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| My upside-down version of Paula Shoyer's Honey Cake with Pecan Swirls (Powdered Sugar to be added on Rosh Hashana!) |
I have often written about how I
have found meaning in the Jewish books I read to my kids when they were
small. We specifically looked for books
that had a lesson about important Middot (character traits) or holiday
customs. An added bonus was that the
lessons that we were trying to teach our kids were reinforced to us
through the books as well. When Rosh
Chodesh Elul1
came around and we began to blow the shofar at the end of davening every morning,
I was reminded of my all-time favorite Rosh Hashanah book “Showfy and Blowfy”
by Malka Danzinger. Even though my girls
are already “big” I still pulled out this book this week and read it to them
while they were getting ready for school one morning. Without spoiling the whole plot of the book,
Showfy and Blowfy are two shofars that are blown on Rosh Hashanah. When one is blown, the congregation not only
hears the shofar sounds, but they also hear “Hashem2
is King, Hashem is King, Hashem is King over heaven and earth.” When the second shofar is blown the next day
the congregation not only hears those shofar sounds, but also hears “Time to do
Teshuvah3, Time to do Teshuvah, Time to do Teshuvah,
time to say I’m sorry and I’ll be good.”
How powerful is that? I actually
now think those things when I hear the shofar sounds. Those are the real messages of the shofar. Although we are thinking about all the things
we need to do, and all the food we need to prepare for Rosh Hashanah, this
simple children’s book helps us to think about the true meaning of the holiday.
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| We love Showfy & Blowfy!! |
But “real life” happens and we do
need to think about the preparations, and guests (all 50 gajillion of them),
and all the things that “real life” encompasses. Did you ever reach the point when you just
can’t do one more thing? Not one more
thing!!! You are on complete overload and putting one more thing on your
plate will just push you over the edge?
Right over the edge. Juggling so
many things that you’re afraid that one of the balls you have flying in the air
will come crashing down and hit you in the head???!!! Yup.
That’s me. Passed that point a
while ago. That’s when survival mode
kicks in. Ok kids, you want chips,
cupcakes and Pirate Booty for lunch…no problem – can you please just add
a fruit to it so I don’t get called from the school? Oh, and we need to replace
our toaster oven that shorted out so the kids can have frozen pizza slices for
dinner (BTW – we did pay 53¢
for the new toaster oven…I may be overloaded but I’m still a great
shopper!). Things are always a
little crazy around here, but we’ve just reached a whole new level of
insanity!!! When we left my mom (KIH4)
in the hospital last night at 3:30 AM after an emergency trip, we were amazed
that things have actually got more challenging! We weren’t sure that was
even possible…but it was! My consolation
is that hopefully this wild roller coaster ride is temporary, and that life
will revert to “normal” crazy at some point.
So, when life gets really crazy you call for backup right? Hopefully, I help you a little when your
life is crazy with the recipes and fun anecdotes…but for now I’m calling
for backup. HELP!!
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| This Upside-Down Apple Cake is just right! |
In the world of a food writer, freelance
pastry chef and super busy Mom/Daughter, backup comes in the form of a really
great baking cookbook. One of the huge perks of being a food
writer is that I have the privilege of getting advance copies of the latest and
greatest kosher cookbooks to review.
Last week I got an awesome one, “The Kosher Baker” by Paula
Shoyer. Thanks Paula!! She really is a
baking expert, and the book tells us about her interesting background and
experiences. It’s packed with great
baking recipes, from the simplest one-bowl variety to those for the more
ambitious. Fabulous cookie, biscotti
& bar cookies – all in one bowl!
