Sibling Rivalry

June 10, 2013

Author: Ronnie V Fein

I timed last year’s apple pies perfectly. Every September I call Blue Jay Orchards in Bethel, Connecticut and order a bushel of Rhode Island Greening apples. They are one of the only orchards that I know who still grows this stupendously wonderful apple variety that is the absolutely best apple for pie no matter what anyone else, even the most expert of experts in the food business, says.

I make 12 apple pies every year and then, as the months go by, eat them down when company comes or my grandson Zev who eats almost nothing but likes my apple pie so of course there’s some for him when he visits.

So now I have one pie left, which we will have this week because I just called Blue Jay and put in my order for this year.

When I called them last week they weren’t sure they would have the apples this year because of all the rain and hurricanes, especially Hurricane Irene. Ohmyohmyohmy, that sounded like terrible news at the time and I actually began to think about other apples I could bake into a pie.

But they told me to call back in a day or so and sure enough, when I did they told me that they have some! So I am in luck.

I never did decide on what apples I would have used.

Anyway, my Mom made apple pie every year too. Her sister, my Aunt Beck, made apple cake. And, you know, sisters will be sisters. They loved each other lots but they had this kind of apple-baking rivalry come September, when the new apples came out. They each not-so-secretly let everyone in the family know that the pie or cake was much better than the cake or pie.

And so it went. I liked both, but, being daughter to the pie baker, I learned to bake the pie.

My mother was the one who clued me into the Rhode Island Greening apples. And she showed me how to make the dough and how to cut the butter and shortening into the flour so the crust would be crumbly and how not to add too much liquid because that makes the dough rubbery. She also taught me how to roll the dough gently, so it would be tender. “Don’t murder the dough!,” she used to caution.

Her apple pies were the best of the best and I use her recipe, so, well, I don’t want to brag but —- everyone says mine are the best of the best.

Here’s the recipe., You might not be able to find Rhode Island Greening apples. So you’re on your own here. If you use a sweeter apple, cut back on the sugar.

Originally published in Kitchen Vignettes. http://kitchenvignettes.blogspot.com/

Ingredients:

crust:

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon sugar

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon grated fresh lemon peel, optional

1/2 cup cold butter

1/3 cup cold vegetable shortening

4-6 tablespoons cold milk, juice, water or melted ice cream

apple filling

1 tablespoon butter

Apple Filling:

3 pounds pie apples (Rhode Island Greenings, Granny Smith, Gravenstein, Northern Spy, Golden Delicious, Idared, Stayman, Winesap, Baldwin, Jonagold, Braeburn

1/2 cup sugar, approximately

2 tablespoons lemon juice

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Preparation:

To make the crust: Combine the flour, sugar, salt, and lemon peel, if used, in a large bowl. Cut the butter and shortening into chunks and add the chunks to the flour mixture. Work the fat into the flour mixture until the ingredients resemble crumbs (use your hands, a pastry blender or the pulse feature of a food processor). Add the liquid, using only enough to gather pastry into a soft ball of dough (start with 4 tablespoons). Cut the dough in half and flatten each half to make a disk shape. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it stand at least 30 minutes.

To make apple filling: Peel and core the apples then cut them into slices. Place the slices in a bowl. Add the sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon and flour and toss the ingredients to coat the apple slices evenly.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly flour a pastry board or clean work surface. With a rolling pin, roll one half of the dough on the floured surface into a circle about 1/8-inch thick, making sure the circle is larger than the pie pan by about 1 inch. Place the dough in a 9” or 10” pie pan. Pour the apple filling into the pastry-lined pan. Cut the butter into small pieces and place on top of the filling. Roll out the remaining dough and place it over the filling. Gently press the bottom and top crusts together along the flared edge of the pie pan. For a fluted rim, press your thumb and index finger against the outside of the rim, or crimp it with the tines of a fork or the blunt side of a knife. Cut steam vents in the top crust with the tip of a sharp knife or the tines of a fork. Bake the pie for 50-60 minutes or until golden brown.

Posted in Baked Goods and Desserts

Tags: all-purpose flour, apple filling, apple pie, apples, butter, flour, ice cream,juice, lemon, lemon juice, lemon peel, milk, Pie, Ronnie Fein, salt, sugar, vegetable shortening, water

Grandma Sophie’s Apple Strudel

June 11, 2013

Author: Gefiltefest

Ingredients:

375g ready-rolled puff pastry

Flour for dusting

1 tbsp vegetable oil

8 tbsp raspberry preserve

4 tbsp ground almonds

4 medium bramley (cooking) apples

170g raisins or sultanas

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tbsp beaten egg

Icing sugar for dusting

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4. Cut the sheet of pastry in half widthways. On a lightly floured surface or a large piece of baking paper, roll one half out into a 30cm x 40cm rectangle – the pastry will get very thin.

2. Lightly brush the pastry with half the oil, leaving a 2.5cm border. Using a palette knife, spread 4 tbsp of the preserve within the border and sprinkle 2 tbsp of the ground almonds over the top.

3. Peel and grate the apples into a colander, then squeeze out as much juice as you can. Spread half over the pastry, making sure the apple is evenly spread, followed by half the raisins or sultanas and a sprinkling of cinnamon.

4. Carefully roll from the long edge of the pastry to form a log. Turn so the seal is underneath, then tuck the ends under and brush all over with the beaten egg. Transfer to a lined baking sheet, then repeat with the remaining pastry and ingredients.

5. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes until golden and puffed up. Leave to cool on a wire rack. When cold, sprinkle with some icing sugar, then cut into slices. Eat and enjoy.

