The smell of caramelized butter and sugar is definitely a great way to start your morning. Mix that with chopped apples and fluffy batter, and you have this apple pancake, which isn’t like any pancakes I’ve ever made before.

This is one large pancake that’s cooked in the oven, and the edges get nice and golden brown while the inside stays gooey. It’s tart and sweet at the same time, and it’s a great start to your Sunday morning.

German Apple Pancake is a post from: The Kosher Foodies

I have been wanting to make this cake ever since I bought this cookbook, and that was a while ago. But first I didn’t find kosher mascarpone cheese, then I didn’t have an occasion to bake it for, and then I had a baby who didn’t really allow me to do much multi-step cake baking. Well I baked it. It took a while. I juiced lemons one day, made curd another, worked on the frosting the next morning, and that afternoon finally baked the cakes. So it took a while, but it was done, decorated, and waiting in the fridge to eat. I wanted to skip lunch and just eat cake.To be honest, this cake got mixed reviews. Some loved it for the dense cake and fluffy frosting. Others took one bite and said, “too tart!” I thought it was great. Of course it’s tart, it has lemon everywhere. A lemon simple syrup soaks the cake. There’s lemon curd mixed into the frosting and between the cake layers, then more on top for decoration. So if you don’t like tart desserts or lemon flavor, skip this one. Or make it with passion fruit or oranges. Otherwise, I highky recommend it.

This cake has a bunch of steps, so read through all the directions before you attempt it. It also needs to cool completely before assembling and to sit in the fridge for a while to set, so plan ahead.

The original recipe called for baking the cake in 2 layers and cutting each of those in half to make a 4 layer cake. I skipped that and only made 2 layers. If you do it my way, you’ll definitely have extra cream. It’s delicious on top of sugar cookies, so bake up a batch of those to serve with the leftovers. Or eat it plain.

The original recipe also called for piping fancy rosettes on top. I skipped the pastry tips and just put a thick layer of cream and piped a lemon curd design over the top. I was still told it was hundred dollar cake worthy, so I don’t feel bad for skipping that labor intensive step.

A note about mascarpone cheese – when I sent my father shopping for ingredients to make this cake, he said, “I’m not buying that, I don’t even know what it is. And eew, cheese!” Well it’s not a smelly aged cheese. It’s an Italian cream cheese. It’s thick, creamy, and spreadable and delicious to use in desserts.

Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake, adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking

For the Lemon Curd:

• 3 large eggs
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 cup minus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 3/4 cup strained freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 6 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch pieces

For the Cakes:

• 6 large eggs, separated
• 7 tablespoons plus 7 tablespoons sugar
• 1 3/4 cups sifted cake flour

For the Lemon Syrup:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

For the Mascarpone Filling:

• 2 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 7 tablespoons sugar
• 1 pound mascarpone

Directions:

1. Make the lemon curd (can be made up to three days in advance!): fill the bottom of a double boiler with at least 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Make sure the water is at least 2 inches below the top portion of the double boiler (read: glass bowl on top of pot).

2. Off the heat, place the eggs, egg yolks, and sugar into the top of the double boiler and whisk until blended. Add the lemon juice and mix well.

3. Reduce the heat of the double boiler under water is at a gentle boil.

4. Place the egg mixture over the water and cook, stirring constantly but leisurely, scraping the edges so the eggs don’t scramble, until the curd is very thick, about 7 minutes or 180 degrees on the thermometer.

5. Immediately strain the curd through a strainer set over a medium bowl. Use a spatula to press it down.

6. Add the cold butter pieces to the curd, burying them so they melt quickly. Wait one minute.

7. Whisk until butter is completely melted and blended with the curd.

8. Place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface and place the bowl in a larger bowl with ice water. Place in fridge when cool.

9. Make the cakes: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Fit two 9″ round cake pans with parchment, but do not grease.

10. Whip the egg yolks and 7 tablespoons of sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer on high speed until thick and very light in color, 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a separate bowl (OR this is when having a second mixer bowl, like me, comes in handy!).

11. With the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium speed to soft peaks. While the mixer is running, gradually add the remaining 7 tablespoons of sugar. Continue beating until stiff peaks form.

12. With a spatula, fold one third of the egg whites into the beaten yolks.

13. Using a fine mesh strainer, sift half the flour over the top and gently fold in.

14. Repeat with the remaining egg whites and flour. Fold until no streaks of white remain.

15. Divide the batter evenly into the prepared pans.

16. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the tops are golden, firm to the touch, and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely on racks.

17. Make the syrup: Heat the sugar and water in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has completely dissolved and the liquid is clear.

18: Remove from heat and cool completely. Stir in the lemon juice.

19: Make the mascarpone filling: Place the cream and sugar in the mixer bowl and whip until soft peaks form.

