For years my mother and I have swapped recipes for ‘passover bagels’. They aren’t really bagels though – just eggy matzah mealy blobs that break the monotony of matzah brei and cheese-on-matzah breakfasts. Every year we make them, and every year we wonder how to make them better.  Sometimes they’re too dry. Sometimes they’re too oily. Sometimes they just don’t rise. Regardless, smothered with butter and raspberry jam, or standing in for biscuits alongside scrambled eggs, they taste fine.

Why is this year different from all others?

I couldn’t find my Passover Bagel recipe. I couldn’t remember the proportions of oil to water. I didn’t have enough sugar. I misplaced my cookie sheet. So I improvised. I beat the eggs with an electric whisk. I added the matzah meal mixture – off heat – into the eggs (instead of the other way around), and I baked the batter in mini-muffin tins rather than poking my forefinger into each portion of batter to shape the bagel hole. Eureka!

These little gems were perfect served with a dollop of zesty fresh lemon curd (which is my mother-in-law’s recipe). Tomorrow’s breakfast: real bagels!

Passover Muffins

Ingredients:

• 2 cups boiling water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 3 tbl sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 eggs (room temp)
• 2 cups fine matzah meal

Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Beat eggs well with an electric whisk or a stand mixer and let rest.
3. In a saucepan over medium heat add boiling water, oil, sugar, and salt.
4. Once boiling rapidly, add matzah meal one cup at a time. Stir to combine and remove from heat. The mixture should be pretty dry.
5. Add matzah meal mixture into the eggs and combine with a wooden spoon until all the eggs are incorporated into the dough. Persist: this will happen eventually.
6. Using two spoons, spoon the batter into a mini muffin tin, filling to the top.
7. Bake 35-45 mins until golden brown.



Lemon Curd

Ingredients:

• Juice of 4 lemons
• Zest of 4 lemons
• 4 eggs beaten with a fork
• 8 ounces of sugar
• 4 ounces softened butter, cut into pieces

Method

1. Combine all ingredients in a microwave-safe bowl.
2. Put bowl into microwave on full power for 5 minutes, in 1 minute intervals. After each minute, remove the bowl and stir contents thoroughly (so the eggs don’t cook).
3. After 5 minutes, the consistency should still be slightly runny – put a spoonfull on a saucer to check.
4. Pour the mixture into glass lidded jars and refrigerate 6 hours or more.