Archive for the ‘Cookies’ Category

As I’ve told you before, last Purim I’ve played the cookie game, on an Israeli food forum I’m a member of. There are many talented members on that forum, but one  of the most talented among them is Sivan, the girl who sent me the cookies on that game. The cookies were so great, that they barely lasted a week, and we’re talking lots of cookies here.

One of the cookies we loved most in that package were these alfajores, maybe the best I’ve ever eaten. Avi says I’m declaring that too often about food, but in this case, he definitely agreed with me.

For a few months now, a good friend I work with, told me about her cookie fobia. “No cookies I ever make turn out well”, she used to tell me. So a few weeks ago I invited her over for a cookie baking evening, to get rid of her fobia. And we made these awesome alfajores! The recipe was very accurate, as all Sivan’s recipes, and it allowed us to reach the same great cookies as the ones she sent me.

Do you also have a cookie or other pastry fobia? First of all, try these cookies. They are real easy to make and to get great results with. And second, remember that many times the reason of a failed dish is a not accurate enough recipe, or one that is lacking important information, and there’s also the reason of not following the recipe closely enough. The pastry world, as you probably know, requires a great deal of accuracy. So go ahead, give your fobia subject one more try, this time with a recipe from a reliable source, and try to follow it exactly as it’s written.

Some notes and tips about these cookies:

* This recipe calls for a mixer. Don’t have one? No worries, you can also do it manually. Use cold butter instead of softened one, and cut it into cubes. Place all the ingredients except the egg yolks and vanilla extract in a bowl, and crumble the mixture by rubbing it in your palms. The final mixture should be crumbly, and resemble to couscous crumbles, only a bit bigger. Then add in the yolks and the vanilla extract, and knead it only until a uniform dough is created.

* The secret of a good short crust is processing it as little as you can since the flour comes in contact with liquids, so make sure you pay attention to it.

* Not that much into dulce de leche? You can fill these cookies also with Nutella or with a chocolate spread or halva spread, and even with dates spread.

* If the spread you chose is too firm to work with, warm it for several seconds in the microwave.

Alfajores / Sivan
For about 25 alfajores

Ingredients:
150 gr butter, soft
100 gr powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
150 gr cornstarch
150 gr flour
5 gr baking powder
4 egg yolks

For filling and rolling:
A jar of dulce de leche
Coconut flakes

Directions:
1. Cream butter and powdered sugar in the mixer (no mixer? see tips), add in the yolks one be one and then the vanilla extract.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the cornstarch, flour and baing powder, and add them into the butter mixture. Process only until a dough is formed, and not longer than that. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
4. Roll the dough 0.5 cm thick, and cut cookies out of it using a glass or cookie cutters.
5. Bake for about 10 mins, or until the cookies just begin to change their color, but are still relatively light.
6. Pipe (or use teaspoonfulls) dulce de leche on top of one cookie, close it with a “clean” cookie and squeeze a bit, for the filling to show a little, so that it will easily stick to the coconut. Roll the cookies in coconut flakes.

How do you choose the recipe of the dish you mean to prepare?
For me it can be in one of three ways - either I see a wonderful dish on a food blog or forum, and I can’t help myself and make it immediately (immediately can take even 2 months..), or there’s such a buzz around a recipe on food blogs, that I add it to my to-do list straight away. And finally there’s me wanting to make a specific dish, and then I go looking for it on all the food blogs I trust. And what do all these 3 described ways have in common? Yes, you’re right - the reliable source! After all, no one, love to cook as they may, would like to face a situation where they went through all the trouble choosing a recipe, buy the ingredients, make it and then.. the disappointment.

Yossi, a good friend of mine, and a blogger himself, wrote a post in which he gave the readers some tips about how to save some money in the upcoming Holidays season (those of you who read Hebrew can read it here). My favorite tip was giving home made presents to your loved ones. Several people I know create their own presents to give away, and I really love this concept of more personal gifts.

