This is such a simple dessert, and definitely look harder than they were to make. And they’re amazingly delicious.

I actually baked these for a shabbat dessert, but I can imagine them for a breakfast or brunch party. Of course, because I made them pareve, they weren’t as good as they would be with real butter. But everyone still loved them, they were a hit, and I would make them pareve again! They really are a cross between a breakfast and a dessert, especially with the granola crumble on top. Use good granola (homemade, if possible). It really makes a difference in the final flavor! Also, use good jam. I didn’t use homemade jam on this, only because I didn’t want to think about wasting more than a jar of it! 

Raspberries not your thing? You can use whatever flavor jam you like. Triple berry would probably be amazing, as would our homemade fig jam!

Raspberry Crumble Bars, adapted from Ina Garten:

Makes 12 bars, but my guests didn’t each eat a whole one

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature (or Earth Balance shortening or 8 ounces coconut oil)
• ¾ cup sugar 
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour 
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt 
• 10 to 12 ounces good raspberry jam 
• 2/3 cup good granola (without dried fruit)
• Confectioners’ sugar, for sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on medium speed just until combined.

3. With the mixer on low, add the vanilla.

4. Sift the flour and salt together and, with the mixer on low, slowly add to the butter mixture, mixing until it almost comes together in a ball.

5. Turn the dough out on a board and knead until it comes together.

6. Lightly pat two-thirds of the dough evenly on the bottom of a 9-inch square baking pan and about ¼ inch up the sides.

7. Spread with the jam, leaving a ¼-inch border.

8. In your mixer, mix the granola into the remaining dough.

9. With your hands, break the dough into small bits, and distribute it on top of the jam, covering most of the surface.

10. Bake the bars for 45 minutes, until lightly browned.

11. Cool completely and cut into 12 bars. Sprinkle lightly with confectioners’ sugar.

It’s hard to believe that it’s already time to get ready for Pesach, but Purim has passed and Passover really is right around the corner. This year, we’re preparing with this easy, no-bake dessert that requires no special equipment (because maybe you only have KforP bowls and forks!).

Delicious Temp Tee cream cheese is always a very popular matzah topping, but now we’re incorporating it into recipes for the chag. What do you plan on making with cream cheese this Passover?

Have you started preparing yet? Cleaning the kitchen, eating the contents of your pantry and freezer, cooking up new hametz-free recipes?

We made these awesome truffles – look how pretty! Perfect for passover, because who wants a big heavy dessert after a huge meal? Just take one of these and you’re set.

But, because we love desserts, we decided to share an awesome (our favorite) cake recipe with an updated cream cheese frosting.

For the  truffles recipe, click here! 

For the chocolate cake with whipped cream filling recipe, click here!

Believe it or not, when I saw these recipes, I called David and told him to invite his friends over for a dinner party, I wanted to make a dessert and needed to invite people over to serve it to so I wouldn’t have to eat it all myself. Do you ever do that?

Also, we’re moving next month (!!) and I wanted to have one last dinner party in our first apartment before moving on.

So this was the weirdest pie dough I’ve ever made! Whenever I make a pie or a tart, I usually stick to this recipe, but I wanted this dessert to be genuine, so I used the recipe on the site. It called for creaming the butter and sugar instead of mixing in cold butter, and I think it called for 1/2 an egg? Is that what 1/2 each egg means? Well I used a whole one and omitted the water.

I loved how the apples were thinly sliced instead of cubed, it made for a pretty presentation and added a great texture that’s different from most of the apple desserts I’ve been eating since the fall.

It’s a pretty strange recipe, since each component is separated into its own page. I went ahead and combined them into one for you (you’re welcome!). And I turned it into one 9-inch pie instead of several individual pies. Because who has 10 mini molds? Not me! Maybe my next kitchen will have enough space for such things…

Inaugural Apple Pie with Cinnamon Crumble

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 6 ounces butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 ounces sugar
• 1/2 pound flour
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 egg

For the apples:

• 3 medium-sized apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (I used two galas and one granny smith)
• 3 ounces sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tablespoon corn starch
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla

For the crumb topping:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons butter, chilled, cut in to 1/2 inch cubes

Directions:

Make the dough:

1. Cream the butter and the sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg.
2. Mix the flour and salt into the dough mixture until it all comes together, adding a teaspoon or two of water if necessary.
3. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour or up to two days.

