passover bliss

Okay, I know. I'm the crazy girl who actually looks forward to Passover every year. When my sister and I were younger, there was Matzah in our house all year round, because we loved to snack on it (matzah and butter- really what is better than that?). Though our taste buds have grown a bit since then, I still look forward to the holiday every year. The combination of the wonderful Jewish traditions, spending two days with my family and friends, and cooking up a storm with my mom all come together in perfection. Between my mom's amazing cooking, and my dad's witty retelling of the story of Passover, they really know how to throw a Seder (the traditional Jewish meal held on the first two nights of Passover, which is eight days long). My mom's chicken soup with matzah balls just can't be beat, and she's very into making non-traditional passover food as well (this year it was tuna tartar instead of gefilte fish- if you don't know what it is, trust me, you don't want to know). Seder this year was no exception, and everything was truly delicious.

If you hadn't guessed by now, my mom put me in charge of desserts for passover this year. She and I had many a conference call finalizing our menu, and settled on a mere 7 desserts to serve at seder. Fortunately, I had a wonderfully large kitchen to spread my baking wings out in. Going home to cook is one of my absolute favorite things to do. Not only do I have an amazing cooking partner in my mom, but I have an incredibly large, newly renovated, perfectly stocked at all times kitchen to bake in. This is even more important when there are 7 desserts on the menu. To top it off, I was convinced to make my desserts gluten free. You may not know this, but matzah is actually made with wheat, as are all matzah products. Therefore, not all things that are kosher for passover (permitted to eat during the week of passover) are gluten free. Being put on dessert duty when I couldn't use the typical passover flour substitute, matzah cake meal, was somewhat challenging. However, because I was forced to think a little bit outside of the box, I think that my desserts came out amazingly. Getting creative definitely paid off here. Enjoy all of the recipes, which are naturally kosher for passover, but delicious to make all year round. I definitely will not be retiring these until next year.

You'll notice 5 recipes below, and I know, I said 7! The first dessert was a fruit salad (blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, and pineapple) with fresh grated lime zest topping it. I know it sounds crazy and so simple, but the lime zest really made the difference in this salad. I promise to post pictures in the future with the recipe its self, but go and try it. Its delicious. The second recipe was my mom's delicious mandel bread. Its an amazingly delicious mix between a biscotti and a thick chocolate chip cookie, with all of the best parts of both. It's a secret family recipe, but maybe one day soon I'll share it with you. For now, enjoy the five below!!


Pistachio Cookies

seriously easy, with seriously delicious flavor.

3 cups ground pistachios (use a food processor to chop the pistachios into large "crumbs")
3 egg whites
1 cup of granulated sugar

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees
Mix together the three ingredients until they reach a nice thick, sticky consistency
Refrigerate the batter for 20 minutes, to allow it to come together
Use a spoon to drop the batter into rounded balls onto a lightly greased baking sheet
Cook for about 15 minutes until the tops of the cookies start to turn golden
Move the cookies onto a cooling rack and allow to cool before eating
This recipe will make about two dozen cookies
enjoy!


Passover Brownies

so fudgey, you won't even know its KFP

4 eggs
1 cup canola oil
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup potato starch
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 bag of semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Combine the eggs, oil, and vanilla in a bowl
Once the wet ingredients are combined, add in the sugar, potato starch, and cocoa powder
Finally, mix in the the chocolate chips
Pour batter into a lightly greased 9x9 inch pan
Bake for about 45 minutes or until you test the center with a knife and it comes out clean (you'll want to let them under cook just a little!)
Let cool in the pan and enjoy!


Flourless Chocolate Cake

the picture barely does it justice- this is simply divine.

10 oz bittersweet (or semisweet would work here too) chocolate
7 oz unsalted butter
5 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup of granulated sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Chop the chocolate and cube the butter
Place the chocolate and the butter into a double boiler (a glass or metal bowl over a pot with an inch or two of simmering water) and allow to melt, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate mixture is smooth
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs and sugar. Once combined, mix in the chocolate mixture until the batter is smooth
Butter a springform pan and dust it lightly with cocoa powder. A good trick here is to sprinkle the cocoa into the dish and then turn it around tapping the sides lightly so that the cocoa powder spreads out evenly
Pour the batter into the pan, and cover the top of the pan tightly with a sheet of tin foil

Bake the cake for 75 minutes before removing from the large pan with water, taking off the tin foil, and allowing to cool completely on a rack
enjoy with a fresh dollop of whipped cream, or some berries!


Almond Pound Cake

golden, nutty, beautiful.

1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups almond flour (I used Bob's Red Mill brand here)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp sliced almonds, toasted

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees
Mix the butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl until well mixed and smooth
Add the 4 eggs, one at a time, beating after each additional egg
Add in the vanilla extract and mix well
In a separate bowl, mix together the almond flour, salt, baking powder, ginger, cardamom, and cinnamon
Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet while continuing to mix as you add
Once combined, pour the batter into a 9x5 inch loaf pan that has been coated with nonstick cooking spray
Sprinkle the top of the cake with the sliced almonds
Bake the cake for 50 minutes, checking to be sure that the center is done before taking it out of the oven
Allow to cool and enjoy!!


