Stained-Glass Cheesecake Torte

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I distinctly remember the first time my sister and I made this cake at least 30 years ago. We brought it to our mutual friend, Cookie’s, party so that we could get feedback as to whether or not to put it on our catering menu. My sister and I were amazed to discover that the cake received attention far beyond what we thought was appropriate for guests at a buffet dinner party. Although there were several desserts on the table, people just stood around staring at it, asking when it would be cut, and generally acting like it was the hypnotic center of their universe. It was weird!

So yes, it did go on our catering menu. It is very striking to look at. It is relatively small compared to some of the “three-pounds-of-cream-cheese” cheesecakes that were also on our menu, but that makes it great for a small dinner party or brunch. Creating a design on top to fill in, stained-glass style, is also very satisfying artistically. If  you feel challenged in that department, Wilton makes templates that press a design into the cake top, and you can just follow the lines with chocolate and fill in like you would a coloring book.

Stained-Glass Cheesecake Torte

Crust:

• 2 cups gingersnap crumbs
• 1/2 cup ground almonds or hazelnuts
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 6 Tbsp. melted unsalted butter

Filling:

• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup light cream or half and half
• 2 whole large eggs, plus 3 large egg yolks
• 1-1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Chocolate for Borders:

• 1-1/4 cups chocolate chips
• 1  oz. (1 square) baking chocolate
• 2 Tbsp. very soft unsalted butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 cup sour cream

• Soft jams or jellies in contrasting colors, at least two different ones

Crust:
Stir together gingersnap crumbs, almonds or hazelnuts, brown sugar and salt.

Add in melted butter and toss well with a fork. The mixture should hold together when squeezed, but barely.

Press into a 10-inch springform pan, building the edge up about 1-1/2 inches. (A rounded-bottom cup works well to press into place evenly.)

Bake in a preheated 350° F. oven for 8 minutes.

Filling:
Beat cream cheese until softened. Then beat in sugar.

Gradually add light cream or half and half, scraping down sides of bowl as necessary.

One at a time, add eggs and egg yolks, beating between each addition.

Mix in vanilla.

Pour  filling into hot crust. It will look scant and very liquid.

Return the tart to the 350° F. oven and at once lower the temperature to 325° F.

Bake the cheesecake for about 35 minutes, or until firm. Don’t let it dry out or it will crack, but you can fill cracks with the sour cream layer later. Cool on a rack.

When it is completely cool, ice it with a thin layer of plain sour cream (this works best with an offset spatula) and refrigerate, uncovered, to dry and set  the frosting.

Chocolate for Borders:
In a double boiler, or over very low heat, melt the chocolate chips and baking chocolate.

When chocolates have melted and combined, stir in the 2 Tbsp. very soft butter, and then 1 egg yolk.

When that is thoroughly incorporated and the mixture is hot, stir in sour cream. Let cool to room temperature.

Put in a piping bag fitted with a #5 plain tube.

Assembly:
Squeeze out chocolate lines to divide the top of the cheesecake into even squares or diamonds. Make a spider web or bull’s eye, or emulate Mondrian.

Make the chocolate dividers about 1/4-inch tall by tracing over twice, if necessary. Chill to firm the chocolate.

Fill in the spaces with soft jam by placing small dollops in the center and letting gravity do the rest, or put jam or jelly into a disposable piping bag and snip the very corner at a sharp angle to pipe the jam into place. Nudging with the point of the bag or a toothpick can help ease the jam into tight corners.

Chill until a couple of hours before ready to serve. Best if it comes to room temperature before serving. Serves 6 to 8.

Foulares for Purim

While I was preparing my book, Bubbie’s Kitchen, for teaching Ashkenazic Jewish cooking to groups of students, I was simultaneously preparing and testing recipes for four other curriculums, one of which was to be Jewish foods and traditions from around the world. In researching unusual traditions and recipes, I came across this one in a book entitled Sephardic Holiday Cooking by Gilda Angel. It is one of my favorite cookbooks. My classes loved making these and we used to cut them out from a cardboard template. A few years ago, Saul and I decided to order copper from a make-your-own cookie cutter company, Acorn Meadow Designs, so that we could make a townhouse cutter to match Ari’s house for his housewarming party. With the leftover copper, Saul made me a foot-shaped cutter based on the cardboard one. We also found a small plastic one that Jessica uses with her classes, standing the egg on edge to conserve space and making a shackle with the dough.

