Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
1,000 Jewish Recipes (287 page)
Cream Cheese Dough for Rugelach (or Knishes)
1
â
2
cup strawberry jam
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1
â
2
cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
1.
Prepare dough. Then, lightly butter 2 or 3 baking sheets. Mix jam and lemon rind in a bowl. Stir in chopped nuts.
2.
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Press one fourth of dough into a round, then flatten it. Roll it on a lightly floured surface into a 9-inch circle about
1
â
8
-inch thick. Lightly spread
1
â
4
cup filling over circle of dough. With a heavy, sharp knife, cut circle into 12 wedges, making each cut with a sharp downward movement of heel of knife. Roll up tightly from wide end to point.
3.
Put rugelach on baking sheets, with points of triangles facing down, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Curve each into a crescent, if desired. Refrigerate while shaping more cookies. Refrigerate all at least 20 minutes before baking.
4.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake cookies 22 to 25 minutes or until light golden. Cool on racks.
With rugelach's new popularity, many filling variations have been developed, such as chocolate, apricot, cheese, and raspberry. Rugelach are often shaped into little cushions instead of crescents, as in this recipe, in which the dough is cut into slices.
Cream Cheese Dough for Rugelach (or Knishes)
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1
â
2
cup finely chopped pecans
1.
Prepare dough. Lightly butter 2 or 3 baking sheets. Mix chocolate chips and pecans in a bowl.
2.
Divide dough into 4 pieces. Press one fourth of dough into a square, then flatten it. Roll it on a lightly floured surface into a 9- to 9
1
â
2
-inch square. Trim edges. Cut into 3 equal strips, then cut each strip into 3 squares. You will have 9 squares.
3.
Put 1
1
â
2
teaspoons chocolate-pecan mixture on a square about
1
â
2
-inch from edge nearest you, arranging chips close together in one row along the edge. Press lightly with rolling pin so filling adheres to dough.
4.
Fold over edge of dough nearest you to cover filling. Roll up dough tightly towards other side, like a jelly roll. It will look like a thin cylinder. Cut cylinder in two, with the heel of a heavy knife. Put cookies on baking sheet. Shape remaining squares into cookies. Refrigerate while shaping more cookies. Refrigerate all cookies at least 20 minutes before baking.
5.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake cookies about 22 minutes or until light golden. Cool on racks.
Mandelbrot
bring back memories of my grandmother, Goldie Kahn, who used to dip them in her teaâmy favorite way to enjoy them today.
Mandelbrot, also spelled
mandelbroit,
translates from Yiddish as almond bread but it is best described as Ashkenazic biscotti. Like biscotti, mandelbrot are baked twice, once as a loaf and once in slices. Also, like biscotti, they are meant to be dunked so they soften a bit before being eaten. Because of the double baking, they keep well, for about two weeks.
3 large eggs
1
1
â
4
cups sugar
3
â
4
cup vegetable oil
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1
1
â
2
teaspoons baking powder
1
â
4
teaspoon salt
1 cup slivered almonds, chopped
1 tablespoon sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a baking sheet. Beat eggs, sugar, and oil in a large bowl with an electric mixer until blended. Beat in orange rind and vanilla. Sift flour with baking powder and salt into a bowl. Add to egg mixture. Stir on low speed of mixer just until blended. Stir in almonds on low speed.
2.
Shape dough into 4 log-shaped rolls, each about 2 inches. Place on baking sheet. Refrigerate 30 minutes. Use spatula to smooth dough and to push again into log shape if it has spread a bit. Sprinkle top with cinnamon sugar and pat to make it adhere to sides as well.
3.
Bake 30 minutes or until lightly browned and set. Transfer carefully to a board and let stand until cool enough to handle. With a sharp knife, carefully cut into diagonal slices about
1
â
2
-inch thick; dough will be slightly soft inside. Return slices in one layer to 2 or 3 cleaned baking sheets.
4.
Bake about 7 minutes per side or until lightly toasted so they are beige and dotted in places with golden brown; side of cookie touching baking sheet will brown first. Watch carefully so cookies don't brown throughout or they will be too hard and dry. Cool on a rack. Keep in airtight containers.
 or
Â
When I was growing up, my school, the Hebrew Academy of Washington D.C., celebrated Tu Bishvat by having a tree planted in Israel in each child's name, for which my classmates and I received a tree-decorated certificate. At school we ate dried fruit on the holiday, usually carob, a sweet tropical fruit common in Israel (and the source of the chocolate substitute of the same name).
You can honor this holiday by planting a tree in your own yard and baking these scrumptious bar cookies studded with diced dates and plenty of nuts. You can vary the nuts and dried fruit to your taste, or even replace half the nuts with chocolate chips.
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1
â
4
teaspoon salt
1
â
2
cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, slightly softened
3
â
4
cup packed light brown sugar
1
â
4
cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1
â
2
cup to
2
â
3
cup chopped unsalted macadamia nuts or blanched almonds
1 cup finely diced dates
1.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter a square 9-inch baking pan. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Cream butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer. Add sugars; beat until smooth and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating very thoroughly after each addition. Beat in 2 tablespoons of flour mixture at low speed. Add vanilla; beat to blend. With a wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture. Stir in macadamia nuts and dates.
2.
Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until cake is brown on top, pulls away slightly from sides of pan, and a cake tester inserted into center comes out nearly clean. Cool in pan on a rack. Cut into 16 or 20 bars, using the point of a sharp knife.
SAUCES, TOPPINGS, AND GARNISHES
 or
Â
This sauce is wonderful with
Toasted Hazelnut Cake
or with any white cake, nut cake, or chocolate cake. I prefer to serve it with unfrosted cakes but the choice is yours. The sauce is also good with ice cream and for dipping strawberries, bananas, and cookies.
For Passover make the sauce with Passover chocolate and substitute vanilla sugar for the vanilla extract. For the rest of the year, you can use any bittersweet or semisweet chocolate that you like. If you want to serve it after a meat entree in a kosher menu, use pareve margarine and pareve chocolate. You can make it ahead and keep it for a week in the refrigerator in a covered container.
12 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped