jewish and israeli food

marzipan sprinkle hamantaschen

in , , ,

ok i have come closer to achieving my third my new year’s resolution, the one about having one or two more hangovers than i did in 2016! i had a hunch that it was going to happen this weekend when i landed in louisville and the first person that i met said that the best local food to have in louisville is… bourbon. and then i found myself surrounded by all sorts of super hilarious awesome food writers who were ready for a party and then molly on the range won an iacp award (!!!), and so did ingredient by my new bff ali and so did harvest and honey and food nouveau and alanna's book, and and--here are all the winners! so bourbon was in order. funny faces too. and goofy boomerangs. promises were made to make other people’s wedding cakes, plans were started for a pickle farm visit outside of berlin, it was the silliest, it was the best time ever, i got two hours of sleep on sunday night and it was a-ok.

before this weekend i had never been to a big conference except for the percussion conference that i went to in high school, and i was so nervous about meeting all of these new people whom i have admired and fangirled over for such a long time. but then everybody was *so* nice and welcoming and supportive of one another and it made me so gosh darn grateful to be part of this community. ugh i am getting so mushy!!!! but look i even got a neck scarf selfie with sweet dorie:

so let’s cover some things with sprinkles!!!! purim is coming up this weekend and eggboy and i will be in arizona for the tucson festival of books. so i was thinking that my purim costume could be to just get a tan on our friday hike and be the tan version of myself? i’ll keep thinking... are you dressing up? can i interest you in a schnitzel costume? 

these marzipan sprinkle hamantaschen are not too far off from the bakewell tart in that the filling consists of a thin layer of jam and and a frangipane-type almond concoction. the result is a chewy nutty cookie that also gets some crunch by way of a small sea of sprinkles. i’ve made these now with a couple of different dough recipes— the one from the breads bakery book, which is buttery, light, and almost flakey like a pie crust, and the one from leah koenig’s modern jewish cooking, which yields a denser oil-based cookie (there’s no need to get out a stand mixer) and is graced with some nice citrus flavor. the recipe below focuses on the filling, which can be used with one of those two dough recipes, or your favorite go-to hamantaschen dough recipe.

a bonus: if you have any marzipan filling leftover, you can bake it into chewy little gluten-free, dairy-free, dare i say passover-ready cookies! 

marzipan sprinkle hamantaschen

makes about 30

ingredients

for the dough:

1 batch of hamantaschen dough from the breads bakery book or modern jewish cooking (or feel free to use the dough of your choice)

for the filling:

2 c almond flour

1 c sugar

1/4 tsp kosher salt

2 large eggs, separated

1 tsp almond extract

a tiny splash of rosewater, optional

All-purpose flour, for dusting

lots of sprinkles (I use a mix of sanding sugar and cylinder sprinkles)

6 tb raspberry or cherry jam

clues

Make your dough, and refrigerate it for the amount of time listed in the directions. 

Preheat the oven to 350º. Line two baking sheets with parchment and set them aside.

To make the marzipan filling, in a large bowl, combine the almond flour, sugar, and salt. In a separate small bowl, combine the egg whites, almond extract, and rosewater, if using. Add this to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until combined. It always seems like there won’t be enough liquid at first, but keep on stirring until it comes together into a dough. (If you’re preparing this in advance, at this point you can wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for up to two days.)

On a work surface, roll out the marzipan until it is 1/4” thick, dusting with additional almond flour or all-purpose flour if it gets sticky. Cut out 1 1/2” circles with a round cookie cutter, or if you don’t have a 1 1/2” cookie cutter you can simply roll little balls by hand and flatten them into circles. In a small bowl, make an egg wash by whisking together the egg yolks and and a splash of water. Brush the marzipan circles with egg wash and dip them in sprinkles so that the tops get evenly coated. Set aside them aside.

Dust your surface with more flour, if needed, and roll out your hamantaschen dough until it is 1/8” thick. Cut out 3” circles, re-rolling scraps as needed. Brush the tops with egg wash, place a 1/2 tsp jam in the center and then top with a marzipan sprinkle circle. Fold the edges up to form a triangle shape and pinch the corners firmly to seal. Place on the baking sheets, 1” apart and bake until the bottoms are lightly browned, begin checking for doneness at 13 minutes. Let cool slightly and enjoy! 