Yossi’s idea was to give a cookie jar filled with home made cookies as a Holiday present to your loved ones. Now that’s my kind of present! Your friends are gonna receive a useful present - the cookie jar, and they also get a taste of home - your home! How cool is that? So of course I took the challenge of giving you ideas to fill your cookie jars with some delicious sweets. The first one is a classic recipe for Rosh HaShana - honey cookies. Avi and myself love them so much that we couldn’t resist waiting, and sneaked one of them to our mouth right as they came out of the oven. And how great these cookies are! With a slightly firm outside and a wonderfully chewy inside - their deep and spiced taste is simply wonderful.
Before making them, I was determined to also succeed in making the tasty icing of the original cookies, so I tried several versions for the icing - some of the cookies I rolled in powdered sugar before baking, some of them after baking. On top of some of the cookies I’ve spread some beaten egg-white, but the one that was the real deal was a topping very similar to a donuts topping, only a bit more liquid.

If honey isn’t your cup of tea, I have another recipe for you - these are the favorite cookies in our house. The classic honey is replaced with maple, so you can’t say that they’re completely unrelated to Rosh HaShana, and then there are the pecan nuts, that add that great crunchiness. You can find their recipe here.

Whichever present you decide to give your family and friends, I wish you all a very happy new year!

Some notes and tips about these honey cookies:

* Having hard time measuring honey cause it’s sticking to the measuring cup? Sprinkle a little vegetable oil into the cup and spread it evenly. Now place the honey in the measuring cup and watch it give in, and transfer it smoothly to its destination.

* Make sure to leave 4-5 cm space between the cookies when you arrange them on the baking sheet, as they almost double their size while baking.

* As I told you a few lines earlier, I’ve made a few versions of the icing for these cookies.  The best one, that tastes just like the original, is made with powdered sugar and milk. The good news about this icing is that you can fix it at any given time - is it too thick? Add a little more milk to the mixture. Too liquid? Add some more powdered sugar. I suggest beginning with 100 gr powdered sugar and 2.5 Tbsps of milk, and fix it according to taste.

Honey Cookies / Adapted from the shef at Lilith, an Israeli restaurant
For about 50 medium sized cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
5 gr baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger

For the icing:
100 gr powdered sugar
about 3 Tbsp milk (see tips)

Directions:
1. Place the honey in a sauce pan and warm it until the honey becomes liquid.
2. Add in, while stirring, oil, sugar and spices.
3. Add in the baking soda, while stirring. The batter will become a lot lighter in color, and the oil will seem to separate from the rest of the ingredients. Don’t worry, it’s ok, keep going. Cool the batter for about 20 mins.
4. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, and add them to the batter.
5. Gently fold the flour and baking powder into the batter, using a wooden spoon, until the batter is uniform.
6. Chill the batter in the refrigerator for an hour.
7. 20 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
8. Shape small balls out of the batter, and place them in the oven pan, lined with a baking sheet. Leave a 4-5 cm space between each 2 cookies.
9. Bake for 15 minutes, or until they raise nicely and get a nice shine. Keep a close eye on them cause their perfect texture is lost when overbaked.
10. Let the cookies cool for a while. Meanwhile prepare the icing by mixing the ingredients in a bowl.
11. Dip each cookie in the icing, and place back on the baking sheet, allow the icing to dry.
12. Place in a beautiful cookie jar, decorate it nicely and give away to your loved ones.

There are times when you see a food photo on one of your favorite blogs, and you know you’re not just tagging it on your Delicious list. This one is gonna be made! So was the story of these cookies, when I first saw them at Joy The Baker’s blog - I was in love! But then again, there hardly is anything on this talented gal’s plate that doesn’t make me instantly want to jump right into my apron and make it. Other than that her writing is so great, and there’s no post of hers that I’ll miss, she always succeeds in putting a smile on my face. So if there’s a chance that you’re still not familiar with her blog, go ahead, what are you waiting for?

