Category: Chanukah

Chocolate Olive Oil Crinkle Gelt Cookies

I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about a post before. I mean, have you seen these cookies? If you think they look gorgeous in the picture, JUST. WAIT. TILL. YOU. MAKE. THEM.

My excitement over baked goods needs some explaining, I know. You see, as I’ve mentioned many times on my blog, I’m not the biggest baker. But I had this epiphany one night. I was thinking about crinkle cookies, and how you get those beautiful cracks in the cookie when it bakes. Traditionally, crinkle cookies are rolled in confectionary sugar, so they result in a beautiful zebra-like design. I figured, if I spray the cookies with edible gold spray paint, they’ll kind of look like a crumpled up foil wrapper from those chocolate Chanukah gelt coins. Am I right?

I thought about this one night last week and I was so excited, I couldn’t sleep. First thing the next morning, I ran to the store to collect my ingredients. My friends over at Colavita had recently sent me a few samples of their amazing olive oil, and I knew I had to incorporate it into the recipe. After all, isn’t it the miracle of olive oil that we celebrate on Chanukah? Luckily, Colavita included their 100% GREEK olive oil, and that just put it over the top. Olive oil and chocolate make a wonderful combination, so I set out developing a recipe for fudgy and delicious crinkle cookies. A few hours and a messy kitchen later, I hit the jackpot. To intensify the chocolate flavor without having to melt down chocolate over a double-boiler (I’m always looking for the easy way out, aren’t I?), I added some coffee and used dutch process cocoa powder. The result is a chewy, intensely-flavored chocolate cookie that’s reminiscent of brownies, but oh so much prettier!

To round out my Hanukkah cookie theme, I topped the cookies off with some real chocolate gelt coins. They’ve gone a long way since the waxy variety that used to be available. Nowadays, some of the chocolate gelt is made from real Belgian dark chocolate. So tell me, does it get any better than fudgy chocolate cookies topped with real dark chocolate?

In my special kosher package from Colavita, I received 4 bottles of their amazing premium world selection first cold pressed extra virgin olive oils, including:

Colavita 100% Argentinian Fruity
Colavita 100% Greek Classic
Colavita 100% Californian Mild
Colavita Private Selection 100% Italian

To celebrate Chanukah and these delicious cookies, Colavita is giving away free olive oil samples to one of my readers!

To enter the giveaway, and to get into the Hanukkah spirit, leave a comment letting me know your favorite deep fried foods! Also, if you don’t already follow me on facebook, like the BIB page here. Winner will be chosen at random at 11:00 PM Wednesday, December 12th.

Colavita is also generously offering a 25% discount to all my readers in honor of Hanukkah. Use coupon code BIB25 at checkout. Off expires 1/31/13.

Chanukah Greek Olive Oil Crinkle Cookies

2 cups flour
1 cup dutch process cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup Colavita 100% Greek olive oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1/4 cup water
Wilton gold color mist food spray
chocolate Chanukah gelt coins

Method:

In a bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the olive oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and coffee. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir well to combine. If any lumps remain, stir the mixture with a hand-mixer until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Place the dough in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

Roll 1 heaping tablespoon of batter into a ball and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Make sure to roll the batter quickly (otherwise the heat of your hands will make it sticky). Repeat with remaining batter.

Spray the cookies with gold spray paint and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 12 minutes. Set aside to cool.

While the cookies are still a little warm (but not too hot that they will melt the chocolate), press chocolate coins into the center of each cookie.

VARIATION: Spray the cookies with silver color mist and top with milk chocolate coins. If you prefer not to use color mist, you can roll the cookies in turbinado or powdered sugar instead.

NOTE: If you do not have Colavita 100% Greek olive oil, you may substitute with any other olive oil.

YIELDS: 3 dozen cookies


1 year ago: chanukah cookies
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Chanukah Wall Hanging Craft


You know all those useless catalogs that stuff up your mailbox before the holidays? Well, it turns out they’re not always so useless. Especially when you’re stumped in the crafting department and you’re looking for some inspiration. The Land of Nod is a great place to find it. I was skimming through their overpriced catalog when I happened upon this idea. And when you have the Hanukkah decor squashed into a quarter of a page (against a several page spread of Christmas decorations) you’ve got to learn to be creative.  When I saw the countdown-to-Christmas calendar, I knew I had to make a Chanukah version with draidel pockets for each night. The pockets are perfect little holders for Chanukah chocolate coins, the real (green) stuff, draidels and little gifts. You can even use the center ribbon to personalize it for your family or child.

Hang this fun holiday wall hanging behind the menorah for some festive Hannukah decor.

Happy Crafting & Happy Chanukah!

Chanukah Craft

1 9×12 sheet blue felt
2 9×12 sheets white felt
assorted colors felt sheets
glue gun
stapler
dreidel shape template
dreidel pocket template
gift bow template

How to:

Glue the blue felt sheet to one of the white felt sheets. Cut a piece of white felt 12″ long x 2.35″ wide. Glue it to the center of the blue felt sheet. Using the gift bow template, cut out around the bow shapes and staple them to the remaining white felt sheet. Cut out the bow shapes and the ribbon for the center. Glue one side of the ribbon around the back of one of the bows. Glue one bow to the white backing, and the other to the front blue sheet. Wrap the open end of the ribbon around the back and glue down.