(And if you have any marzipan leftover, bake the circles by themselves (with or without sprinkles) for about 8 or 10 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Let cool and enjoy!)

-yeh!

za'atar mini babkas

in ,

whenever i leave new york or tel aviv and i'm not running late for my flight, which i'm proud to say is more than half the time, i build time into my route to the airport to stop at breads bakery for a rugelach or three and a za'atar twist and cheese straw. and maybe a babka and marzipan cookie and if they're in season a sufganiyah or designer danish. and a chopped salad for balance. on the airplane i build a perimeter of crumbs around myself like a solar system of puff pastry stars which i always hope is strong enough to subdue armrest hogs so i won't have to pull out my sad excuse for stink eye. and then when i get home i have a bunch of za'atar souvenirs embedded into my clothes and it is great.

this is one of my favorite travel rituals and breads has become one of my very favorite bakeries in the world. everything there is so finely tuned and perfect, not in a flashy trendy way, just in a good quality something-you'd-want-to-be-lifelong-friends-with way. i love having my breakfast salad there and listening to the hebrew spoken all around me, and for the better part of 2015 most of my small amount of time spent in new york revolved around hunting down their shakshuka focaccia. i kept seeing it on their social media but finding it in person was like seeking out a unicorn! i'd rush over as soon as i had a free moment, run to the back, and examine the rows of sandwiches, usually to be disappointed. well, disappointed is a strong word when your consolation prize is a cheese straw and hummus. but i kept arriving too late for the lunch rush and missed out on that tomatoey eggy focaccia until finally i timed it just right and achieved focaccia gold and foamed at the mouth about it. donny witnessed it, i think i embarrassed him.

on another trip, to tel aviv, i met tahini hero adeena there and she introduced me to uri, the owner, and it was the best day ever. uri gave me a tour of the inner workings, through rooms filled entirely with challah dough and trays of rugelach. the walls were white and the lights were bright and i was convinced i was dead and this was the highest level of heaven.

uri is the nicest person. he is a pastry and bread genius, and every time he instagrams a photo of a new recipe he's working on i get all of the fomo and wish that amazon prime would just get their act together to deliver same day cross-country pastries.

but!

now there is the breads book and all of his secrets are in there. ugh, it's so good, when i received it i wanted to fake my own death during my book tour so i could stay home and bake everything in it. instead i powered through until my chrismukkah break, when i finally got to tear it open.

i started with the challah.

i'm worried. i texted alana. the dough is so insanely dense, i think i added too much flour but i even weighed the ingredients so how could it be wrong? my arms hurt from kneading it. i am scared. what if it's dry?

in the challah section, there were new-to-me kneading techniques, different dry-to-wet ratios than i'm used to, and the dough just felt different. i feared for my challah and my very ability to understand directions. but i kept going on, following uri and co-author raquel's directions to a t.

and then!

it was the best challah ever and i swore off my own challah recipe. byeeeee.

it was fluffy like a cloud, light, moist but not wet. perfect for new year's eve day savory french toast and ski trip salami sandwiches.

that was my cue to trust every single recipe in this book, no matter how new or complicated the steps were.

the sufganiyot were next level, dense, and wildly flavorful. they didn't event need jam. and laminated dough was... ok let's get into this...

i took a little class at breads once! during tent. we made bunny rolls and babka and afterwards my friend talia and i delivered babka to food52, it was really jolly. during the class as the teachers were spreading gallons of nutella over 6 foot long stretches of dough, i kept getting distracted by the bakers behind them, going about their workday, rolling slabs of dough and butter through a dough roller in the corner. it looked kind of like a huge pasta machine. every fold came out so evenly and smooth, it was so satisfying to watch and it looked so easy. so last week, as i muscled through my first solo dough laminating expedition, i kept thinking about that dough roller and wondered if eggboy would build me one. laminating dough is quite the arm workout!!! you fold and then roll and then fold and roll again. the butter can't be too soft or it will ooze out the sides and the dough can't be too warm or it will fight you when you roll it. but just like shakshuka focaccia hunting and almost running late for a flight in the name of rugelach, it is worth it.