20. Place the mascarpone and 1 cup lemon curd in a large bowl and stir until blended (it should be the consistency of pudding).

21. Gently fold in the whipped cream until the mixture is homogenous and thick.

22. Transfer 2 1/4 cups of filling to a medium bowl. Then transfer half the remaining mixture to another bowl, and keep the remaining in a bowl. Refrigerate all three bowl of mascarpone.

23. Unmold the Cakes: Unmold the cakes by running a thin knife or spatula around the edge of the pan to loosen. Turn upside down and give the cake a sharp rap on the table to release. Repeat with second cake.

24. Turn the cake right side up, leaving the parchment paper attached. Repeat.

25. Level the cakes, if necessary.

26. If you want to make a 4-layer cake, do this. If you make a two layer cake, skip this step: Using a serrated knife, slice each cake horizontally into two layers. Set one of the bottom layers to use last, and remove parchment from the other bottom layer.

27. Assemble: Place a cake layer, cut side up, on a serving plate. Brush the cake with 1/4 of the lemon syrup. With an icing spatula, spread 1/3 of the mascarpone filling on top. Place 3 tablespoons of the remaining lemon curd on top of the filling and spread evenly to the edge.

28. Place  second layer on top, cut side up, and repeat with the lemon syrup, mascarpone filling, and lemon curd.

29. Place third layer on top, cut side up, and repeat with the lemon syrup, mascarpone filling, and lemon curd.

30. Top with the last layer of cake, placing it bottom up (cut side down). Remove the parchment paper. Moisten with remaining lemon syrup. Use your clean icing spatula to spread the mascarpone reserved for frosting over the cake. Spread the top thinly and make the sides thicker.

31. Spoon the piping mascarpone into the pastry bag (or plastic zip top bag) and pipe rosettes over the entire top of the cake, starting around the outside and working your way in. Or just spread the frosting neatly over the top.

32. Put the remaining lemon curd into a plastic bag and make a very small snip in the corner. pipe a center of lemon curd on each rosette or a design over the top of the cake.

33. Refrigerate at least 4 hours before serving. Slice with a thin, sharp knife and SERVE!

Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake is a post from: The Kosher Foodies

Today’s the first day of Autumn! I’m still sharing this summer produce recipe, okay?

Summer produce. Yum! Too much fresh produce that you can’t finish? Eew. That’s probably where pies, crisps, tarts, and cobblers came from, actually. And boy, do I love baking with fruits! After making a whole bunch of lattice-crust pies, I decided to take a different route with these plums, and this cobbler was born!

This is a very easy recipe. So make it, you won’t be sorry. You can easily spread out the dough making and the actual cobbler making over two or three days, making it even easier. If I can do it with Richie around, I’m sure you can manage to find some time for it, as well.

One of the best parts of this recipe is that it’s easily adaptable and changeable. If you don’t have plums, use peaches. Or apricots. Add some blueberries in the mix, or use brown sugar instead of granulated. I happen to love the plums in this recipe because of the bright color of the end product. They also have a great sweet and tart flavor that I love…and other people love it, too. I know because it was a hit with all my visitors!

Ingredients:

• 1 recipe scones
• 6 plums, halved, pitted, then sliced into about 6 slices
• 1/2 cup sugar (more or less, depending on the sweetness of the plums)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons corn starch (or 4 teaspoons all purpose flour)
• 1 egg + 1 tablespoon milk or cream, for eggwash
• 2 tablespoons sugar, for dusting

Directions:

1. Make the filling: Place plum pieces in a large bowl and taste one slice. Add sugar, vanilla extract, lemon juice, and corn starch/flour. Toss until the slices are evenly coated.

2. Pour into pie pan.

3. Dust your work surface with flour and roll out the scone dough until it’s about 1/8 inch thick.

4. Cut out circles and arrange on top of plum slices.

5. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

7. Make the egg wash by whisking together the egg and milk or cream.

8. Brush top of tart with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

9. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the top is browned and the fruit is bright and bubbly.

10. Serve warm or at room temperature. It’s especially good with ice cream.

Plum Cobbler is a post from: The Kosher Foodies

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.

Go out and find some champagne mangoes, I buy them from the corner fruit stands.

