Passover 2024
Seder Table Place Tags
Painted matzo tags dress up your Seder table. Royal icing spread over matzo rectangles is your canvas. For an extra special treat, cover the backside with melted chocolate and then sprinkle with nuts, coconut, or crushed sesame candy. This easy project is great fun for you and your family, a delightful surprise for guests, and a yummy treat for all.
What you need ...
matzo
food colors*
paint brushes
white or rose wine for diluting food colors and cleaning brushes**
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
ground nuts, crushed sesame candies, coconut flakes (optional)
*Edible markers can be substituted for food colors and brushes
**Water can be substituted for wine to dilute the food colors. When using water extra care must be taken to avoid melting the royal icing.
Let's do it ...
Use a plastic knife to score matzo sheets to desired size, Snap scored matzo into pieces.
Make your matzo canvas
Check your matzo, sometimes you will find that one side is darker than the other. For this project, it is best to use the lighter side for your canvas.
Spread royal icing over matzo. Cover all your pieces plus an extra piece to use for testing colors. Set matzos aside to dry, this usually takes 6 to 8 hours. The icing needs to be rock hard dry before painting.
In humid climates or on rainy days it is best to dry the iced matzos in the oven.
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees. Once the oven reaches 175 degrees, turn the oven off. Place the iced matzos in the oven, and leave the oven door open, just a crack.
Note: If there is condensation on the oven door window, wipe it off before placing your iced matzos in the oven.
Tips for painting on sugar ...
To prevent your icing canvas from melting, don’t paint your entire picture at once. Paint part of the picture, then set it aside to dry and move on to another matzo. Alternate painting between matzos until your picture is complete.
Note: food colors diluted with wine will dry faster than those diluted with water.
Dilute the food colors with wine or water.
Dip your brush in the diluted color and then draw the brush across the work piece to remove excess liquid.
Paint the name in the upper right-hand corner.
Paint your picture in the remaining space.
What to paint?
Think about the Passover story, the ten plagues, or seder plate symbols. Passover greeting cards are great for picture ideas. Use your imagination and just have fun!
After your paintings have dried, wrap in plastic wrap and tie with a bow.
A Sweet Option... (after the painted tags are completely dry)
Melt chocolate chips according to package directions.
Spread melted chocolate over the underside of the tag.
Sprinkle crushed sesame candy, ground nuts, or coconut flakes over the chocolate.
Place on wax paper, chocolate side down, to dry.
Happy Passover!
Passover 2023
Next Year in Jerusalem
Passover Matzo Mosaic
We all know matzo is for matzo ball soup, matzo kugel, matzo brie, but who would think you can turn this bland Passover staple into a dazzling sweet mosaic that will astonish your Seder guests.
This no bake project is fun for all ages. Let’s have some Passover matzo fun!
What you need ...
6-8 sheets matzo
1 3/4c melted chocolate chips*
2 c royal icing (flooding consistency)
Food colors
Jelly fruit slices
Assorted small candies
48 mandlen soup nuts
Sprinkles
¼” foam core board 14” x 18” for tray
* If you prefer, substitute store bought chocolate covered matzo for the background layer matzos; this eliminates the need for melted chocolate chips and also saves time.
Optional
¼” foam core board 7” x 7” for tray foot
1/4c toasted coconut flakes or crushed matzo to fill gap, if needed
Let's do it ...
Foam Core Board Tray
Cover the board with aluminum foil. Secure the foil to the underside of the board with tape.
Note: Adding a foot the underside of the tray will make it easier to move your mosaic from your work area to the serving table. If you opt to add a foot, do so before covering the tray with foil.
Follow directions below for adding a foot.
Foot
Tray
Glue or tape a 7” x 7” piece of foam core board to the underside of the tray, placing the foot in the center as shown above.
Candy Decorations
The decorative pieces need to be made before the houses are painted with the royal icing.
Flatten several of the jelly slices and cut into small rectangles, squares and triangular pieces for windows, doors, and roof tops. To cut the jelly slices, I use school safety scissors to which I’ve applied a light coating of cooking oil to prevent sticking.