Posted in Baked Goods and Desserts

Tags: almond, almonds, Apple, Apple Strudel, apples, cinnamon, egg,Gefiltefest, ground cinnamon, icing sugar, puff pastry, raisins, raspberry conserve, ready-rolled puff pastry, Strudel,sultanas, vegetable oil

My Grandma’s Lekach

August 12, 2013

Author: Yuliya Mazur

This is the one thing my father prefers over any desert. And I know why. It’s the one his mother made so often. My grandma was an amazing cook. Oh, I know every grandma was the best. But mine – she was truly amazing! When she was baking a cake, my friends must have had some premonitions – they just showed up at my door.

I have made the lekach so many times already, but there wasn’t one, when I wouldn’t remember her. I love cooking. I consider myself a pretty good cook. But I have a long road to go to reach the level of my grandmother – Surah bat Leizer. May her memory be for a blessing forever.

Ingredients:

3 eggs;

1 cup honey;

1 cup sugar ( I use raw);

1 cup warm strong coffee;

1/2 cup vegetable oil;

2 teaspoons baking soda;

2 teaspoons pure vanilla;

1 teaspoon cinnamon;

1 teaspoon ginger;

1 teaspoon ground cloves;

2.5 cups flour ( you can use a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat);

Optional – candied citrus peel, dried cranberries, raisins or a mix of all;

Optional – 1/4 cup strong liquor – vodka, brandy, whiskey.

Preparation:

In a bowl mix eggs with honey and sugar. In a separate container add baking soda to warm coffee (watch the chemistry class in front of your eyes). Pour coffee into egg mixture.

Add the rest of the ingredients, pour into a prepared baking dish (I use round or square non-stick pan nicely greased)

Bake in a preheated oven (350-360 depending on your oven) about an hour.

Cool on wire rack. Then invert to a plate.

This post was submitted by Yuliya.

Posted in Baked Goods and Desserts

Tags: baking soda, cinnamon, coffee, dessert, eggs, ginger, ground cloves,honey, honey cake, lekach, Rosh-ha-Shana, sugar, vanilla, vegetable oil

Baked Cinnamon Doughnuts with Quince Cardamom Preserve

November 4, 2013

Author: Itta Werdiger Roth

For years now, Chanukka has been synonymous with doughnuts. While gentiles are stringing up their lights, saddling up reindeer, and racking up huge electricity bills, we Jews are probably more focused on our usual preoccupation: food. Yes – miracles and wonders, olive oil, lights, transcending the physical too, but mainly food – deep fried food. We’re imaging the crispy and salty latkes and the moist creamy doughnuts. Many years ago, some clever person had the great idea to connect every single Jewish holiday to different foods, and these foods have become rituals in their own right. The whole idea at it’s core is pure outreach (so I guess a Lubavitcher thought of it?): the lost Jewish soul comes back to his grandparents’ Shabbos table with one good bowl of chicken soup.

The only thing that really connects doughnuts with Chanukka is the fact that doughnuts are deep fried, which is supposed to remind us of the miracle of the oil in the Temple. Considering the recipe I’m about to give you is for baked doughnuts, not fried ones, which might seem sacrilege to some, let me just defend myself in advance; I would never choose to deep-fry something if I could make it just as good another way. Deep-frying is messy, costly and when it’s all over, the smell lingers, and someone needs a facial.

If you’re thinking that you’d be better off just buying doughnuts, then yes, you have a point. It would be so much simpler if I could just bite into a commercial doughnut and taste good quality jam or REAL custard filling, but anyone who eats discerningly knows that most of the time, food you buy just isn’t all that great. It’s one of the big reasons I bother to cook at all (unless you thought it was the calluses and burns!).

If you make your own doughnuts and fillings this year, no matter which recipe you use, let your mind wander back to the story of Chanukka, and add some personal meaning to your own recipe. Think about the heroes of the story: The Maccabim, the people that physically cleaned the desecrated Temple, and the heroine Yehudit who seduced the Syrian-Greek general Holofernes with cheese and wine before beheading him. Deep fried food? We can be more creative than that – just the same way we are probably capable of deep-frying anything, I am almost certain we are capable of attributing connection and meaning to absolutely anything.

The idea of ‘transcending the physical’ stems from the fact that the miracle of Chanukka features the number 8. To explain; a 7-day week is the norm, and the bane of our existence, but the miracle of the oil burning lasted for a full eight days. Eight is not just any random number, it is just one more than seven. 8 teachers us to try and go beyond our comfort zones and our natural state of being.

So, as this Chanukka approaches, ask yourself, “do I want another average doughnut from an average bakery, or am I going to go beyond my usual limitations and make it myself?”

Originally published in http://balaboostas.com/2012/12/baked-cinnamon-doughnuts-with-quince-cardamom-preserve/

Ingredients:

For the Doughnuts (adapted from 101 Cookbooks):

1 1/3 cups warm milk, 95 to 105 degrees (divided)

1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

2 tablespoons butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

5 cups all-purpose flour (I use a blend of whole wheat and white or whole spelt)

A pinch or two of nutmeg, freshly grated if possible

1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

For the Quince Cardamom Preserve:

3-5 quinces, peeled and chopped

3-4 apples and/or pears, chopped (no need to peel if you plan on blending).

3 tablespoons sugar

zest and juice of one lemon

1 cinnamon stick

1 vanilla bean cut lengthwise

3 cloves

4 cardamom pods.

An Optional Glaze (rather than the cinnamon and sugar):

1 cup unfiltered apple juice (“cider”)

2, 1 inch pieces ginger

1 cup powdered/icing sugar

½ teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation

Directions: place 1/3 cup of the warm milk in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir in the yeast and set aside for five minutes or so. Be sure your milk isn’t too hot or it will kill the yeast. Stir the butter and sugar into the remaining cup of warm milk and add it to the yeast mixture. With a fork, stir in the eggs, flour, nutmeg, and salt – just until the flour is incorporated. With the dough hook attachment of your mixer beat the dough for a few minutes at medium speed. This is where you are going to need to make adjustments – if your dough is overly sticky, add flour a few tablespoons at a time. Too dry? Add more milk a bit at a time. You want the dough to pull away from the sides of the mixing bowl and eventually become supple and smooth. Turn it out onto a floured counter-top, knead just a few times (the dough should be barely sticky), and shape into a ball.

Transfer the dough to a buttered (or oiled) bowl, cover, put in a warm place for an hour or until the dough has roughly doubled in size.

Punch down the dough and roll it out 1/2-inch thick on your floured countertop. Use an upside down small drinking glass or a 2-3 inch cookie cutter to make circles. Transfer the circles to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover with a clean cloth and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Bake in a 375 degree oven until the bottoms are just golden, 8 to 10 minutes – start checking around 8. While the doughnuts are baking, place the butter in a bowl and the sugar and cinnamon in another bowl, plate or ziploc bag.

Remove the doughnuts from the oven and using a pastry brush (or you can actually dip the doughnut into the bowl of butter) brush butter over each doughnut, then a quick toss in the sugar. Depending on how many you’re making, you can just throw all the doughnuts together in the ziploc bag and give it a shake. When I’m making a ton of these I spread the sugar mixture onto a baking tray and after brushing the butter, I turn the doughnuts around once to get coated.

Makes 1 1/2 – 2 dozen medium doughnuts.

For the Quince Cardamom Preserve:

Here’s how: add everything to a heavy-bottomed pot. (Don’t mess around with the numbers of the spices unless you have a really good memory! Remember, whatever you put in, must come out so this way you have 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5…). Add enough water to barely cover the fruit, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low. Stir often, keep reducing the liquid and be careful not to let it burn. Some people use a crock pot and cook the fruit overnight and you can do that, but you can also just let it bubble for as little as an hour. The longer you let it cook, the thicker it will be. When enough is enough, remove all the spices (1, 2, 3, 4!) and blend if you prefer a smoother consistency.

You can preserve the fruit by doing the whole mason-jar 10 minute hot water bath but don’t bother with that right now. When the fruit has cooled, just slice ⅓ of the way through the doughnut and spread the fruit with a knife. You can also inject it like I did one year, getting very sticky hands and wasting a lot of time.

An Optional Glaze

Like this: put the apple juice and the ginger into a small pot and boil. Keep reducing until less than half is left. When cooled, prepare the icing by combining the sugar and cinnamon and slowly add tablespoons of the reduced apple ginger mixture. Whisk until smooth. Place a wire cooling rack over a piece of parchment paper. When doughnuts are cool, dip tops into the glaze and let them rest on a wire rack until the glaze hardens.

Pumpkin Donuts

November 4, 2013

Author: Paula Shoyer

When I developed my recipe for pumpkin doughnuts back in 2011, I was just trying to create more interesting sufganiyot for Chanukah. I felt that every possible topping and glaze had been done, so I decided to explore different flavors of dough. I love pumpkin and have created many pumpkin desserts – cakes, challah and more. I had no idea back then that two years later the first day of Chanukah would coincide with Thanksgiving and that I had already created the perfect mashup recipe. I will probably make them this year for breakfast Thanksgiving morning as a treat for the many family members who will be with us. I am sure I will get some curious stares from the older generation, but I will urge them to try something new. Come to think of it, maybe I won’t even tell the bubbies what is in them and let them see for themselves.

Reprinted with permission from Holiday Kosher Baker © 2013 by Paula Shoyer, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc. Photography by Michael Bennett Kress

Ingredients:

Makes 15

Pumpkin purée and classic pumpkin pie spices give these doughnuts a soft, comforting texture and taste.

¼ ounce (1 envelope; 7g) dry yeast

¼ cup (60ml) warm water

¼ cup (50g) plus 1 teaspoon sugar, divided

2 tablespoons light brown sugar, packed

⅓ cup (80ml) soy milk

2 tablespoons (28g) margarine, at room temperature for at least 15 minutes

1 large egg

½ cup (120g) pumpkin purée (not pumpkin pie filling)

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3–3¼ cups (375–405g) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

canola oil for frying

¼ cup (30g) confectioners’ sugar for dusting

Preparation:

IN A LARGE BOWL, place the yeast, warm water, and one teaspoon of sugar and stir. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes, or until thick.

ADD THE REMAINING SUGAR, brown sugar, soy milk, margarine, egg, pumpkin purée, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, and 2 cups (250g) of the flour to the bowl and mix on low speed with either a dough hook in a stand mixer or a wooden spoon. Add another cup (125g) of flour and mix well. Add more flour, a tablespoon at a time, and mix it in until the dough becomes smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl each time before adding more flour.

COVER THE DOUGH with a clean dishtowel and let it rise for one hour in a warm place. I use a warming drawer on a low setting, or you can turn your oven on to its lowest setting, wait until it reaches that temperature, place the bowl in the oven, and then turn off the oven.

PUNCH DOWN THE DOUGH by folding it over a few times and reshaping it into a ball. Then re-cover the dough and let it rise for 10 minutes.

