Recipe: Hamantaschen

Purim is upon us, or will be Saturday night. It's loud, brash, costumed, and carnivalesque. Merriment comes in many forms, including baking, so for those looking to make some traingle-filled-deliciousness, here you go:

Hamantaschen

Ingredients:
Dough
1/2 lb. butter (1 cup/2 sticks/16 tbsp*)
2 large eggs
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. flour + more to roll out dough
1 tsp. baking powder

Filling
{Be wild! The options are infinite.} Last night I used:
Raspberry Preserves
Blackberry-Pomegranate Jam
Apricot Jelly
Nutella
{Basically, you want the filling to be thick so it doesn't run. Mohn (poppyseed) is traditional though, truth be told, not my favorite, no matter what the Slate wizards claim.}

1. Combine butter, eggs, and sugar. Mix well.
2. Add flour and baking powder. Mix well. Add more flour as necessary. The dough should be just a slight touch sticky.
3. Place dough in refrigerator for 15-30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350.
5. Roll out dough about 1/8" thick. Cut out circles. (I use a pint glass as a cookie cutter.)
6. Place about a teaspoon of filling in the center. Make triangles -- I find this pinwheel technique (as shown at the bottom of the link) the best for creating secure triangles.
7. Bake for about 13 minutes at 350.
8. Eat, share, enjoy!

*Last night, we decided to make a third batch with 1.75 sticks of butter remaining. They turned out fine, so you can reduce the butter if you so please with little, if any, consequence.

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Bugs.

I haven't been sewing much anything lately and just wanted to make something. Without a fabric option, I thought baking might be a nice replacement. But I'm staying with my brother and his kitchen is half-packed-up, which means the mixer is sitting in a box somewhere. Yet people have been baking for far longer than electric mixers have existed, so it had to be possible.

I gathered all the ingredients to make brownies, and plunged in. I melted the butter and chocolate, and I broke 4 eggs into a bowl. At which point I realized there was no white sugar in the cabinets. So brown sugar would do -- I decided somewhere between 1/2-3/4 cup of brown sugar would be best, especially since I was using milk chocolate which was already sweeter than other chocolates. Adjusting and adapting on the fly. All was good. Everything was mixed and ready for the flour. I dropped a 1/4 cup in the bowl and then looked in the flour.

Big mistake.

There were bugs in the flour. Little crawling gray things, and god knows how many invisible bug eggs. I was really annoyed -- mostly with myself for not looking in the flour before adding it to the brownie batter. That was just dumb and totally preventable.

After dumping the batter and playing on the internet for a while to mollify my annoyed self, I walked back to the store and bought more chocolate chips. I might have also impulse purchased some salt and vinegar chips to appease myself.

Then I made brownie batter again, and of course managed to spill melted chocolate, beaten eggs, and batter in various ways. Clearly, it was not a good day for baking. But I made my brown sugar substitute (I could have acquired some white sugar at the store, but I was committed to my experiment) and I used some cake flour instead of all-purpose flour. And it turns out that while chemistry limits baking in some ways, these sorts of substitutions are just fine. The texture and taste is slightly different, but they're brownies and they taste good. And there are no bugs in them.

Meanwhile, on the sewing front, while nothing has been sewn, lots has been contemplated.

In particular, I've been looking forward to the tutorial for this block of the summer sampler series. Kate posted it this morning, and I really want to make it. I might use it for a mini-quilt for my partner in the For the Love of Solids Swap or maybe make a baby quilt of them (I've got a bunch more of those to make for the fall) or maybe something else altogether.

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Friday Recipe: Hamantaschen

It's that time of the year again....Purim starts Saturday night. Purim (literally, "lots") commemorates the events of the book of Esther and involves all sorts of celebratory activities involving noise, costumes, drinking, and food. Though I think Purim is supposed to be one of those holidays everyone loves (see: noise, costumes, drinking, and food), I can't say it's up there with my favorites (see: noise).

To be honest, however, I'm not sold on the book of Esther. I think Vashti (the deposed queen) is much maligned for totally reasonable and even responsible behavior. She rejects the King's advances to promenade in front of his court, or in modern lingo, his frat. While this helps set up the annointing of Esther as queen and then savior of the Persian Jews of yore, I find it a highly problematic nonetheless.

But this textual issue notwithstanding, there are some lovely aspects of the holiday. In particular, the tradition of mishloach manot, or the sending of gifts, is fun. Basically, you make packages of food and drink and deliver them to friends. I haven't quite figured out why raisins and twizzlers appear so often in these gift bags and baskets (I get that they're sold in individual packaging, but still....), but hamantaschen always make the rounds. Hamantaschen, which represent Haman's ears or hat or anything else related to the misanthropic character, are triangular stuffed cookies. Traditional fillings include prunes, poppyseed, apricots, dates, and cherries. I'm more a of modernist, however, and use chocolate and strawberry jam.

