Pecan and Almond Squares

June 7, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

Shavuot is here! You know what that means? You guessed it – DAIRY DESSERTS! Delicious buttery crusts and caramels. Cheesecake. Ice cream. Yup, desserts just taste better on shavuot. This year, Mommy Foodie’s birthday is the second day of the holiday. Aside from making her an awesome cake, I made her these nut bars. My mom loves nuts, so I know she’ll really enjoy these for dessert! A dairy dessert with shortbread crust and a caramely nutty topping – how can you go wrong?

Ina really knows how to write a decadent recipe! This recipe for pecan squares has more than a pound of butter in it – enough said. These “pecan squares” are really a shortbread crust with caramel and pecans on top. Kinda like a pecan pie, just in bite size portions. How bad can that be? Well, after reading through hundreds of reviews on the food network site, I realized that many people did not really like the crust. And there were a lot of complaints about burnt sugar on the bottom of ovens. Even though I have a self-cleaning oven, I was not about to let that happen. So I halved the recipe, to make sure it really would fit on a half sheet pan. A lot of people said they just made them in 9×13 Pyrexes, but I wanted that flat look all over, plus I wanted very thin bars – once you see how much sugar and butter are in these, you’ll know why. Continue reading …

Cream Soda

June 3, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

Stephanie has had the pleasure of working next to the folks of P&H Soda Co. for the past month at Madison Square Eats, an outdoor popup food fair. Not only did she drink tons of gourmet soda (her favorite flavor was ginger-lime, by the way), but she also learned that Anton, the owner, was once on TV with Martha Stewart! When she sent me this video back in February, she never even heard of Anton or his soda company, but knew I would be interested in making Anton’s cream soda at home; I’m so glad I did! Continue reading …

Cake Batter Ice Cream Cake

May 30, 2011 by Jessica | 8 Comments

Zeke’s favorite ice cream flavor is cake batter. Whenever I drag him to Carvel, he gets the same flavor – sometimes he gets it in a milkshake, though. So for his birthday, I decided to surprise him with a second birthday cake! A colorful ice cream cake that tastes like cake batter. It was awesome. Continue reading …

Spinach and Cheddar Souffle

May 25, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

As you know, I’ve made a chocolate souffle before. And while it was amazingly delicious, it definitely wasn’t a meal. So I decided to try my hand at something new, and something that home cooks are way too often scared of: savory souffle! This souffle with cheese and greens was SO easy to make, I promise! Of course, I used an Ina recipe. One that I actually didn’t see online, but rewound my DVR to make sure I got all the measurements and ingredients right.

Mustard Chicken Salad

May 19, 2011 by Jessica | 8 Comments

If you’re making meat for Shabbat lunch and want an easy and light dish, look no further than this mustard chicken salad. Yeah, I know, people will probably go crazier over the chulent you made, but this dish is simple, refreshing, and did I mention simple? You can serve it on top of a bed of romaine, like I did, or arugula, like Ina did. Or you can shred the chicken and cut the veggies a bit smaller and serve this in sandwiches, my favorite way to eat chicken salad. No matter how you do it, it’s a great Shabbat lunch. Continue reading …

Thin Mints

May 11, 2011 by Jessica | 5 Comments

Who doesn’t love girl scout cookies? My professor was selling them out of her office, which made me get a craving for some thin mints! I knew I had to try to make some of those well-loved cookies in my own kitchen, so when I saw Heidi Swanson’s recipe using whole wheat pastry flour, I had to give them a try! Continue reading …

Vanilla Ice Cream

May 9, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

Or, the best ice cream base ever.

What’s your favorite ice cream flavor? I’m sure we can make it work…

May is ice cream season! Of course, that means that summer is around the corner and baby and I will be frequenting the Lighthouse for soft-serve strawberry ice cream. But it also means that I can serve ice cream for dessert whenever I have company. And although I love going out for ice cream (even though Zeke doesn’t, despite his love for cake batter ice cream), homemade ice cream often tastes better, especially when you use as many egg yolks as I did in this recipe. Plus, I know exactly what the ingredients are. That’s always a plus for me. Continue reading …

Ejjeh Parsley

May 4, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

Remember back when we made ejjeh potato? Though we posted it as a Chanukah treat, it’s also really a great lunch box staple along with this, ejjeh parsley. We also love making leek ejjeh for Rosh HaShanah, by the way. Continue reading …

Sour Cream Coffee Cake

May 2, 2011 by Jessica | 2 Comments

On the rare occasion that I buy sour cream, I really need to use it before it goes bad. That means a lot of cake and muffins are baked in my house, then frozen for future breakfasts. I mean, I don’t want to waste a perfectly good ingredient. In this case, I decided to bake coffee cake, because it’s classic New York cuisine and easy to make for breakfast. I found a recipe in an old issue of Bon Appetit I had lying around, and it was perfect! A thick crumb topping and a nice moist cake.

Kaak, or Syrian Bread Sticks

April 27, 2011 by Jessica | 3 Comments

I have a confession to make. We made kaak a really long time ago. Probably more than 6 months ago, actually. We just never got around to writing up the post because the pictures were stuck on Adele’s camera, and because we had so many other interesting things to share with you. Better sooner rather than later, right?

Now that Passover won’t be back for another year, maybe we’ll make a giant batch of kaak for our freezer.

Kaak are bread sticks, but instead of being actual stick shapes, they are formed into rings. They are flavored with kemun, kizabrah, mahlab, and yansoon. Or cumin, anise, and cherry pit. I wouldn’t say that they’re hard to make, just time consuming. You need to shape each ring, then bake at two different temperatures. If you have two ovens, then this might be a little easier than it was for us. Anyone want to buy me a double wall oven? I promise you a batch of kaak! We baked these in Adele’s not-so-giant Manhattan kitchen. And hey, if we could do it there, then it can be done anywhere. You just have to have some patience. Continue reading …