Make the apple filling:

1. In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients.

Make the cinnamon crumble:

1. Blend flour, sugars, cinnamon and salt in a food processor.
2. Pulse the butter until the mixture resembles wet sand.

Assemble, bake and enjoy:

1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. Roll out the dough and place in a 9-inch pie plate.
3. Layer the apples into the dough until full; the apples will drop as they bake, so don’t worry if it seems too high.
4. Sprinkle the cinnamon mixture on top of the apples.
5. Bake for about 50 minutes. Make sure to place the pie plate on top of a baking tray to catch any drippings!
6. Serve warm, with sour cream ice cream.

You could probably guess that I wanted to make the third course: dessert! I was especially intrigued by the idea of sour cream ice cream.

Think that sounds weird? It kinda does, but it kinda tastes like cheesecake ice cream, so you should try it anyway. I knew it was meant to be when I went to D’Agostino, where I never shop for groceries, (because it was freezing in New York City and I didn’t want to go any further out of my way than necessary) and sour cream was on sale for half price!

I did run into some hiccups while making this ice cream; when I got home I realized that I bought light sour cream, and that they cashier didn’t give me the discount, so I had to go back to the supermarket and exchange them for regular fat, plus get half of my money back.

Then when I finally got to freeze my ice cream, my KitchenAid started making scary clicking noises and I thought I was breaking the motor, but it worked, and my mixer is fine now, so don’t worry! Everything is fine, I have two pints of sour cream ice cream in my freezer (and eight egg whites in my fridge), and I’m going to make presidential apple pie to serve it with—stay tuned!

And special thanks to Leat for coming over to help me make ice cream (aka being the official sour cream ice cream-making photographer!).

Sour Cream Ice Cream

Ingredients:

• 2 cups half and half
• 1 cup sugar, divided
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 egg yolks
• 4 cups sour cream

Directions:

1. In heavy saucepan combine half-and-half, ¾ cup sugar, and vanilla and bring just to a boil.
2. Remove pan from heat.
3. In a bowl, whisk together egg yolks and remaining ¼ cup sugar. Add the hot half-and-half mixture in a steady slow stream and whisk until incorporated.
4. Return mixture to pan and cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until the mixture reaches 170º F.
5. Remove pan from heat.
6. Stir sour cream into custard until combined well and strain through a fine sieve into a bowl.
7. Chill custard until cold.
8. Freeze in an ice-cream maker.

I have to admit something: this is one of the first recipes I’ve ever written up to blog. I’ve made these cookies  a whole bunch of times. And I took beautiful pictures to share with you. And then, when it came to writing up the post, I couldn’t find the pictures anywhere! I know I burned them onto a CD, but the CD is now somewhere among the other thousands of photo CDs I have (don’t worry, I have since updated my photo back-up devices). So, the post sat here, written up, but never shared.

I know, I know. We’ve shared a few recipes without any (or many) picture, but these were just so fun and beautiful I couldn’t post them without the photos. So the draft just sat and messed up my WordPress. And every now and then I would say to myself that I’m definitely making these again, only to not…because, you know, I had new desserts to test out, and I’ve already made these so many times.

I’m actually quite mean, because my sister-in-law Margie loves this dessert. So here I am, more than two years after the last time I made rugelach (blasphemy!), promising to not only make them this time to share with you, but definitely make them more often.

