Th e staff despised a sugar-free sponge loaf cake from Oberlander.

“It’s a little eggy, a little dry,” Rogelberg said.

“It’s a little bland,” I added.

Gotlieb went as far as imagining what a sponge might taste like.

“I know why they call this sponge cake — because it tastes kind of like a
sponge,” he said. “Not that I eat sponges that oft en, but this is dry.”
A group of Joyva chocolate-covered jelly rings was hated by everyone.

Zighelboim compared the taste of the jelly to the fl avored medication that
a doctor would prescribe to a child.

“It’s like that weird cough medicine taste,” she said. “Th e chocolate is
good though.”
Gotlieb called them “Robitussin rings.”
“I think I would have stuck with just the chocolate next time,” Zighelboim
concluded. Macaroons, both chocolate (Goodman’s) and coconut (Manischewitz),
also got less-than-stellar reviews.

As they began chewing on the chocolate macaroons, staff ers said they
didn’t taste enough chocolate. Th en they chewed to the end and realized
that the dessert even tasted “soggy.”
Gotlieb off ered up a one-word review.

“Eh,” he said.

“I think that sums up the Passover macaroons for sure,” Zighelboim
added. Th e coconut macaroons were a little better. Van Asdalan loved them.

“I’m probably biased because I love coconut, but I would eat a bunch of
these,” she said.

Van Asdalan must have a Passover sweet tooth because, near the end, she
admitted to kind of, sort of liking the jelly/Robitussin rings as well.

“For whatever reason, just because I thought they were interesting, I
didn’t hate the jelly rings as much,” she said.

SMERCONISH MICHAEL SMERCONISH, Nationally
Syndicated Sirius XM Radio Talk Show Host,
CNN Host, and Best-Selling Author will be
our guest speaker at our gala fundraiser.

This program is being underwritten by the Stanley I. Sheerr Memorial Lecture Fund.

Tickets available at:
www.bethsholomcongregation.org Coping
Techniques for
Caregivers the8monkey / iStock / Getty Images Plus
THE TRICK TO MAKING GOOD PASSOVER DESSERTS
We did our best to fi nd some good Passover desserts, and while we found
a few that were decent, it was a diffi cult task.

But it was tough because we picked up pre-made items at the super-
market, according to Yonah Gross, the kashrus administrator for the
Community Kashrus of Greater Philadelphia. Th e key is to do what Gross’
wife does every year: make desserts at home.

Th at way, you can use matzah meal, or crushed matzah, to replace fl our
and still get a similar taste. Gross’ wife makes coff ee cake mixes and bis-
cotti with chocolate chips for the family to eat throughout the eight-day
holiday. “Th ere are special Passover recipes that work it out,” Gross said. “A lot
of chocolate is helpful.”
Store-bought items can’t replicate this formula because they depend on
preservatives, Gross said. If you change one preservative, like using corn
syrup instead of sugar, you change the whole dynamic of the dessert.

“Th ere are various chemicals that could have some impact on the taste
or the texture of what it might otherwise be,” he said.

In other words, this is how you end up with “Robitussin rings.”
But if you’re willing to do the work, you don’t have to settle for the
equivalent of a child’s medicine repackaged as dessert. You just have to be
willing to bake like you’re competing on the Food Network.

“My wife works very hard on baking,” Gross said.

“If you go store-bought, you can be rest assured that the kosher status is
excellent,” he concluded. “I will leave the judgment of taste to others.” JE
jsaff ren@midatlanticmedia.com
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