worth it if the kitchen is your favorite room in the house and worth it if you like a buttery challenge. and excellent pastries.

this za'atar variation is just one recipe in an entire babka chapter of breaking breads that mainly features sweet fillings, like nutella and halva. they all use the same dough, of which there is a basic option (a buttery enriched dough) and an advanced option (laminated dough). because the za'atar twists at breads use a laminated dough and because i sleep on a bed of butter, i went that route. you'll find both options below. i baked half of these in a mini loaf tin, rather than the freeform shape that the recipe advises because i knew that my clumsy hands would kind of screw them up and they did! but of course they still tasted great and i froze some of them which i plan to put into a ribollita at some point.

from start to finish, this process takes about two days. it is long. it wins the award for the longest recipe on my name is yeh. but all of these directions are necessary and clear and if you follow them correctly you'll be rewarded with flaky little loaves of herby savory glory.

good luck!

za'atar mini babkas

from breaking breads by uri scheft and raquel pezel

makes 14 mini babkas

ingredients

for the basic dough:

120g (1/2 c) whole milk

20g (2 1/2 tb) fresh yeast or 6g (2 tsp) active dry yeast

280g (2 1/4 c) alll-purpose flour + extra for dusting and kneading, sifted

220g (2 c + 2 tb) pastry or cake flour, sifted

2 large eggs

75g (1/3 c) granulated sugar

large pinch fine salt

80g (5 tb + 1 tsp) unsalted butter (at room temperature)

all-purpose flour for rolling and shaping

for the advanced dough:

200g (1 stick + 5 tb) unsalted butter (at cool room temperature)

for the za'atar filling:

30g (3 tb) sesame seeds

400g (1 1/3 c) labne

1 red jalapeno or fresno chile, finely chopped (seeded for less heat)

20g (1 tb + 1 tsp) extra-virgin olive oil, plus extra for finishing

 110g (1 c) feta cheese, crumbled

60g (1/2 c) pine nuts

50g (1 c) fresh oregano leaves

25g (2 1/2 tb) za'atar, plus extra for finishing

for the egg wash:

1 large egg

1 tb water

pinch fine salt

clues

make the basic dough:

add the milk to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. use a fork or your fingers to lightly mix the yeast into the milk. then, in this order, add the flours, eggs, sugar, salt, and finally the butter in small pinches.

mix on the lowest speed, stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed, and to pull the dough off the hook as it accumulates there and break it apart so it mixes evenly, until the dough is well combined, about 2 minutes (it will not be smooth).

if the dough is very dry, add more milk, 1 tablespoon at a time; if the dough looks wet, add more all-purpose flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together. increase the mixer speed to medium, and mix until the dough is smooth and has good elasticity, 4 minutes.

stretch and fold the dough:

lightly dust your work surface with flour and turn the dough out on top; lightly dust the top of the dough and the interior of a large bowl with flour. grab the top portion of the dough and stretch it away from you, tearing up the dough. then fold it on top of the middle of the dough, give the dough a quarter turn and repeat the stretch, tear, and fold. continue to do this until you can stretch a small piece of dough very thin without it tearing, about 5 minutes. then use your hands to push and pull the dough against the word surface and in a circular motion to create a nice round of dough. set the ball in the floured bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set it aside at room temperature for 30 minutes.

chill the dough:

set the dough on a piece of plastic wrap and press it into a 1-inch-thick rectangle. wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 24 hours. 

