Category: Cookies

Tahini Scones

I’m fond of calling myself a #bakernonbaker but the truth is, sometimes I surprise myself. These scones were next-level. The crunchiest exterior, pillow-soft interior and crazy flaky – almost like halva! How my little of this and little of that achieved scone-perfection is a mystery even I cannot solve, but I think it has a lot to do with the magic ingredient – tahini.

I’m pretty open about the fact that I’m not into the science of food. I’ve never been a very technical person. Technicalities give me a headache. I don’t find gastronomy intriguing, but one thing I can tell you is that tahini has special powers. Something about it’s fat content makes it bind with other ingredients in a completely different way. Fold it into whipped cream and you’ll get the thickest emulsion that will not deflate – and it will freeze up so smooth and creamy with the texture of ice cream! Mix it with water and you’ve got the silkiest, creamiest dip or stir in some silan and you’ve got a thick fudge. What is it about this magic ingredient that can be used in both sweet or savory applications, mixed into doughs and salad dressings, fudge and candy?

Tahini so fascinates me, I almost want to explore the science of emulsification. Almost. It does something so special to these flaky scones, you’ll never believe they don’t have butter!

Buttery pastries intimidate me. The way you have to get the butter into the perfect pea-size, and you can’t melt it with the heat of your hands. How you have to be careful to handle the dough just-so and not overmix it. How you have to perfect the process to allow for pillows of flakiness in every bite. Too painstaking for this impatient cook.

But cream-based scones? I got this. And so can you. Because it’s just as simple as mixing some ingredients into a bowl and forming them into a disc. And you can thank the magic ingredient, tahini, for doing the work of butter – minus the technicalities.

I thought about glazing the scones (and even posted a poll on my Instagram!), but I decided not to mess with perfection. Sometimes you get something just right and you don’t need to over-complicate things. So I left the scones as-is, allowing the subtle tahini flavor to shine, and served them with a side of dairy whipped cream and fresh berries, ‘cuz really, does it get any better than that?

OK, maybe with a side of a steaming hot cafe hafuch and some fresh figs. (on a porch somewhere in Israel. I’m pushing it now, aren’t I?) The breakfast of my dreams.

Tahini Scones

1 1/2 c flour
1/4 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c tahini paste
3/4 c heavy cream, plus more for brushing
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 tbsp sesame seeds
1 tbsp Demerara sugar
whipped cream and berries, for serving, optional

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and sesame seeds. Make a well in the center and pour in the tahini, heavy cream and vanilla extract. Stir until the ingredients are incorporated. Don’t overmix.

Place the dough onto the baking sheet, flatten into a 7″ disk and slice into 8 triangles. Spread the triangles out on the baking sheet and brush the tops lightly with heavy cream. Sprinkle with demerara sugar.

Bake scones for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

VARIATION: You can add chocolate chips, diced dried fruit such as figs, dates or apricots or nuts such as almonds or pistachios, if desired.

Related Recipes:

halva krembos with sesame cookies
halva and ricotta stuffed figs
tahini frappuccino
tahini puppy chow 

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Marzipan Biscotti


I don’t know what took me so long to blog about my love of Molly Yeh’s cookbook, Molly on the Range. Well, actually I do. It’s been a crazy hectic year since baby #5 was born and I’ve been trying to keep my head above water and maintain my sanity while I manage food (blogging) and family. It’s been months since I fangirled Molly at her book release party and I’ve read her book cover to cover and tried quite a number of her cookbook recipes since!
**GIVEAWAY DETAILS BELOW**

Molly’s blog, mynameisyeh, has been a huge inspiration to me as a blogger. First off, her beautiful photography always pushed me to take my own photography to the next level, and the way that she elevates Middle Eastern food is everything to me. We share a love of tahini and marzipan and I secretly dream about the day that I will open a bread and breakfast on my own little farm in Upstate New York (I may have even called a couple of places that had a for sale sign up this summer!).

Every time I think about the urge to redesign my blog (“because that’s what bloggers do”), I’m reminded that Molly became one of the most popular bloggers on the web without ever redesigning hers. You don’t need a fancy lifestyle blog with a gazillion sections to be successful. You just need delicious food, beautiful photography, and a really awesome personality (which is why I actually READ Molly’s entire cookbook cover to cover, instead of just looking at the pictures like I normally do).

