Oh yeah! Shortbread cookie. Gooey caramel. Lots of chocolate! Now THAT’S a Twix candy bar! Add coconut to the mix and we’ve taken the Twix bar to a whole new level. Since Passover is just around the corner and our Kosher Connection challenge this month was to come up with a Passover dessert recipe, I knew that taking inspiration from non-Passover candy would be perfect. Good luck finding delicious candy bars for Passover, especially ones that have cookie and crunch layers. So instead of just making a Passover shortbread, which is really just my regular shortbread recipe with cake meal instead of all-purpose flour, and adding some caramel and chocolate, I thought I would have some fun with this one. I made a traditional Passover dessert, the coconut macaroon, and used it for the caramel layer by adding homemade caramel right into the macaroon! So here we have it…Passover shortbread and caramel coconut macaroons glued together with more homemade caramel and dipped in rich dark chocolate. Drool!
Coconut Macaroon Twix Bars
makes 2 dozen candy bars
Passover Non-Dairy Shortbread
1 cup matzah cake meal (replace with all-purpose flour if you aren’t making this for Passover)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted margarine
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp honey
Caramel Coconut Macaroon
3/4 cup egg whites (from 5 eggs)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
4 cups tightly packed unsweetened coconut flakes
1/2 cup melted caramel (homemade or pre-made caramels)
Assembly
1/4 cup melted caramel
1-2 cups chocolate, chopped
I whisked together the cake flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. In a stand mixer, I combined the margarine, powdered sugar, olive oil and honey. I gradually added the cake flour mixture until small lumps formed. I sprinkled my work surface with more cake flour and kneaded the dough by hand until combined.
I rolled the dough into a rectangle, around 1/4 inch thick, wrapped in plastic wrap and froze for 30 minutes. While the dough was setting up in the freezer, I made the caramel coconut macaroons. I set a small saucepan with 1 cup of water over low heat to simmer. In a stainless steel bowl, I whisked together the sugar and egg whites. I placed the bowl over the simmering water to create a double boiler. A few notes here: make sure the water is at a low simmer because you don’t want to cook the eggs and the bottom of the bowl shouldn’t touch the water.
I whisked the egg white mixture continuously for 5 minutes, until the sugar dissolved. You’ll know the sugar has dissolved when you rub the mixture between your fingers and there are no granules left.
I took the egg white mixture off the stove, added the vanilla, salt and coconut and stirred to combine. Next, I stirred in the caramel.
Then it was time to cook! First, I sliced the shortbread dough into rectangles using a ruler to make sure they were all the same size. I placed the cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Then I scooped a tablespoon at a time of the caramel coconut macaroon mixture on to another parchment lined baking sheet and shaped them into rectangles to match the shape of the cookies. Don’t worry about this part being so perfect because you can always shape the macaroons after they cook.
I baked the shortbread cookies and macaroon at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. I transferred them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Once the cookies and macaroons were cool, it was time to stack and dip! I brushed the shortbread cookies with some caramel then placed a caramel coconut macaroon on top. As I said above, if you macaroons are not the same shape as the cookies when they come out of the oven, just slice them down to the right size and snack on the scraps.
I melted the chocolate in a glass bowl for 30 seconds at a time, stirring after each segment, until smooth. I dipped the shortbread and macaroon stacks into the chocolate then placed them back on the parchment lined baking sheet to harden.
Once the chocolate sets up, you can devour! If the candy bars don’t get finished right away (and there’s a good chance they will), they freeze really well so you can eat them all Passover long.
Kitchen Tested
Yields 2 dozen
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Instructions
