Category: Shabbos

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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Kani Salad


This kani salad recipe (courtesy of my cousin Chana, a great hostess!) converted me into a mock-crab fan. It’s that good. If you go back to this post, you can read in my own words how much I used to dislike those orange colored surimi sticks. I’d always pick them out of California sushi rolls. But not anymore. Does the idea of eating mock-crab freak you out too? Well then do yourself a favor and make this salad. Trust me, you’ll never look back!

I’m not the only one who’s gaga over this recipe. I had my friend Dina and her family over during the holidays, and I served this among the appetizers. I hadn’t known, but apparently Dina and her husband have sampled kani salad at just about every kosher restaurant in (and out of) town. They were excited to see how this recipe would measure up to their favorite. Not only did it measure up, it exceeded their expectations by far. In fact, they no longer order it at restaurants, they make it at home instead!

There’s just something about the stringy texture and spicy dressing that makes you want to eat it all up with chopsticks. And chopsticks are fun. So, if you’re looking for a colorful, spicy and delicious dish, give this kani salad a try!

Kani Salad

1 pkg mock crab surimi sticks, cut or pulled apart into thin strips
1 English cucumbers, jullienned (see tip)
1/3 cup mayo
3 tbsp rice vinegar
1-2 tbsp sriracha
2 tsp black sesame seeds, plus more for garnish
1/4 cup Rice Krispies or french fried onions

Method:

Add kani and cucumber to a bowl. In a separate bowl, combine mayo, rice vinegar, sriracha and sesame seeds. Pour dressing over kani salad and mix. Garnish with additional sesame seeds and Rice Krispies.

NOTE: Sriracha is an Asian hot sauce, typically made from chili peppers, vinegar, sugar and salt. I prefer my kani salad to be spicy so I use 2 tbsp.

TIP: The simplest method to julienne a cucumber is by using a julienne peeler. First, I cut the cucumber in half so that I can get shorter pieces (you don’t want your strips the entire length of the cucumber). Then, I peel the cucumber all around, once for the peel, and another time around the inside. I discard the rest. If you don’t have a julienne peeler, cut the cucumber lengthwise, and using a spoon or melon baller, scoop out the seeds. Cut the cucumber in half so that you have 2 u-shaped pieces. Place the cucumber face-down on the cutting board and cut lengthwise into thin slices. Keep the slices stacked and cut the stacks into thin strips.

VARIATION: If it’s too hard for you to cut the crab and cucumbers into sticks, you can dice them up instead.

1 year ago: pan seared tuna steak
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Thankgiving Turkey Roulade with 5-Minute Stuffing

When the “Kosher Connection” Team decided to feature stuffing for the November LinkUp, I was so excited to post this recipe! I also happen to be doing a Thanksgiving demo tonight, so the timing was perfect to develop this dish to perfection. I prefer to make individual turkey roulades using turkey cutlets, but you can also make one larger one using a turkey london broil (essentially a skinless, boneless turkey breast half) that’s been butterflied and pounded. The visual impact is enough to make everyone at the table ooh and ahh. And that’s before they’ve even tasted it.

Now I love a beautiful plate of food as much of the other person, but I don’t like to spend hours in the kitchen. To simplify this recipe, I decided not to sear the turkey breasts (this gives it a nice brown color all around) because that would require me to tie each one up with kitchen twine. Instead, I just rubbed them down with some paprika, garlic powder and olive oil, baked seam-side down in the pan. My 5-Minute (no-joke!) stuffing also keeps things simple, but you can easily stuff the roulades with any store-bought filling (even cold cuts, like in this recipe).

So, if you’re making thanksgiving for a small group, and a whole turkey seems too large for your crowd (or like me, you’re daunted by the thought of cooking the huge bird), give this beautiful and delicious recipe a try!

Gobble, gobble!

For more delicious Thanksgiving stuffing recipes, visit the Kosher Connection Linkup below. Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkey Roulade

1 pkg turkey cutlets
salt and pepper
5 minute stuffing (recipe below)
paprika
garlic powder
extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chicken stock

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place turkey cutlets between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a mallet or rolling pin to even thickness. Remove plastic wrap and season with salt and pepper. Place a spoonful of stuffing on the turkey breast and spread out over cutlet, leaving a 1″ border all around. Starting from the shortest side, roll the turkey breast tightly and place seam-side down in a baking dish. Repeat with remaining cutlets (use a second baking dish, if needed). Sprinkle the roulades with paprika and garlic powder and drizzle with olive oil. Lightly rub in the spices. Pour 1/4 cup chicken stock into the bottom of the pan (repeat with 2nd pan, if you are using). Cover, and bake for 15-20 minutes (more for thicker cutlets). Uncover and bake for an additional 5 minutes.

Slice each roulade and serve over cranberry sauce. My mulled wine version works wonderfully with this recipe!

VARIATION: Instead of cutlets, you can make a larger roulade using a butterflied turkey breast (or turkey london broil). Pound out the breast to even thickness and continue as above. Bake for approximately 1 hour, until thermometer reaches 160 degrees.

