New Year, New Cake: Cherry and Almond Slice
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Bring it on, 2011! After watching a quarter of 2010 vanish into the Bermuda Triangle (steroid treatment for four months for a mysterious allergy was no fun – but that’s fodder for another post, and only after much therapy!), I greet the year with hope and optimism and trust you do, too!
I’m hoping to be more regular with the posts this year. Indeed, from today (my birthday), I will have little excuse not to, for my lovely husband, key beneficiary of the naughty or nice things I bake, has bought me my first ever camera-related gadget – a macro lens. Woo hoo! So if you enjoy yummy details, there may soon be bigger and better ones on a screen near you 
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Spring Break Cookies: Chocolate Chip and White Chocolate and Pistachio
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Passover Dessert: Toffee and Chocolate Matzah Brittle (Rabbi Approved)
Update: This recipe has been a work in progress. It’s not a Matzah Crunch, for which several recipes abound. I was after a texture more like toffee and made this one up, with the instructions below updated according to successive – and successful – tries at it Made a batch two days ago that hit the nail on the head! Beautifully flavored toffee (enquire indoors about secret ingredients which are optional), the right chewiness without being impossible to bite and which allows the matzah to be torn or broken gracefully.
Anyway, I was very excited to hear that Rabbi Laurence Groffman and his wife Melissa, of Temple Sholom of West Essex, had seen, tried and tested the recipe from scratch, and that it was a hit with their family and guests. I’m so happy! Scroll through to see their photo.
This is so addictive and fun to put together with the kids. After making the candy and pouring it on the matzah, let them go wild sprinkling their favorite toppings over the still-warm chocolate and toffee. A great one for giving away, too, which might be a good idea (for your waistline) as they’re hard to resist!
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Planning for Passover: 20 Lunch and Lunchbox Ideas
As promised, here are some suggestions for lunches and kiddy lunchboxes through Passover week. Feel free to share your favorites, and those of your kids, in comments 
- Tuna or salmon salad, with matzah on the side
- Fish balls and veg sticks or salad
- Soup, with matzah crackers
- Matzah pizza (click on link)
Pistachio and White Chocolate Cookie
I love the green saltiness of pistachios against the creamy white chocolate in in this cookie. Anyone concerned about the amount of (supremely unavoidable) butter might be comforted to know that studies suggest pistachios help to reduce the bad cholesterol, or low-density lipoprotein, in your system, while raising the good (high-density lipoprotein). In other words, they’re heart healthy.
They also pack a huge amount of lutein, the antioxidant found in dark, leafy veggies. Before you eat vats of the stuff, take a look at the Telegraph’s story.
Add a drop of almond essence to bring out the nut in the cookie (and in you!) .
- butter, 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks), softened
- white sugar, 1/2 cup
- brown sugar, 1/2 cup
- egg, 1, large
- white wholemeal flour, 1 cup
- ground pistachios, 1/2 cup
- whole pistachios, 1/2 cup
- white chocolate chunks, 1/2 to 1 cup
- baking soda, 1 tsp
- vanilla essence, 1 tsp
- Preheat oven to 375F, 180C
- Cream the butter and sugars together, add the egg
- Add baking soda and flour, cream till combined
- Fold in the pistachios and chocolate
- Bake about 12 mins or till golden brown
- Allow to cool and store in a tin, if the family hasn’t gobbled them all up!
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Almond and Chocolate Chip Cookies
An all-time favourite for the lunch box and after school, now with added protein. They are delectably squidgy and nut-scented
- plain flour, 2 cups
- almond meal, 1 cup
- white sugar, 1 cup,
- dark brown sugar, 1/2 cup
- butter, 1 1/4 cup
- eggs, 2, large
- vanilla, 1 tsp
- salt, 1/2 tsp
- baking powder, 1 tsp
- chocolate chunks or chips, 1 cup
- Preheat the oven to 375F, 170C
- Cream the sugar and butter till light and fluffy
- Add eggs and cream further
- Sift flour, salt and baking soda together
- Add flour mixture to creamed sugar/butter, in 3 parts
- Fold in the chocolate chips
- Bake for about 12 minutes, allow to cool on a rack
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Cookie Monster Cookies
My husband and I are (and boy, is this a big deal) going away without the kids for the first time since we’ve had them. For a good cause, no doubt – a decade of wedded bliss.
Along with all the excitement and building of suspense, we’ve been ridden with guilt. What with the “Why are you going away without us?” “Do you have to be alone on your anniversary?” and “Are you sure you’re coming back?” questions, my main man has found himself shopping for all manner of bribes. Today, for example, he came home with two Club Penguin sleeping bags that I know we will struggle to keep the children out of until the weekend.
I, meanwhile, have been unable to say No to any kiddy food requests. Here is one of those adamant Yesses – the boys’ favourite Cookie Monster cookies!
- butter, 1 cup, melted
- brown sugar, 1 cup
- white sugar, 1/2 cup
- wholemeal flour, 1 cup
- plain flour, 1 2/3 cup
- vanilla, 2 tsp
- salt, 1/2 tsp
- baking powder, 1 tsp
- baking soda, 1 tsp
- semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1 cup
- chopped pecans, 3/4 cup
- dessicated coconut, 1/2 cup
- Preheat the oven to about 190C or 375F
- Cream the butter and eggs, then add the sugar
- Beat till fluffy and butterscotchy
- In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, baking powder, soda and salt
- Slowly add the flour to the creamed butter/sugar mixture
- Stir in the coconut, nuts and chocolate chips
- Refrigerate for 10 minutes, then shape into balls and press into a cookie sheet
- Bake for about 11-12 minutes
COOKIEEE!.. um yum yum yum!!
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Shortbread
Reminiscing about Vi, my lovely Scottish neighbour in Toronto, and our shared passion for shortbread, I had to bake some immediately (of course). This is a proper Scottish shortbread recipe. No shortcuts, no compromises on taste, and with the requisite amount of full-fat, cow-derived butter.
- butter, 2 sticks, softened (best quality)
- plain flour, 2 cups (best quality)
- cornflour, 1 cup
- sugar, superfine, 1/2 cup
- salt, 1/2 tsp
- Cream the butter in a food processor
- In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter and process till it comes together
- Remove the dough from the processsor, shape into rounds and refrigerate 15 mins
- Then, roll out the dough, cut into whatever shape you like, leaving the shortbread at a thickness of about 1 cm
- Use a fork to prick the shortbread, allowing it to rise evenly
- Bake in a preheated 420F (200C) oven for about 15 mins, watching so they don’t brown
- Allow to cool and store in a biscuit tin
- Don’t eat all at once
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Double Chocolate Chip Wholegrain Cookies
I try to make up for my sometimes debilitating weakness for sweet things by sneaking in healthier substitutes for some of the ingredients, such as wholemeal flour or brown sugar, or replacing part of the flour with soy flour for added protein. Often, and happily for me, the results are tastier than their white-flour alternatives. As I consider chocolate nutritious anyway, it shows up twice in this recipe
- 2 cups wholemeal flour
- 2 eggs
- 2/3 cup cocoa
- 1 1/2 cups sugar, brown or white
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1 cup walnuts
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- Preheat the oven to 175C
- Cream, with a handmixer, the butter and sugar till whitish and fluffy
- Add vanilla and eggs, continue to beat
- In a separate bowl, sieve together the flour, baking powder and soda and cocoa
- Add the cocoa-flour mixture to the wet ingredients gradually, blend till done
- Stir the walnuts and chocolate chips into batter
- By spoonfuls, drop onto a Pam-ed baking tray, patting it down with wetted fingers if needed
- Bake 11 to 12 minutes.
