for latest information on Nestlé products and promotions.

Sincerely,
Elaine
Consumer Response Representative

So, there you have it. Smarties are not kosher.

UPDATE: Here is a list of candies and their kosher status.

candy, chocolate, sweets, smarties, kosher, food