Crush hard candies.
Set candy decorations aside until ready to use.
Dip mandlen top in royal icing, tap off excess icing.
Dip iced mandlen in sprinkles.
Set mandlen poppers aside until ready to use.
Mandlen Poppers for Mosaic Frame
Tint Royal Icing
Tint the remaining royal icing your desired colors.
TIP: You can use blue, yellow and pink as your primary colors. After you’ve painted the sky and houses with your primary colors, combine these colors to make bright green (blue and yellow), orange (yellow and blue) lavender (blue and pink)
Keep tinted icings covered with a damp paper towel to avoid crusting.
Assembling the Mosaic
Background Layer
Melt chocolate chips according to package directions.
Spread half of the melted chocolate over the foil covered tray.
Lay matzo pieces over the chocolate as shown.
Spread the remaining melted chocolate over the matzos. Refrigerate 15 minutes until set.
Note: If you are using store bought chocolate matzos, glue the chocolate matzos to the tray with dabs of royal icing.
Houses and Sky
Score matzos and break into various size rectangles and squares for houses and sky.
Paint and Decorate the Houses
Spread the tinted royal icing over a matzo piece. Tap off excess royal icing.
Add roofs, windows, and doors. Depending on the size of your houses and how you arrange them on the tray, some of the houses in the top row will not need doors.
Sky
Spread the blue royal icing over the matzo pieces for the sky and glue to the background with a dab of royal icing. You can cover the cracks between the matzo pieces with more icing now or wait until later.
Add your houses to the background layer, starting with the top row as shown below.
Leave a little space along the four sides of the mosaic for the mandlen popper frame.
Before adding houses to the bottom row, glue a small piece of matzo to the mosaic with royal icing.
The matzo piece will help to support the house. Add one matzo piece for each house.
Glue the houses over the matzo pieces with royal icing.
Add extra windows, doors and roof top decorations if needed.
Add extra blue royal icing to cover the cracks in the sky.
Frame Your Mosaic
With a dab of royal icing, glue extra matzo pieces to the bottom edge and lower side edges as shown below. These pieces will support the mandlen poppers.
Use a dab of royal icing to glue mandlen poppers along all four edges of the mosaic.
If there is a gap between the bottom of your houses and the frame, fill in with toasted coconut or crushed matzo.
Happy Passover!
Passover 2022
Marshmallow & Matzo Passover Plagues Sandwich Pops
Add a delightfully sweet touch of fun to your Seder with my no-bake Passover plague pops. For
a quicker version, omit the stick and purchase chocolate dipped matzo squares.
What you need ...
Matzo cut into 3.5” x 2.5” rectangles – 2 pieces per pop
1 cup royal icing (recipe)
8 -10 mini-marshmallows per pop
5 mini marshmallows for each hail cloud
1 ½ cups dark chocolate chips
vegetable oil
1 tablespoon dried cranberries chopped into small pieces
green, yellow and blue food coloring
6 popsicle sticks
6 squares of parchment or wax paper 4 "x4"
6 squares of cardboard or heavy-duty paper 4"x 4"
Toothpicks
Frosting spatula
Piping cones, bags, squeeze bottles, or zip seal bags
Optional additions to marshmallow layer – finely chopped salted nuts, dried fruit, or crushed Joyva sesame candy
TIPS:
Royal icing dries quickly. Keep your icing covered with a damp paper towel to prevent crusting.
Before piping your plague decorations onto the parchment paper, tack the paper to a square of cardboard with one or two dabs of royal icing.
Water is the enemy of melted chocolate. Before starting make sure your utensils, bowls and
work area are dry.
Allow your plague decorations to dry 6-8 hours before removing them from the parchment paper.
Helpful Tutorials
Are you new to melting chocolate or decorating with royal icing? Watch these short tutorials for a quick how-to introduction.
Let's do it ...
Hail and Hail Cloud
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Tack parchment paper to a cardboard square.
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Finely crush a small piece of matzo.
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Mix 1 tablespoon finely crushed matzo with 1 tablespoon royal icing.
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Drop small clumps of hail mixture onto parchment square, leave space for the cloud.