[at this point you've completed the "basic babka dough." if you'd like to skip to the sesame seed toasting and filling steps, that is ok! but if you're in this for the long haul and want to make the "advanced babka dough," go onto the next step.]

prepare the butter:

set the 200g butter on a large piece of parchment paper. use a rolling pin (or your fist) to smack and whack it into a 7-by-8-inch rectangle that is between 1/8 inch and 1/4 inch thick. use a bench knife to square off the corners and then pound as needed to fit the measurements. set the butter aside.

add the butter and make the first fold:

place the dough on a lightly floured work surface, lightly dust the top, de-gas the dough by pressing down on it, and then roll the dough into a 7-by-16-inch rectangle with a short side facing you. place the butter on the bottom half of the dough, leaving a 1/4-inch border at the bottom. fold the top of the dough over the butter to meet the bottom edge, pull the corners so they align perfectly, and use a pastry brush to brush away any excess flour from the surface.

fold and chill the dough:

rotate the dough so the seam side (which was facing the bottom) is now facing to the right. lightly flour the top and underside of the dough, and roll it into a 9-by-16-inch rectangle. use a bench knife or a chef's knife to square off the edges (save the scraps to add to the dough). then use your finger to mark the dough into equal thirds. use a pastry brush to remove any excess flour from the dough. fold the bottom up to the top mark and the top down and over to the bottom edge to create a simple fold. try to keep the edges and corners as perfectly aligned as possible. lightly dust the dough and the work surface again, and roll the dough just enough to flatten it slightly. at this point, the dough will probably bounce back when you roll it because you have been working the gluten a lot. now is a good time to wrap it in plastic and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, then repeat  the simple fold two more times, refrigerating the dough between each time. wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 5 hours or overnight.

toast the sesame seeds: 

place the sesame seeds in a small skillet over medium-high heat and toast them, shaking the pan often, until they are golden brown, 2 to 3 minutes. transfer the seeds to a small plate and set aside.

roll the cold babka dough:

unwrap the cold babka dough and set it on a lightly floured work surface. roll the dough into a 12-by-28-inch rectangle (it should be just a little shy or 1/4 inch thick) with a long side facing you. pull and shape the corners into a rectangle.

fill and roll the dough:

spread the labne over the dough in a thin, even layer. sprinkle it with the jalapeno, olive oil, feta, toasted sesame seeds, pine nuts, oregano, and za'atar. divide the dough in half horizontally so you now have two 6-by-28-inch pieces. working from the long bottom edge of one of the pieces, roll the dough up into a tight cylinder, pushing back on the cylinder with each roll to make it even tighter. lift the cylinder, holding one end in each hand, and gently stretch and pull to tighten it even more (it will stretch to about 35 inches long). repeat with the second piece of dough.

divide the dough into strips and make the mini babkas:

use a bread knife to slice each cylinder in half lengthwise so you have 4 long pieces, and then slice those pieces crosswise into 7 equal sections (about 5 inches each) to make a total of 28 strips. cross 2 equal-size pieces to create an X, keeping the exposed filling facing up. twist the ends together like threads on a screw so you have at least 1 twist on each side of the X (3 twists total). repeat with the remaining pieces. set twists in a lightly greased mini loaf pan.

let the mini babkas proof:

cover the pans with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free spot until the babkas have doubled in volume and are very soft and jiggly to the touch, 2 to 3 hours depending on how warm your room is.

preheat the oven to 350ºf.

bake:

make the egg wash by whisking the egg, water, and salt together in a small bowl. brush egg wash over each mini babka, and bake until they are dark brown and baked through, about 20 minutes; check after 15 minutes, and if they are getting too dark, tent them loosely with a piece of parchment paper. remove from the oven and, while they are still warm, brush with more olive oil and sprinkle with a little za'atar. serve warm or at room temperature.

this giveaway is now closed - January 23, 2017

want a copy of breaking breads? leave a comment here with the most challenging thing you've ever baked and i'll pick a winner at random next week. open to u.s. residents.