I wrote my recipe on an index card at some point, and I don't know its original source, though I imagine most hamanraschen recipes are somewhat similar.

Friday Recipe: Hamantaschen
~ 30

2/3 cup butter (or margarine if making them pareve)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
Filling of your choice (chocolate chips, nutella, jam, etc)

1. Cream butter with sugar.

2. Add egg and vanilla. Mix well.

3. Add in dry ingredients and mix well.

4. Cover and chill for ~ 1hour.

5. Preheat oven to 375 degreed.

6. Take a chunk of dough and roll it out, about 1/8 inch thick.

9. Use a cookie cutter (or pint glass!) to cut out circle shapes.

 

10. Place a small amount of the filling in the center of the circle. Pinch the sides together to create a triangle (a little water often helps hold the pinched points together.  Place of greased baking sheet.

  

11.  Bake on 375 degrees for about 12 minutes. 

12. Enjoy!

 

Tips/Nptes:

*I've forgotten the baking powder and salt and they still turn out fine.

*One year I had no chocolate chips, so I used Hershey's Kisses. I think some of their newfangled filled ones (e.g., caramel) could be excellent in hamantaschen.

*Be careful with jam. Sometimes it leaks and/or bubbles out of the dough and creates a mess.

A few friends came over on Wednesday night to help bake hamantaschen and make mishloach manot. The bag decorating (which I only watched) was pretty hilarious.

For those who celebrate it, Chag Purim Sameach!

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Latkes, Sufganiyot, and a Second Night of Chanukah Giveaway

Apologies if I confused a few people about latkes and sufganiyot in my last post. They are indeed distinct food items.

image found here

Latkes are potato pancakes (most frequently made with regular white potatoes, but sometimes with the addition of sweet potatoes, zucchinis, or even beets, according to Joan Nathan's Chanukah recipe round-up in this past Wednesday's New York Times).

image found here

In contrast, sufganiyot are doughnuts, usually of the stuffed variety. In America, red jelly of some unknown berry origin usually protrudes. Israel offers a more extensive variety with all sorts of chocolates, creams, and other flavors (scroll to the end of this post for a list of 8 options).

And oil -- lots of it -- connects the savory latkes and the sweet sufganiyot.

Speaking of food, the Second Night of Chanukah Giveaway:

• Home-baked (from my vegetarian kitchen) rugelach. 
• (If you are already stuffed full of holiday food, these are freezable.)
  
• I will be baking them Sunday night and will mail (or deliver, if someone local wins) them on Monday, provided the winner emails me an address to which to send them in time.
• To enter, comment and tell me a cooking or baking story (successes and disasters both welcome)
• Winner will be selected by me, either randomly or by some other undecided selection mechanism
  

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Friday Recipe: Knock-You-Nakeds

This is a G-rated post, but the recipe contained within is seductive, delicious, and terrible for you. Luckily, if you make them, everyone will want to eat them, so you can have a taste and not feel bad about it. Because they are truly amazing.

Introduced to me in college, Knock-You-Nakeds might be the best dessert ever. Recently, some college friends found the recipe and emails flew back-and-forth about making them, the best way to eat them (some say fro-yo, though I'm partial to them without additions as well), memories of eating them (it was important to consult the Dining Services calendar so as not to miss them), and so forth.

Knock-You-Nakeds
~Makes 1 large tray

1 box chocolate cake mix
3/4 cup of unsalted butter (melted)
1/3 cup and 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk (1 small can will have some to spare)
1 package caramels (~14 oz)
1 c. chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix cake mix with melted butter and 1/3 c. condensed milk. (It will be thick.)

3. Press half the mixture into a greased 9x13 pan.

4. Bake for 8 minutes at 350 and let cool.

5. While the cake part is baking, unwrap the caramels. Melt the caramels together with the 1/2 c. condensed milk. Stir regularly.

6. Spread caramel mixture over cooled chocolate cake.
7. Sprinkle chocolate chips over caramel mixture.

8. Spread remaining cake mix over the chocolate chips. At this point, the mix may be a little dry, which is handy for sprinkling.

9. Bake at 350 degrees for 18 minutes.

10. Enjoy!!

Notes
*I used Duncan Hines Rich, Fudgy Cake because it was on sale for $1. I'm sure any cake mix will work. If you want to make it from scratch, you'll need to substitute the butter and condensed milk for eggs/oil/liquids.

