Jewish Cooking Boot Camp: The Modern Girl's Guide to Cooking Like a Jewish Grandmother (15 page)

8. Chill for a couple of hours and serve.

If you don't want to include a pear flavor, just delete the pears from the recipe
for a delicious classic applesauce.

A low-calorie and easy side dish that goes with any meal. You can put in any combination
of your favorite veggies.

1. Preheat the oven to 425°F.

2. Mix all the ingredients and place in a large baking or roasting pan.

3. Roast uncovered for 30 minutes.

* Never rinse mushrooms. To clean them use a damp paper towel and wipe them off.

Dinner isn't dinner in the Marks house without a salad. It lends a light, crisp touch to an otherwise
heavy dinner and adds another option for those non-brisket eaters among us (I know, we don't
understand them either ... ). Mixing iceberg lettuce with romaine and chopping red peppers, cucumbers, and fresh tomatoes sets off the homemade lemony dressing we added below.

1. Mix the first 8 ingredients together.

2. Beat the egg and add the above mixture to it. Beat well.

3. If you like, you can add mashed anchovies to the dressing.

The dressing is really delicious on romaine lettuce and radicchio. Leftover dressing can be
stored in the fridge for up to a week.

This family recipe has been wowing visitors for decades. Traditionally served as a cake,
we translated the recipe into cupcake form to make it a little more fun for the holidays,
but it's just as delicious either way.

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Line a standard muffin pan with 2-inch cupcake liners.

3. Mix and beat together the sugar and oil.

4. Beat in the eggs.

5. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

6. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture.

7. Add grated carrots.

8. Pour the batter into cupcake liners until a third full.

9. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown

10. Cool and then frost with cream cheese frosting.

For a traditional carrot cake, pour the batter into two greased 8-inch round cake pans and
bake at 325°F for 45 to 55 minutes, or until the cakes are golden brown and spring back
when touched.

Cut this in half for cupcakes, but use the full amount if making a cake.

1. Cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla.

2. Gradually beat in the powdered sugar till smooth. Frost the cake and sprinkle with the
nuts, if you like.

When icing a cake, before removing the first cake layer from the pan and placing it on a cake
plate, put strips of waxed paper around the edges of the cake plate and place the cake on top
of the paper. When you are icing the cake, the excess icing will end up on the waxed paper
so that when you pull the paper away, your cake plate will be clean.

When cool, remove one cake from cake pan and ice it, then remove the second cake, place it
on top of the first, and ice the top and sides of the cake.

If you make the carrot cake a day ahead of time, keep it in the refrigerator. The cake also
freezes well. After cooling it completely in the refrigerator so the icing hardens, wrap the
cake in waxed paper and then in aluminum foil and place in the freezer. The waxed paper
will keep the icing from sticking to the foil.

Cookies, chocolate, and oats ... what could be better?
These cookies are lighter than traditional chocolate chip cookies and great to bring out when
extra guests stop by during the holidays.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Combine in a bowl the flour, salt, and oats.

3. In mixing bowl cream the butter with the sugars, then add the egg.

4. Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture and add the nuts and chocolate chips.

5. Drop the dough by teaspoonsful onto the parchment paper-covered baking sheet.

6. Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes.

* These cookies make a great gift during the holidays.

The Game: Dreidel

The dreidel is a four-sided top and one of the most recognizable symbols of
Chanukah. Many believe it dates back to Greek-Syrian times, when Jews were forbidden to study Torah. Legend has it that children would keep the tops on them to
pull out and play with should enemy patrols come by.

The Players: Anyone!

The Pieces: A dreidel and a variety of candy (such as M&Ms).

The Rules: Each player starts off with a different color M&M (or other nut or candy).

Each player puts one of his or her pieces in the pot. Each player spins the dreidel and
does whatever the letter dictates:

"Nun," he collects nothing.

"Gimel," he wins the entire pot.

"Hey," he gets half the pot.

"Shin," he has to put one of his own pieces in the pot.

Continue until someone wins the entire contents of the pot.

SING!

"I Have a Little Dreidel"

(Chorus)