DUST A COOKIE SHEET with some flour. Sprinkle some flour on your counter or on a piece of parchment paper and roll the dough out until it’s about ½ inch (1.25cm) thick. Use a 2½-inch (6cm) round cookie cutter or drinking glass to cut out circles and place them on the prepared cookie sheet. Reroll any scraps. Cover the doughnuts with the towel. Place the cookie sheet back in the oven (warm but turned off) or warming drawer. Let the doughnuts rise for 45 minutes.

HEAT 1½ inches (4cm) of oil in a medium saucepan for a few minutes and use a candy thermometer to see when the temperature stays between 365°F and 375°F (185°C and 190°C); adjust the flame so the oil stays in that temperature range.

COVER A COOKIE SHEET with foil. Place a wire rack on top of it and set it near your stovetop. Gently slide no more than four doughnuts, top side down, into the oil and fry for 1½ minutes. Turn the doughnuts over and cook another 1½ minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, letting excess oil drip off, and place on a wire rack to cool. Repeat

for the remaining doughnuts. Dust with the confectioners’ sugar and serve. Store covered at room temperature for up to one day and reheat to serve.

Posted in Baked Goods and Desserts

Tags: hanukkah, Paula Shoyer, Thanksgivukkah

My Grandma’s Challah

December 4, 2013

Author: Ronnie V Fein

I never had a Bubbie. When my grandmothers came to this country as young girls at the turn of the 20th century, they were eager to be “real Americans.” They wouldn’t be Bubbie, it was Grandma. They didn’t speak Yiddish to the grandchildren; it was English only.

The food too. They both became “real Americans” in the kitchen.

And yet, along with the macaroni-and-cheese, hamburgers and canned fruit cocktail, there were always a few special favorites like Mamaliga and Stuffed Grape Leaves, Blintzes and Challah.

Only my father’s mother made Challah. She wasn’t a particularly great cook, the way we like to think our grandmothers were. But she was the Challah maven. My mother always reminisced about her bread until finally, years after my Grandma died, I asked for the recipe so I could try my hand at it.

It read: “8 hands flour, 1/2 hand sugar, small glass of oil …”. And so on. Instructions: “bake as usual.”

Were my Grandma’s hands as big as mine? I didn’t remember. Did she mean a juice glass? Or, more likely, a Yahrzeit glass? By the time I first baked a challah those memorial glasses were much smaller than the ones I remembered from my childhood.

And what does “bake as usual” mean to someone who has never baked one?

There was no help from my Mom, who, although a good cook that made anything taste delicious, had never baked challah in her life.

So I experimented. I managed to cobble together a recipe based on Grandma’s proportions but with instructions from recipes in a variety of cookbooks. I finally got it right. And it has become my big brag. Because the challah I make is so good that if there is one food that everyone I know would say is their favorite, it’s that one. It’s the expected bread at my house, whenever, and the expected dinner gift – forget the bottle of wine or the scented candles. “Can you bring one of your challahs?” – a frequent, unabashed question from my friends. There is never enough. Sometimes I bake an extra one and keep it in the freezer just in case.

A few years ago I had lunch with an older cousin who lives far away from me and we hadn’t seen each other in decades. I mentioned my challah adventures and it brought tears to his eyes. He remembered Grandma’s challah too. He hadn’t had a bite in years and years of course but the taste lingered in his memory box. He told me that Grandma’s challah was once legendary in the neighborhood and that it was an award winner.

I hadn’t ever heard that!

But he had grown up in my Grandma’s house and knew so many things I didn’t. Like that time, long before I was even born, my Grandma made challah for a charity auction for her synagogue and it sold for $100!!! That’s a huge amount of money for bread, even today, but can you imagine what that meant in the 1930s?

And even if that amount of award money has, let’s say, grown over time in the way notions in fond memories sometimes do, it was Grandma’s claim to fame and fortune. At least that one night.

I like to think my recipe for challah is my Grandma’s recipe. I like to think that my children and grandchildren, who make challah with me when they come to visit, will someday remember their Grandma’s Grandma’s famous, award-winning bread and teach their children and grandchildren. They will have this recipe with its list of ingredients and clear instructions to help them along the way as they “bake as usual.”

Ronnie Fein is a cookbook author and cooking teacher in Stamford, CT. Her latest book is Hip Kosher. Visit her food blog, Kitchen Vignettes, at www.ronniefein.com and follow on Twitter at @RonnieVFein.

Ingredients:

2 packages active dry yeast

1/2 cup warm water (105-110 degrees)

1/2 cup sugar

8-8-1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon salt

5 large eggs

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1-1/2 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees)

1 teaspoon water

poppy seeds or sesame seeds, optional

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a small bowl, mix the yeast, 1/2 cup warm water, 1/2 teaspoon of the sugar and a pinch of flour. Stir, set aside and let rest for 5 minutes or until the mixture is bubbly. In a bowl of an electric mixer, combine 7-1/2 cups flour with the remaining sugar and salt. In a small bowl, mix 4 of the eggs, the vegetable oil and the lukewarm water. Add to the flour mixture. Add the yeast mixture. Blend ingredients thoroughly. Using the kneading hook, knead for 4-5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour as necessary to make sure the dough is not sticky.

NOTE: you can make this dough in a food processor (halve the recipe). Cover the bowl of dough and put it in a warm place to rise for about 1-1/2 hours or until doubled in bulk. Punch down the dough, cover the bowl and let rise again for about 30 minutes or until doubled. Remove the dough to a floured surface. Cut dough in 6 equal pieces. Make long strands out of the pieces. Braid the strands and press the ends to seal them completely. Place the braided dough on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Beat the last egg with the teaspoon of water. Brush this over the surface of the bread. Sprinkle with seeds if desired. Let rise again for 30 minutes. Bake for about 30 minutes or until well risen and golden brown.