*The easiest way to press the cake mix into the pan is to drop big spoonfuls and use the spoon to spread out the thick batter.

*A flexible spatula is key for spreading the caramel.

*I think these would be good without the chocolate chips, though they contribute to the intensity.

*Eat in small amounts as they are rich. I think they're great warm out of the oven, cool, or even frozen.

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Friday Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies/Cake

There are a billion recipes for chocolate chip cookies, and here I am to add my own. This is an amalgamation of a couple recipes, and one that I find works well for me...and those who eat the final results. And it's a nice way to use up that flour in the pantry right before Passover.

Chocolate Chip Cookies/Cake
~Makes 2 cakes or a lot of cookies

2 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
2 tbsp. skim milk
2 eggs
~1 package chips (chocolate, white chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, etc)

1. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugars, and vanilla.

3. Add eggs to wet mixture and mix well.

4. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture. Mix well.

5. Add milk -- you may decide to add more or less depending on how dry the batter is.

6. Add chips. Mix well.

7. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

9. If making cakes, split batter between 2 8-10 rounds (springform or cake pans). If making cookies, drop teaspoon sized rounds of batter on a cookie tray.

10. Bake cakes for 20 minutes at 375. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes at 375.

Notes:
*The milk moistens the batter and makes the cookies spread more. You can leave the milk out, and everything will still be good.

*I've adjusted the sugars when I didn't have enough of one, and it's been fine.

*You can add more or less or a combo of chips. The pictured batter has milk chocolate chips and butterscotch chips.

*You can freeze the dough and save it to bake later.

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Friday Recipe: Rugelach

Rugelach are a rolled pastry of Ashkenazic (central/eastern-European) descent. Apparently one can make them with all sorts of fillings, though I'm of the belief that chocolate is the only good way to go. I might make an occasional exception for cinnamon-sugar, maybe.

I happen to think my rugelach (based off a Joan Nathan recipe) are pretty good; I don't, however, claim that they ascend to heights anywhere near that of the rugelach one buys at Marzipan (in Machane Yehudah, Jerusalm). On the plus side, I'm pretty sure the caloric content of mine is minor compared to those. And this recipe only requires 6 ingredients. How easy can you get?


Chocolate Rugelach
Makes 32

2 sticks non-salted butter, softened
8 oz. low-fat cream-cheese
2 c. flour

6 oz. chocolate chips
1 tbsp sugar
cinnamon

1. Cream together butter and cream-cheese.

2. Slowly add flour to the creamy mix. Use hands as necessary to fully integrate the flour.

3. Place dough in refridgerator for at least 1 hour.

4. Make topping: in a food processor, chop chocolate chips into small pieces and add sugar/cinnamon (a couple dashes) to mix.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

6. Remove dough and halve. Take one half and roll into a ball. Then roll out ball of dough into a circle of dough, about 1/16" thick.

7. Sprinkle half the topping over the dough. Using a knife or a pizza cutter, divide circle into 16 parts. Roll each section up, starting at the wide end and rolling toward the center of the circle. If necessary, use water to "seal" the rolled up dough. Place on cookie sheet.

Repeat for second ball of dough.

8. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes, checking once halfway through. If necessary, coat with melted butter to keep the rugelach shiny (I rarely need to do this).

9. Enjoy!

Notes:
*These are dairy, but there are rugelach recipes that are pareve/lactose-free, so go a-searching for them.

*I suppose you could use another topping -- fruit jam, chopped nuts and sugar, cinnamon-sugar, whatever else strikes yor fancy.

*I cover my baking sheets with aluminum foil to contain the mess. This is optional.

*I find it easiest to dip my fingers in water before rolling the rugelach as it helps the dough to stick.

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Always Inspire

It's been a long time since I won a contest or giveaway I've entered. I did win a Washington Metro poster contest in second grade ("Be safe on Metro/Stay off the tracks" made out of cut paper, as part of a school project. My mom still has the framed poster and certificate. And going to the prize ceremony provided me with my first time on the red line, having previously stuck to the orange line that moved my family and I from the suburbs into DC to see the Smithsonian and other things downtown.) But I digress.

I don't think I started entering web/blog-based giveaways until I started this blog. My usual process was see giveaway, dutifully comment, and never hear back. But yesterday that changed. I won the giveaway over at Always Inspire, and chose this lovely scarf as my prize (the bibs and burp cloths use fantastic fabric but that's not exactly my life these days).