One taste of this fantastic stuffing and you’d never imagine it took only 5 minutes to make! There are few tricks here! Firstly, instead of sauteing up onion and garlic, I just use onion and garlic flavored croutons! Nifty, right? Then, I add just a touch of poultry seasoning (a little goes a long way!) to give it that been-stuffed-into-a-bird-for-hours quality! Using frozen spinach not only eliminates work, it also adds a beautiful touch of green – so festive and autumnesque!

5-Minute Stuffing

1 10oz. box frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
2 cups chicken stock
1 5.25oz. bag onion & garlic flavored croutons
1/4 tsp poultry seasoning

Method:

Using gloves, squeeze out spinach to remove water. Heat up olive oil in a skillet and add spinach. Season with salt and pepper, and stir until heated through. Add chicken stock, stirring to incorporate, and heat through. Add the croutons and poultry seasoning and stir until croutons soften and soak up the chicken stock.

1 year ago: creamy pareve mashed potatoes

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{Mechshie} Meat & Rice Stuffed Vegetables

Growing up in an ashkenazic home, it just wasn’t succos without my mother’s holishkes (stuffed cabbage). I had never even heard of sephardic dishes like stuffed grape leaves or eggplants until I married into a sephardic family. My mother in law loves to prepare authentic Syrian dishes like mehshie (pronounced mechshie). She stuffs everything from artichokes to onions, each with it’s own unique twist.

After being married for a few years, I finally decided to learn how to prepare some of her signature dishes, so I could make them for my husband. She lovingly shared her family recipes, teaching me how to prepare each and every dish. When two of the recipes seemed similar, I asked her why I couldn’t combine them. I soon learned that the mere thought of combining two types of stuffed vegetables was deemed sacrilegious!

Of all my mother-in-laws mehshi recipes, stuffed zucchini’s is my favorite. It’s simmered along with dried apricots in a sweet tomato broth. The apricots become melt-in-your-mouth soft, and together with the zucchini pulp, create a delicious sweet and tangy sauce. Tomato mehshi is treated in the same way, and being my husband’s favorite, I decided to combine the two in one pot. I also opted out of the dried mint, because in my world, mint and meat just don’t mix. Although this dish is a heresy to my mother-in-laws traditional culinary roots, it is a delicious modern twist on a old world custom of eating stuffed foods on the holiday of Succos. So lets get stuffing!

{Mehshi} Meat & Rice Stuffed Vegetables

2 large zucchini, cut into thirds
6 plum tomatoes

Filling:

1.5 lbs ground meat
1/2 cup rice (I prefer basmati)
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 c water

Sauce:
1 15oz. can tomato sauce
1/2 can water
1/3 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp allspice
1 tsp salt
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 cups dried apricots

Method:

To prepare the filling, combine the meat, rice, allspice, salt and water in a bowl and mix well to combine (I like to do this by hand, using gloves). Try to handle the meat gently, don’t squeeze it too much as this tends to toughen it up.

Using a paring knife (or a long vegetable corer, known as a ma’vdeh), core the tomatoes and zucchinis. Place all the pulp from the insides of the vegetables in the bottom of a greased wide saucepan. Stuff the vegetables with the meat filling, taking care not to fill them too tightly as the rice will expand during cooking. Place the stuffed zucchini’s and tomatoes in the pot, and place apricots all around.

In a bowl, combine the sauce ingredients. Pour the sauce over the vegetables. Cover the pot and bring the liquid up to a boil over high heat. Lower the flame and simmer for 1-2 hours. If the sauce is still liquidy, uncover the pot and cook on high until it reduces to a thick sauce.

NOTE: If you have leftover meat filling, roll it into small meatballs and place in the pot alongside the vegetables.

VARIATION: For a sephardic version, add 1 tsp of dried mint to the ground meat mixture, as well as 1/2 tsp mint to the sauce. Alternatively, you can use a few tablespoons of tamarind paste instead of the tomato sauce.

Watch me make mechshie with TorahCafe here:


Watch on TorahCafé.com!

Related Recipes:

globe zucchini mechshie with tamarind and prunes
savory baby eggplant mechshie

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BIB Fast Food: Chicken Lollipops

 

Do you have a hard time getting your kids to eat chicken? Well let me tell you a little secret guys. It’s all in the name. If I call chicken, well, chicken, my kids won’t eat it either. But when I serve them up chicken legs and call them lollipops? They gobble them down to the bone! I’m not kidding. Go ahead and give it a try!

Now you might be wondering why I would bother baking the chicken in the skin if my kids won’t go near that stuff. It’s because it keeps the chicken *super* moist (and because the adults can always eat it for them! :). Use you favorite bottled barbecue sauce, or for a sugar free alternative, just sprinkle with your favorite spices and drizzle with olive oil. I like World Harbors Australian Style Bar-B Marinade (purchase here) or Hunts honey hickory (purchase here).

 

Chicken Lollipops

1 package chicken legs
your favorite bottled BBQ sauce

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Clean chicken legs, removing excess fat and feathers. Brush liberally with BBQ sauce. Bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes-1 hour, until skin is browned and crispy.

1 year ago: baked wonton beef empanadas

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