Homemade Prune Filling

It is will great disgrace that I realize I haven't blogged in a year. But it's been a rough year. We know it's been at least a Jewish calendar year since my last post was about Hamentaschen. I just wanted to share again, the amazing Prune Butter recipe I found last year from Tori Avey. You can find her Lekvar Plum Butter recipe in full, with stunning pictures, here.This year, I felt comfortable enough with the consistency and idea of the recipe to freehand it a bit. I also did not remember to get the oranges I needed so I had to improvise... this was a common problem for me this year... being 6 months pregnant, my brain seems to have taken a vacation to Hawaii. I also forgot the lemon juice for the hamentaschen dough recipe (you can find that recipe here). What I learned is that white vinegar can substitute nicely for lemon juice. It gives the acidity but no flavor. It worked fine but (baby brain) I left the dough too long before I baked them (think 2 days) and it dried out so I had to start over. Fortunately then I had lemons and added the juice. It really does give it a nice zing.Anyway, here is my modified Plum Butter recipe that I used this year. My proportions are cut in a quarter from Tori's recipe. That was plenty for me to make half a batch of prune. Last year I had a ton of filling left over. I only make one batch these days but ... maybe I will be making more for preschool classes in the near future B'H!Kosher, She Eats Modified Plum Butter recipe (with ultimate gratitude to Tori Avey!)[ingredients]DON'T LET THESE MEASUREMENTS DRIVE YOU CRAZY! I only had a 1/2 cup of prunes so that informed the whole thing. I just felt it out. It needed a bit more water while it was cooking so I added it. I also used white bakers sugar because I couldn't find my brown sugar.Directions:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in a saucepan except for the brown sugar. Stir and bring to a boil for one minute.
2. Reduce heat to medium low so the mixture simmers slowly and constantly. Cover the pot. Let the mixture simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
3. Remove the lid from the pan. Let the prunes continue to simmer for 3-5 more minutes, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has evaporated/absorbed. Keep a close eye on the pan to make sure the prunes don't burn. When there are about 3 tbsp of liquid left in the pan, remove from heat.
4. Stir the brown sugar into the prune mixture till brown sugar melts and dissolves.
5. Mash the prune mixture with a potato masher till a smooth puree forms. Run a fork through the mixture to break up any pieces the potato masher missed. You can also use an immersion blender for a smoother puree, if you want to.
6. Let cool to room temperature before using. Store in a sealed, airtight container in the refrigerator. Refrigerating the filling to chill completely will make it easier to work with when filling hamantaschen.

These are Tori's instructions. They work pretty darn well. I was using a tiny saucepan since it was a small batch. We got a 0.5 quart all-clad butter warmer for our wedding. It was the best gift ever (thanks Joan!) because Dan uses it to warm his cream up in the mornings and I use it for tiny projects like this. Only downside is, it doesn't have a lid. So I did the recipe uncovered. It would have absorbed better covered but it worked just fine. So if you lost your brain (like me) or are in a rush (like me) you won't ruin it if you don't cover it. I also didn't let it cool fully before I used it and didn't mash the prunes enough. I tossed it in the fridge while I did the poppyseed filling and then used it. It was fine but she is right, it will work better cooled. As for the lack of mashing... it didn't seem like enough to use an immersion blender. And the pot was too small for a potato masher... so I violently attacked it with a fork. If I had more time, I might have used two forks. As people have been eating them, there are larger chunks of prune than I would prefer.Regardless of all of my shortcuts and changes, it's a tasty recipe and is now permanently in my arsenal. Now I need a homemade poppyseed filling... anyone have any good ones? 

Great Hamentaschen Bake Off of 2014

I know this post is late. I know! But how can you have a Great Hamentaschen Bake Off before Purim! And then I was a slacker. I admit it. A friend of mine and I decided to have a bake off. My recipe can be found here - We Put The Mon in Hamentaschen. This year I made my own plum filling from a recipe I found at The Shiksa In The Kitchen. Here is her recipe. I will give you Megan's recipes for the dough and the insides as well as my doctored recipe for the plum filling.

