Sweet Kaak

July 18, 2011 by Jessica | 6 Comments

Sweet kaak is nothing like regular kaak, except that it’s also kinda like a bread stick. Actually, it’s really more like a cookie made with orange zest. I usually don’t love orange zest, but for some reason I absolutely love sweet kaak. It’s a traditional Syrian treat, one that if I have in my cookie jar (okay, fine, I don’t have a cookie jar, but I do have airtight containers that I can leave on the counter and store cookies in) I will finish in about a day. Basically, they are sugar cookies that are twisted. Yum! Continue reading …

Boston Cream Pie

July 13, 2011 by Jessica | 4 Comments

Happy 2nd birthday, Kosher Foodies!! Today our blog turns 2. And to celebrate this momentous occasion, we would like to share one of our all-time favorite cake recipes with you. Sure, I made it over two months ago for Zeke’s birthday in May and wanted to share it with you the second I cleaned up all the forks and plates, but I figured that this special day warranted an extra special recipe, so here you go. It’s worth the wait.

Boston Cream Pie is actually cake. Delicious yellow cake with pastry cream in the center and drizzled with chocolate ganache. Sounds awesome, doesn’t it? Well what about if cut a hole out of the middle and stuff it with the cream, then put more cake on top and top that with lots and lots of chocolate? Yeah, it’s good. At least that’s what the people who ate all of it thought. It was a HUGE cake – I doubled a recipe that served 8-10, and at the end of the night only two slices were left. Those were quickly finished, as well. So if you’re in the mood to make an impressive cake, try this one. You won’t be sorry. Continue reading …

Sour Cherry Linzer Tart

July 5, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

I wanted to make something different for Shavuot. The picture of this tart in the cookbook The Art and Soul of Baking just jumped out at me, and I knew I had to try it. Also, I love nutty crusts. When I read through the recipe and saw that it called for cherry or berry juice, I knew I wanted to make this tart even more sour and use POM! Continue reading …

Mango Cilantro Ice Pops

June 30, 2011 by Stephanie | Leave a comment

When Lottie’s Kitchen asked us to come do a food demo last summer, we knew we wanted to make one of our favorite things, ice cream! But then they told us that they were focusing on healthy treats… So in addition to mango ice cream, we created this simple mango ice pop with cilantro.

Cherry Apricot and Pistachio Biscotti

June 28, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

I love biscotti! They are the perfect after dinner treat, and are a great treat in the morning to dip in coffee. These cookies are filled with dried fruits and nuts, which makes me think they’re healthy, too! I usually take my time and make teeny skinny biscotti, but these are great cut a bit thicker, since you get a mouthful of the dried fruit. Plus, it makes making the biscotti that much easier. Continue reading …

Chocolate Chip Cherry Muffins

June 26, 2011 by Jessica | 2 Comments

Sour cherries and chocolate are an amazing combination. And muffins are a great freezer-friendly breakfast or snack. So when I bought an extra bag of dried sour cherries, I just knew I had combine them with chocolate. And I did! These muffins are great, and I made them a little healthier by using whole wheat pastry flour and cottage cheese in the batter, instead of all white flour and sour cream.

The tartness of the cherries combined with the sweet chocolate and batter is perfect. You may think you want to cut down on the sugar in the recipe, and I was thinking about it, too, but the cherries are super sour, so I was pretty sure we needed the sweetness to counteract the tart cherries. Maybe I’ll try to make these even healthier with raw sugar, agave, or even honey next time. Continue reading …

Banana Pops!

June 22, 2011 by Jessica | Leave a comment

On Monday I bought a Zoku Quick Pop Maker! I got home and put it straight in the freezer because I just couldn’t wait to try it out. And boy am I glad about that impulse buy! I had some overripe bananas hanging out on my banana tree (read: KA dough hook), and mixed them with just a teeny bit of sugar and some milk – voila, I made really healthy banana pops that rival those banana FrozFruits we used to eat on the beach (fine, more often we got coconut and strawberry. Claire always got lime).

Old-Fashioned Banana Cake

June 17, 2011 by Jessica | 4 Comments

The problem with making desserts for Shabbat is that we can’t take pictures of the final project…I mean, you can see the cake and how it looked right out of the oven, but you can’t see it sliced and on a plate, which is too bad because this cake was pretty. Okay, the pan is a little bit messy, but at least my counter is clean! Oh, and the other problem is that you have to make the desserts pareve. Which means no cream cheese frosting! Those who dare to eat pareve whipped topping dolloped some on top of their cake. I ate it plain and it was amazing just the way it was. Continue reading …

Kanafeh

June 15, 2011 by Jessica | 8 Comments

Please welcome our sister-in-law Adele, who learned to make this Syrian specialty from a Syrian cooking expert and is now sharing it with everyone!

This recipe was taught to me as part of my you’re-getting-married-time-to-learn-how-to-cook training by an amazing cook…. who does not use measurements. I stood with her and watched closely, taking notes diligently. After making this a few times on my own, a measurable recipe was born. Continue reading …

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 …