Speaking of scarves, I spent a few days at the National Archives a week and a half ago. One morning I was in the audio-film records area* and I overheard two men at the research desk talking about a recent email and phone exchange, noting somewhat derisively that the caller/emailer is "one of those scarf-wearing women, you know how they are." At that moment I walk up to the desk to ask a question, and I happen to be wearing a soft knit blue scarf wrapped around my neck (for warmth, not fashion). The [very nice and helpful to me] man looks up, smiles, and stammers out a "scarves are ok" line. I chuckled internally at the whole situation because I know the academic, scarf-wearing population to whom they were referring, if somewhat stereotypically and unfairly.

Julie from Always Inspire may be helping me transition into one of those academic scarf-wearers, and that's just fine. Thank you, Julie! You can check out her work on her blog and in her etsy shop. She uses bright and fun material, and her wares are very reasonably priced.

Speaking of giveaways, I'm inching closer to post #150 which may call for a giveaway. For the moment I'll leave you with this image -- perhaps inspiring, perhaps mouth-watering.

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Friday Recipe: Molten Fudgy Brownies

What could be more delicious than fudgy brownies with surprise chips -- chocolate, white chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch, or anything else you think of? Maybe the brownie batter, but aside from that, these melt-y, fudgy brownies are the way to go. This recipe slightly modifies one my friend Maya (who blogs over at Lilith) gave me. I bake them in a brownie pan, which is smaller than a 9 x 13 pan, and make the rest into brownie cupcakes.


Fudge Brownies
Makes 1 large pan

Cooking spray
8 oz chopped chocolate (a combination of unsweetened, semisweet, and/or milk chocolate)
3/4 c. butter
4 eggs
1.25 c. white sugar
1.5 tsp. vanilla
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1.5 c. chocolate/peanut butter/butterscotch etc chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and coat pan(s) with cooking spray.

2. Over low heat, melt the butter and chopped chocolate together.

3. In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy (about 4 minutes). Add vanilla and mix well.

4. Add in chocolate mixture and combine.

5. Add flour and salt. Mix well.

6. Stir in chips.

7. Pour into baking dish (either into a 9x13 pan, or a brownie pan + muffin tins, or other variations).

8. Bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes (a little less for muffins). When a toothpick or knife comes out clean (albeit sometimes a little smudgy from melted chips), the brownies are ready.

Notes
*I use a 50/50 mix of semisweet and milk chocolate. Maya uses 6 oz semisweet and 2 oz unsweetened. It's really about the level of sweetness you prefer.

*My favorite combinations are brownies with white chocolate chips and brownies with peanut butter chips.

*These freeze very well. I recommend cutting into small bites and freezing in a tupperware or large ziplock bag.

*If you want them very molten and melty, slightly undercook. If you're making them in muffin tins, cook for about 22-25 minutes to avoid burnt edges.

*You can make these pareve by using margarine instead of butter and making sure all chocolate is pareve. However, I don't endorse margarine-use unless absolutely necessary.

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Crumbly Goodness, or a non-Friday recipe

If you need a post-Inauguration, midweek pick-me-up, I recommend this chocolate-chip coffee cake. I used this easy recipe from Pete Bakes with a couple of modifications. The main difference is that I cut the sugar and cinnamon topping as the version he has left me with lots of extra. Perhaps one could mix it all up and make some cinnamon sugar toast with the leftovers. I also used a smaller brownie pan because the batter was too thick to effectively spread in a 9x13 pan. And maybe I used a little more than 6 oz. of chocolate chips. But that's a decision I'll leave to your best judgment.

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake
Makes a lot (your officemates, housemates, family, etc will be pleased)

1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
6 oz chocolate chips
1 stick butter
2 eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp water
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda


1. In a small bowl, mix 1/4 cup white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, chocolate chips.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter, 1 cup white sugar, and eggs. Add in the sour cream, vanilla, and water. Mix well.

3. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and soda. Pour into the wet ingredients and mix well.

4. Pour half of the batter into a greased and floured 9×13 inch (or brownie) pan. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon, sugar and chocolate chip mixture on the batter. Pour in the rest of the batter and top with the rest of the cinnamon, sugar and chip mix.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for (at least*) 30 minutes. Let cool for at least an hour before cutting into it, or the chocolate chips will be too melty and it will be hard to get out of the pan.

6. Eat. Share. Lick your lips.

*If you use a smaller pan, it will probably need to bake longer since the cake will be deeper. Mine took about 40 minutes, but I recommend checking after 30 minutes with your favorite toothpick/knife. Then keep checking every 3-5 minutes until the toothpick/knife can be inserted and removed cleanly (or with just some chocolate smearing).

