chanukah cookies

Woohoo, it’s officially my favorite time of year! Jelly donuts, latkes, fried food and presents, what could be better?! Lets get the Chanukah fun started!

When Upfield reached out to me about their new plant based butter made with olive oil, I was so excited to use it for Chanukah – the holiday where we celebrate the miracle of the small flask of olive oil that lasted in the menorah for eight days in the Holy Temple. I happen to be a big fan of olive oil in desserts (like in these gelt cookies!), although used to not be so much a fan of margarine.

When I was in kosher culinary school, we only had a meat kitchen, so all of our butter-based sauces and recipes were made with margarine. We used LOTS and LOTS of margarine. One day, someone came in and said that margarine was molecularly equivalent to plastic, and I never looked at margarine the same way again. We started calling the sauces we made “plastic sauce” and I could barely swallow any of them! But that was my Bubby’s margarine. The margarine of today is different.

I started using a lot of coconut oil in my recipes, but there were times that coconut oil just did not do the job, so I was really stuck. I would say that in the kosher kitchen, the butter conundrum is really the #1 obstacle.

For people who keep kosher, pareve desserts is the hardest challenge. While liquid fats can easily be replaced with oils, fat in solid form has always been a problem. So when Country Crock reached out about their plant-based butter made with oils, I was happy to give it a try.

Regardless if you keep kosher or not, plant-based foods are all the rage right now, and for good reason. That’s why we’ve adopted Meatless Mondays in our house, and we try not to eat so much animal protein. It’s amazing to see all the healthy options available on the market these days and I really believe that this isn’t just a passing trend.

I’m so grateful that Upfield, the company behind Country Crock and I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, has transformed our Bubby’s margarine into products that are more natural, with less saturated fats and no trans fats, made with ingredients that are better for our health while still tasting great and working well as a substitute for butter in any recipe.

I LOVE how these jelly donut linzer cookies turned out, and not just ‘cuz they make the perfect cookie for your holiday spread, but because they taste absolutely amazing, are perfectly crispy and still, yes, pareve.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Chanukah!

Jelly Donut Linzer Cookies
YIELD: 18 cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) Country Crock plant butter with olive oil
1 cup sugar
1 extra large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup raspberry jam
powdered sugar, for dusting

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and mix with a hand blender until creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and continue to mix until combined. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix and low speed until the dough starts to come together. Press the dough into a flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes.

Roll the dough 1/4″ thick and cut into 2″ rounds with a cookie cutter. Cut a 3/4″ hole in the center of half of the cookies. Place cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, until the edges are starting to lightly brown. Cool completely.

Spread raspberry jam on the solid cookies and cover with the cut-out cookies to form a sandwich. The raspberry jam should peak through the hole (add more if needed). Dust the cookies with powdered sugar.

This post is sponsored by Upfield.

Pecan Pie Lace Cookies with Raspberry Filling

On November 18, 2013November 21, 2013

by chanie

in Chanukah, Cookies, Dessert, Recipes

24 Comments

This is like the Chanukah cookie that wasn’t. Well, almost. You know that little thing called sleep? Those precious hours of rest that we all take for granted, until we haven’t had any? Well, I’m more than a little sleep deprived lately, and while I try to be organized about my blogging calendar, I all but forgot about today’s Thanksgivukkah linkup. I had planned to post these pumpkin ricotta pancakes/cheese latkes but you know what happens to plans when you’re a walking zombie. I did post them alright. Just a wee bit too early.

Sure, I could have skipped out on the linkup fun altogether, but the truth is, I was kind of excited about challenging myself to another Thanksgivukkah mashup recipe. And there’s something else too. I’ve got to come clean with y’all. Me, the serial non-baker. The one that swore off dough’s and pastries of any kind — has got the baking itch.

Yes, it’s true. I’ve been baking. A lot. Cakes, bars, muffins and cookies. And I’m even kind of enjoying it. So when I realized I needed to come up with another Chanukah/Thanksgiving recipe, I went straight for my favorite of all baked goods – cookies!

I’ve been making lace cookies for years. so when I thought about what kind of cookie to make, I decided to adapt my classic lace cookie recipe to include pecans as a riff on pecan pie. Then, instead of filling the cookies with chocolate, I used raspberry jam, ala Chanukah jelly donuts, and finally, instead of a the traditional chocolate drizzle over the top, I decorated the florentines with Chanukah symbols. What I didn’t realize is just how amazing everything would come together. Raspberry jam, chocolate and lacy pecan cookies are like a match made in heaven!

I hope y’all enjoy my last minute Thanksgivukkah recipe. Be sure to check out all the other great mashup recipes in the Kosher Connection linkup below!

Pecan Pie Lace Cookies with Raspberry Filling

1/2 c light corn syrup
1/2 c shortening
2/3 c packed dark brown sugar
1 c all-purpose flour
1 c finely chopped pecans
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
raspberry jam, for filling
melted chocolate, for drizzle

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet* (if you are using an aluminum cookie sheet, make sure it’s completely flat without any indentations). Add the corn syrup, shortening and brown sugar to a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla, salt, flour and pecans. Drop batter by level tablespoon onto the baking sheet, about 3 inches apart. Bake for approximately 7 minutes, until set. Cool for 5 minutes**.

Spread good quality raspberry jam over cookies and pair to create sandwiches. Melt the chocolate in the microwave and decorate the tops of the cookie sandwiches with Chanukah symbols.

*You do not need to grease the baking sheet again in between each batch as the cookies will leave a greasy residue.

**Do not try to remove the cookies from the baking sheet until they have cooled COMPLETELY.

NOTE: If the batter gets too cold and sticky to handle, rewarm it over low heat, or, you can keep the batter warm by placing the saucepan over hot water.

TIP: Spread the raspberry jam on the cookies before serving. If done too far in advance, the cookies will become soggy.

Chocolate Olive Oil Crinkle Gelt Cookies

On December 2, 2012December 11, 2014

by chanie

in Chanukah, Cookies, Dessert, Recipes, Shabbos, Snacks

124 Comments

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
Post a Comment