I used to make these pareve with Toffuti cream cheese, but really didn’t like it much (and it might be a reason I stopped making them for so long): it has hydrogenated oil. So, while other people would scarf them down, I wouldn’t. And we serving rugelach after dairy is not the same as after a great Shabbat meal. Then I found a better substitute from Trader Joe’s! With an O-U! So, now we can have pareve rugelach again.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

• 8 oz Trader Joe’s Not Cream Cheese
• 2 sticks Earth Balance (or other pareve butter substitute)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour

For the filling:

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2/3 cup raisins (I chop them)
• 1 cup walnuts, chopped (I like to use pecans instead)
• 1/2 cup apricot preserves, pureed in a food processor

For the topping:

• Egg wash
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1. Cream the Toffuti cream cheese and Soy Garden in a KitchenAid fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the sugar, salt, and vanilla. Turn the mixer on low speed and add the flour. Mix until just combined. Turn the mixture onto a lightly floured surface. Roll into ball. Cut the dough into quarters, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for an hour. You can also freeze the dough to use later.

2. To make the filling, combine sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, raisins, and walnuts.

3. On a floured board, roll each ball into a 9-inch circle. Spread 2 tablespoons of apricot on top. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the filling. Press the filling into the dough. Then, cut the dough into 12 wedges (cut the whole circle in quarters, then cut each quarter in thirds). This is easiest if you have a pizza cutter.  Roll up each wedge from the wide (outside) end to the skinny edge. Place them on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

4. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. As the cookies are chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

5. Right before baking, brush each rugelach with egg wash and sprinkle with the topping. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Let cool on wire rack.

Today we turn 27 (or 54, if you add us together). And what better way to celebrate our birthday than an amazing maple cake? We’re not sure when the actual maple season is, but I think it’s a fallish flavor, and fall is ending right about now, so why not go with a maple cake? That, and I have been dying to make this cake ever since I got this cookbook.

maple crunch layer cake

The cake has a lot of steps – well, one more than usual, really. You have to make the candy, the cake, and the buttercream. Good thing they all store pretty well for a day. The cake can be made a day ahead and just kept wrapped on the counter for a day, but for longer storage, make up to 6 weeks before and freeze it, double wrapped. The buttercream can be made a couple days in advanced, covered, and refrigerated. Just bring it back to room temperature before frosting the cake. And the candy can be made one day ahead, just covered with plastic wrap at room temperature. So, if you want to bake it all in one day, you can. But if you want to do everything step by step and in advance, and only put it together the day of your celebration, that’s fine, too. You can even put it together and store  in a cake dome in the fridge, bringing it to room temperature before serving. Whoa, lots of options. That all confused me.

The thing about me, though, is that I was ready to make everything in advance…but then ended up only making the cake. And my mom does not have a stand mixer or electric beater in her kitchen (crazy! I know!) so we had to make the buttercream by hand. We had a bunch of people in the kitchen, so no one’s arm got too tired, but when we finally whipped the egg whites into peaks, we had to start over again after adding the syrup. And then after all the butter was added our whisk and our buttercream broke! I thought we were done for, that I’d have to serve a cake without buttercream. But then, Ralph got a fork and fixed everything. And here is one of the smoothest buttercreams we’ve ever had. It wasn’t too sweet (which was good, because it was covered with candy) and a perfect maple flavor for the maple cake.

Maple Crunch Layer Cake, from Bon Appetit Desserts:

Makes 14 servings (if everyone eats a regular sized slice! We had about 30 people and still a bit leftover)

Ingredients:

For the Cake:

• Nonstick baking spray
• Flour
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup maple syrup (none of that pancake syrup!)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

For the Candy:

• Neutral flavored oil
• 1 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

For the Buttercream:

• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch slices, at room temperature

Directions:

For the Maple Candy:

1. Line rimmed baking sheet with foil and brush with oil.

2. In a medium saucepan, combine syrup, sugar, and vinegar and stir until sugar is moistened.

3. Attach a candy thermometer to the side of the pan.

4. Without stirring, bring mixture to a boil over medium/high heat and boil until it reaches 300 degrees. Watch it closely so it doesn’t burn! Brush sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush and swirl occasionally, about 7 minutes in.

5. Remove pan from heat and mix in baking soda and nuts (mixture will BUBBLE!).

6. Immediately pour mixture onto baking sheet and spread evenly to 1/2 inch thick.

7. Let stand until candy hardens, about 7 minutes.

For the Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Spray 2 8-inch round cake pans with nonstick spray and coat with flour.

3. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat butter until fluffy, about 3 minutes.

5. Beat in sugar. Scrape down sides and beat until all the sugar is incorporated.

6. Slowly beat in the maple syrup (it may look curdled, but don’t worry).

7. Beat in eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides as necessary. Add vanilla.

8. Beat in dry ingredients alternatively with the buttermilk, starting and ending with the dry.

9. Divide the batter between the pans.

10. Bake for about 35 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out dry.

11. Let cool for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack to cool completely.

For the Buttercream:

1. In a small saucepan, bring maple syrup to a boil

2. Using an electric mixer (or a stand mixer), beat egg whites in a large bowl until stiff peaks form.

3. Without letting the hot syrup touch the beaters, pour 1/4 cup syrup down the side of the bowl into the egg whites and beat to blend.

4. Gradually beat in remaining hot syrup, avoiding the beaters.

5. Continue to beat until the egg whites are stiff and cool, about 15 minutes.

6. Beat in butter, 1 slice at a time Beat until smooth.

Welcome to our first ever Hanukkah Blog Party, hosted by Leah of Cook Kosher and Miriam of Overtime Cook. It’s traditional on Hanukkah to eat fried treats, most notably donuts and latkes, and we’ve got a fabulous array of Hanukkah themed recipes, treats and crafts from Jewish bloggers all over the world! Scroll down for links to all of the delicious treats. 

Have you ever had a beignets? It’s like a donut without a hole in it. I first had one in New Orleans and Cafe de Monde, which basically only serves beignets and coffee.

When my friends were visiting New Orleans, I made them a list of places to see, and of course, Cafe du Monde was on there, because every tourist just has to. They surprised me by bringing back a box of beignet mix—with a condition that I invite them over for these French donuts. Now, of course I made them, and invited them over, but boxed mix? That’s not very kosher foodie of me, and I had to rectify that. I needed to make from-scratch beignets!

So when I saw Bobby Flay making a Big Easy brunch on his Cooking Channel show, I immediately copied him. I figured, they’re no sufganiyot, but they’re round, and if instead of stuffing them I dip them in jam (homemade, of course), they’re almost as Hanukkah-y. Right?

Bobby served them with a quick blackberry jam. I decided to make a raspberry jam, because my husband prefers them over blackberries. I just mixed some berries with lemon juice and a little bit of sugar over the stove until it thickened. It’s much easier to make than when you’re preserving a whole batch of it!

Beignets, from Bobby Flay

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (1 envelope)
• 3/4 cup warm water (~110 degrees)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 3 1/2 cups flour, divided
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 quarts vegetable oil (for frying), plus more to oil bowl
• confectioners’ sugar

Directions:

1. Mix the yeast, water and sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Let stand for about 5 minutes, until it foams.
2. Add the salt, lemon zest, nutmeg, egg, milk and 1 1/2 cups of the flour and mix on medium speed until combined.
3. Add the butter and mix until combined.
4. Add 1 3/4 cup flour and mix until combined.
5. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, knead in the remaining 1/4 cup of flour and knead by hand until the dough is smooth, about 5 minutes.
6. Place the dough into a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let stand for about an hour, until it doubles in size.
7. Remove the dough from the bowl and punch down. Roll it out onto a lightly-floured surface to 1/2-inch of thickness. Cut out circles and place onto a lightly-floured baking sheet. Let rise for 30 minutes.
8. Heat the oil to 350 in a pot or deep fryer. Fry the beignets in batches (I did 3 at a time), rolling them around constantly with a slotted spoon, until they’re golden brown. It will only take about 1 to 2 minutes, so be careful! Transfer to a platter lined with paper towels and dust with powdered sugar. Serve with warm jam, if desired.

