Posts Tagged ‘Cookies’

In other countries there are the falling leaves that fill the pavements with a wonderful variety of colors, and tell everyone that autumn is here. In Israel there are other signs, the first of them I run into each year, is a sign for me that the summer heat is finally behind us. Sometimes it’s the first rain, that makes me notice that seasons have changed, other times it’s when I wake up in the chilly early morning hours, looking for my blanket. But above all those, there is one thing, that when you see it filling up the stores, you no longer have any doubt about it - that would be the “Krembo” (which means “cream inside”). The Krembo is made of a cookie base, on top of it there is a vanilla flavored egg-whites foam, and all this is coated with a layer of chocolate. There are other variations for the filling besides vanilla, the most popular among them being mocha.

There are quite a few Krembo recipes all over the net and then some more in cookbooks, but none of them tempts me more than this original one. Yes, the store bought ones, wrapped with a thin layer of aluminium foil, the same one that a single taste from it fills your mouth with a tender silky cloud of goodness. Personally I prefer my Krembo vanilla flavored, but here in Israel, debates can go on and on about which is the best flavor - vanilla or mocha.

Somewhere along the way I found out that the Krembo’s filling is made out of unbaked egg-white foam. The disaster! I immediately stopped eating them, and haven’t for a really long time. Luckily I became interested in the pastry world a while back, it was then that I discovered that the egg-whites are being heated before beating them, to a temperature that kills most bacterias that can potentially reside in them. This revelation made me better my ways again, and so Krembo reappeared in my menu occasionally.

So, in honor of the most welcome autumn, here is a Krembo recipe, that is very close to the original one. I made the cookie base out of crashed petit-beurre biscuits, which I mixed with melted butter and with a little orange juice. They turned out yummy, with a delightful orange aroma. For the filling, I followed a recipe published by “Feldman”, a company that produces Krembo, and it turned out exactly like the original one. Finally, I also used Feldman’s recipe for the chocolate coating, although it turned out way too thick, so I diluted it with some oil. It turned out softer than the store bought one, but far better, because of the use of a good quality chocolate.

Some notes and tips about the Krembo:

* I made the base cookies too small, and so they weren’t able to hold the right amount of filling. I made them about 4 cm in diameter, and I recommend making them about 6-8 cm length diameter.

* The best way to fill the cookies is to pipe the filling upon them. It’s quite easy, not to worry. Just hold the piping bag straight above the center of the cookie, and press it until the whole cookie’s base fills up. Then slightly lift up your hand and pipe another layer, and so on, until there is enough filling on the cookie.
Not in a piping mood? Simply take a spoonful of filling and place it on top of the cookie. Then use the spoon to neatly arrange the filling.

* How do we coat the Krembos? By simply dipping them inside the chocolate mixture.

Krembo / Inspired by a recipe by “Feldman” company
For 40 small Krembos or 30 medium ones

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
170 gr petit-beurre biscuits
100 gr butter, melted
2-3 Tbsp orange juice

For the filling:
5 egg-whites
1 cup sugar
1 Tbsp gelatin powder
3 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla extract

For the coating:
300 gr bittersweet chocolate
100 gr butter
Vegetable oil, for diluting the mixture

Directions:
1. Prepare the cookies: Preheat the oven to 350F (180C).
2. Crash the biscuits in a food processor. Add the melted butter and mix until crumbly and moist. Add in 2 Tbsp of orange juice and mix until homogenized. Then check if the dough is now firm enough in order to take a small bit and make a sphere out of it that will hold its shape. If not, add another Tbsp of juice, otherwise skip it.
3. Roll out the dough, and cut cookies from it, using a cup or a round cookie cutter.
4. Place the cookies on a pan lined with baking sheet, and bake for about 12 minutes, or until golden.
5. Meanwhile prepare the filling: In a double boiler heat together egg-whites and sugar while stirring, until most of the sugar melts (60C temperature, if you have a sugar thermometer). Remove from heat.
6. Place the gelatin in a small bowl, along with the water. Let stand for 15 minutes. Place the bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds, and then stir the mixture. Beat the egg whites mixture and add the gelatin and vanilla extract to it. Keep beating the whites until the mixture cools down and the foam is stable and stiff (stiff peaks).
7. Pipe the filling on top of each cookie (see tips). Freeze the uncoated Krembos until you finish preparing the coating.
8. Prepare the coating: Melt together the chocolate and the butter. If you’re doing it in the microwave, make sure to do it in 30 seconds intervals, in order to not burn the chocolate. Let the mixture cool for 15 minutes. Now is the time to dilute the mixture, by adding in some oil. Add in the vegetable oil, tablespoon by tablespoon, until the coating is thin enough to allow us to dip the semi-frozen Krembos in it. Dip each Krembo in the coating, and place to dry on a baking sheet. Keep them in the refrigerator, and take them out a few minutes before serving.

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

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.