-yeh!

green lachuch with a fried egg, herbs, and cheese

in ,

what’s up, holiday homies!

it’s molly of yore here (specifically molly of last thursday, who has just finished wrapping all of eggboy's stocking stuffers). current molly is on holiday break, which means she’s not allowed to:

  1. unfold her computer 
  2. turn on her big camera
  3. write anything down on paper that could be considered “recipe testing”
  4. style food

in hopes that she will:

  1. clean the prop room (finally)
  2. spend more time at the gym
  3. read a book
  4. recharge, refuel, find inspiration, the meaning of life, inner and outer peace, the answer to all unanswerable questions, etc.

but she is probably:

  1. internet shopping from her phone in front of the o.a. and a bowl of potato chips with ketchup

this is all totally beside the point though. the point is i’m writing at you from the past to give you this brunch idea for new year’s morning because it’s savory, tasty, squishy enough to lap up a hangover, and kind of actually healthy! it could even make you excited to start your new year’s diets. it’s the lovechild of two things: the spongey yemeni flatbread called lachuch which is basically a large floppy crumpet, and this thing i often like to do on sunday mornings which is to blend all of our about-to-go-bad herbs into crepe batter. 

i first had lachuch in tzfat, a hilltop town in the galilee. there’s a great little stand there that fills lachuch with cheese, onions, tomatoes, za’atar, and really really spicy zhoug that the nice man always warns customers about. the whole thing gets crispy on the outside but remains chewy on the inside. the place is like a crepe stand for people like me who always like doughier things, and the few times that i’ve been there live in the back of my mind as really joyful memories. (look @ how happy i am)

lachuch itself is totally quirky in that it requires a yeasted batter. (i think i’ve only ever used yeast in doughs before this…?) in additional to yeast, most recipes i’ve read have an additional leavening agent, baking powder or baking soda. all of these leavening things create an elastic blobby batter that cooks up into the bubbliest pancake you’ve ever seen, and as i learned from the recipe in zahav, it’s often flavored with fenugreek, which has a very mild mustardy flavor. it does require some rising time, but if you know you’re gonna want these as soon as you wake up, blend the batter the night before and then let it rise in the refrigerator overnight.

and i’m using bob’s red mill all-purpose flour here, which is officially the softest velvetiest flour i’ve ever stuck my hand in! 

green lachuch with a fried egg, herbs, and cheese

makes 6

ingredients

2 c warm water

1 tsp active dry yeast

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 bunch each: coarsely chopped parsley, mint, cilantro

2 cups bob's red mill all-purpose flour

1 tsp fenugreek (optional)

oil, for the pan

for serving: fried eggs, grated sharp cheese, thinly sliced purple onions, fresh herbs, za'atar, and zhoug or other hot sauce

clues

Add the water, yeast, and sugar to a blender or food processor, give it a little swirl and let it sit for 5 minutes or until foamy on top. Add salt, baking powder, herbs, flour, and fenugreek (if using) and blend until smooth. Let it sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours or in the refrigerator over night, until doubled in size and bubbly. 

Heat a large skillet over medium heat and coat it with a thin coating of oil. Ladle in about 1 cup batter, and spread it out over the pan. cook until the bottom is browned and starting to crisp and the top is set. Don’t flip it! 

To serve, top with a fried egg, grated cheese, thinly sliced purple onions, herbs, za’atar, and zhoug or other hot sauce.  Enjoy!

-yeh!

Thanks to bob's red mill for sponsoring this post!

pistachio chocolate krembos

in ,

happy halloween! (more like challahween, amiright??) we had a pretty on-brand halloween weekend: cold, kind of damp, had to wear coats over our costumes. luckily! i had a mustard golden coat that went along with my costume. i was sheila. of sheila and dave. as in the town bagpipe player/edith wharton scholar/english professor and her husband dave, bagel maker/sugar beet truck driver/english professor. eggboy was the truck driver version of dave and wore a lumbersexual getup of plaid flannel with a vest over it and i was the edith wharton scholar version of sheila after a failed attempt to rig up a pillow and some drum sticks into a thing that resembled a bagpipe. i had this whole plan to have bagpipe music cued up on my phone so i could play it as we walked into sheila and dave's party, but in the end a homemade kraft paper book jacket for the house of mirth was about as crafty as my clumsy hands could get. it was a great party! cow farmers emily and evan arrived dressed as corn farmers, i ate a deviled egg, and someone brought a bag of potato chips in which every single chip in the bag was a wish chip. that's gotta be worth a million dollars, right? oh well i ate em all.