Jamie from Joy of Kosher made Zucchini Latkes with Tzatziki

• 4 cups flour (maybe sub 1 cup ww)
• 2 1/2 cups roasted pepitas, divided
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon freshnutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 eggs
• 3 cups chocolate chips (optional)

I’m not gonna lie, this takes a little while to make. It takes some advance planning, unless you have toffee ready to go in your pantry at all times. Yup, you might want that, actually. This dessert is that worth it. So it takes a while if you’re not prepared, but it’s really not hands-on time. It takes about 3 1/2 hours to make the toffee. But that can be done months in advance! You read that right, I said months. Or you can make it a day in advance, or a week, if you manage your time right. And it’s super easy. All you have to do is buy a can of sweetened condensed milk. Then, peel off the label, put it in a large pot, fill with water, and boil on your stovetop for 3 1/2 hours. Then, let cool fully before opening.

Banoffee Pie, adapted from here:

Ingredients:

• 1 package graham crackers
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
• 1 can toffee*
• 2 bananas, sliced into circles
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon sugar

Directions:

1. Make the Crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Take graham crackers and break them into pieces, then place into your food processor (or, if you don’t have a food processor, put them in a zip top bag and crush with a rolling pin) and grind until they’re fine crumbs.

3. Run the food processor and pour in the melted butter, process until it all comes together when you squeeze it into clumps.

3. Line your pie plate or tart pan with the graham cracker crumbs.

4. Bake for 10 minutes.

5. Assemble the pie: Place the banana slices in a circular pattern on the pie crust. Or just throw them in there, they mess up during the next step, anyway.

6. Pour the toffee over the bananas, and spread evenly over the pie crust.

7. Make the Whipped Cream: In the bowl of your stand mixer, whip the heavy cream, sugar, and vanilla, until soft peaks form.

8. Top the pie with whipped cream and refrigerate for at least one hour.

9. Serve and enjoy!

When I saw the photo of this candy/dessert in my friend Daniella’s Bon Appetit Desserts book, I KNEW I had to buy the book right away. And I did, thanks to the Amazon app on my iPhone. Then I bookmarked way too many desserts and put this one off for a little while. I’m glad I came back to it. It was actually quite easy, and I had all the ingredients in my pantry except for the sweetened condensed milk. That’s easy to find in the supermarket. Oh, golden syrup is great. If you don’t have it, you can use corn syrup, but I don’t like to use corn syrup. I find Lyle’s golden syrup in the regular supermarket, but if you can’t find it, try Amazon. 

This dessert was so yummy! It was like a caramel candy, but with a bonus because of the tart crust (that egg yolk takes it up a notch and makes it even more creamy and delicious than a regular pie or tart dough) and the salted chocolate. Use good chocolate for this, because the flavor really shines through.

Also, because I used a smaller tart pan than the recipe called for, the slices were very thick. I cut them super thin, because just one small slice was enough richness for everyone.

Can you tell I like my new book?

I actually made two versions of this candy, since I had two tart pans. One with a hard caramel, to be more like a candy bar. I’m only sharing the soft caramel recipe with you because we liked it better (and the hard one caused some dental problems).

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon ice water
• 1 egg yolk

For the Caramel:

• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Chocolate Glaze:

• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate
• 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• Flaky sea salt

Directions:

1. Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Butter a 12 x 8 1/4 x 1 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom (Okay, so I couldn’t find this size. I used a long rectangular one and it came out just fine. The pieces were a little thicker, so I cut them smaller. If you have a round tart pan, I’m sure you can use that and just slice into wedges).

3. Blend flour, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a food processor.

4. Add butter and pulse until coarse meal forms.

5. Add ice water and egg yolk and blend until moist clumps form.

6. Press dough into bottom (not sides!) of the pan.

7. Pierce dough all over with a fork.

8. Bake until golden, about 22 minutes. Check on it periodically and pierce with fork if bubbles form.

9. Make caramel: Whisk all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves, butter melts, and mixture boils.

10. Attach a thermometer and boil gently, whisking constantly, until a mixture reaches 225 degrees.

11. Pour caramel evenly over crust and spread to the edges.

12. Let cool for 15 minutes.

13. Make chocolate: melt chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pot with an inch of simmering water (double boiler), stirring occasionally until smooth.

14. Spread over warm caramel.

15. Sprinkle with sea salt.

16. Refrigerate at least one hour, until chocolate is set.

17. Cut into strips and serve cold.