Braiding a 6-strand Challah:

Place the 6 strands in front of you and gather them at the top end. Press down and seal the six strands at the top so it looks like a lump of dough with 6 strands coming down. Looking at the strands, proceed as follows:

1. Place the far right strand all the way over to the left

2. Place the former far left strand all the way over to the right

3. Place the now far left strand into the middle

4. Place the second strand from the right to the far left

5. The now far right into the middle

6. Second from left to far right

7. Now far left into the middle

Repeat 4-8

Posted in Baked Goods and Desserts

Tags: Challah, Ronnie Fein

My Signature Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Challah

December 4, 2013

Author: Allison Josephs

I’ve made challah most Shabboses since I got married. The reason? Whenever I’m at someone else’s house for a Shabbos meal and the challah cover is over the loaves, concealing their identity, I always silently pray for delicious homemade challah to be revealed! I figure my guests may feel the same way.

I’ve made a bunch of different recipes since I started baking challah but several years ago I thought of how much I love cinnamon raisin bagels and wondered if I could take that taste and combine it with challah. Then my mother was diagnosed with cancer shortly thereafter and our family was in shock. We tried to combat the news in all sorts of ways: she changed her diet, we prayed, asked people to do extra mitzvahs in her merit, we did extra mitzvahs.

But I decided that we needed more sweetness in our lives. So I began to tackle this cinnamon raisin challah recipe I had been dreaming of and after many different attempts came up with a cinnamon sugar raisin walnut challah which my family (and guests) have adored ever since.

Check out the video my daughters and I made to show you how to create this challah in your kitchen and I hope it adds a bit more sweetness to your life too!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Stars

December 12, 2013

Author: OOGIAH

Long before I actually baked up these boxes full of Chocolate Chip Cookie Stars to donate to our preschool silent auction, I had to order the labels! The ingredients were set in print so I had to stick to them. I tweaked the recipe here and there, and consulted an expert cut-out cookie baking friend on her chilling/cutting timing. I went through a couple of batches that weren’t perfect enough for me shape-wise, and those became much enjoyed snacks at Tot Shabbat services and dinners with family friends! Once I had it all down, I packed five star cookies per box, with the sticker label of course!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg yolk

1 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

Cream the butter and sugars. Add the the egg yolk and vanilla. Add the flour and salt. Mix in the mini chocolate chips. Roll out the dough to 1/4″. Cut with Star of David cookie cutter, pushing it through the chocolate chips. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet, and chill in the freezer for 5 minutes. Bake at 350 for 12 minutes. They are great frozen too!

Hamentaschen

February 11, 2014

Author: Vicky Pearl

You know, I never tire of hearing stories about the past. Whether they’re stories about what life was like for my relatives in the Old Country or what travails they faced when they arrived in the United States. Many of these stories, it seems to me, also revolve around food. For example, there is a lovely story about my great-great grandmother’s jelly cookies. First, you have to understand that my great-great grandmother was famous for her cookies. Friends and neighbors would rave about them. Once, or so my great grandmother has told me, she was serving them to her guests who simply couldn’t believe that she had made themselves herself and informed her that she must have in reality gone out and purchased them at a local bakery. They were that good!!

So good, in fact, that for years, my own grandmother kept the recipe a secret. For years and years she kept it a secret. That is, until about 18 years ago, when she decided to share it with me. Since then, I deemed it my mission to replicate these delicacies for a gluten-free lifestyle. No easy matter, let me tell you. Although my grandmother recited the recipe to me verbatim over the phone, she is a “touchy-feely” baker. That is to say, she knows merely by feeling the dough and by the temperature in the room, whether it needs a bit more flour or a bit more moisture. My goal, of course, was to make the dough replicable in any kitchen using the alternative flours that were available to me. The recipe that follows is my imitation of the original dough. It is the dough that I use not only for my Hamantashen, but also for my jelly cookies and for Chanukah shaped cookies.

Ingredients:

¾ cup potato starch

¾ cup brown rice flour

½ cup sweet rice flour

½ cup tapioca flour

1 Tbsp xanthan gum

½ tsp kosher salt (do not double when you double the recipe)

1 cup trans-fat-free margarine, room temperature (2 sticks)

½ cup xylitol or granulated sugar

1 large egg

¼ tsp vanilla extract

Filling:

approximately 1 jar apricot jam

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

2. In a bowl, stir together potato starch, rice and tapioca flours, xanthan gum, and salt.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat margarine and sugar together for 2 minutes, or until somewhat combined. Add egg and vanilla; mix for 1 minute.

4. Add dry ingredients, mixing until well blended. If the dough is sticky, flour the baking surface and rolling pin with rice flour.

5. Divide dough in half. Roll dough, one piece at a time, between 2 pieces of parchment paper until ¼-inch thick. Use a 2-inch round cookie cutter or glass to form circles.

6. Place ¼–½ tsp apricot jam in the center of each circle.

7. Bring 2 side arcs toward the center, overlapping them on top to form a point. Then bring bottom arc to center, creating a secure pocket of jam. Transfer to prepared baking sheets.

8. Bake in center of preheated oven for 17 to 18 minutes or until tips are slightly golden.

Remove pan to rack to cool completely.

Cookies freeze very well for up to 4 months.

Yield: 30 hamentashen.

Sidebar: This is a great classic cookie dough. It’s used below in the jelly or shaped cookies. It freezes beautifully and is handy to have on hand to turn into an afternoon event with your children. It’s very easy to work with and would be lovely simply baked with multicolored sprinkles on top. You’ll notice that this is one recipe where agave is not given as an option. This is because the cookies need to be a touch crispy, so xylitol (or sugar) is the ideal sweetener.

Originally published in Gluten-Free Goes Gourmet.

Fluden

March 6, 2014

Author: Shirley Bemel

Came from Russia and enjoyed through the generations. They are known as “bricks”. Great to freeze them and bring them out for any occasion. Lovely with tea/coffee.

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

¼ cup vegetable shortening

¾ cup unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

¼ cup milk or orange juice

1 ½ tsps pure vanilla

¼ tsp orange oil

½ tsp salt

2 ¼ tsps baking powder

3 ¼ cups all purpose flour

For the cornucopia filling:

6 cups peeled, shredded, and finely chopped apples

1 ½ cups cranberries, coarsely chopped

⅓ cup dried cherries

1 cup raisins

⅓ cup ground walnuts

⅓ cup apricot jam

¾ cup sugar

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons flour

Preparation:

For dough, in a medium bowl, cream the shortening and butter with sugar.

Blend in eggs, milk or juice, vanilla, and orange oil. Fold in flour, salt, and baking powder and stir to make a stiff dough. Pat dough out and knead gently on a lightly floured surface.

Wrap and chill for about an hour.

For filling, in a large bowl, combine the apples, cranberries, cherries, raisins, ground nuts, and apricot jam. Toss with sugar to combine and fold in remaining ingredients: lemon juice, cinnamon, and flour. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease a 9-inch-by-13-inch pan.

Divide the dough into 3 portions. Roll out one portion, or simply pat and trim the dough to fit the pan bottom. Spoon on half the filling. Roll or pat another portion of dough on top of the fruit.

Cover with the remaining fruit mixture, then the last portion of dough.

Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees, then reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top of the pastry is lightly golden.

Cool and cut into squares to serve. Cover the pastry well to store. (This ages well.)

Makes 25 to 35 squares, depending on size.

Baked Apples

March 6, 2014

Author: Poppy Dave

My grandfather was a kosher caterer and had many recipes, I am sure. This simple one, however, sticks out in my mind. My grandparents lived in a basement apartment below us and every night my brother and I would go downstairs, after our evening showers, hair still wet. We would eat these apples (possibly sans brandy) and fall asleep in their arms.

Ingredients:

Apples

Cinnamon

Brandy

Brown sugar

Preparation:

Core the apples. Cover them in brown sugar and cinnamon- as much as you like. Pour the brandy all over and cook for at least 30 minutes or until the grandkids show up. Serve with ice cream.

Raw Chia Seed Pudding

March 6, 2014

Author: Marcus Freed

I got to LA, discovered my body worked better on a diet that’s gluten free, sugar free and dairy free, but I like desserts, so someone’s bubbie taught me this one!

Ingredients:

6 cups of coconut milk

1 cup of organic chia seeds

2 tsp vanilla flavoring

1 tsp xylitol

3 splashes of stevia

Preparation:

Mix it all up. Stir thoroughly. Leave in fridge for 1 hour. Eat & enjoy!

The Butcher’s Daughter

March 6, 2014

Author: Sarah Horowitz

It’s 9 AM. I hear the familiar voice of the nine o’clock newsman on the radio. The pots stop rattling. It’s time for my mother to stop and listen. From my bed the Yiddish news takes over the smells from the kitchen.

The smell was overpowering, the mixture of chopped liver with cooking onions and fresh made cookies. That mixture for sure did not get me out of bed for breakfast. Instead I quietly listened to news from the gentle mans voice. The news about American Jews, Israeli Jews, what the weather was.

I knew my mom would review these news items with my aunts and neighbors. So I listened carefully. It was hot out. The day was waiting for me but I knew that my mom would make me eat. She was going to make me try the fresh meat for breakfast. I hate meat but I love cookies. The only way to get the cookies was to eat the meat.

Tried both and again my mom told me what a good girl I was. The butcher’s daughter has to eat meat for breakfast!

Ingredients:

10 cups flour

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1tsp vanilla

1tbsp baking soda

1 glass orange juice

1lb margarine (salted)

1 glass oil

Preparation:

Mix-use cookie making machine. Try not to use the cutters with holiday themes e.g. trees, crosses, stars. Drop cookies brush with egg whites. Decorate with sprinkles and sugared nuts. Bake ten minutes. Cool on racks. Store in large pickle jars.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

April 2, 2014

Author: Rebecca Tannenbaum

Ingredients:

1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell

2 large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup (6 oz.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

1 cup chopped nuts

Sweetened whipped cream or ice cream (optional)

Preparation:

PREHEAT oven to 325° F.

BEAT eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell.

BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired.

* If using frozen pie shell, use deep-dish style, thawed completely. Bake on baking sheet; increase baking time slightly.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

April 2, 2014

Author: Rebecca Tannenbaum

Ingredients:

1 unbaked 9-inch (4-cup volume) deep-dish pie shell

2 large eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

1 cup (6 oz.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

1 cup chopped nuts

Sweetened whipped cream or ice cream (optional)

Preparation:

PREHEAT oven to 325° F.

BEAT eggs in large mixer bowl on high speed until foamy. Beat in flour, granulated sugar and brown sugar. Beat in butter. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spoon into pie shell.

BAKE for 55 to 60 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Serve warm with whipped cream, if desired.

* If using frozen pie shell, use deep-dish style, thawed completely. Bake on baking sheet; increase baking time slightly.

This post was submitted by Rebecca Tannenbaum.