other highlights of this weekend included: voting (!!), making shaved brussels sprout pizza, running a really fast mile because i learned that if i not only listen to sia while i run but also watch her music videos on my phone it gives me even *more* energy, and shooting a squash hotdish with chantell and brett for an upcoming thanksgiving post that i'm really excited about. 

tomorrow my molly on the range tour resumes with a trip over to the west coast! i'm trying to figure out what to make of the weather... san francisco looks like it's going to be a comfortable sweater and clog situation, while los angeles is going to be in the 80s. i can't even remember what that feels like! i should probably bring my swimmy suit.....?? anywho, if you are in san francisco or san diego or los angeles i would love to see you and tattoo you. come eat pizza, hang with phyllis, chill on a farm with me and my gefilte manifesto friends, and get a book signed by the beach. it'll be fun! 

being home this week meant that i got to dig into some of the bunches of new cookbooks that i got this season. every night i sat with my book stack and plotted for brownie parties and squash suppers, birthday cakes and non-birthday cakes. it made me wish i had five stomachs. one of my favorite new things that i made this week was these pistachio chocolate krembos from amy kritzer's new book, sweet noshings. this book is so colorful and whimsical and features fun new twists on classic jewish desserts, like chocolate peanut butter babka and strawberry rosewater hamantaschen. there's also a whole passover chapter that is filled with manischewitz and sprinkles. yas, amy!!!

i have had krembos on my mind since chani posted a recipe for halva krembos last year. before that i had never heard of them, but they are basically israel's version of a mallomar and they're popular during the winter months as kind of a substitute for ice cream. (that would explain why i've never had them, since i somehow only end up in israel when it's a million trillion degrees.) krembos consist of a cookie topped with a blob of fluffy marshmallow and dunked in chocolate and they are the shape of 💩. amy's version incorporates pistachios, and you know i am all about pistachios.  

pistachio chocolate krembos

makes 18-20 cookies

from amy kritzer's sweet noshings

ingredients

for pistachio cookie base

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 c powdered sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 1/2 sticks or 3/4 c chilled unsalted butter, cut into chunks

1/2 c unsalted, shelled pistachios, plus more chopped for garnish

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

for marshmallow filling

6 egg whites

1 1/2 c granulated sugar

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

for chocolate shell

1 package semisweet chocolate chips

3 tb coconut oil, butter, or canola oil

sprinkles for decorating, optional

clues

to make cookies, palce flour, powdered sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse until combined. then add butter, pistachios, egg, and vanilla. Pulse until pistachios are very fine and dough comes together. Form a log about 2 inches in diameter on wax paper, using the wax paper to help you mold it. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours. If you are in a rush, freeze for 30 minutes.

preheat oven to 350ºf. Cut log into 1/4-inch slices, and bake on parchment paper-lined baking sheet, 1 inch apart, until lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Cool.

while cookies are baking, make your filling. make sure the bowl and whisk are very clean and dry. make a double boiler with a pot or heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water (not touching the water) and place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the top pot over simmering water over medium heat. whisk for 5 minutes, or until sugar has dissolved. do not let it boil. mixture should be frothy, warm, and not gritty. if you have a candy thermometer, it should be about 140ºf. remove from heat, transfer to a large heat-resistant bowl (or use the bowl it's already in) and beat with a stand or hand mixer with whisk attachment until thick, shiny, and stiff peaks form, 10 minutes or more. then beat in vanilla.

to make krembos, put filling in a pastry bag with a wide top or plastic bag with a wide tip. pipe onto cookies in a swirl, about 2 inches high, and freeze for at least 1 hour.

meanwhile, to make chocolate coating, melt chocolate and oil over medium heat in a double boiler until chocolate is melted and shiny.

dip chilled krembos in the chocolate (or just get messy and pour it on top) and top with extra pistachios (or sprinkles!). the chocolate should harden right away; refrigerate if not eating right away.

-yeh!