Chocolate Mincemeat Bars

Passover is in two weeks. The fifth without Marvin at the table. The preparations are automatic now — the chametz removal, the dishes, the brisket, the matzo balls, the gefilte fish. Sophie will roll the matzo balls. Ethan will ask the four questions. David will carve. Hannah will carry the napkins. The family will gather. The story will be told. The food will be eaten. The chain will hold.

And this year, the book will be at the table. Not physically — it will not be published until May — but spiritually, the knowledge that the story I have been telling at this table for forty-three years is now also a story I have told in a book, and the book-telling and the table-telling are the same telling, the same story, the same chain, and the telling at the table is the original and the book is the copy, and the copy will outlast the original, because the original is a woman at a table and the woman will not be at the table forever, but the book will be on the shelf forever, and the forever is the chain.

I made charoset. The sweet paste of apples and walnuts and wine and cinnamon. The mortar. The sweetness. The thing that turns slavery into something you can eat and taste and hold on your tongue, and the holding on the tongue is the remembering, and the remembering is the book, and the book is the charoset, and the charoset is the chain.

When I think about what charoset does — all those apples and walnuts and wine pressed together into something sweet and dense and ancient — I think about how it is never just one thing, but all the things layered at once: fruit and nut and spice and memory. These Chocolate Mincemeat Bars are that same layering in a different form, the dried fruit and chocolate and warm spices pressed into something you can slice and pass around the table, the way charoset is passed, the way the story is passed. I made them alongside the charoset this year, and they sat at the end of the seder plate like a quiet echo, and that felt exactly right.

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 30 min | Total Time: 50 min | Servings: 24 bars

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 jar (28 oz) prepared mincemeat
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan and set aside.
Make the crust mixture. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in the melted butter until the mixture is crumbly and holds together when pressed.
Press the base. Reserve 1 cup of the oat mixture for the topping. Press the remaining mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan to form the crust layer.
Add the filling. Spread the mincemeat evenly over the crust, leaving a small border. Scatter the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts evenly over the mincemeat layer.
Top and bake. Crumble the reserved oat mixture over the top, pressing lightly so it adheres. Bake for 28–32 minutes, until the top is golden and the filling is bubbling at the edges.
Cool and cut. Allow the pan to cool completely on a wire rack, at least 1 hour, before cutting into bars. Cut into 24 pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Nutrition (per serving)

Chocolate Mincemeat Bars — The Sweet That Carries the Memory Forward