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Megan's Fancy (and Delicious) Hamentaschen:Dough Ingredients:

1. 1 cube butter or margarine
2. 1 cup sugar
3. 3 eggs
4. 1 tsp baking powder
5. 1/2 tsp baking soda
6. 3 1/2-4 cups flour
7. 1/3 cup orange juice

Dough Preparation:

1. Cream the butter and sugar
2. Add eggs
3. Mix dry ingredients in a separate bowl (start with 3 1/2 cup flour)
4. Alternate dry & wet ingredients
5. Add more flour if dough is too sticky to roll
6. Roll dough and cut into circles
7. Fill with dried fruit mix
8. Wet finger and dampen edge of dough circle
9. Squeeze circle together in 3 places to form triangle
10. Brush with beaten egg and bake at 375° for around 15 minutes

Dried Fruit Filling Ingredients:Around 3oz of each:

1. Prunes (pitted)
2. Raisins
3. Dried apricots
4. Dried cranberries
5. Dried figs
6. Dried dates (pitted)

Plus some strawberry jam

Dried Fruit Filling Preparation:

1. Chop fruit up in food processor. If you don't have one and you are cutting by hand put some oil on the knife to keep it from getting gummed up by the dried fruit.
2. Put all chopped fruit together in bowl and mix in strawberry jam until everything is mixed together.

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KSE Version of Plum Butter Hamentaschen Filling:Ingredients (This makes a lot! You can reduce by half!):

1. 1/4 cup orange liquor (I used Solerno Blood Orange Liqueur and Ferrand Dry Orange Curacao)
2. 2 cups pitted prunes
3. 1 cup water
4. 1 tsp orange zest
5. 1/4 tsp salt
6. 1/3 cup brown sugar

Preparation:

1. First thing, if you are using the liquor method, put it in a small saucepan and cook off some of the liquor.
2. Next add the rest of the ingredients EXCEPT THE BROWN SUGAR into a pan. Stir and bring to a boil for one minute.
3. Reduce heat to medium low so the mixture simmers slowly and constantly. Cover the pot. Let the mixture simmer covered for 20 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
4. Remove the lid from the pan. Let the prunes continue to simmer for 3-5 more minutes, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has evaporated/absorbed. Keep a close eye on the pan to make sure the prunes don't burn. When there are about 3 tbsp of liquid left in the pan, remove from heat.
5. Stir the brown sugar into the prune mixture till brown sugar melts and dissolves.
6. Mash the prune mixture with a fork. You can also use an immersion blender for a smoother puree, if you want to. (She recommended a potato masher... large fork worked perfect for me!)
7. Let cool to room temperature before using. Store in a sealed, airtight container in the refrigerator. Refrigerating the filling to chill completely will make it easier to work with when filling hamantaschen.

BR: Sponge Cake For Passover

This is the first in a new series we are calling Baboushka's Recipes (BR for short). Baboushka, or ба́бушка in Russian, means grandmother. In this series we will explore and save the recipes our grandparents brought with them or inherited from their parents. Kosher Hubby's family is from Ukraine and Belarus and my family is from Poland, Ukraine, and Germany... so Baboushka seemed pretty appropriate.Okay! Here we go, our first vintage recipe. This is my great-grandmother's Passover sponge cake recipe. I dug it out today (yes, Sunday, the day before Erev Pesach) for our dessert for the first seder. These instructions are verbatim, in my grandmother's handwriting from her mother. I will add my commentary in italics and parentheses. Ingredients:

• 8 eggs, separated
• Pinch of salt
• 1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup cold water, to which you add
• 1 tsp. lemon juice (you can easily fresh squeeze this!)
• 1 tsp. orange juice (you can easily fresh squeeze this!)
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup matzah cake flour, sifted
• Grated rind of 1/2 lemon and 1/3 orange