To prepare the draidel pockets, print out 2 copies of each of the draidel templates. Staple the templates to sheets of felt (you can double the felt so you cut 2 at once) and cut out the shapes. Attach the pocket covers to the draidels, making sure to only glue down the sides. Glue all the draidel pockets to the blue felt sheet. For the numbers, cut 8 very thin strips of white felt. Working quickly, draw the number shape with glue onto the draidel pocket and press the strips of felt down on the glue, adjusting the strip to fit the number shape (you can practice with the strips beforehand to set the shape). Alternatively, you may write the numbers with puff paint, or use number stickers.

Fill the pockets each night with Chanukah gelt, chocolate coins, or little gifts!

VARIATION: Instead of a bow, you can make the center strip into a stem for a menorah, and have a menorah branch out at the top. You may also write the family name,  child’s name or simply Chanukah along the center strip.


1 year ago: draidel snowglobe
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Chanukah Cookies


It has a become a tradition in my home to bake Chanukah cookies during the month of Kislev. My kids love to take turns adding the ingredients to the bowl, mixing it up, rolling out the dough, cutting out the shapes, and most of all – decorating the cookies! I have to be careful though, if I turn my head, they’re bound to stuff a handful of sprinkles down their throat! We had a blast making these, and even more fun eating them. They are delightfully crisp, sweet and altogether perfect! Put some in a pretty box, tie with bakery twine and decorate with a draidel – it makes the perfect hostess gift for your next Chanukah party!

Mary’s Sugar Cookies
Betty Crocker’s Cookie Book

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 egg
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar

Method:

Beat powdered sugar and butter until combined. Stir in vanilla, almond extract and egg. Add flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Press dough together to form a ball. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours.

Heat oven to 375. Roll out pieces of the dough to about 1/8″ thick on a lightly floured surface. Cut out cookie shapes. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and decorate with sprinkles or sugar. Bake for8-10 minutes or until light brown.

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Cheese Latkes with Raspberry Sauce

If you follow my blog, you know that I’m not much of a baker. You also know that I’m working hard to stick to my diet plan. Which might explain why I’m not about to post a recipe for delicious, chewy, deep-fried jelly donuts or crunchy golden potato latkes. Instead, I decided to whip up a sort of deconstructed jelly donut in the form of cheese latkes with raspberry sauce. These fun mini cottage cheese pancakes are reminiscent of the classic chanukah treat with just a few less calories. Fry them up nice and golden, dust with powdered sugar, and don’t forget the whip cream!

Cheese Latkes
adapted from the Spice & Spirit Cookbook

3 eggs
1 cup milk
1 8 oz. container ricotta or cottage cheese (drain, if needed)
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
canola oil, butter, for frying

Method:

Mix all ingredients besides for oil until smooth. Heat up a skillet and grease with butter or oil. Add batter 1 tbsp at a time and fry until golden on both sides. Continue with remaining batter, adding additional oil or butter, as needed.

Serve with raspberry sauce, whip cream and a side of maple syrup.

Raspberry Sauce

1 bag frozen raspberries
1/3 cup sugar
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp water or raspberry liquor
1 tsp lemon zest

Method:

Add all ingredients to a pot and simmer over medium heat until raspberries are soft and fall apart when mashed with a spoon, about 10 minutes. Add to a blender and puree. Pour the raspberry mixture through a cheesecloth and squeeze out juice. Chill. Serve over pancakes or ice cream.

Alternatively, pipe some raspberry jam in the center of the latkes and dust with powdered sugar to resemble jelly donuts!

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Draidel Snowglobe

Who doesn’t love Chanukah? We get to eat fried foods, unwrap presents, eat pockets full of chocolate change and gample on draidel games. For me, Chanukah is UBER special because it’s my birthday, my anniversary, and the anniversary of my son’s bris. I know, I know, I lose out on the presents, but the truth is, it doesn’t really matter. Chanukah makes me realize just how blessed I am and that is good enough for me!

Nothing evokes the spirit of the holidays more than snowglobes. But try and find one that doesn’t include a reindeer, evergreen or snowman – pretty impossible. This year, I decided to make my own Chanukah creation. It was inspired by the landmark dreidel that sits in front of the Jewish Children’s Museum in Brooklyn (if you haven’t gone yet, you must take your kids there for Chanukah!).

You’ll be surprised just how easy it is to make your own snowglobe. Go ahead and include whatever figurine you’d like. A menorah would work really well too.

What you’ll need:

A resealable glass jar (slightly bigger than your figurine)
draidel, menorah, or other holiday figurine
glass tile or cork
white glitter
glycerin (available at drugstores)
ribbon
glue gun

How to:

1. Start by removing the paper wrapping from your jar. Goo gone works well to remove the sticky stuff. Wash the inside of the jar and set aside.
2. Turn the lid over, makes sure it’s clean and dry. Using a glue gun, glue a glass or ceramic tile, cork, or anything waterproof, to the center of the lid. This will be the base for your figurine to stand on. (Without it, part of the figurine will be covered by the lid).
3. Glue your figurine to the base. To glue the draidel on a slant, set the draidel on it’s side and starting from underneath the base, begin adding glue. As the glue dries, add more and more glue until the draidel has a firm glob of glue to rest on. Make sure the gimmel side is facing up :)
4. Add a tbsp or so of white glitter to your jar (you can always add more later, you don’t want to overdo it at first).
5. Fill jar with water.
6. Add a few drops of glycerin to the water. This will help the glitter fall slowly so that it resembles a snowfall.
7. Insert the figurine upside down and screw the lid tightly closed.* Check to see if the jar needs more water, glitter, or glycerin. Adjust, if needed.
8. Glue ribbon around the jar cover and tie into a bow.
9. Turn upside down and shake. Now let it snow. Let it snow. Let it snow.

* If you can’t get the lid to seal tightly enough, you can seal around the edges with silicone.

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