Recipes: Desserts

In our recent Q&A with Alicia Silverstone, she offered a few of her favorite recipes. This week's Tuesday Taste Test leaves the hard work up to you. Alicia promises that you'll love this sweetly humane snack. You tell us--how do her Peanut Butter Rice Krispie Treats measure up?

This cake tastes best after a morning spent in bed working on extracurricular activities, but it’s generally delicious, too, and when you can get it to come out of the bundt pan in one piece it looks pretty, too.

My friend Jonathan has made this cake for my family a few times, and even though I never like pears I adore this cake. Moist and with a wonderful texture, it’s an awesome combination that is sure to become a staple at my Shabbat dinners.

If you’ve ever been to Jerusalem you’ve probably heard people speak at great length about Marzipan rugelach, and how completely amazing they are. Marzipan even sells special containers for their many customers who buy their rugelach and plan to bring them on planes back to Europe and the States. On Thursday afternoon and Friday the line from the Marzipan counter in Machane Yehuda can be fifty people long.

My great Marzipan story is that I once went on a date with one of the guys who works at the Marzipan counter. It was fun, but we both knew it wasn’t meant to be (though smart and attractive, this guy had all kinds of Jewish themed tattoos on his upper body, which was intriguing, but also suggested to me that he wasn’t quite as committed to halacha as I was) and parted ways amicably. I got free rugelach for a couple of months, which was pretty sweet. Then, a year later when I was back in Jerusalem I went back to Marzipan and he was there and didn’t recognize me. Apparently, though, his taste hadn’t changed because after a few minutes of chatting he asked me out again, apparently completely unaware that we’d already been down that road once before. I said no, but did accept some free rugelach.

Anyway, while I do love me some Marzipan, I think gooey rugelach kind of miss the point. Ideally rugelach filling should be kind of crumbly. This recipe, via one of my older sister’s teachers at our Orthodox high school, is really easy, quick, and a major crowd pleaser. I made it for my fiction writing class just before Rosh Hashana and it was a huge hit.

Enjoy!

Chocolate and Cinnamon Rugelach: yum!

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Baklava: Hot from the ovenLast week I was out with a friend at a Middle Eastern restaurant and by the time we were done stuffing our faces with cacik, grape leaves, feta, lamb, beef, and the like, we were too full to order baklava for dessert. So we decided that I should make baklava for our Rosh Hashanah dinner that was to take place a few days later. And now, I will share with you the recipe for the baklava that "is like no other baklava I've ever tasted," "requires a shower after eating because I'm covered in honey," and "f*cking delicious," according to three tasters.

When I looked to Epicurious for a recipe, I found that there were about a million different versions, with fillings ranging from walnuts and almonds to chocolate and apricots. I went with pistachios, though, since they're my fave.

By the way, working with phyllo dough is tricky. You’ve gotta be fast, since it dries out quickly and tears easily. By the time I was done assembling my baklava I had shreds of phyllo dough all over the countertop and all over the floor. And in the garbage. But maybe it's just me. I'm not exactly speedy in the kitchen...or anywhere.

Got any tips on working with phyllo? Have a favorite baklava recipe to share? Post it in the comments section!

Bread pudding has long been a staple at Southern bed and breakfasts, but more recently it’s worked its way onto some pretty trendy restaurant menus. And what better way to use up extra challah from Rosh Hashanah? We always have extra, especially of the raisin variety, since Fiance's mother and I are the only ones who seem to like it. This recipe calls for regular challah, but if want to use raisin challah, omit the chocolate chips. This is delicious served with a dollop of whipped cream, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or with the cinnamon-rum sauce.

Bread pudding:: Soaking in unhealthy goodnessBread pudding: Hot from the oven.

Grating nutmeg with a microplane: Beware of your finger flesh.In the spirit of the holiday, here's another sweet recipe. This one doesn't have honey but it's absolutely delicious and I could eat pans of it. Like, till Type I sets in. Even then I'd probably eat another pan. Make sure you use fresh grated nutmeg. This means you'll have to buy a whole nut of it and grate it like you do cheese. For this I'd suggest a microplane grater. If you don't have one of these, go buy one. (They do amazing things with parmesan cheese, too, as long as you don't scrape your knuckles off.)

 

Nectar of the GodsWhen you picture the “land flowing with milk and honey” what do you see?  Chances are, like me, you envision a tall glass overflowing with whole-fat milk and a sticky, golden honey bear.  For years, scholars and Torah enthusiasts have bashed this idea, claiming that honey in biblical times actually refers to a sweet dates, and not bee honey. 

Last week’s Jerusalem Post, took the sting out of their argument when it revealed that a Hebrew University archaeologist uncovered the oldest known apiary in the Beit She’an Valley.  The uncovered hives "date" back to the 10^th to early 9^th century BCE and beekeepers estimate that they could produce up to a half ton of honey/year in their heyday. 

Okay, so maybe the gig is up on date honey being the exclusive sweetener of the holy land.  Still, I revelled in the opportunity to try something new (and also ancient) for my Rosh Hashanah apple dipping.  A few thwarted trips to Fairway and other speciality stores convinced me that date honey isn't easy to come by.  Luckily, it turns out that it's easy to make.     

(I've only tested the recipe below twice, so I'm definitely open for suggestions on how to improve it.)

Date Honey

Yield: about 1 cup of gooey, fragrant date honey

• 8 dates – make sure you buy the fat, sticky Medjool dates (Delget won’t work)
• Juice of ½ a lemon, remove the seeds
• ½ cup water
• 4 pieces crystallized ginger, finely chopped
• ¼ cup Agave syrup (don’t worry, this is easy to find at Whole Foods or health food stores)

Remove the pit from the dates and quarter them.  Mash the dates with a fork into a paste-like consistency.  Add the date mash to a small sauce pan.  Add the lemon juice and ¼ cup of water and heat over a low flame, stirring frequently with a whisk or wooden spoon (about 3 minutes).  After the water is absorbed, add the remaining water, agave syrup and crystallized ginger.  The mash should take on a slightly more liquid quality, like apple butter.  Continue stirring, adding small amounts of additional water and Agave syrup as necessary until you reach the taste and consistency you like.

Let cool and serve with slices of Ginger Gold, Honey Crisp apples (or any apple you like).