All photos courtesy of CookKosher

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup agave nectar
• 25 sprigs cilantro
• 2 large mangoes, diced (about 2 cups)
• juice of 2 limes
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Put agave, water and cilantro in a small pot over low heat. Simmer
until combined, take off heat and let cool.
2. Pulse mango in a food processor
3. Add salt and lime juice and pulse to combine
4. Discard cilantro sprigs. While processor is running, slowly add in
syrup
5. Pour into ice pop molds and freeze

Mango Cilantro Ice Pops is a post from: The Kosher Foodies

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. I have to say that usually when making biscotti I look for recipes with absolutely no oil. This recipe had only three tablespoons, so I decided to try it, and boy am I happy I did. I keep these in the freezer and whip them out when unexpected guests arrive, or when I don’t have time to bake a fancy pie or cake for my host/hostess. I find that biscotti often impress others, though they’re actually pretty easy to make. I just wish I had a double wall oven…

The original recipe did not call for any whole wheat pastry flour, but as I’m trying to include more whole grains in my diet, including the all-important dessert course, I’ve been trying to substitute whole wheat flour whenever possible. In this recipe, you really can’t taste the difference when you use half whole wheat pastry. Next time I might try it with only whole wheat.

Because they’re inherently pareve, they’re a really smart dessert to keep around! Plus, it’s a pretty simple recipe so that can’t hurt, either…This recipe is easily adaptable. You can use different fruits and nuts than the recipe calls for – I know I did! The original recipe called for some almond extract, which I really don’t like the flavor of so I always omit. If you like the stuff, feel free to add half a teaspoon of it. It also says to add some lemon and orange zest, but I felt that with the two different dried fruits I was adding (the original only called for one) I didn’t really need the additional citrus tang. If you try it another way, let me know how it goes!

Cherry Apricot and Pistachio Biscotti, adapted from Bon Appetit (May 2011)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup dried sour cherries
• 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
• 1 cup shelled pistachios (unsalted, if possible)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or spray with nonstick spray.

2. Combine flour, sugar, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Blend on low for 30 seconds, until everything comes together.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs.

4. Then, add the oil and vanilla and mix well.

5. Add the egg mixture to the flour and beat until combined.

6. With a spatula, fold in the dried fruit and nuts.

7. On a lightly floured surface, divide dough in half and shape each half into a 16-inch long log.

8. Place logs on baking sheet about 5 inches apart and flatten them until they are 2 inches wide.

9. Bake, rotating the sheet halfway through, for 30 minutes.

10. Transfer to a drying rack and let cool for 15 minutes.

11. Reduce heat to 250 degrees.

12. Using a serrated knife, cut each strip diagonally into 1/3 inch thick slices. Arrange them on a baking sheet and bake for 40 minutes, until crisp, rotating halfway through.

13. Let cool on drying rack and enjoy!

Cherry Apricot and Pistachio Biscotti is a post from: The Kosher Foodies

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).

How cool are my nails?

Anyway, these couldn’t be easier to make. And I am now obsessed with my Zoku and want to buy the storage case, some extra sticks, and just about every other accessory that comes with it…I mean, they sell a siphon so that you can REALLY make creamsicles! I can’t wait to play around with this all summer!

Oh, and for some reason it’s classified as a baby item on Amazon. And they sell it at my all-time favorite store, Giggle. So I guess the timing is right to be obsessed, right?

Of course, you can make this in a regular ice pop mold, but then you have to make the mixture are wait for it to freeze. We used to make orange juice ices all the time that way. It’s much easier to just store to Zoku in the freezer, then when you want pops, you can have them in about 10 minutes. Okay fine, 15 if you want to chill the banana mixture for a while first.

Banana Pops, makes about 6 pops:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 – 2 overripe bananas
• about 1/4 cup milk (I used 1% – no need for full fat here!)

Directions:

1. Make sure your Zoku is frozen!

2. Combine all ingredients in a blender (immersion blender or food processor would work, too!)

3. Freeze according to Zoku (or whatever pop maker you’re using) instructions.

4. Remove from pop maker and enjoy!

(Didn’t I tell you that was easy?!)

Banana Pops! is a post from: The Kosher Foodies

It’s blueberry season! Even though I can eat whole pints of these plain, I love to experiment with them and see what great desserts I can make. This time, I decided on ice cream. I love strawberry ice cream, so why not try to use blueberries instead? This would be amazing over a summer peach tart.

This is not a super rich and creamy custard ice cream. There are no eggs in the recipe, and it takes much shorter to make…no boiling, cooking, thickening, and refrigerating needed. The blueberries, sugar, and lemon juice still have to macerate and make delicious purple juice, but it’s still easier than tempering eggs and a perfect recipe for you if you’re a beginner ice cream maker.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups fresh ripe blueberries, smashed
• 4 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (yes, it has to be freshly squeezed. That bottled stuff is just not the same)
• 1-1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Make sure your freezer bowl is really frozen!

1. Combine blueberries, lemon juice, and 1/2 cup of sugar in a bowl. Stir and crush the berries. Let sit for at least two hours in the fridge.