Posted in Baked Goods and Desserts

Tags: butter, chocolate chip, cookie, dessert, eggs, flour, nuts, Pie, sugar,whipped cream

Chocolate Blueberry Energy

April 4, 2014

Author: Meredith Tiras

Ingredients:

1 cup fresh or soaked dried dates

1⁄4 cup almonds

1⁄4 cup blueberries

1⁄4 cup roasted carob powder (or cacao to make 100% raw)

1⁄4 cup ground flaxseed

1⁄4 cup hemp protein

1⁄4 cup unhulled sesame seeds

1 tsp fresh lemon juice

1⁄2 tsp lemon zest

Sea salt to taste

1⁄2 cup sprouted or cooked buckwheat (optional)

1⁄2 cup frozen blueberries

Makes approx (12) 13⁄4 ounce bars

Preparation:

1) In a food processor, process all ingredients except buckwheat and frozen blueberries until desired texture is reached. If you prefer a uniformly smooth bar, process longer. If you would rather a bar with more crunch and texture, blend for less time.

2) Remove mixture from processor and put on a clean surface. Knead buckwheat and frozen berries into mixture by hand.

3)There are two ways to shape the bars:

To shape into balls: Use a tablespoon or your hands to scoop the mixture (however much you like to make one ball); roll between the palms of your hands To shape as bars: Flatten the mixture on the clean surface with your hands. Place plastic wrap over top; with a rolling pin, roll mixture to desired bar thickness. Cut mixture into bars. Alternatively, form mixture into a brick; cut as though slicing bread. As the bars dry, they become easier to handle

Can be stored in freezer because they will not freeze. Great refresher for hot days or post-workout.

A Spinach Kugel from Grandma’s Pantry

October 20, 2011

Author: David Sax

Evelyn Davis was no balabusta. She was third generation Canadian, and though she grew up during the great depression, where she was farmed out to the houses of relatives (she had 9 siblings), she was classically reform, spoke no yiddish, and was about as kosher as Guy Fieri. At her table, you could get a glass of milk with your lamb chop.

But she remained a Jewish grandmother, one who loved to eat, and to do so at a bargain. She was famously frugal. she’d save a piece of tape and hoard plastic shopping bags long before we cared about their environmental impact. it was a legacy of the depression that never left her, regardless of the financial security she enjoyed.

At Steinberg’s on Queen Mary, the Montreal grocery store where she shopped her whole adult life, she hunted the sale counters, and clipped coupons, as if her life still depended on those pennies saved.

“Look!” she’d exclaim to my mother, “a whole box of instant creme caramels for $3.99!” Shelf life was her friend. She came from a time when people had to do things from scratch, and if the folks at Campbells or Manischewitz could do it better, cheaper, and have it stay fresher longer, she was on board. her pantry was a well stocked larder of cans, powders, mixes, and dried ingredients. when the apocalypse came (or a really bad Montreal snowstorm), she was ready for it.

it’s a style of thinking that’s fallen out of vogue lately, as slow food, and the diy kitchen movement stress a return to roots, to freshness, to grinding and stuffing your own sausage and hand rolling out pasta…or god forbid you are destroying the planet and the local farmer!

But Grandma Davis’ cooking achieved a level of flavor that’s hard to match from scratch. there’s a reason why even the best brisket recipes call for onion soup mix, or bullion, or freeze dried egg noodles. there’s a depth there; a taste of postwar affluence and ease, when not having to argue with a fishmonger and gut a carp in your bathtub were goals women like my grandmother fought for and achieved. sure, it’s cool to do now, but there’s something to be said for ease, and junky, processed comfort foods.

This Yom Kippur, we broke the fast with her spinach noodle kugel, plucked from one of her yellowed recipe cards. It was easily the most popular dish on the table; a salty, umami packed hit with everyone who ate it. sure, it could have been made with fresh noodles, fresh spinach, fresh onion soup ingredients, but then it wouldn’t have been as good. and it wouldn’t have been hers.

Ingredients

1 lb bag of fine egg noodles

2 packages frozen chopped spinach cooked and drained

6 eggs, separated beat yolks/ whites to stiff

2 packages onion soup mix

1.5 sticks of butter

1 pint coffee rich or can of evaporated milk

1 cup(s) sour cream or yogurt

Directions

Boil noodles and add butter until melted.

Add onion soup and spinach

Mix in egg yolk

Add sour cream/yoghurt & Coffee Rich/evap. Milk

Fold in egg whites well.

Pour into large well-greased pan (I used 11×14”).

Bake 1 hr. at 350 or until brown (it took 40 minutes in 11×14)

Nana’s Carrot Mold

November 15, 2011

Author: Julie Frankel

Ingredients:

3 sticks of butter softened

1 cup(s) firmly packed graham cracker crumbs

1/3 cup(s) or as much as is needed to coat inside of mold

1 1/2 Teaspoons

3 Teaspoons

2 Tablespoons

2 Tablespoons

1 tablespoon grated

1 tablespoon grated

1/2 cup(s) 4-6 large carrots

3 1/4 Cup(s)s

1/2 teaspoon

3/4 teaspoon

3/4 teaspoon

1 cooked

Preparation:

Generously butter a large ring mold and sprinkle all over with graham cracker crumbs.

Cream 3 sticks softened butter and add:

1 cup dark brown sugar

3 eggs.

1 1/2 teas. baking soda

3 teas. baking powder

2 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablesp. orange juice

1 tablesp. of grated rind of lemon

1 tablesp. of grated rind of orange

3 1/2cups grated carrots

3 1/4 flour

1 1/2 teas. salt

3/4 teas. cinnamon

3/4 teas. nutmeg.

Batter will be stiff. Fill mold. Bake in preheated 350 oven for one hour or until it has risen and feels dry.

Take knife around edges and turn upside down to un-mold.

Fill center with cooked, frozen peas.