I love how Molly on the Range is part autobiography, part cookbook. It’s an awesome and hysterical journey of a true foodie finding love in both the kitchen and her personal life. In true Molly style, she sent out review copies along with her own sprinkle mix, adorable tatoos and a handwritten note. And she put some of that panache in the book too – with a coloring page, shnitzel costume instructions and fun illustrations throughout the book.

The recipes range from Midwestern favorites like hot dishes to popular Middle Eastern foods like bourekas, hummus and malabi. Molly shares recipes from both her Asian and Jewish heritage, including matzo brei, latkes and fusion dishes like shnitzel bao buns and scallion pancake challah. Of course I’ve marked all the Israeli dishes in the book, especially the tahini and marzipan ones, including this delicious biscotti/mandel bread.

The idea of folding in chunks of store bought marzipan is a brilliant one, and not the least bit overwhelming. The almond flavor is surprisingly subtle, and when I served these up for my daughters birthday recently, everyone loved them, marzipan lovers and haters alike.

Speaking of my daughter’s birthday, I attempted my very first marzipan covered cake for her cake smash recently and it was a huge success! I’ve been drooling over Molly’s marzipan coated cakes for the longest time and I was so excited to work with it.  I can’t wait to share the results in an upcoming post.

I’m also super excited to be giving away a copy of Molly on the Range to one lucky reader! To enter to win the giveaway,

1. Leave a comment below letting me know which BIB recipe you’ve been enjoying this summer.
2. For an extra entry, tag a friend on the giveaway post on Facebook or Instagram.

Giveaway is open to U.S. residents (for international entries, prize can only be shipped in the U.S.). Winner will be chosen at random at 10:00 AM EST on Sunday, August 13th, 2017.

Marzipan Biscotti
reprinted with permission from Molly on the Range

7 to 8 ounces marzipan or almond paste
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
3¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1 cup flavorless oil
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract, optional—I didn’t have any
½ cup cacao nibs or dark chocolate chips, optional, see notes above
Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling
Sprinkles or pearl sugar, for sprinkling

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Cut the marzipan into ½-inch pieces and toss with the powdered sugar. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar and oil until combined. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, and then whisk in the vanilla and almond extract, if using. Use a wooden spoon to gradually mix in the flour mixture, marzipan, and cacao nibs or chocolate chips. (This dough can be made the night before and stored in the refrigerator until ready to use.)
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 2 equal portions and place on the lined baking sheet. Mold the dough into two 14 x 3-inch rectangles about 3 inches apart. Sprinkle the tops with a few pinches of sea salt and pearl sugar or sprinkles.
Bake until the centers are set and the bottoms are lightly browned, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 250ºF. Let the mandel bread cool slightly and then use a sharp serrated knife to cut crosswise into 1-inch-thick slices. Turn the slices on their sides and bake for 20 more minutes, or until desired crispness. Let cool slightly and enjoy with coffee, hot chocolate, or tea.

Other Marzipan Recipes:

marzipan date truffles
marzipan apple crisp
3-layer rainbow cookie cake
date and almond hamantaschen

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Peanut Butter Buckeye Hamantaschen

If you’ve been following me for a while, you probably know that I’m not big on baking. I love to cook, but baking is just too scientific for me. You can’t just be creative and throw in a little of this and a little of that (trust me, I’ve tried!). Every year, I come up with such fun hamantaschen ideas, but I dread testing them. I push it off until I can’t anymore, and then I test batch after batch after batch until it’s just right.

With hamantaschen dough and the filling, there’s just too much margin for error. You’ve got to get the cookie to be soft, but crispy too. You can’t fill them too much, and you have to make sure they don’t open when you bake them. Just thinking about it makes me want to insert the eyeroll emoji.

After testing six batches of mamoul hamantaschen dough this year, I decided I wanted to come up with a no-bake hamantasch that people are going to want to eat. It had to be some sort of candy, but also a riff on a particular style – so I went with BUCKEYES, ‘cuz who doesn’t love peanut butter?!