Preparation:  In a large bowl (she really does mean large...), with an electric mixer, beat egg whites, adding salt, until stiff, but not dry. Set aside.In a small bowl, with electric mixer, beat yolks, add sugar, then liquids, and continue  beating for five minutes.With a spatula gently pour the beaten yolks on the stiff whites. Add 1/4 cup of sifted flour and fold in carefully. Continue to add 1/4 cup of the flour, carefully folding in until all is used.(She neglects to tell us what to do with the lemon and orange zest. I added it to the yolks before I added them to the whites. Worked great.)Pour batter into an un-greased angel cake pan (we tried to use a 7x11 pan but it was too much batter... we used a 9x13 glass casserole dish in the end and it worked great). Place in a 350 degree oven and bake for 55 minutes.Invert to cool, and cut out of pan when cool. (Oops... didn't do that. Planning to cut it tomorrow at the seder.)I tasted it, of course... had to right? It was delish. Just like anything else that is Pesachdik, it tastes like matzah meal but it's going to be a great, parve dessert tomorrow. With a tiny corner cut out. Don't judge. It's a family seder. :)This recipe is by my Nanny - Mrs. Abraham Cronbach (as she is credited on the recipe)... Rose Hentel Cronbach.CHAG PESACH SAMEACH from the Kosher, She Eats kitchen! Look for our adventures with Vegan cooking after the chag. We review Mayim Bialik's new cookbook - Mayim's Vegan Table.

Rainbow Cheesecake

This one is for the kids (and the kid in each of us)! How cool is it to make a RAINBOW CHEESECAKE! Impress your guests, rainbow swirl it.

Rainbow Cheesecake

Crust

• 2 Cups graham crackers, crushed
• 2 Tablespoons sugar
• 6 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1 Pinch Salt

Cake

• 2 Pounds Cream cheese, room temp
• 1 1/3 Cups Sugar
• 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
• 4 Large Eggs
• 1 Cup Sour Cream
• 1 Cup Heavy Cream
• 1 Pinch Salt
• 1 Container Food colors (blue, yellow, green, red)

Directions

1. Before you get started with the crust, make sure your springform pan is water tight. I do this by carefully wrapping a few layers of foil on the outside of the pan, working in both directions so water cannot get into the pan. Be careful not to rip the foil or water will get into your cake and ruin it!
2. To make the crust, grind the graham crackers in a food processor until very fine. Then mix crushed crackers, salt, sugar, and cinnamon together in a bowl. Then mix in butter with your clean fingers.
3. Press all but a few tablespoons of the graham cracker mixture into the prepared springform pan. (Save a bit of the crust mixture in case there are holes later) Press it down firmly in the pan. I like to use a measuring cup for this which makes it easy to get around the edges. You should have an even, flat crust.
4. Bake the crust in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes on a low rack. Remove from the oven and cool completely before continuing. Turn oven temp down to 325.
5. To make filling, cut cream cheese into pieces and add to a mixing bowl. Whip until smooth, maybe 4 minutes. Then add sugar and continue to beat until smooth again, another 4-5 minutes. Next, add salt, vanilla, and one egg at a time, beating briefly between each egg. Finally, beat in the sour cream and heavy cream.
6. Once the mixture is well combined and very smooth, divide it into 6 dishes. Add food coloring to each dish to get the desired colors.
7. Pour colored mixtures into prepared dish with cooled crust. Start with red and pour it right in the center. Continue to build the rainbow by pouring the fillings directly in the center. This will create layers so that each slice has some of each color.
8. Place cheesecake into a baking dish a fill with boiling water about 1 inch up the side of the springform pan (pray that your dish is waterproof).
9. Bake at 325 degrees in the water bath for one hour and 10 minutes. If you're baking at high altitude like me, it will be more like one hour and 45 minutes--keep an eye on it and watch for browning.
10. Turn off the oven, crack the door to the oven, and let the cake cool in the oven for one hour. The slow cooling will help it not crack.
11. Then loosely wrap the dish in foil so the foil isn't touching the top of the cake and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
12. When ready to remove cake, run a clean narrow knife around the edge of the dish, remove the foil, unlock the spring, and carefully lift off the outer ring.
13. Serve either alone or with a cherry/raspberry sauce. It's so rich and creamy that it really doesn't need a topping.

This recipe came from a great blog called Taste For Adventure. LOVE the pictures they use!

World's Best Cheesecake (at least her son thinks so)!