There are great pictures that show how to make more complicated recipes step
by step. Even the more complex recipes
are presented in a way that makes them approachable. It’s my life preserver - right in the beginning of the book were three
recipes I immediately wanted to make this week (and I didn’t have to come up
with them myself either- whew)!! How
great is that?! Reviewing the rest of
the book didn’t disappoint either. I
wanted to make nearly every recipe – and as a freelance pastry chef that’s a
big deal! Many of the recipes have instruction
about preparing in advance and freezing (like the fabulous Chocolate Peanut
Butter Mousse Cakes – YUM!), which is incredibly helpful especially when cooking
for Yom Tov. You can actually make the
dessert in advance. Now, last
Shabbat, with 20 minutes before I had to go upstairs, shower and get ready for
Shabbat , I grabbed “The Kosher Baker” and whipped up two of the three “one
bowl” recipes I had planned to make. I
made the Honey Cake with Pecan Swirls and the Apple Upside-Down Cake
in no time at all. In my rush I didn’t
realize that the Honey cake was supposed to go into a loaf pan (it’s got a gorgeous
crumb topping) and did it in a bundt pan instead – but you know what? It came out great!! And pretty too!! The crumbs created a pretty decorative border
layer on the bottom of the cake (phew!).
I followed the directions for the Apple Upside-Down Cake and
layered the apples in three rows as specified.
I think I needed to make the apples a little thicker though, sadly most
of them got lost in the batter, but the cake was impressive anyway. The Honey and Apple cakes are perfect for
Rosh Hashanah dessert - I’m freezing both the cakes and will be serving them to
my Rosh Hashanah guests. I’m sure the cakes will get rave reviews. It was all I could do the keep the ravenous
hoard from digging into them. I’m saving
the powdered sugar toppings for when I serve them on Rosh Hashanah.
And now I have to get back to
life….Time to do Teshuvah….
Here are some more of my Rosh
Hashanah recipes/articles. Have a Happy
& Healthy New Year!!
- Aish.com
2012 - Cooking with Pomegranates
- Aish.com
2011 - Apples for Rosh Hashanah
- Koshereveryday
Honeyed Beets
- For
the GFE (Gluten Free Eater) - Gluten Free Oat Challah
Glossary:
- Rosh Chodesh Elul: The beginning of the Hebrew month
of Elul, the month before Rosh Hashanah.
- Hashem: G-d
- Teshuva: Repentance for sins.
- KIH: Kein Iyna Hara – Yiddish for without an evil
eye.
Paula Shoyer is a pastry
chef who owns and operates Paula’s Parisian Pastries Cooking School in Chevy
Chase, Maryland. She received her pastry diploma from the Ritz Escoffier Ecole
de Gastronomie Francaise in Paris, France in 1996. She is the author of The
Kosher Baker: 160 dairy-free desserts from traditional to trendy (Brandeis
University Press, August 2010) She is the editor of two popular Kosher
cookbooks: Kosher by Design Entertains and Kosher by Design Kids in the
Kitchen. You can find her blog at http://kosherbaker.blogspot.com/
You can find “The Kosher Baker” on Amazon.com.
Honey Cake with Pecan Swirls –
by Paula Shoyer
Serves 16
STORAGE: Store covered in
plastic at room temperature for up to five days or freeze wrapped in plastic
for up to three months.
- Spray
oil containing flour or spray oil plus 2 tablespoons flour for greasing
and flouring pan
- 1 cup
pecan halves
- ½ plus
1/3 cup sugar, divided
- 1
tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2/3 cup
brewed espresso or very strong coffee (or 1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
dissolved in 2/3 cup boiling water)
- ¾ cup
honey
- ½ cup
canola or vegetable oil
- 1/3 cup
dark brown sugar
- 2 large
eggs
- 2 cups
all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon
ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon
ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon
ground ginger
- ¾ teaspoon
baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon
baking soda
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease and flour a 12-inch loaf pan.
Place the pecan halves in a bag
and crush them with a rolling pin until the largest pieces are between ¼ and ½-inch
long. Add the ½ cup sugar and 1
tablespoon cinnamon to the bag and shake to combine.
In a large bowl, whisk together
the coffee and honey. Add the oil, 1/3
cup of the white sugar, the brown sugar, and eggs and whisk well. Add the flour, cloves, cinnamon, ginger,
baking powder, and baking soda and beat with a stand or hand-help electric
mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes, or mix vigorously by hand until you have
smooth batter.