Buckeyes are basically a peanut butter cup – except the peanut butter filling is rolled into a ball and only partially covered in chocolate. Basically it’s got peanut butter and chocolate and it’s addicting. Case in point: when my daughter came home to a platter of these on the table, she gave me a hug and told me I had invented the best recipe on the planet. “How did you turn the peanut butter into a dough?”, she wanted to know. Turns out, it’s pretty simple. And I can do simple.

Hello NO-BAKE hamantaschen and goodbye to the tricky scientic process of baked hamantaschen. Who’s with me on that?!

Of course you want to make sure you use good quality chocolate in this recipe, so I rely on my fave – California Gourmet. Their new mini’s melt SO quickly, plus the 51.3% cocoa content make them rich and easy to work with.

Enjoy this last taste of Purim here on BIB. I’m sure you’ll be making these in traditional buckeye shapes after the holiday too. Chag Sameach!

Peanut Butter Buckeye Hamantaschen

3/4 cups natural peanut butter*
1/4 cup butter or margarine (1/2 stick)
1 tbsp honey
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 tsp kosher salt
honey roasted peanuts
8oz. California Gourmet chocolate chips
2 tbsp coconut oil

Method:

In a large bowl, beat the peanut butter, margarine, honey, vanilla and salt. Add in the powdered sugar and mix until a soft dough forms. If the mixture is too sticky to handle, add a bit more powdered sugar.  Roll the dough into balls and form each ball into a triangle. Fill each triangle with honey roasted peanuts.

Melt the chocolate over a double boiler and stir in the coconut oil. Using a fork, dip the peanut butter triangles into the chocolate so that the edges are covered all around. Shake off excess chocolate and place on parchment paper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

*I use peanut butter that is labeled as natural but it still has sugar added.

YIELD: approximately 20 hamantaschen


This post is sponsored by California Gourmet Chocolate Chips. Follow on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.  

Related Recipes:

no-bake date and almond hamantaschen
peanut butter bars
peanut butter mousse
peanut butter fudge ice cream pie

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Ma’amoul Hamantaschen

If I had one word to describe these hamantaschen, it would be #proud. Yes they’re melt-in-your-mouth delicious, super buttery and also crispy, but the word I would use to describe them has nothing to do with how they taste. It has to do with how they make me feel.

I’ve always felt that food does so much more than nourish us. It connects us to our past, our present and our future. Traditional food, especially, has the power to bridge generations. Preparing the same dishes that my mother made, and my grandmother before her, allows me to pass on the flavors and smells of my childhood to my children in a way that nothing else can.

That’s why these hamantaschen mean so much to me. Not only do they reflect the traditions of my Ashkenazic heritage, they also represent the flavors and culture of my husband’s Sephardic hertitage.

While my husband is Ashkenazi like me, his mother was born and raised in Argentina, but her roots trace back to Syria. She grew up eating ma’amoul, rosewater-scented cookies filled with either date or walnut filling. When I got married, ma’amoul always made an appearance at parties and simchot and their interesting shape always intrigued me.

Traditional ma’amoul is molded into different shapes using a special cookie press. The cookie is shaped differently, depending on the filling. My mother in law always used tweezers to decorate her ma’amoul, which I found really interesting. When I came up with the idea to fuse the classic hamantasch with Syrian flavors, I went to my husband’s aunt, Esther, for a cookie baking class.

Esther is a cook after my own heart. She likes to do things simply, without fancy tools or supplies (which explains the tweezer method!). She mixed up the ma’amoul in no time, while I attempted to measure her pinches of spice and sprinkles of flour. She expertly shaped the dough faster than I could follow and before long, they were out of the oven and covered in a snowfall of powdered sugar.

Of course I went back home and it wasn’t all that simple. For starters, traditional ma’amoul dough does not have egg, so it wouldn’t hold as a hamantasch. I was determined to make it work, and 6 batches later, I struck gold (or should I say rosewater?!). These ma’amoul hamantaschen are the perfect blend of buttery and crispy, thanks to the butter and semolina, respectfully. I’m super proud of this Sephardic-Ashkenazi fusion and I hope I’ve started a new trend in my family tree.

Now that we’ve got the Purim party started, stay tuned for lots of other exciting holiday recipes, coming soon!

