Passover Sponge Cake

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

For the record, I am fully aware that Passover is long over. But I took some perfectly good pictures and this Passover sponge cake deserves its time to shine.

Sponge cake is usually the center piece dessert of our family Passover feasts. Gram was the queen of sponge cake, so she was always the the supplier of this airy treat as well as the the bowl of sugar-drenched strawberries and whipped cream that topped it all off.

Because I am inexplicably determined to uncover family recipes and food pearls, I naturally had an interest in recreating her sponge cake magic for this year's Seder.

Yellowed and coffee-stained notes were tucked gently between the pages of her cookbooks, but most of her scribbles were simply lists of ingredients with no instructions.

It seems as if Gram's sponge cake was a work in progress year after year. And I can understand because
my cake came out of the oven tasting like hers, but it didn't rise much or reach it's fully desired height.  I am thinking maybe the eggs I used were too cold. Perhaps, room temperature eggs next year?

It won't be long until tiny scraps of paper start getting tucked in to my cookbooks. Some recipes are just a continual work in progress. Next year, if my family gives me another opportunity, I swear I am going to get it right!

Tell me, which recipes are you still working to perfect?

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Gram's Passover Sponge Cake

Ingredients:
9 eggs (room temp)
1 1/2 cups of sugar
3 teaspoon of vanilla
1/4 cup potato starch
3/4 cup cake meal
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Separate the egg whites and yolks in to two separate bowls.

First, gradually beat sugar into the egg white bowl until egg whites are light colored and thick (almost stiff, but not quite).

Next, sift the potato starch and cake meal together into the bowl of egg yolks.

Fold the egg whites and sugar into the egg yolks/dry ingredient bowl and gently fold together.

Pour the batter into an angel food cake pan (do not grease the pan!). Bake until the cake is golden brown and springs back when touched in the center, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, 50 to 60 minutes.

Immediately invert the pan onto its feet or the neck of a bottle and let cool completely. Run a thin-bladed knife around the outer sides of the pan and around the inside of the tube to loosen the cake. Invert the pan onto a cake plate and lift off the pan. Dust with powdered sugar. Serve with strawberries and whipped cream.

Hamantashen

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

When I was younger, my favorite Jewish holiday was not Hanukkah. It was Purim.

Purim is a festival that commemorates the liberation of the Jewish people living throughout the ancient Persian Empire (stolen from Google definition search results – uh huh!).

Traditionally, kids dress up as one of the biblical figures in the Purim story and go to synagogue in their costumes. Queen Esther, King Ahasuerus, Mordechai, and Haman are the usual characters that frequent the temple.

I remember I would dress up as Queen Esther or Queen Vashti. Mom would put bright red lipstick on me and I would get to wear gauds of costume jewelry. I assume any six-year-old girl would find such an occasion exciting. I can still picture the gold coined necklace, iridescent beads, and the large clip-on earrings that hung like weights from my little ears.

Aside from the jewels and makeup, there are always baked treats that certainly make Purim festivities complete. Hamantashen (המן־טאַש; HOM-EN-TASH-EN).

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Hamantaschen are three-cornered cookies filled with jam or poppy seed paste. Their shape is sculpted after the three-cornered hat claimed to be worn by the holiday’s villain, Haman.

I don’t celebrate or dress up anymore, but I stumbled on a hamentashen recipe at Smitten Kitchen, and realized Purim is on March 19th this year. I had to revisit these treats. They bring back so many memories of being a little kid, and who doesn’t want to be a little kid again? (Remember? Little kid status = frequent nap times + shameless sugar consumption + no bills. Um, yes please!).

I have not made hamantashen since my Sunday school days, when they’d take us on a ‘field-trip’ to the synagogue’s kitchen (note: 15 feet away from our classroom) and let us shape our cookies with the dough that had been labored on by some kind Jewish mother. 

Fast forward almost fifteen years later, and my hamentashen took a lot more effort! Exhibit A is below:

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Unfortunately, my hamentashen exploded like jam bombs in the oven. Apricot, raspberry, and blueberry puddles decorated my cookie tray. The outcome? A colorful mess and deliciously, disfigured cookie pancakes. They don’t come close to resembling Haman’s hat.

Anyway, baking blunders aside, these are fun little cookies. They just might entice me to get my butt to synagogue this year to see all the giggles, costumes and jewels. Why I ever gave up my favorite holiday baffles me.

But…I’m definitely going to have to make a second attempt in the kitchen.

Hamantashen

From Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

3 tablespoons sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1 1/3 cups plus 4 teaspoons flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Various jams – I used raspberry, blueberry, and apricot.

Directions:

Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar and mix for one minute longer, then egg, vanilla extract, orange zest and salt, mixing until combined. Finally, add the flour. The mixture should come together and be a tad sticky. If it feels too wet, add an additional tablespoon of flour.

Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

To form the hamantashen, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter (3 inches is traditional, but very large; I used one that was 2 1/2 inches), cut the dough into circles. Spoon a teaspoon of you filling of choice in the center. Fold the dough in from three sides and firmly crimp the corners and give them a little twist to ensure they stay closed. Leave the filling mostly open in the center. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Cool on racks.

Yields about 22 2-inch cookies.

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Challah

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

I think it is safe to say that challah (Hebrew: חלה) is at the core of traditional Jewish foods. The fresh baked, beautifully braided, egg-based bread can be found on the Shabbat dinner table. It can also be found as part of special Jewish holiday meals.

As far as I know, there is no recipe in my family for challah. We usually only have challah together as a large family on special occasions. Aunt Julie, however, makes Shabbat dinner every weekend and is known to be the bakery guru who’s always on the lookout for local bakeries with fresh, authentic challah for her weekly dinner. She is indefinitely tasked with bringing the challah to our larger dinner celebrations.

But the question that comes immediately to my mind is: why do we not make our own challah? The last memory I have of making this treat is back in Sunday school, when the dough was already prepared and all I had to do was braid. Needless to say, I decided to experiment and construct my own challah this past weekend. Why not?

The inspiration and recipe came from Smitten Kitchen. The recipe required me to face last week’s obstacle of yeast malfunction. And guess what? I hit a home run. I activated just one packet of yeast within my first attempt.

Rolling out the egg dough into twelve-inch ropes and artfully braiding them together into six strand and three strand challah loaves showed me that challah creation is actually very relaxing. Plus, the smell of fresh baked bread from the oven on a rainy Friday night was so cozy – just what I needed.

On Saturday morning, I drove over to Aunt Julie’s and delivered my six-stranded braid of challah. There was no need to hunt down a bakery this weekend! Perhaps there is no need next weekend either.


Best Challah (Egg Bread)
Adapted from Joan Nathan by Smitten Kitchen


The secrets to good challah are simple: Use two coats of egg wash to get that laquer-like crust and don’t overbake it. Joan Nathan, who this recipe is adapted from, adds that three risings always makes for the tastiest loaves, even better if one of them is slowed down in the fridge.


Time: about 1 hour, plus 2 1/2 hours rising
Yield: 2 loaves


INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 packages active dry yeast (1 1/2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the bowl
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon salt
8 to 8 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup raisins per challah, if using, plumped in hot water and drained
Poppy or sesame seeds for sprinkling.


INSTRUCTIONS:
1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1 3/4 cups lukewarm water.


2. Whisk oil into yeast, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, with remaining sugar and salt. Gradually add flour. When dough holds together, it is ready for kneading. (You can also use a mixer with a dough hook for both mixing and kneading, but be careful if using a standard size KitchenAid–it’s a bit much for it, though it can be done.)


3. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Clean out bowl and grease it, then return dough to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. Dough may also rise in an oven that has been warmed to 150 degrees then turned off. Punch down dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for another half-hour.


4. At this point, you can knead the raisins into the challah, if you’re using them, before forming the loaves. To make a 6-braid challah, either straight or circular, take half the dough and form it into 6 balls. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Place the 6 in a row, parallel to one another. Pinch the tops of the strands together. Move the outside right strand over 2 strands. Then take the second strand from the left and move it to the far right. Take the outside left strand and move it over 2. Move second strand from the right over to the far left. Start over with the outside right strand. Continue this until all strands are braided. For a straight loaf, tuck ends underneath. For a circular loaf, twist into a circle, pinching ends together. Make a second loaf the same way. Place braided loaves on a greased cookie sheet with at least 2 inches in between.


5. Beat remaining egg and brush it on loaves. Either freeze breads or let rise another hour.


6. If baking immediately, preheat oven to 375 degrees and brush loaves again. Sprinkle bread with seeds, if using. If freezing, remove from freezer 5 hours before baking.
 
7. Bake in middle of oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden. (If you have an instant read thermometer, you can take it out when it hits an internal temperature of 190 degrees.) Cool loaves on a rack.

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Sufganiyot

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Sufgan-what? Similar to how this post title might leave you wondering what its about, I was asking myself the same question this past weekend while sipping my hot cup of Saturday morning coffee and reading a recipe for sufganiyot out the December 2009 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

 

A little bit of background for you:

I’m trying to discover the traditional Jewish foods that are not apart of my Jewish family’s traditions. I don’t know why some recipes made it in to our holiday dinners and gatherings and other well-known Jewish foods are a nonexistent part of my memories around the table. My gut tells me that the reason I don’t know about many traditional Jewish foods is because no one ever wrote or passed down their foodie wisdom with each generation. The knowledge is lost. So here I am today, picking my Mom and Aunt’s brains, trying to decode my Grandma’s tattered composition notebook of Passover recipe scribbles, and sitting in the cookbook section of local bookstores for hours at a time learning about mandel bread and tsimmes. Learning about food is a project that never gets boring for me. Jewish food, though, is especially near and dear to my heart. I feel like I’m learning about my history and family the more I investigate. My hope is that along the way I can establish new food traditions…and record them in a family recipe book this time (amen).