Apple Crisp

8 granny smith apples (any tart apple would work here)
3/4 cup almond flour (I used Bob's Red Mill here)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
8 tsp butter, cold

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
Peel and core your apples. Cut the apples in half and then into 1 inch slices
Place the apples in the bottom of a baking dish (9x9 is what I used)
In a separate bowl, combine the almond flour, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg
Cube the butter into small 1/2 inch cubes and add the butter to the dry ingredients. Mix until the butter has broken up and mixed with the dry ingredients forming small little balls
Pour the topping evenly over the batter
Cover the pan and bake for 1 hour. The top of the crisp should begin to brown, and the apples should be tender
enjoy fresh out of the oven!!
*This one came out of the oven and was gone so quickly, that pictures were not taken- I promise to make it again in the future, i know recipes without pictures are no fun!

The great (gluten free) matzah ball challenge

Last weekend, my mom came to visit. I'm very fortunate that my family lives only two hours away from me, and likes to come visit in New York whenever they can. I love spending time with my family, and when they come in for a day, we always have fun. My mom came in to spend the day with me, and with a project in mind. Passover is coming up, and for those of you might not know, on passover Jews eat all kinds of weird food like Matzah. Passover is one of my all time favorite holidays, and I have to say, my mom and I cook a mean seder meal (keep an eye out for a HUGE Passover post at the beginning of April). One of my mom's specialties, that she makes for passover and all year round, is her chicken soup with Matzah balls. Over they years my mom has definitely perfected the taste and texture of these delicious floating dumplings, and everyone loves having her soup as one of the courses at our seder.

This year, my mom is determined to make gluten free matzah balls, for me and my cousin, who also eats gluten free. My mom showed up at my door, shopping bags in hand, and on a mission. We made three different matzah ball recipes and had a taste test. I think that making good matzah balls is hard in general, but good gluten free matzah balls?! Almost impossible. Last year my mom made gf matzah balls from a box mix, and they were pretty disgusting. This year, she's determined to do better. After many hours of mixing, chilling, and cooking, we had a matzah ball taste test to decide which was the best tasting matzah ball. We wanted them to taste like matzah balls and look the part, too. While they were definitely not winners across the board, we found a winner! Enjoy the recipes below, and try them at your own risk. The last recipe is the one that was very yummy, with the most similar flavor and consistency to regular matzah balls. This is the one we'll be making at our seder this year!



Take One

These were much more soup dumplings than matzah balls. If you're looking for balls of mashed potatoes floating in your soup, this recipe is for you. Otherwise, I'd say skip this one.

take one

2 lbs large red potatoes
1 egg
1/4 cup potato starch
2 cups blanched almond flour
Salt and pepper

Bring a large pot of water to boil on the stove, and add the potatoes. Boil the potatoes until they are tender (about 45 minutes) and then drain them
Allow the potatoes to come to room temperature and peel off the skins. Chop the potatoes into large chunks and chill in the fridge until they are cold all the way through
Once cooled, mash the potatoes and get out as many lumps and bumps as possible
Bring another pot of water to boil on your stove
Into the potatoes, mix in the egg, potato starch, almond meal, salt, and pepper
Roll the potato dough into small balls and place them gently into the hot water
The balls will rise to the top of the pot as they cook through
After about 12 minutes, all of the balls should be floating. At this point, remove them from the pot with a slotted spoon and enjoy


Take Two

While this recipe definitely seemed promising, even after adding extra almond flour, the batter almost feel apart. Ultimately the balls just did not come together, and though they cooked better than we thought they would, they were very grainy in texture and did not have great flavor.

take two

4 eggs
2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste
2 cups almond flour

In a bowl, beat the eggs, salt, and pepper for two minutes. Once combined, mix in the almond flour and refrigerate the mixture for 2 hours
Once chilled, bring a large pot of water to boil
Roll the batter into small, 1 inch balls and then drop them into the boiling water
Reduce the heat of the stove, and cover the pot, cooking for 20 minutes
After 20 minutes, take out the balls and enjoy


Take Three

Finally, we got it. While this recipe is close but not perfect, it is tasty, texturally pleasing, and definitely reminds me of Passover. The recipe calls for gluten free matzah, which most grocery stores now carry. The gf matzah is actually delicious, I definitely recommend you buy some! My mom and I will be making these bad boys again for our seder, hopefully you will too! We definitely recommend adding in extra salt, and perhaps some herbs also to elevate the flavor of these.

take three

 

1 1/2 cup gluten free matzah meal (we used gf matzah crushed very finely, it worked great as a sub!)
4 large eggs, separated
4 tbsp vegetable stock
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup almond flour
salt and pepper

Place egg whites in a mixing bowl and whip until stiff peaks form
In a different bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, stock, and olive oil
Place your matzah sheets in a bag and use a rolling pin to crush to fine crumbs (you could also use a space grinder or food processor that is able to really create a fine crumb)
Fold half of the matzah meal and salt into the egg whites, and then fold in half of the egg yolk mixture. Repeat with the remaining meal and yolks, adding in the almond flour at the end
Refrigerate the batter for 30 minutes
Bring a large pot of water to boil on the stove
Roll the matzah balls into 1 inch balls and drop them into the boiling water
Cover the pot and simmer for 30 minutes before the matzah balls are ready to eat!
enjoy!