Turning Three?

Sunday was a big day for Upsherins in the Jewish world so below are some images for such a Lag BaOmer event...

Can you guess what they are??

Still no clue?

We tied on our own tassels...

Tzitzit!

Still no clue what they are?? If you're curious and ready to read... follow all of the links above for the full explanation. Happy learning. Thanks :D

Gluten Free Passover Carrot Cake Muffins

Alright now I know there is a stigma around passover food in general but I think its because of all of the Matzah meal floating around that makes things takes like, well... CARDBOARD... And I don't know about the rest of you Ashkenazi folk out there but 4 days in and I'm DONE! This recipes uses none of that, and I find that the substitute of almond flour in any of your recipes will work just the same! I even made my usual banana bread subbing out the flour for almond meal... try it! You wont regret it!

Other amazing passover treats include:
Passover Caramel Crunch Candy
Passover S'mores

Gluten Free Passover Carrot Cake Muffins
Makes about 1 Dozen

Ingredients/
1.5 cups almond flour
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
3 eggs
¼ cup honey
3 tablespoons applesauce
1.5 cups grated carrots
1 cup raisins
1 cup walnuts (optional but delicious)

Directions/
Preheat your oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, mix together eggs, honey and applesauce. Stir carrots, raisins and walnuts into wet ingredients. Stir wet ingredients into dry. Pour batter into any sized muffin pans. Bake at 325°F for 15-20 minutes. Cool to room temperature and if you are feeling adventurous spread with cream frosting and make some cute marzipan carrots... How could you go wrong??

Healthy Lemon Poppy Seed Hamentaschen (gluten free variation)

Ok so traditionally I know they are supposed to be FILLED with poppy seeds, but why not get crazy and add some lemon curd into the mix!? My friend Yael (not to be mistaken with Yael from Israel- the star of the previous post on CAKE-KEBAB)... But Yael, my nurse friend in NYC who is just such a delight to spend my mornings with, came over to assist me in some pre-Purim traditions... In addition to the usual suspects of apricot, raspberry and chocolate filled hamantaschen, we decided to make a poppy seed dough and fill them with a zesty lemon curd to create the most divine treat you have ever had... well, that is of course in lemon is your thing. (I know my dad is probably drooling on his keyboard right about now! ENJOY!

SEE RECIPE BELOW - Click here for Lemon Curd recipe

And for all of you readers who have NO IDEA what a Hama-wha is... click here

Healthy Lemon Poppy Seed Hamentaschen
Dietary Considerations/ Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Nut Free, Whole Wheat, Low Fat

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients
2 cups whole wheat flour (substitute Bob's Mill Gluten free flour mix for gluten free Hamantaschen)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup earth balance
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons packed finely grated fresh orange or lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
2/3 cup lemon curd filling (click here for a lemon curd recipe)
1/4 cup poppy seeds (or more to your liking)

Directions/
Into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl with an electric mixer beat earth balance, sugar, and egg at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add zest and juice and beat until incorporated. Add flour mixture, stirring, until a smooth dough is formed. Add poppy seeds. Gather dough into a ball and flatten into a disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 3 hours and up to 2 days.

Preheat oven to 375° F. Halve dough. On a lightly floured surface roll out half of dough (keeping other half wrapped and chilled) 1/4 inch thick. With a 3-inch cutter cut out as many rounds as possible. Transfer rounds with a metal spatula to a large baking sheet, arranging about 1/2 inch apart. Re-roll scraps and cut out more rounds. Put 1 teaspoon filling in center of each round and fold up edges to form triangular cookies resembling a tricornered hat, pinching corners together and leaving filling exposed. (Pinch dough tightly enough so seams are no longer visible and sides are taut enough to prevent cookies from leaking filling as they bake.)

Bake hamantaschen in middle of oven 20 minutes, or until pale golden. Cool hamantaschen on baking sheet 5 minutes and transfer to racks to cool completely. Make more hamantaschen with remaining dough and filling in same manner. Hamantaschen keep in an airtight container at room temperature 5 days. ENJOY!

LOVE BITES!

So of course if any of you readers out there know me just about everything I make has a comedic dental undertone... clever or nerdy?? This year for Valentine's day I opted for how I really feel... LOVE BITES (and/or) BITE ME... oh and of course tooth cookies!! Click here for our other Valentine's specials!

Forget Love... I'd Rather Fall in Chocolate!