So back to the sufgan-what? conversation…

After the beautiful presentation of sufganiyot caught my eye in Martha Stewart Living, I immediately went to Google to find out what they were. As it turns, sufganiyot (Hebrew: סופגניות)  are doughnuts! The deep-fried and jelly filled variety. Excuse me, but, why haven’t I heard about this Jewish food before? In other words: nom, nom, nom! This treat is typically made in celebration of Hanukkah, but I think they are suitable for any time of the year. They’d be delicious for Saturday breakfast or a fun nosh to the goof who scheduled a 9 a.m. conference call.

I will warn you that the recipe is a bit labor intensive. Let’s just say I went through four or five packets of yeast, and I made a mess of the jelly fill.  Be patient with yourself and make sure you allow yourself plenty of time for this undertaking. It’s totally worth all the effort and these sugar bombs are sure fun to fry! The dough becomes pastry heaven in a matter of thirty seconds.  If you’re looking for something delicious and you’re up for a project, give these a go!

Sufganiyot 

Recipe care of Martha Stewart Living

INGREDIENTS

Makes 2 dozen.

• 1 envelope (1 scant tablespoon) active dry yeast
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm whole milk or soy milk (110 degrees)
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt
• 2 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter or margarine, melted and cooled
• Vegetable-oil cooking spray
• About 6 cups vegetable oil, for frying
• 1 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 cups raspberry jam
• Blue sanding sugar, for decorating

DIRECTIONS

1. Combine yeast, sugar, and 1 cup milk. Let stand until foamy, about 8 minutes.
2. Whisk flour and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Add yeast mixture, eggs, and butter, and beat on medium-low speed until dough is soft but not sticky, about 3 minutes.
3. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough until smooth and elastic, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer dough to a medium bowl coated with cooking spray, and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
4. Punch down the dough. On a lightly floured surface, knead dough a few times, and roll out to 1/4 inch thick. Cover with a clean kitchen towel, and let rest for 5 minutes. Using a 2-inch cookie cutter, cut out rounds, and transfer to a lightly floured baking sheet. Reroll scraps, and cut out. Cover rounds with kitchen towel, and let rise slightly in a warm, draft-free place for 20 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, heat oil in a pot until it reaches 375. Line a wire rack with paper towels. Working in batches of 4 or 5, add doughnuts to oil, and fry, turning once, until golden and puffed, about 1 minute per side. Using a slotted spoon, place doughnuts on rack to cool.
6. Place a wire rack on parchment or a baking sheet. Whisk together confectioners' sugar and remaining 2 tablespoons milk in a shallow bowl. Spoon jam into a pastry bag fitted with a plain 3/8-inch tip (such as Ateco #804). Pierce a hole in the side of a doughnut with the tip, and squeeze in jam to fill (filled doughnuts will feel heavy). Place on rack. Repeat.
7. Holding filled doughnuts by their sides, gently dip tops into icing and return to rack. Immediately sprinkle with sanding sugar. Doughnuts are best when served immediately, but they can be stored in airtight containers overnight.

Enjoy with a friend, a cup of good coffee, and some good old gab!

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Lox, Bagels and Schmear – Oh My!

Sara and I go way back. We endured classic adolescent woes together – such things as Jewish summer camp, bedazzled hats, jelly sandals, one piece bathing suits, awkward hair, puff paint, Archie comics, jean overalls, bat mitzvahs, and Sunday school. We enjoyed cribbage games, embroidered friendship bracelets, and lanyard. I have no idea how we ever made it out of those years as seemingly normal adults, but if it’s alright with you, I’d like to think we did end up normal. Kapish?

This past weekend I met up with Sara at the most excellent Jewish deli in the suburbs of Seattle, Gilbert’s Main Street Bagel Deli. It’s located in Old Bellevue on Main Street, and it’s the perfect place to fill the Jew-Food square. The breakfast menu has all kinds of scrambles, French toast, and fruit, but we both went with the obvious: lox and bagels.

The plates were gigantic. We could have probably split half a bagel each, but it wasn’t such a bad thing to have leftovers for lunch. Our plates were neatly bordered in freshly sliced cucumbers and tomatoes, our bagels were warm and chewy, and the lox and schmear are history. Yum! (Yiddish translation: Geshmak!)

We sipped hot coffee and listened to the live jazz at the beautiful ten o’clock hour. Who cares if we were both running on five hours of sleep? It was the perfect place for two long lost girlfriends to reconnect over a peaceful morning breakfast.

If you are in the area, or plan on visiting Seattle, don’t be shy. Cross the bridge over Lake Washington and visit Gilbert’s for breakfast. And if you miss the breakfast boat, don’t fret. The matzo ball soup on the lunch menu is worth a trip too!