It’s funny that when people first find out that I love baking so much, they’d always ask me what do I make. Then I try to think really hard about all the more complicated desserts I’m making, hoping to impress them . But the thing is, that when it comes to actually eating the products - I’ve come to understand that people will (almost) always prefer the simplest things. A friend of mine once asked me to make him some cookies, I offered him a variety of cookies, and he finally chose these ones.

These cookies are great, and everything I expected them to be. I’m really into chewy cookies, so those of you who share this chewy love, will also adore them. I’ve used white chocolate chips (actually I took a white chocolate bar and chopped it). If you do the same - beware, cause white chocolate tends to burn easily - so when you roll the batter into balls, make sure that the white chocolate is tucked well into the batter.

I’ll leave you with the most exciting news for me this week:
1. Avi started his own English photography blog! Now that’s so exciting! In my eyes, and in those of everyone who has ever seen a photo of his, he’s such a gifted photographer! Go ahead, visit him.
2. Shahar Tzuberi, the Israeli windsurfer, has won a bronze medal on the Beijing Olimpic Games. More than the medal made me happy, I was impressed with how he managed to keep his cool, eventhough he knew that he was Israel’s last hope for an Olimpic medal in Beijing.
3. Maya, a very talented Israeli food blogger, has started writing a food column in one of the leading Israeli news-papers! Congratulations, Maya, I loved the 2 columns you’ve written by now, and it’s great to read you now in 2 places!

Chocolate Brownie Cookies / Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour’s recipe
For 35 medium sized cookies

Ingredients:
225 gr bittersweet chocolate (chopped or in chips)
40 gr butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 flat tsp espresso powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
100 gr white-chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:
1. In a double boiler, or in the microwave, gently melt together the chocolate and butter. To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat. Stir till all the chocolate melts.
2. In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they’re thoroughly combined. You don’t need a mixer, just do it in a medium sized bowl with a wooden spoon. Add the hot melted chocolate, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, if you’re using them. Refrigerate the batter for 1 hour, to make it easier to handle. 
3. Preheat the oven to 325F (160C). Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.
4. Drop the cookie dough by the tablespoonfuls (about the size of a small ping pong ball) onto the prepared baking sheets. A tablespoon cookie scoop makes this task extremely simple. Leave about 5 cm between the dough balls, as they’ll spread as they bake.
5. Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked.  They won’t crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they’re cracked all the way across the top surface, they’re done.  The point is, you want these baked all the way through, but just barely; additional baking makes them more crisp rather than chewy. Remove the cookies from the oven, and top each with a kiss-shaped chocolate, a bittersweet chocolate wafer, or a chocolate covered sunflower seed.  Wait 5 minutes then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

עוגיות שוקולד פאדג’יות / עיבוד קל למתכון של King Arthur Flour
עבור 35 עוגיות בגודל בינוני

רכיבים:
225 גרם שוקולד מריר, קצוץ גס
40 גרם חמאה
1 כוס סוכר
3 ביצים מס’ 1
1 כפית שטוחה אבקת אספרסו (אפשר גם אבקת נס קפה)
1 כפית תמצית וניל
1 כוס קמח
1/4 כפית אבקת אפיה
1/4 כפית מלח
100 גרם שוקולד לבן, קצוץ גס

