Perfect Passover Matzo Meal Pancakes

My history with Matzo meal pancakes is well, mixed (pun intended). As a child, my cousins always made us pancakes from a prepackaged mix. They were edible, but never as good as the real deal. I always "chalked" the problem up to the lack of chemical leaveners.

Today, I woke up and decided to take a stab at home made passover pancakes. I found this recipe on epicurious. I didn't have matzo meal, so I ground up two matzos in the food processor very finely and decided to make a few risky swaps. Since eggs are precious in our house as we only buy them at the farmer's market and they are quite expensive I decided to use only one egg in place of 3 - replacing the other two with yogurt (think buttermilk pancakes!). Then I made the swap from using water (I assume to make it parve?) to milk.

By some miracle, it worked! Not only were our pancakes delicious, they may even have better than normal ones... I know what I'll be doing with any leftover matzos I have! Plus, unlike most passover recipes they aren't overly "eggy".

This recipe doesn't make very many pancakes - maybe enough for 1-2 people MAX (2 is already a stretch) so you'll have to scale it up for a crowd. Also, you'll want it to sit for about 10-15 minutes before cooking as the matzo needs to soak the liquid. These minutes are crucial as they should allow you just enough time to cup up whatever toppings you like, do the dishes, and set the table.

Some ways to spruce up the batter in future: adding some orange zest and cardamom or a pinch of cinnamon, and, of course, chopped fruit and chocolate chips!

Ingredients (enough to make about 6 4-inch pancakes)

1/2 cup matzo meal (about 2 matzos worth, ground in the food processor)

1 tbsp sugar

pinch of salt

1 egg

2/5 cup plain or vanilla whole milk yogurt (~1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon)

1/2 cup whole milk

Butter (for pan)

1. Mix the matzo meal, sugar, and salt in a bowl.

2. Beat the egg, yogurt, and milk together.

3. Mix the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients until combined, try to avoid over mixing. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes. Batter should have the consistency of runny-ish yogurt. If too thick, add a bit more milk.

4. After the batter is rested, heat up a bit of butter in a pan over medium-high heat.

5. When the pan is nice and hot, pour some batter in 3" or so rounds - trying not to over crowd the pan. Now is the time to add toppings such as chocolate chips or fruit sprinkled on top of the batter that you've poured into the pan.

6. When the bottom of the pancakes are nicely browned (don't expect them to bubble up too much to know when to flip!) flip the pancakes and cook the other side until brown. Between rounds of pancakes add a bit more oil to the pan to ensure the next batch doesn't burn.

7. Serve with fresh fruit, maple syrup, and some butter. cjr likes his with nutella.