This can be frozen unbaked and then brought to room temp.

Esther Levin’s Latke Recipe from the Old Country

December 13, 2011

Author: lafoodie

There are hundreds of recipes in Jewish cookbooks, American cookbooks, and on the Internet. Here’s a simple one that is a sure hit. But of course, best only when enhanced with some secrets from Rabbi Moshe Levin’s great-grandmother Rochel, passed on to her daughter, Ida, and then to his mother Esther.

Tips from Esther Levin: “Making latkes together, especially parents with their children, is a lot of fun. One of the great things about latkes is that they can be made in advance, so cooks and kids can make them together in the afternoon and serve the latkes when family and friends are ready to eat dinner, right after Hanukkah candles are lit. Latkes may be made up to 8 hours ahead. You can even refrigerate them or even freeze them if you made them earlier. But reheat them on a rack set over a baking sheet in a 350°F oven, about 5 minutes. IF they were frozen, first let them get back to room temperature.”

Esther’s cousin Mollie said that grating the potatoes, then soaking them briefly in water, and then squeezing out the liquid (as we’ve done here) keeps the batter from turning brown too quickly. However, remember what Bubbie Rochel said – not to pour out the starch, only the water. And believe it or not, Tante Beila used to add a little sour cream to the potato onion mixture before frying them so they come out golden brown, not burnt looking.

Ingredients:

1 lb potatoes Yukon Gold are best because of the high starch content

1/2 cup(s) onion finely chopped

1 large egg lightly beaten (Rochel liked it better with two regular size eggs)

2 Tablespoons Matzoh meal Tante Basya says all-purpose flour works too

1/2 teaspoon salt More will give you high blood pressure!

1/4 teaspoon pepper optional

Preparation:

Makes 10 good size latkes. (Adding a little flour will make it into a 12-16 portion batch if you want.) Double this recipe for a hungry crowd! And make sure you have enough sour cream and applesauce at the table for everyone, because they will pile it high on the dinner plate!

Preheat your oven to 250°F.

Peel the potatoes and coarsely grate by hand (Rochel didn’t have a Cuisineart), transferring the mixture to a large bowl of cold water. Soak the grated potatoes 1 to 2 minutes after the last batch is added to the water, and then drain well in a colander. Bubbie Rochel said, “Do NOT pour out the starch in the bottom of the bowl – only the water! Then use your hands to scoop out the starch and add it back into the mix.”

Spread the grated potatoes and onion on a kitchen towel and roll up jelly-roll style. Twist towel tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Only then should you transfer the potato mixture to a bowl and stir in the egg(s) and salt (and pepper if you wish).

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet pan over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Uncle Yankel has a heart condition so Tante Beila coated the pan with cooking spray instead of oil, and of course she cut down on the salt. Make batches of 4 latkes, by spooning 2 tablespoons of the potato mixture per latke into the skillet, flattening them into 3-inch round shapes with a fork. (Rochel said, “Don’t press hard! Thin latkes are too crisp so they don’t come out so good.) Reduce the heat from high to moderate and cook until the undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn the latkes over and cook them until the new undersides are browned, about 4-5 minutes more.

As each batch is done, place them on paper towels to drain and season with a tiny bit more salt (unless someone in your family has high blood pressure, as Zeideh Zalman did). Add a little more oil to the skillet as needed each time you make a new batch. Keep the latkes warm on a wire rack set in a shallow baking pan in your oven until all are ready to be served.

Potato Latkes

July 12, 2012

Author: Leo Beckerman

Leo Beckerman, co-owner of the new and wildly popular Wise Sons Deli in San Francisco, recalls his favorite thing about hannukah– his mother’s latkes. It was as much an event as it was a meal (yes, latkes for dinner). After hours of hand grating potatoes on her grandmother’s latke grater, a tool used only during the festival of lights, everyone would gather in the kitchen. Round blobs of potato and onion went into the cast iron skillet and sizzled to delicious brown crispiness. From the frying pan they went right to the paper towel to remove excess oil, but they rarely made it farther than that. Once on the paper towel, a latke was fair game for eager family members willing to brave the intensely hot potato pancake. A quick dip in sour cream or applesauce and right to the tummy. These nights were celebrated standing up in the kitchen as latke after latke came out of the oil, until all had burned mouths and sated appetites.

Ingredients:

3 lbs Russet potatoes

1 large Yellow onion

2 Whole Eggs Beat the eggs

1.5 Tablespoons Matzo meal

1 teaspoon Salt

.25 teaspoon black pepper

4 Cup(s)s Vegetable Oil for Frying

Preparation:

Cut half of the potatoes into quarters, then boil in salted water until soft, about 15–20 minutes. Drain and mash until smooth. Combine the mashed potato with the matzo meal or flour and set aside.

With a box grater or food processor with a grater attachment, grate the remaining potatoes and the onion and mix to combine. Using a piece of cheesecloth or a fine strainer, squeeze out any liquid from the grated potato–onion mixture, then transfer to a large bowl.

Add the egg, salt, pepper and mashed potatoes and stir well to combine. Form the mixture into patties, each approximately 3 inches in diameter by ¼ – ½ inches. Heat ½ inch of vegetable oil in a heavy frying pan over medium–high heat. When the oil is hot, add some of the latkes, taking care not to overcrowd the pan. Cook until golden brown on one side, about 3–4 minutes (if they are browning too quickly, reduce the heat), then flip and cook until golden brown on the second side, about 2–3 minutes more.

Drain the latkes on paper towels, seasoning with salt while still hot. Repeat with remaining latkes until they’ve all been cooked. Serve with applesauce and sour cream.