הכנה:
1. מעל ביין מארי (סיר מעל סיר, כאשר בסיר התחתון יש שכבה דקה של מים רותחים) או במיקרו, ממיסים יחדיו חמאה ושוקולד. כדי להימנע משריפת השוקולד, הדרך העדיפה היא לחמם עד שהחמאה נמסה לחלוטין אבל השוקולד עדיין לא, להוריד ממקור החום ולערבב היטב עד שהשוקולד נמס. כאשר ממיסים במיקרו, עושים זאת באינטרוולים של 25 שניות, ומערבבים בין פעם לפעם הבאה.
2. בקערה נפרדת, מערבבים היטב סוכר וביצים עד לתערובת אחידה. אין צורך במיקסר, כף עץ או מטרפה יעשו מצוין את העבודה. מוסיפים את השוקולד המומס החם, ולאחר מכן מוסיפים את שארית הרכיבים, כולל שברי השוקולד הלבן, אם החלטתם להשתמש בהם. מקררים את התערובת למשך שעה, על מנת שיהיה קל יותר לעבוד איתה.
3. מחממים תנור ל - 160 מעלות. משמנים (או שמים נייר אפיה על) 2 תבניות התנור.
4. יוצרים את העוגיות באמצעות שתי כפיות, שמים כמות של כפית גדושה בכל פעם, מה שייצור תלוליות בגודל כדור פינג-פונג קטן. מקפידים להשאיר רווח של כ-5 ס”מ בין עוגיה לעוגיה, היות שהעוגיות נוטות להתפשט במהלך האפיה.
5. אופים במשך 11-12 דקות, או עד שהן מבריקות והשכבה העליונה שלהן “שבורה” כולה. יש לשים לב טוב לעוגיות לקראת סוף זמן אפייתן, היות שזמן אפיה ארוך מדי יהפוך אותן לקריספיות, וזה לא מה שאנחנו מחפשים כאן. מוציאים את העוגיות מהתנור, אפשר לקשט מעל בשברי שוקולד קטנים, עדשים צבעוניים, שברי וופלים עם שוקולד ועוד.. מחכים 5 דקות ומעבירים את העוגיות לצינון על רשת

 
A wonderful cook-book stand Avi bought me on his last trip
to the US, really useful for not messing the book up while cooking

This post is dedicated to my Mother, who is a huge fan of berries, in all shapes and colors. I have clear memories of us taking mountain hikes in Romania and looking for fresh berries. You have never seen true happiness until you saw my Mom’s look on her face when we found some! So she doesn’t know it yet (well, now she probably does ) but I’ve saved her the biggest portion of this sweetalicious berry treat!

Israel is not a country rich with berries, that’s true. Their season here is very short and during it they’re very expensive. But I can never take my eyes off of them when I see them. I’m not a very big fan of their taste, though. They’re OK, but I won’t normally crave for them. Except strawberries, that is. Strawberries succeed at sweeping me off my feet everytime I see them, I simply cannot resist them - always have to buy some.

Since the strawberry season is long gone, and the sight of all the fresh berries at the market was too tempting to resist, I chose to make a blueberry dessert. Avi suggested blueberry brioche, but since I’ve never even made simple brioche before, I chose to do that first. So I chose financiers, who, together with madeleines, are the most tempting small cakes in my book. Such a summery and refreshing treat!

This is also my entry to July’s SHF #45, hosted by the very talented Susan from Food Blogga. Wanna participate too? Hurry up, only 3 days left to post! You can find all the details here.

And I’ll leave you with my most exciting news of this week. We bought a new Nikon D300 camera, and I finally got my first macro lens (Sigma 70 mm)! I’m so excited that I must’ve made like 200 shots for this post. Maybe more :)

Blueberry and Lemon Financiers / Slightly adapted from “101 Cakes and Bakes” by BBC Books
For 6 big financier, or 12 smaller ones

Ingredients:
100 gr butter, unsalted
125 gr icing sugar, plus extra for dusting
25 gr all-purpose flour
85 gr ground almonds
3 egg whites
grated zest of 1 lemon
100 gr blueberries

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 392F (200C). Butter the financier or muffin tins. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
2. Sift the icing sugar and the flour into a bowl. Add the almonds and mix well. Whisk the egg whites in another bowl until they form a light, floppy foam. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add in the egg whites and lemon zest, then lightly stir in the butter, to form a soft batter.
3. Divide the batter among the tins. Sprinkle a handful of blueberries over each cake and bake for 15-20 minutes, until just firm to the touch and golden brown. To serve, dust lightly with icing sugar.