2. In another bowl, whisk together the milk and sugar until the sugar dissolves. Add the heavy cream.

3. Strain the blueberries from the juice. Puree half the berries, if desired. (I didn’t do it – I don’t have a dishwasher, so skipping steps that make more dirty dishes is common around here.)

4. Add the juice to the milk mixture. Add the puree, if you pureed the berries.

5. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker, and mix according to the ice cream maker’s directions. In the last five minutes of mixing, add the blueberries.

6. Transfer to an airtight container. I use those quart sized round plastic containers. they’re a dollar for three of them, and I always have them around for ice cream. i needed to use two for this recipe, though, because it didn’t fit in just one.

7. Freeze for at least 1/2 hour before serving.

Oops! exploding blueberry ice cream! Don’t walk away from the kitchen when the ice cream maker is on, or this might happen. The spinning part whips air into it, and this time the ice cream just grew bigger than the volume of the freezer bowl. I had a big mess to clean up after this, but the purple colored ice cream was definitely worth it – don’t you just love the color of this stuff? I do!

Blueberry Ice Cream is a post from: The Kosher Foodies

Is there a better way to celebrate your oldest friends, a hot NYC summer day and the awesome strawberry season that we’ve been blessed with than strawberry sangria? I couldn’t think of one, so when my elementary school crew was coming over to my apartment for a dinner party, I conjured this recipe right before my friends started to show up and we sipped sangria until we were ready for dinner.

Maybe you don’t have friends coming over for a dinner party, but the first official day of summer is definitely a means for celebration, so celebrate with this cool cocktail! Or save this recipe for a summer picnic or barbecue.

White strawberry sangria:

Ingredients:

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup water
• 6 big strawberries
• 1/2 lemon, cut into half moons
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 bottle Sauvingnon Blanc
• A handful of blueberries

Directions:

1. Make simple syrup by heating the water and the sugar over a medium flame, stirring often, until the sugar is completely dissolved. Let cool for a few minutes.
2. Cut up the strawberries and put them in a pitcher. Pour in the simple syrup
3. Add the lemon slices, lemon juice, wine and blueberries. Stir and refrigerate.
4. Serve over ice , garnished with strawberry slices.

White Strawberry Sangria is a post from: The Kosher Foodies

If you’ve been following us since the beginning (or if you’ve checked out the archive), you know that our first recipe ever posted was raspberry jam. We couldn’t believe how easy it was to make, how delicious it was, or how quickly our friends and family gobbled it up; we had to make more jam!

Inspired by Jessica’s fig tree, we decided to make fig-strawberry (or is it strawberry-fig?) jam, a popular recipe combination we found. We used strawberries that we had frozen earlier in the season (which we bought on sale), figs that we bought at a fruit stand in Manhattan (since the fig tree, though inspirational, didn’t provide enough), and a recipe from pickyourown.org and the pectin package. It had WAY less sugar than the raspberry.

Ingredients and equipment:

• 6 cups mashed fruit, equal parts strawberry and fig
• 2 1/4 cups of sugar
• 1 1.74 oz. package of pectin (we used surejell)
• Ball jars with lids and rings
• Lid lifter (a magnet to lift lids out of the hot water)
• Jar tongs
• Jar funnel
• A big pot (for the jam)
• A smaller pot (to sterilize the jars and lids, and to seal them later)

1. Wash the fruit.
2. Sterilize jars (just the glass part).
3. Heat the lids (without boiling them) in a pot of water.
4. Mix the pectin with 1/4 cup of the sugar and cook the mixture with the fruit until it comes to a full boil. Stir often, making sure it doesn’t burn.
5. Add the rest of the sugar.That’s all it takes to make jam; now it’s time to preserve it:
6. Fill the jars, seal them, and let them sit in a pot of boiling water for five minutes, until the lids pop in.

We actually had way more than 6 cups of mashed fruit, so we made two batches. But we didn’t have any extra pectin, so with a little bit of the first batch still in the pot, we added the rest of the fruit, some extra sugar, and a sliced apple. You see, pectin is a natural derivative of fruit, including apples, which is used as a gelling agent.

This time we used the three leftover 8-oz. jars we had from the 12-pack we bought last time we made jam, plus 12 4-oz. jars, and one 16-oz. jar.

Fig-Strawberry Jam is a post from: The Kosher Foodies

We waited all summer, and now the fig tree in our backyard is finally producing some delicious fruit! Aside from eating figs for breakfast and snacks throughout the day, I decided to incorporate them into dinner. Now we’ve eaten salad with figs in it for the past three nights.

Ingredients:

• Mixed Greens
• Figs, quartered
• Another fruit: preferably strawberry or mango
• Red onion
• Balsamic vinaigrette (homemade or store-bought)

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!

Fig Salad, or A [Fig] Tree Grows in Brooklyn is a post from: The Kosher Foodies