This was sent to me by a friend and tweeter. FunJoel says that this is the BEST cheesecake recipe out there. I mean, he might be a little bias since it is his mother's recipe but I am super happy to share!Oh and, if you ever find yourself in Israel looking for a great tour guide, check out FunJoel. He rocks!World's Best CheesecakeMy mom, Ricki Haber, said there is no specific recipe for the crust. But she mixes graham cracker crumbs, a bit of sugar, cinnamon, ground walnuts and butter, then presses it down on the bottom of the pan. Here is the cheesecake itself:Ingredients

• 4 8-ounce packages of cream cheese
• 2 cups sugar
• 6 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 pints sour cream (32 ounces)

Cream cheese, eggs and sour cream should be at room temperature.Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1.  Put cream cheese in bowl and mix at low speed.
2. Add sugar gradually.
3.  Add eggs one at a time.
4. Mix at higher speed for 5 minutes.
5. Fold in sour cream and vanilla.
6. Pour into greased 9 x 3 1/4 inch spring pan. Put in oven at 350 degrees for 1 hour.
7. Shut off oven and leave in oven for 1 more hour.

Cannoli Cheesecake

This one is for my dad. Another cool twist on the cheese/dairy theme for Shavuot. And another great recipe from Woman's Day.

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Cannoli Cheesecake

• 1 container(s) (6 cups) whole-milk ricotta cheese (about 3 pounds)
• 7 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cup(s) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup(s) all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon(s) vanilla extract
• 5 1/2 teaspoon(s) freshly grated orange peel
• 1/3 cup(s) semisweet chocolate mini-chips

Topping

• 3 tablespoon(s) apricot preserves
• 1/4 cup(s) shelled pistachio nuts, skins rubbed off
• OR more chocolate chips (which is what I use)

Directions

1. Fill a roasting pan or a 13- by 9-inch baking pan with hot tap water to a depth of 1 inch. Place pan on oven rack in center of oven. Heat oven to 350°F.
2. Lightly grease and flour an 8-inch springform pan. Tap out excess flour. Wrap outside of pan with heavy-duty foil, molding it tightly around pan to prevent water from seeping in.
3. In a food processor, process ricotta cheese, scraping down sides once or twice, until smooth.
4. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, sugar, flour, vanilla, and orange peel until blended. Stir in ricotta until blended and smooth.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle chocolate chips over top. Carefully place pan into the pan of hot water. Bake 1 1/2 hours or until top is golden and cake pulls away slightly from side of pan (middle may jiggle slightly when pressed gently).
6. Turn off oven; prop oven door open about 1 inch. Let cake cool in oven about 45 minutes. Remove pan from water, then remove foil. Set pan on a wire rack to cool completely. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours, or overnight.
7. Up to 3 hours before serving, run a long thin knife around edge of pan to loosen cake. Remove sides of pan. Brush top of cake with the melted preserves. Sprinkle with pistachio nuts. OR decorate with chocolate chips. My cannoli lovers do NOT like fruit on their cannolis.
8. The cooled baked cake can be refrigerated, wrapped airtight, up to 1 week. Decorate with the topping just before serving.

We put the Mon in Hamantaschen!

I know I know, the headline is silly. But here's something you may not know (unless you speak Yiddish or German), the word hamantaschen means 'poppy seed pockets' montashn in Yiddish or mohntaschen in German. Mon is poppy seed and taschen means pockets. They are also called oznai Haman or Haman's ears in Hebrew. It has become a modern folklore that Haman wore a three-cornered hat and thus we are eating his hat.

Whoa whoa, slow down now. Who is this Haman character? Well it's all related to my favorite holiday, Purim. I could be partial because I was born on Purim but I just love it! Traditionally we eat these little pockets filled with many delicious flavors but the two traditional flavors are poppy seed (mon) and plum (I refuse to call it prune because they get a bad rap). Plum happens to be my favorite but you can make them with any filling. I prefer the Solo fillings which are Kosher dairy. They are the best brand, in my opinion, with great flavors and fillings of the right consistency. You can find them in just about any grocery store.

If you want to learn more about the holiday of Purim, I suggest going here.

Now, I am about to share something very special with you... my special Hamantaschen recipe. This was given to me by a dear friend and truly is the best dough I have ever found for Hamantaschen. Please use and enjoy and please credit us for this recipe.

Hamantaschen

• 1 1/4 cups of sugar

• 4 eggs

• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1 cup oil

Mix these together. Then add:

• 5 cups of flour (I mix whole wheat and white. You may need more oil because the whole wheat sucks it up.)