פיננסייר אוכמניות ולימון / עיבוד קל למתכון מתוך הספר “101 עוגות ומאפים” בהוצאת ה - BBC
עבור 6 פיננסיירים גדולים או 12 קטנים יותר

רכיבים:
100 גרם חמאה, לא מלוחה
125 גרם אבקת סוכר
25 גרם קמח
85 גרם שקדים טחונים
3 חלבונים
גרידה מלימון אחד
100 גרם אוכמניות

הכנה:
1. מחממים תנור ל - 200 מעלות. משמנים תבנית פיננסייר או תבנית מאפינס. ממיסים חמאה ומניחים אותה בצד להצטנן.
2. מנפים אבקת סוכר וקמח לקערה, ומוסיפים את השקדים. מערבבים היטב. מקציפים את החלבונים בקערה נפרדת עד ליצירת קצף רך וגמיש. יוצרים גומה במרכז החומרים היבשים, מוסיפים את קצף החלבונים ואת גרידת הלימון. מערבבים ולבסוף מוסיפים את החמאה המומסת, ומערבבים קלות ליצירת תערובת רכה.
3. מחלקים את התערובת בין השקעים בתבנית. מניחים חופן אוכמניות מעל כל אחת מהעוגות. אופים 15-20 דקות, עד שהעוגות יציבות למגע וצבען זהוב. להגשה - מאבקים במעט אבקת סוכר.

Ok, I know, I’m so late with this post for Shavuot! It’s been 3 weeks since my favorite holiday has passed, and I haven’t got the chance to blog about the little cuties I’ve made.

This Shavuot went by without a decent dairy celebration, a thing I like so much. My mom was abroad, and we had a not so dairy dinner with Avi’s family. We’ve been invited by my friend, Hadas, who is a great cook by the way, for a Shavuot brunch at her and her husband’s place, but unfortunately we weren’t able to make it.

With all that being said, I couldn’t let this wonderful holiday go by without even mentioning it with a little something I made. Yet another problem here - there’s no oven in our current apartment (at the end of this week this will be solved by the way, we’re moving to our new apartment! Yay!!), and also I still don’t have my mixer back. So it got to me finally, that about the only thing I COULD do is some truffles, well not exactly the old fashioned truffles, made from chocolate ganache, but truffles adapted for Shavuot - containing ricotta cheese and chocolate. You can call them chocolate-cheese spheres if you like.

Those of you who like the taste blend of chocolate and cheese will love these little spheres of goodness. Those of you who don’t - there’s a good chance you’ll love them too :). The cheese’s taste is quite mild, and won’t overwhelm you there, what you’ll feel mostly is the chocolate, with a hint of refreshment - that’s where the cheese kicks in. So easy to make, and they so helped me ease the urge of mentioning the holiday in making something sweet and dairy.

The recipe calls for petit beurre biscuits, if you can’t find them where you live, you can easily substitute them with Graham Crackers or something similar.

Cheese and Chocolate Spheres / Self Recipe
For about 50 spheres of the size seen in the photos

Ingredients:
250 gr Petit Beurre biscuits (or Graham Crackers), coarsely crashed
250 gr Ricotta cheese, at room temperature
100 gr biterweet chocolate, melted
4-5 Tbsp milk
4 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 Tbsp chocolate liqueur (or any other)

For Topping:
Coconut shreds / Powdered sugar / Cocoa powder

Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients together into a uniform mixture.
2. Form spheres of the preferred size.
3. Roll them into a bowl containing your chosen topping.
4. Let cool in the fridge for 4 hours.

כדורי גבינה ושוקולד / מתכון עצמי
עבור כ - 50 כדורים בגודל הנראה בצילומים

רכיבים:
250 גרם ביסקויטים, מרוסקים גס
250 גרם גבינת ריקוטה או טוב-טעם, בטמפ’ החדר
100 גרם שוקולד מריר, מומס
4-5 כפות חלב
4 כפות אבקת סוכר
1 כף ליקר שוקולד (או כל ליקר אחר)

לציפוי:
שבבי קוקוס / אבקת סוכר / אבקת קקאו

הכנה:
1. מערבבים יחדיו את כל הרכיבים.
2. יוצרים כדורים בגודל הרצוי.
3. מגלגלים בשבבי קוקוס / אבקת סוכר / אבקת קקאו.
4. מקררים למשך 4 שעות.