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Friday Recipe: Butterscotch/M&M/Topping-Of-Your-Choice Bars

I believe this recipe may have originated in Cooking Light, in which case you can believe that eating dessert is good for you.


Butterscotch/M&M/Topping-Of-Your-Choice Bars
Serves many (9x13 pan)

1 c. sugar
1 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. butter, softened
4 large egg whites
2 tsp. vanilla
2.5 c. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
cooking spray
butterscotch chips/M&Ms/Topping Of Your Choice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Beat sugars and butter until well-blended.
3. Add egg whites and vanilla; beat well.
4. In a separate small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and salt.
5. Add flour mixture to wet mixture; beat until blended.
6. Spread batter in a greased 9x13 pan.
7. Sprinkle topping on the batter.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 27-30 minutes, or until a toothpick tells you the bars are cooked.

Notes:
*This is a versatile basic cookie base. You really can top it with anything, or even mix the topping into the bars. The dough will look, feel, and taste like chocolate-chip cookie dough sans chocolate chips.

*I often dump the dry ingredients straight into the wet ones without the pre-mixing stage. I'm posting the recipe as written, but this modification has yet to harm the deliciousness of the bars.

*This recipe can easily be halved if you don't need as many, or doubled if you need more. The bars freeze well (cut first, and store in a tupperware in the freezer).

*If you replace the butter with margarine and use a non-dairy topping, this can be made as a pareve/lactose-free dessert.

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A Post-Rosh Hashana Shana Tova

I had hoped to get in a shana tova blog entry before Rosh Hashanah started Monday night, but a long drive, baking, and a Monday afternoon presentation conspired against that. But it's still "the holiday season," as they say at, um, other times of the year, so Shana Tova (a good year)!

Since Rosh Hashanah is all about sweetness (apples & honey and all that), my contribution to the first night's awesome dinner with Mark and Marissa was chocolate babka (essentially, a jellyroll of buttery bread and chocolate). I know Mark well enough to know that anything chocolate will be very much appreciated, but Marissa informed me that I hit upon his favorite dessert, so I was extra pleased with myself.

Babka is not a dessert that one should try to make when pressed for time, and yet for some reason I plunged ahead. Last year, when I made my first foray into babka-making, I tried this New York Times recipe, the same one that inspired the plunge in the first place. The New York Times Babka is good, but I found the dough a little dry. This time I surfed the web for another option and hit upon this one from smitten kitchen. Yum. Check out smitten kitchen's pictures, they're amazing. I can offer this photo to tantalize you in the meantime:


I made the delicious loaves seen above with a few modifications to smitten kitchen's recipe:

First, at about 11 pm Sunday night I discovered that I only had 3 eggs so the 5-egg version wouldn't really work. I therefore cut the recipe by 2/3. This demands a little arithmetic, and the math gets harder with eggs. But I cracked two of them, beat them well, and used 2/3 of that mixture plus 1 yolk. I'm not sure that the culinary experts would approve of this sloppy adjustment, but it worked.

Second, I don't own a KitchenAid or any other type of standing mixer (if you would like to purchase one for me, I will happily send you my address). This means that dough hooks and paddle attachments are out, and my hands are in. I started the dough mixture with a whisk, then used my hand-held mixer until it exhausted its capacities, and then employed my very own hands. They work. They integrated the butter into the dough quite well. Then they were very greasy, but that's ok because I have a sink and soap and dish towels that eliminate greasy hands.

Third, I lessened the butter. I used one stick of butter in the dough (rather than the 1.66666 sticks that 2/3 of the recipe would demand). I used 3/4 of a stick in the chocolate mixture rather than a full stick. And it was good.

Fourth, I'm a chocolate purist. Hence, when I made the NYT version, no apricot nonsense was allowed to dilute the chocolatey goodness and, in this version, cinnamon was nowhere to be found (maybe I ran out of cinnamon? hmmm). Also (and this is where the real, card-carrying chocolate purists may kill me), I like milk chocolate, so I used some in the mix and did not add any additional sugar, as milk chocolate is already sweet.

Fifth, I don't think the streusel topping is necessary (and maybe I was running out of time), so I eliminated it. As you can see in the picture, I used some of the chocolate mix on top and that worked out quite well.

Finally, I started the dough Sunday night and let it rise overnight in the fridge before rolling it out to make the actual babka. This too was fine. I say this just as a reminder that one need not complete the recipe in one day. Starting it in the evening and finishing it in the morning works quite well. The only challenge with this method is smelling the amazing babka-baking smell in the middle of the day and being good enough not to dive right it.

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