Rugelach

The holidays may be over, but this Hanukkah cookie never gets old.  Allow me to introduce you to the oh-so-delicious, cinnamon dream - rugelach. 

Rugelach are crescent shaped cookies made from a cream cheese-based dough. The name, rugelach, is Yiddish. The root of the word rugelach means something like "twist" or "little corners" - which is fitting for these little treats.

I made these cookies for this year's family Hanukkah dinner. This is my first attempt at making rugelach, but I've enjoyed them growing up. Mom has made these through the years for Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays and celebrations.

Rugelach are great as an evening dessert, but are just as fitting for a weekend morning with a cup of coffee, the newspaper, and PJs.

It's fairly simple to make a batch, just make sure you keep the dough chilled. If the dough gets too soft, just stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes and try again.

Enjoy!

Rugelach

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 cups flour

3/4 cups sugar, divided

1/2 cup seedless raisins, chopped

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Directions

In a mixing bowl or food processor, cream butter and cream cheese together. Knead in flour a little at a time until dough holds together in a soft ball. Do not overwork the dough. 

Divide dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix together 1/2 cup of the sugar, raisins, cinnamon, and walnuts in a bowl. Set aside.

Working on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll one ball of dough into a large round as thin as possible. If dough is sticky, dust with a little flour. 

Using a pizza cutter, cut each round into 16 pie-shaped wedges. 

Sprinkle each wedge with a bit of the raising mixture. 

Beginning at the wide edge of each piece of dough, roll up dough toward the point. Curve rolls into little crescents and place them, point-side down, on parchment lined baking sheets. 

Carefully sprinkle each cookie with a small amount of the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, then repeat process with second ball of dough. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.

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

The Rocks: Matzo Balls

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Dreary weather has settled in Seattle.  It’s cold, it’s gloomy, and it’s nothing a dose of vitamin D can cure. Let’s not lie, crappy weather can get to the head.

But… if you’re a Seattleite, you have probably pulled out your trusty Hunter boots, added an additional cup of Joe to the morning coffee brew, and headed out the door sans an umbrella (note: Seattleites don’t use umbrellas. I know! Totally weird). It’s Seattle and the weather is gross. We got over this fact a while ago.

Thanks to the weather inspiration, and a loving auntie who showed me how to make the most important component for any soup equation (homemade chicken soup), I was equipped and confident in taking a stab at my long awaited desire to make the family matzo ball soup recipe. It was the perfect project to warm me from the inside out. Matzo ball soup makes any Jewish girl sunny.

Anyway, to my surprise, a few myths were debunked during my matzo ball making adventure.

For one, I always believed making matzo balls would be a lengthy and extensive process. Our family only enjoys matzo ball soup during Passover. What I found out, however, is that matzo balls are the simplest component of matzo ball soup. It’s the chicken soup that takes the time and patience. Well, I already had that done. Check!

Secondly, our family always refers to Aunt Julie’s matzo balls as “the rocks”. They are extra dense and, well, rock-like. Of course, we say this in a loving way. “The rocks” are all I know, and everything I love about matzo ball soup.

I figured Aunt Julie must have a secret matzo ball recipe. Little did I know, all I had to do was follow the back of a Streit’s Matzo Meal box and double the matzo meal measurement. Gee whiz!  I wish I’d attempted making matzo balls sooner.

I’m very proud of the end product. I froze a bunch of the matzo balls alongside my chicken soup-filled gefilte fish jars. Now, when the weather calls for it, I can just pull it out and heat it up.

Good-bye, dreary weather and bad mood. Bring it on. Matzo ball soup is here to save us!

What do you cook or bake do when the weather gets you down?

Matzo Ball Recipe (from Streit’s Matzo Meal box)

1 c 2 c Streit's Matzo Meal


4 large eggs


1/4 c schmaltz (rendered chicken fat....oil works as a substitute)


1/4 c water

1 tsp salt


Beat eggs. Add water, schmaltz, and salt.  Mix well. Add matzo meal and stir thoroughly. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Partially fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Moisten palms with cold water and form mixture into balls, about 1 inch in diameter.  Drop matzo balls into boiling water.

When all the matzo balls are in the pot, reduce heat to low. Simmer covered for about 30 minutes or until done.  Remove with a slotted spoon to a large bowl.

Remove 2-3 matzo balls into a smaller serving bowl. Add chicken soup and baby carrots. Serve hot. Enjoy!

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Matzah Brei



Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

 Think of matzah brei (pronounced MAHT-zoh BRY; Hebrew: מצה ברייט) the same way you would think of French toast, but sans the bread. But isn’t bread the point of French toast, you ask? Yes, but matzah is the point of matzah brei.

Typically matzah brei is a breakfast dish enjoyed during Passover, when Jews forgo all leavened bread. The meal is simply matzah briefly soaked in eggs and pan-fried in butter.

It can be savory or sweet, as the fried delight is usually served with a sauce or topping. Sauces can range from salsa to apple sauce to cinnamon and sugar. I, for one, have grown up with cinnamon and sugar dusted over the top.

A great way to start the day following the Passover seder is with matzah brei. We are a reform Jewish family, meaning we interpret Judaism and its traditions as culture and tradition-based and understand Jewish law as a set of guidelines to strive for. We are not orthodox (consequently, Mom recently discovered Gram’s Passover carrot ring has been made with flour all these years). We do our best to stay away from leavened bread, and matzah brei is a great attempt to do so....but we are not perfect!

Growing up, Mom would occasionally cook up a batch for us kids, and we’d sit with our legs dangling from the stools that nestled up to the kitchen bar facing towards the stove. Pajamas and bed head were not discriminated against. Matzah brei was for all, along with a large cup of our beloved “coffee milk” (coffee, milk and lots of sugar).

Since I decided to delve into family and food history, I’ve had my eye on the Jewish section of every grocery store I enter. On my last trip to the store, I picked up a box of matzah and decided to give matzah brei a stab for Saturday morning breakfast, coffee and newspaper consumption. It turned out great!

If you have ever been curious about matzah – what it is, how to eat it, what it tastes like – give this super simple matzah brei recipe a try. It’s easy to make and impossible not to devour. Try a cup of “coffee milk” alongside it. Make sure to bring your bed head and pajamas to the kitchen table too!


Matzah Brei


INGREDIENTS
1 sheet of Matzah
2 tablespoons hot water
1 egg
1 tablespoon butter or canola oil
Cinnamon and sugar for topping (or try apple sauce, salsa, or jam if you wish)


INSTRUCTIONS
 1. Break matzah into small pieces and put in bowl with hot water

2. In another bowl, beat the egg with a fork

3. Melt butter or heat oil in frying pan over medium heat

4. Pour over matzah and that pour into hot pan

5. Let mixture become golden brown. Flip and cook the other side to golden brown as well.

6. Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar and serve immediately

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson