Nuts about butter

Mix up the usual Passover desserts this year with almond butter - a parve creamy nut butter that acts a lot like peanut butter.

By ELIZABETH KURTZ/GOURMETKOSHERCOOKING.COM
Nuts about butter (photo credit: Courtesy)
Nuts about butter
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Last week I carefully examined the Passover aisles in the market for ingredients that gave me new Passover cooking inspiration. Each year, I find something that excites me and adds a few new recipes to my repertoire. This year many companies in the US are making almond butter with a kosher for Passover certificate. This is amazing.
Almond butter is a creamy nut butter (it’s parve though) that acts a lot like peanut butter. The taste is a bit different but it’s a great peanut butter substitute. Try it in all your peanut butter mousse recipes.
I add it to salad dressings with a bit of ginger and garlic and it gives tremendous flavor. The brownies and cookies below are staples for Passover and you may even make them all year round.Brownies with Passover Peanut Butter Swirl Makes 12 brownies
1 cup oil
 4 eggs 2 cups sugar
 ½ cup potato starch
 1 teaspoon vanilla
 1 cup cocoa
 1 bag (2 cups) chocolate chips ¼ - 1/2 cup almond butter
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine oil, eggs, sugar, potato starch, vanilla, cocoa and chocolate chips in a large bowl. Mix well.
Pour into a 9-inch round or square baking pan. Dollop almond butter all over top of brownie batter. With a toothpick swirl the almond butter into the batter.
Bake for about 30 to 45 minutes. The top will look set with cracks.
Passover Cookies Makes 2 dozen cookies
1 cup almond butter, kosher-for-Passover 1 cup sugar 1 eggs ½ teaspoon vanilla or 1 dash vanilla sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt 24 teaspoons raspberry jam (or any flavor)
Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl until well-blended.
Use a teaspoon to scoop out a small amount.
Roll into balls and place on parchment-covered baking sheet.
Carefully press each ball down with a fingertip - balls are fragile, try to keep them from splitting open or you'll lose your jam.
Balls should resemble a bird's nest.
With another, clean spoon scoop 1/4 to 1/2 a teaspoon of jam or jelly and slide it into the "nest".
Repeat until all "nests" are full.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
Allow to cool & solidify before peeling from parchment.
Finish cooling on wire rack before serving.
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