Ma’amoul Hamantaschen

1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup semolina
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 egg yolks
1/2 c sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tsp rosewater
7 tbsp butter or margarine, softened
powdered sugar, for dusting

Date Filling:

10 plump medjool dates, pit removed
1/4 cup hot water
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Walnut Filling:

1 cup chopped walnuts
3 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp orange blossom water

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

To prepare the date filling, place the dates in a food processor with the S blade attached. Add the hot water and let it soak for a few minutes. Add the cinnamon and puree until a smooth paste forms. Add more water, if needed.

To prepare the walnut filling, mix the chopped walnuts with sugar and orange blossom water and set aside.

In a bowl, whisk the flour, semolina, baking powder and salt. In a second bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, oil and rosewater. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix to combine. Add in the butter or margarine and gently knead until you have a soft dough. Don’t overwork the dough.

Divide the dough in half so you can work with one portion at a time, and flour your surface. Cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper and roll it out until it’s a little more than 1/8″ thick. Using a 2.5″ round cutter (or larger, if you prefer larger hamantaschen), cut the dough into circles and fill with about 1/2 tsp of your filling of choice (or make half a batch of each!). Fold the dough over to form a triangle and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake for approximately 12 minutes, until the hamantaschen are crisped and just starting to lightly brown underneath. Allow the hamantaschen to cool completely before removing from the parchment and dust with powdered sugar.

NOTE: If you prepare the dough in advance, you may need to add a teaspoon of water to soften it up before rolling.

VARIATION: If you’d like to omit the rosewater, use 1 1/2 tsp of vanilla + 1 1/2 tsp water instead.

Related Recipes:

baklava hamantaschen
date and almond hamantaschen
healthy thumbprint hamantaschen

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Marzipan Date Truffles

I must. must. must. discuss these beautiful photos!!! After much deliberation, I finally bit the bullet and upgraded to a new full frame sensor camera, the Canon 6D. Do I even need to tell you how amazing the full frame sensor is, or should I just let the photos do the talking (all unedited, straight out of the camera!)?

I know most of you are not here for the photography. OK maybe you enjoy the mouthwatering food, but you can do without the technical jargon. Let me just say that the camera sensor is what lets in the light and a bigger sensor = more light and more light = beautiful photos. That being said, my “studio” is in a pretty dark room with limited light so a larger sensor is really important for me. The full frame sensor also allows me to fit more into the frame of a photo so you get a wider view.


Sensor aside, the 6d also has wifi capability so I can set my camera on a tripod and connect to it via Canon’s app to take hands free photos! Taking photos on a tripod removes any possibility of camera shake so you get crystal clear, sharp photos. I’m so in love!

Speaking of which, I am also very much in love with this healthy, raw, vegan, 4-ingredient (if you don’t count the salt!) snack that’s become a staple in my house. Marzipan is one of my favorite flavors (hello 3-layer rainbow cookies!) and the pure almond extract really brings out that flavor in these guilt-free chews. With Tu B’shvat around the corner, they are just the thing!!

Marzipan Date Truffles

16 plump medjool dates, pit removed
1 cup raw almonds plus more for topping
2 tsp pure almond extract
1/8 tsp fine sea salt
1/3 cup chocolate chips, optional

Method:

Place the dates, almonds, almond extract and salt in the bowl of a food processor with the S blade attached. Blend until the mixture forms a dough and starts to clump up and pull away from the sides of the bowl (this may take a few minutes, depending on the quality of your machine). Taste and adjust seasoning, if desired (I like it to have a salted flavor).

With slightly damp hands, roll the date mixture into balls and press an almond into the top of each one.

If desired, melt the chocolate chips in the microwave, or over a double boiler. Pour the chocolate into a Ziploc bag and snip off the corner. Drizzle chocolate over the truffles and refrigerate until solid.

Truffles may be kept at room temperature, but they last longer in the fridge or freezer.

NOTE: almond extract is what gives these truffles their marzipan flavor. If you’re not a fan, you may use less (start with 1/2 tsp) or use 1 tsp of vanilla extract instead.

YIELD: approximately 20 truffles.

Related Recipes:

Tu B’shvat truffles
date and almond hamantaschen
cowboy cookie dough bites
gingerbread truffles

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