• 1 Tablespoon baking powder (only have baking soda? That's okay, click here for my magical recipe to make baking POWDER from baking SODA... and NO they are NOT interchangeable.)

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

You will also need one 10-12oz jar of fruit filling per recipe. (Again, I like Solo but Baker's also works. Thick jams can work too.)

1. Mix the dough until it clings together and is smooth - when it is too stiff to mix with a spoon or mixer, mix the dough with your hands.

2. Roll the dough out on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick.

3. Cut out circles (I use a glass) and put the excess dough back in the bowl to be re-rolled.

4. Put approx 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of filling in the middle of the circle. It depends on the size of your circle.

5. Fold the dough up into a triangle shape and pinch closed. Leave an opening at the top for the filling to show through.

6. Place cookies on an UNGREASED cookie sheet approx 1/2 inch apart.

7. Re-roll the dough until all is used.

8. Bake at 350 degrees for 19-21 minutes or until light brown (WATCH THEM! You don't want black bottoms on your cookies!)

9. Place on cooling rack and store in airtight containers.

This recipe should make 40-44 cookies.

A special shout out to the World's Greatest Hamantaschen Maker who taught me everything I know and shared this recipe with me. Thanks Mommy Schlammy! :)

Baking Powder Vs. Baking Soda

It is an eternal mystery. People have questioned the difference for ages... okay maybe that is a bit of an exaggeration but in a poll of my friends only 1 in 10 know the difference and why it is important to get the right one! Well, I am here to help!It comes down to chemistry. They are both leavening agents, which means they are added to baked goods before cooking to produce carbon dioxide and cause them to 'rise.'Baking SODA

• Baking soda is pure sodium bicarbonate. When baking soda is combined with moisture and an acidic ingredient (e.g., yogurt, chocolate, buttermilk, honey), the resulting chemical reaction produces bubbles of carbon dioxide that expand under oven temperatures, causing baked goods to rise. The reaction begins immediately upon mixing the ingredients, so you need to bake recipes which call for baking soda immediately, or else they will fall flat!

Baking POWDER

• Baking powder contains sodium bicarbonate (i.e. baking SODA), but it includes the acidifying agent already (cream of tartar), and also a drying agent (usually starch). Baking powder is available as single-acting baking powder and as double-acting baking powder. Single-acting powders are activated by moisture, so you must bake recipes which include this product immediately after mixing. Double-acting powders react in two phases and can stand for a while before baking. With double-acting powder, some gas is released at room temperature when the powder is added to dough, but the majority of the gas is released after the temperature of the dough increases in the oven.

When to use which?

• Soda vs powder depends on the other ingredients in the recipe. The ultimate goal is to produce a delicious product with a good texture.
  • Baking SODA is basic (as in base vs acid) and will yield a bitter taste unless countered by the acidity of another ingredient, such as buttermilk or chocolate. You'll find baking soda in cookie recipes.
  • Baking POWDER contains both an acid and a base and has an overall neutral effect in terms of taste. Recipes that call for baking powder often call for other neutral-tasting ingredients, such as milk. Baking powder is a common ingredient in cakes and biscuits.

What the heck do I do if I have one but not the other?!

• Okay, here is my biggie advice... Always have baking SODA and Cream of Tarter in your house. That way, you can make anything.
• If you have baking SODA but need baking POWDER:
  • For 1 Tablespoon of POWDER = 1 teaspoon of SODA + 2 teaspoons of Cream of Tarter. Mix together and use.
  • Once you have added to your recipe, bake asap and don't over mix. It's delicate.
  • Homemade baking powder will clump together if it isn't used right away, but you can prevent this by adding 1 teaspoon of corn starch to the baking powder mixture. Store the baking powder in an airtight container.
  • Commercial baking powder preparations often contain hidden ingredients (such as aluminum compounds). By making your own baking powder, you'll have complete control over your ingredients.
• If you have baking POWDER but need baking SODA:
  • You need to use 2-3 times more baking powder than baking soda. The extra ingredients in the baking powder will have an effect on the taste of whatever you are making, but this isn't necessarily bad.
  • Ideally, triple the amount of baking powder to equal the amount of baking soda.
    • So, if the recipe called for 1 tsp baking soda, you would use 3 tsp baking powder.

Thank you to chemistry.about.com for helping out this kitchen chemist!