Scoop up 1 cup of the batter and
pour into the pan. Tilt the pan in a
circle so the batter covers the entire bottom.
Sprinkle on 1/3 cup of the nut mixture, covering the entire batter. Repeat with another cup of batter and 1/3 cup
of the nut mixture. Repeat again. Pour the remaining batter on top and spread
gently to cover the nuts.
Bake for 1 hour, or until a
skewer inserted comes out clean. Let
cool for 10 minutes in the pan and then turn out onto a rack to continue
cooling. This cake is good either warm
or at room temperature.
Apple Upside-Down Cake
Serves 15-20
STORAGE: Store covered in
plastic at room temperature for up to four days or freeze wrapped in plastic
for up to three months.
- Spray
oil, for greasing pan
- 1 ½ teaspoons
ground cinnamon
- 2 cups
plus 3 tablespoons sugar, divided
- 2 cups
all-purpose flour
- 5 large
eggs
- 1 cup
canola or vegetable oil
- 1
teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4
apples (McIntosh, Gala, Fuji, Golden Delicious)
- 1
tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 9x13-inch pan with spray oil.
In a small bowl, mix the cinnamon
with 3 tablespoons of the sugar.
Sprinkle on the bottom of the prepared pan.
In a large bowl, beat the flour, remaining 2 cups of sugar,
eggs, oil, and vanilla with a stand or hand-held electric mixer on medium-high
speed or by hand until well mixed. Peel and
core the apples, halve them and cut into ¼-inch-thick slices. Place the slices on top of the cinnamon and
sugar in the pan in 3 long rows of overlapping slices. Pour the batter over the apples and spread
evenly.
Bake for 1 hour, or until the top
is browned and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Let cool for 30 minutes and then turn over
onto a large serving platter or tray.
Serve at room temperature. Just
before serving, sift the confectioners’ sugar over the top. The sugar will seep into the apples and
heighten the taste.
Chocolate Chip Mandelbread
Makes about 30 cookies
STORAGE: Place in an airtight
container or freezer bags and store at room temperature for up to five days or
freeze up to three months.
- 3 cups
all-purpose flour
- 1 cup
sugar
- 2
teaspoons baking powder
- Dash of
salt
- ¼ cup
orange juice
- 3 large
eggs
- ½ cup
canola or vegetable oil
- 1
teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 10
ounces parve semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a jelly roll pan or large cookie sheet
with parchment.
In a large bowl, mix together the
flour, sugar, baking powder salt, orange juice, eggs, oil, and vanilla until it
forms a dough. Add the chocolate chips
and mix again to evenly distribute the chips.
Divide the dough in half and
shape each half into a log about 10 to 12 inches long by 3 to 5 inches
wide. Flatten each loaf slightly. Place the 2 loaves on the prepared pan, about
5 inches apart.
For the Honey Cake with Pecan Swirls
Measure the honey and other ingredients...
Combine the nuts & sugar in a bag....
Distribute it in the pan...
Mix the ingredients in one bowl!!
Line up the apples then cover them
with the batter...
Pop it in the oven then...
it's Apple Upside-Down Cake!!
Kosher
Everyday is dedicated to the memory of my father
Dr.
Theodore Saltzberg - Tuvia Ben Nachum Z”L
May
his memory be for a blessing - Yihi zichro baruch.
Look for additional information about Edible Experience
Kosher Everyday at www.koshereveryday.com,
aish.com, Mishpacha Magazine’s Kosher Inspired Magazine,
The Chicago Tribune Syndication,
or on Facebook at Edible
Experience by Sharon
These recipes are for sole, personal use of visitors to Sharon Matten
-Edible Experience Kosher Everyday. Edible Experience Kosher Everyday recipes
are for your enjoyment but are not to be posted or reprinted without express
permission from Sharon Matten. Thank you!!
Congratulations!
KosherEveryday is one of the finalists for
the
2011 CBS Most Valuable Blogger Awards!!
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