Contributed by Rachael, Ancesister @ Ancestreats.

Hello beautiful food-loving people!  This is one of my most treasured perennial family recipes. There’s still plenty of time remaining over this Passover holiday for you to make your own batch.  First, a brief explanation of why this recipe, and why now.

Jews all over the world who observe Pesach (Passover) will abstain from eating “chametz;” this is food containing leavened products derived from five types of grain (wheat, barley, oats, spelt and rye). After these grain flours get mixed with water and co-mingle for greater than 18 minutes, the flour begins to ferment. That’s a no-no on Passover.  Matzoh, which is a strictly supervised unleavened flatbread cracker made with flour and water, is the major game changer for the holiday. Matzoh is briskly baked before the 18-minute point to remind us of the hurried flight of the Israelites from Egypt during the Exodus. If you need a refresher, listen to the spiritual, “Let My People Go!!”  Or watch this cool video.

We don’t have to fast on Passover, but we don’t eat bread, bagels, muffins, biscuits, croissants, doughnuts, crackers; we don’t drink fermented grain spirits like whiskey and beer. And yet, with all these exclusions, we still have plenty to enjoy. Over the years,  kosher mammas (aka the Momeles) have created a palatable path of recipes specifically Passover only (Pesakdek). This recipe is one of them.

I don’t know who originally gave this recipe to my Grandma Francis, but she passed it on to my mother who shared it with me. When Grandma gave me a copy of  “The Momele’s Ta’am Cookbook: Adventures in Jewish Cooking” by Rosabelle Edin and Shushannah Spector, I wrote this recipe on the inside back cover. My recipe is different from the book’s Pesakdek recipe for a similar baked item.

Forty years ago, my New England public schools offered hot lunch, but I would opt-out and bring in homemade lunch in a paper bag. While classmates around me would munch down their fluffernutters (that’s peanut butter with marshmallow fluff on white bread) I ate something completely different; usually a cheese-tomato-lettuce sandwich with a piece of fruit. It really got their attention on the school days when I was observing Passover. Kids being kids, they’d ask about my food. Every school day of Passover, the scenario repeated again and again. It was my personal version of Bill Murray’s 1993 comedy movie, Ground Hog Day, where he portrays a weather man trapped in a loop that repeats the same day over and over again.

I harbored awkward feelings for having to explain to my classmates about Passover and why I was eating matzoh instead of regular sandwich bread. Once the holiday got underway, however, mum would find time to bake “Not So Obvious” rolls and save me!

The rolls, while made with matzoh meal, had an appearance closer to an ordinary bulkie roll, than compared with the crisp flat matzoh crackers. When I pulled out a sandwich on these rolls from my lunch bag, the other kids didn’t ask what I was eating. I could eat in peace, which was all I wanted to do. Besides, the rolls were delicious: crisp on the outside and soft and eggy on the inside. My favorite way Mum packed them was sliced in half and filled with cream cheese and sliced green Spanish olives stuffed with pimiento. Sometimes there was tuna fish salad on them, too. “Not So Obvious” rolls were so delectable, I didn’t want Passover to end. At any rate, we never had leftovers of these rolls. I would have to wait another year to enjoy them again. You needn’t be restrictive if you want to give them a try.

My eldest son begs me to make “Not So Obvious” rolls for him all year-long. He eats his tuna fish salad when it’s on these rolls. Nevertheless, I keep the recipe special to our holiday and refuse to bake them at any other time of the year.  His whole wheat tuna sandwiches come home untouched during the rest of the school year. I make him eat those  in the kitchen. Yes, I’m that mom.

DIETARY NOTE: If you are on an oil-free Ornish/Esselstyn diet, this recipe isn’t for you. I’m very sorry you’re stuck with plain matzoh. However, PLEASE, if you have figured how to create these with an oil substitute that is Pesakdek, share in the comments section below, so everyone can learn from you! I’d sure appreciate it.

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MAKES APPROXIMATELY 12, 2 oz “NOT SO OBVIOUS” MATZOH ROLLS

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup safflower oil [canola is fine if you eat kitniyot]*

1 + 1/3 cup water

2 T sugar [at high altitude, use 1/2 tsp less sugar]

1 tsp salt

2 heaping cups of matzoh meal [whole grain, plain or gluten-free if that’s your diet]

6 large eggs**, cracked open and visually inspected to remove blood and shell bits [at high altitude, add one additional egg]

DIRECTIONS

In a 3 Liter/3.17 quart sauce pan, heat up to boiling the oil, water, salt, and sugar. Stir and make certain everything is dissolved. Remove from heat. Carefully stir in 2 cups of matzoh meal. Cool. Add 3 eggs and mix together.  Add the remaining eggs and mix together; scrape down the sides and bottom of the pan. Transfer dough to a right-sized bowl, cover and place in the refrigerator to rest and chill. At least 1 hour; more time is fine.

When nearly ready to bake the rolls: preheat oven to 375F degrees [at high altitude, set oven to 400F degrees].

Meanwhile, line a cookie sheet with baking parchment. Fill a small bowl with cold water. Moisten hands in the water. Scoop out 2 oz of dough. Roll gently in the wet hands to form a ball.  Place on the lined pan. Flatten them slightly to spread out the shape for sandwich use.  Bake for 40 minutes. Cool. When ready to serve for sandwiches, slice them gently. Leave whole to use for noshing or dunking in a bowl of soup.

Drink plenty of water and Chag same’ach = Happy Holiday!

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UPDATE 4/2017:

*Since we have gone “oil-free” in our home baking and cooking, I have been producing this recipe using SMOOTH UNSWEETENED APPLESAUCE as a replacement for the oil~~Substituting 1:1 in the amounts~~. The end result is a soft roll (no crunchy crust) with a mildly sweet flavor.  My littlest critic, as she reaches into the container to help herself to one, says, “I do LOVE these rolls!”

**In case you are lowering your cholesterol intake, you could also replace the whole eggs with liquid egg whites.