1,000 Jewish Recipes (96 page)
Read 1,000 Jewish Recipes Online
Authors: Faye Levy
SWEET BLINTZES, CHEESECAKES, AND FRUIT DESSERTS
Prepare these elegant blintzes when you can get fresh raspberries. Additional fresh raspberries make a pretty garnish. For an even more impressive presentation and great flavor, serve the hot blintzes with a cool
Raspberry Sauce
. I prefer these as dessert blintzes but you can serve them as a brunch dish.
To save time, you can prepare blintzes bletels ("crepes" in Yiddish) ahead and keep them in your freezer. In some markets you can purchase them ready-made, and then all you need to do is add the easy-to-make filling.
12 to 15
Basic Blintzes
, about 8 inches in diameter
2 cups farmer cheese (about 15 ounces)
1
â
4
cup cottage cheese
1 large egg
1
â
3
cup sugar, or to taste
1
â
2
teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup fresh raspberries, plus more for garnish
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1.
Prepare blintzes, stack them and cover them with a kitchen towel. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2.
To make filling: Mash farmer cheese in a medium bowl with a fork until fairly smooth. Stir in cottage cheese, egg, sugar, and vanilla. Beat with spoon until well blended. Lightly stir in raspberries.
3.
Spoon 2
1
â
2
tablespoons filling onto brown side of each blintz near one edge. Fold over edges of blintz to right and left of filling so that each covers about half of filling. Roll up blintz, beginning at edge with filling.
4.
Arrange blintzes in one layer in a shallow, lightly buttered baking dish. Lightly brush blintzes with melted butter. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until heated through and lightly browned.
5.
Serve blintzes garnished with fresh raspberries.
There is no need to make crepes for these blintzes; the sweet, lemon-scented cheese filling is wrapped in cannelloni. The cheeses neededâcottage cheese, ricotta, and cream cheeseâare easy to find in any supermarket. Use cream cheese in block form, not in a tub. You can fill the cannelloni a day ahead and keep them in the covered baking dish in the refrigerator.
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1
â
2
cup ricotta cheese
1
â
4
cup cottage cheese, drained in a strainer
2 large egg yolks
3 tablespoons sugar
1
â
2
teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon rind
1
â
2
teaspoon strained fresh lemon juice
12 dried cannelloni tubes
4 to 6 tablespoons (
1
â
2
to
3
â
4
stick) butter, melted
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
Sour cream or plain yogurt, for serving
Fresh blueberries for garnish
1.
Prepare blueberry sauce and refrigerate. Butter a 13 Ã 9 Ã 2-inch baking dish. For filling: Mash cream cheese in a medium bowl with a fork until smooth. Beat in ricotta, cottage cheese, egg yolks, and sugar. Stir in vanilla and grated lemon rind and juice. Refrigerate 15 minutes.
2.
Cook cannelloni uncovered in a large pot of boiling salted water over high heat, stirring occasionally, about 6 minutes or until just tender but firm to the bite. Drain well. Transfer to a large bowl of cold water.
3.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Remove 1 cannelloni from water and put it on a work surface. Slit it lengthwise with a knife, open it flat, and pat it dry. Put 3 tablespoons filling along 1 long side. Roll up in cigar shape and put in baking dish. Fill remaining cannelloni, placing them in one layer, side by side in the dish.
4.
Brush cannelloni with butter. Cover dish with foil. Bake about 20 minutes or until heated through. Baste cannelloni with butter from their dish. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, return to oven and bake 3 minutes.
5.
With a slotted spatula, remove cannelloni from dish, leaving excess butter behind. Serve hot, topped with sour cream and blueberries. Serve cold blueberry sauce separately.
This scrumptious cheesecake has a creamy lemonscented filling, a wonderful pecan crumble topping, and a rich pastry base.
Sweet Pastry Base and Streusel
1 pound cottage cheese
1 pound cream cheese, softened
3
â
4
cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1
â
2
cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1
â
3
cup diced pecans
1.
Prepare Sweet Pastry Base and Streusel.
2.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Push cottage cheese through a strainer. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one by one, then beat in yolks. Stir in cottage cheese, cream, vanilla, and grated lemon rind.
3.
Pour filling into prepared pastry in springform pan. Crumble reserved streusel mixture between your fingers and sprinkle on top of filling. Sprinkle pecans over crumbs. Pat gently so topping adheres to filling.
4.
Set springform pan on a baking sheet. Bake about 1 hour and 15 minutes or until set. If topping is not brown, broil about 30 seconds, checking very often, until golden brown. Cool completely on a rack. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Serve cold.
This two-in-one recipe creates both a rich, sweet pastry and a delectable buttery crumble topping called streusel. Both are made from a pastry dough resembling French pâte sucrée, a sweet, buttery pie dough used for fruit tarts, that can be easily made in the food processor. Use it for cheesecakes or, if you use pie pans instead of a springform pan, for fruit pies.
2
1
â
2
cups all-purpose flour
1
â
2
cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter or margarine, cut into small pieces
1 large egg, beaten
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
1.
To prepare streusel: Lightly butter a 9-inch springform pan. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and process briefly to blend. Scatter butter pieces over mixture. Process with brief pulses until mixture resembles coarse meal. Pour egg evenly over mixture. Sprinkle with grated rind. Process with brief pulses, scraping down the sides occasionally, until dough forms sticky crumbs; do not allow dough to come together in a ball.
2.
To prepare pastry base: Sprinkle 3 cups of crumbs evenly in pan. Put rest of crumbs in a bowl in freezer. With floured hands press crumbs together and pat them 2 inches up sides of pan. Chill pastry base in freezer while preparing filling.
This is the version of the popular American-style cream cheese cake with a sour cream topping that I love best. Mine is creamier and less solid than most because I stir some sour cream into the filling instead of using all cream cheese.
1 pound cream cheese, cut into pieces and softened
2 cups sour cream
3
â
4
cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.
Prepare crust.
2.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake crust 10 minutes, then let cool completely. Leave oven at 350°F.
3.
Beat cream cheese with
1
â
2
cup sour cream in a large bowl with an electric mixer at low speed until very smooth. Gradually beat in
3
â
4
cup sugar. Beat in eggs, one by one. Stir in lemon rind and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Carefully pour filling into cooled crust. Bake about 45 minutes or until center is just firm. Remove from oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Raise oven temperature to 425°F.
4.
To make topping: Mix together remaining 1
1
â
2
cups sour cream, 3 tablespoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon vanilla in a medium bowl with a spoon. Carefully spread topping on cake, in an even layer, without letting it drip over crust. Bake cake 7 minutes to set topping. Remove from oven and cool on a rack to room temperature. Refrigerate at least 2 hours. Remove sides of pan just before serving.