These Passover Chocolate Chip Cookies are now a “holiday classic,” made with love every Seder to share with family and friends. It’s such a simple recipe, but somehow magical. The combination of matzo, brown sugar, butter, honey and vanilla creates a cookie that tastes every bit as good as a traditional flour cookie. Read through the comments if you don’t believe me! This recipe is a keeper.
This recipe his always a popular one on my site during the lead up to Passover, so I felt it deserved fresh new photos. I originally obtained the recipe from an organization called the Jewish Outreach Institute (no longer in existence) and their “Mother’s Circle Cookbook,” which shared recipes from women of various backgrounds raising Jewish children. It was submitted to the book by Mother’s Circle member Kathy Kersul-Wiener. Of the recipe, she writes:
After several years of suffering through store-bought Passover “treats,” I decided that I’d better learn to make them myself. I think the secret to this recipe is that the chocolate chips overwhelm the matzo.
These cookies are chocolatey, buttery and decadent, I would even go as far as saying they are the BEST Passover cookies. The original recipe calls for 3 cups of chocolate chips, which made the cookies too sweet for my taste. I have adapted the recipe by reducing the amount of chocolate chips to 2 cups, which is more than enough chocolate for our family’s taste.
For those of you wondering what matzo cake meal is, it’s simply matzo that has been ground very fine into a powdery texture. Most grocers with a kosher or jewish food section carry it during Passover. If you can’t find it, just grind up some matzo meal in your food processor until it becomes powdery like flour.
All of the other ingredients should be pretty easy to find. Enjoy, and Chag Sameach – Happy Passover!
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Food Photography and Styling by Kelly Jaggers
Passover Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups matzo cake meal
- 1/4 cup matzo meal
- 2 cups chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream the butter with brown sugar, honey, vanilla and salt. Add eggs and mix well.
- Mix in cake meal and matzo meal.
- Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Drop by tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Press down slightly to flatten.
- Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes until slightly golden. These are great when slightly warmed, dipped in a cold, frothy glass of milk. Yum!
Nutrition
would the recipe be ruined if i subbed margarine for butter to make it pareve?
Hi Sherri, I haven’t tried it myself, but other readers have with good results. Based on their comments, I would say go for it!
Your cookies look divine! I have celiac and crohn’s disease, so I cannot eat them. Although I can eat the Pesach food that is considered “non-gebroktz” I am not Orthodox, but I know that non-gebroktz means that they do not cook with the matzah meal. I think that this is a Hasidic tradition because they are stricter. It is actually this stringency that enables me to enjoy the seder. I am pretty sure that all the non-gebroktz food is already gluten-free. I know that they sell baked goods that are non-gebroktz and gluten-free before Passover. At any rate, Tori, I know you are busy, so I do not expect a reply to my comment. Since food history is your specialty, I hope you consider blogging about some non-gebroktz goodies for the gluten-free Passover people out there! If anyone would know how to explain the origin of this tradition, it would be you.
thanks for the recipe! I usually don’t like passover cookies/cakes but these look yummy that I bet my kids would like
These look delicious!
Tori, I am sitting here looking at page 301 of Marcy Goldman’s “A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking”, and you have no worries, her recipe is different. Marcy’s calls for 1 cup matzo cake meal, 1 cup of potato starch and 2 cups chocolate chips. There are other differences as well (hers has no honey or regular matzo meal) Hers is a book that I often use, but I’m sure your recipe above is equally excellent, as usual. Thanks for posting it.
Elaine, thank you for checking that! I appreciate it and will update the post. 🙂
I made latkas a couple times. Are latkas always kosher or do we have to be careful that the ingredients come with a kosher symbol on the package?
It always depends on what ingredients you put in anything you are cooking. And during Passover you have to be even more careful.
Jamie when I make latkes I don’t usually make them from a package. Most latke recipes are kosher, but only certain ones are kosher for Passover. These are kosher for Passover if you use matzo meal instead of breadcrumbs: http://theshiksa.com/2010/12/01/potato-latkes/ And here is a Passover latke recipe that a friend of mine contributed to the site: http://theshiksa.com/2013/04/01/passover-potato-latkes/ If you need more info on kosher basics let me know, I have a lot of guidance available on the website!
Is there a specific chocolate chip we should look for?
Hi Amy. It depends… if you’re strictly kosher for Passover you should look for chocolate chips with a Passover kosher hechsher. More on that here: https://toriavey.com/what-foods-are-kosher-for-passover/ If you’re not super worried about the hechsher, any chocolate chips will do. I would avoid the mini chips here, use medium sized chips or chunks. I usually use semi-sweet chips or chunks and they always turn out great. Enjoy!
Yummy! Please bake more! We need pick up sweets… Try Choc matzah next! Hugs!
Yummy! What’s the difference between matzah meal and matzah cake meal?
Josie, matzo cake meal is simply matzo meal ground very thin to a flour-like consistency. It is sold in the kosher or Passover section of the grocery store along with the matzo meal. Hope that helps!
I made them last year, yummo! Thanks for the reminder!
They are amazing–I have made them for the past two years, and everyone loves them! If you haven’t tried them, you must!
I’ve made these for the past two Passovers, and they are incredible. I might like them more than “normal” chocolate chip cookies…they matzo meal seem to give them an almost nutty flavor that is irresistible. Delish!
What is the measurement for 2 sticks butter – we don’t have sticks in S Africa
Ruth, 1 stick of butter = 1/2 cup, so 2 sticks would be 1 cup. 🙂
Yum! Something besides macaroons though I love those too!
As a journalist who’s “metro”; I’ve just Shared this on my FB wall; for my 1,038 FB Friends. Greetings from Phoenix! Sincerely, Ted.
Printed and can’t wait to bake them!
Yum, pinned already!!!
These look great! Can’t wait to make them! Thank you for posting…always looking for Passover desserts!
Yum!
These look really tasty!