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For the cloud, squish 5 mini marshmallows flat. Use just a bit of royal icing to glue the marshmallows together to form the cloud.
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Set hail and cloud aside to dry.
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Tack parchment paper to a cardboard square.
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Pipe an upside down V as shown.
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Set aside until the icing has a crust before continuing to step #4.
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Starting at the top, pipe a thick line of melted chocolate down the center of the V, as shown.
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Allow chocolate to harden before adding tiny white dots of royal icing for eyes; this can be done with a toothpick.
Flies
Blood
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Tack parchment paper to a cardboard square.
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Tint 2 tablespoons of royal icing blue.
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Pipe tear drops of varying sizes to represent water.
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Add bits of dried cranberry to the bottom of the larger drops to show the water turning to blood.
5. Set aside to harden.
Boils
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Tack parchment paper to a cardboard square.
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Tint 2 tablespoons of royal icing yellow.
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Use a teaspoon to drop small blotches of yellow icing onto the parchment paper, as shown.
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Add bits of dried cranberries to center of each blotch.
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Set aside to dry.
Mix together leftover yellow and blue royal icings, add enough white icing to make about ½ c.
Add green food coloring until the desired shade of green is achieved.
Check the icing for consistency; when you lift the mixing spoon up and let some icing fall back
into the bowl, it should take 12 – 15 seconds for the dropped icing to disappear in the bowl.
If the icing is too loose, add powdered sugar, one teaspoon at a time until the correct consistency
is achieved.
If the icing is too stiff, add ¼ teaspoon of water at a time, until the correct consistency is achieved.
Tack parchment paper to a cardboard square.
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Eye sockets - Pipe 2 dots spaced about ¼” apart, as shown.
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Body outline - Pipe an oval outline as shown, making sure the outline connects the eye sockets.
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Front legs - Starting inside the oval, pipe 2 long legs, as shown. If desired, pipe an upside-down V over the tip of each leg to create webbed feet.
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Back legs - Starting inside the oval, just above the top of the front legs, pipe a short line on each side as shown.
Frogs
6. Fill the body in by piping a thick zig zag line going from the top of the oval to the bottom, as shown.
7. Blend the lines with a toothpick, and then gently tap the board 2-3 times until the icing is smooth.
8. Set aside to dry before adding the eyes and mouth
Locust
Mix the leftover green royal icing from the frog with enough white royal icing to equal 1/4 cup. Add green and yellow food coloring for a bright lime green hue.
Check the consistency of the icing and adjust as needed (see directions above).
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Pipe an oval for the head. Starting at the head, pipe a curved line for the locust’s stomach, as shown.
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Pipe a straight line from the locust’s head down to the tip of the curved line, creating an outline for the body.
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To fill the outline, pipe a thick zig zag line from the head down to the tip of the body, as shown.
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Use a toothpick to blend the lines. Tap the board 2-3 times to smooth out the icing.
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Set aside to dry before moving on to step #6.
6. Use melted chocolate to pipe a large circle for the eye.
7. Pipe a thin line for the leg, as shown.
8. Touch the tip of the piping bag or cone to add several dots to the locust’s back, as shown.
9. Set aside to harden.
Top Matzo
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Spread melted chocolate over a matzo rectangle. Carefully scrape or tap off excess chocolate.
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Add the plague decorations while the chocolate is still wet. For the blood pop, add some extra cranberries across the bottom.
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Set aside to harden.
Note: If you purchased chocolate covered matzos glue your plague decorations to the matzo with a dot of royal icing or melted chocolate.
Assembling the Plague Pop Sandwich
Bottom Matzo and Marshmallows
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Squish mini marshmallows
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Spread melted chocolate over a matzo rectangle. Carefully scrape or tap off excess chocolate.
3. Add popsicle stick and 8 – 10 squished marshmallows as shown.
If you are adding an optional treat, sprinkle the treat in between
the marshmallows.
4. Dab melted chocolate over marshmallows and popsicle stick.
5. Top with a decorated matzo.
6. Set your matzo sandwich pop aside to harden before wrapping.