Ahh yes it's that time a year again! Around this time 2 years ago I had a 5000 heart shaped cookie order - to which my angry friends that I put to work can attest to! I think Jonny is still having royal icing nightmares! Needless to say last Valentine's Day I got outta dodge and headed for the farthest place I could think... Thailand! But this year we are back in full force ready to make your heart shaped cookie dreams come true! Below are a select few of our menu items this season of love... or click here to see our full menu. Happy Valentine's day to all!

An Appearance on the Rachel Ray Show!

So I get a phone call in July for a custom holiday cookie order... huh? I calmly tried to explain that the cookies would not last until December... but they wanted them anyway! Toward the end of the conversation the cat gets let out the bag and I find out one of the Real Housewives of Beverley Hills was to appear on a pre-aired holiday special with Rachel Ray and she wanted to bring her my cookies! Now I'm no RHW fan but apparently Kyle Richards is Jewish and wanted to bring both Chanukah and X-Mas cookies in honor of the multi-cultural holiday! Regardless I had a blast making holiday cookies well before the rush- good luck finding ANY holiday cutter in July! So the show aired on December 23rd but because I was away in Montreal I missed it!! and CANNOT find a video of it anywhere! well I'll keep looking but in the meantime below are some photos for a sneak preview! You can even see the bag of cookies on the table in front of them!!

Holiday Cookies + Royal Icing

Below are some images of some last minute orders for holiday cookies. The HOHO's are vegan whole wheat sugar cookies with cut out fondant toppers and the snowflakes are straight up butter cookies with royal icing. In my travels I have found several royal icing recipes but this one was by far the best! See below for the recipe too! hope you all had a very delightful holiday season... now on to VALENTINES DAY!! Any requests?

Royal Icing Recipe/
4 cups (440 grams) confectioners' (powdered or icing)sugar
3tablespoons(30 grams) meringue powder
1/2 teaspoon extract (vanilla, lemon, almond)
1/2 - 3/4 cup (120 - 180 ml) warm water
Food Coloring (I found that AmeriColor found here works best! ps Bake it Pretty has the best EVERYTHING)

Beat all ingredients in a stand mixer found about 6-8 minutes or until matte and fluffy. Add more water to thin out depending on your usage.

My Gluten Free HUHU's are Famous!

I should start off by thanking everyone at Bon Appétit! Thank you so much for this! So exciting! Now I should explain the name of the cookie... One of my girlfriends last name is "HU"rwitz and she is gluten free. when I came up with the recipe she absolutely loved the cookie so I couldn't help but name it after her! I introduce to you the HUHU!! These cookies happen to be delicious and you would never know that they were gluten free! Thanks again! :D See pictures below.

Click here to buy (on sale until after the holidays + free shipping!)

Extract or Vodka?

So I wanted to make Vanilla extract and after weeks of research I discovered that its made with vodka! (Thanks twig and thistle). who knew?! Apparently you soak vanilla beans in vodka for several months and poof... EXTRACT! orrrrrr vanilla vodka perhaps... So I paired some homemade extract with a recipe for either a vanilla martini using the vodka, or malted vanilla bean cookies using the extract... naughty or nice... YOU CHOOSE! :D Recipe for the extract and cookies below.

 

Vanilla Extract
Ingredients/ recipe can be multiplied easily to make for fun gift giving!
3 vanilla beans
1 cup vodka
glass jar with tight fitting lid

Directions/
1 Using a paring knife cut lengthwise down each vanilla bean, splitting them in half, leaving an inch at the end connected.
2 Put vanilla beans in a glass jar or bottle with a tight fitting lid (mason jars work well). Cover completely with the vodka.
3 Give the bottle a good shake every once in a while. Store in a dark, cool place for 2 months or longer.
Lasts for years. You can keep topping it off with vodka once in a while as you use it, just remember to give it a good shake.



Malted Vanilla Bean Cookies
Makes about 6 dozen

Ingredients/
2 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup plain malted-milk powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions/
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, malted-milk powder, baking powder, and salt.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and cream cheese until creamy. Mix in sugar. Add egg and vanilla extract, and combine. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture and mix to combine. Transfer dough to a pastry bag fitted with a large star tip (such as Ateco #825). Pipe 2 1/2-inch strips onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Bake until bottom edges are golden brown, 11 to 15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 1 week.