Gilda Angel explains that in Turkish and Greek Sephardic communities, these cheese pastries or crackers are made only once a year, just before the holiday of Purim. Each community has its own particular shape. In this particular version, the foot-shaped pastry with the secured egg represents Haman’s ankle being bound. Traditionally, these are eaten on the Sabbath just before Purim, Shabbat Zakhor. These special treats are usually accompanied by salads and coffee. They are also used for mishloah manot, the sending of gifts on Purim.  Two different blessings can be recited before eating them, mezonot for the pastry and shehekol for the egg.

Foulares

Turkish Hard-Cooked Eggs Wrapped with Cheese Pastry

(Makes approximately 16 pastries and additional crackers)

• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
• 4-1/2 cup all-purpose flour, preferably unbleached
• 1-1/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese (about 1/4 lb.)
• 16 hard-cooked small eggs (leave shells on)

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

In large bowl, combine oil, water, salt, pepper, flour and cheese. (This can be done in an electric mixer bowl with dough hook attachment.)

Divide dough in half.

On lightly floured surface, roll dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch.

Cut foot-shaped pieces of dough measuring approximately 5-1/2 by 2-1/2 inches.

Transfer to an ungreased baking sheet.

Press an unpeeled egg into the eel end of the foot and secure with strips of dough.

Repeat with remaining dough and eggs.

Shape leftover dough into small crackers and put on a separate baking sheet.

Bake feet in preheated 400°F. oven for 15-20 minutes, or until dough is golden brown. Crackers will probably take less time depending on their size.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

We like to eat ours with Russian dressing or chipotle mayonnaise on the side.

Izzy’s 9th Birthday Sleepover Cake

All the recipes have already been posted here that I used to produce this cake and I will link them to this post. I had a very long, deep loaf pan in which I baked a sour cream pound cake (Izzy’s choice), and cut it into six slabs for the five girls that were sleeping over on Friday, February 1. About two weeks ago, Saul and I decided to go for a walk on Saturday night inside King of Prussia Mall, after dinner nearby. At Sur La Table, I purchased a Nordic Ware cake pop pan because it was one of the few unique pans that I do not already own. I thought it would be useful for making taste-size cakes, instead of great big ones that we can never (and probably shouldn’t) finish. It came in very handy for Izzy’s cake.

Jessica sent a link to a photo of one sleepover cake that they liked from Pinterest which involved individual cakes and I ran with that idea. Up until now, my favorite cake that I have ever produced in  30 years is the Cat in the Hat cake that I made for her 7th birthday. This one is now my favorite.

Standing in the Valentine’s Day candy aisle at the supermarket provided lots of inspiration. The headboards on the bed were made from double-heart-shaped Peeps, and the foot boards from Lindt Coconut White Chocolate bars. The photo slide show above shows the progression for assembling the cakes. The pattern on the fondant blankets was produced by pressing at intervals with a nutmeg grater. The blankets are blue because Izzy has always taken a blue “blanky” to bed with her.

When I was all finished with the six cakes, Jess pointed out that there was nothing for Sami or Yona, Izzy’s sisters, so I went back to the store for more candy, and baked a date bread in a regular loaf pan and split it into two slabs. I took a bit of batter off to bake some more cake pops. All the cakes were iced with a double batch of vanilla butter cream icing. One 12-oz. bucket of fondant produced everything necessary for the eight cakes. The features were drawn on fondant circles with food color markers. The names were written on extra Lindt chocolate squares with pink royal icing and glued with the icing to the foot boards. Leftover sugar decors from cookie decorating provided the patterns on the pajama arms.

At the party, each girl got her own doll and could not believe that virtually everything was edible. One saved hers to take home to show her brother and her mother asked if there was anything that could be sprayed on to preserve it, like on some gingerbread houses. I was flattered, but suggested that they take a photo and then eat it.

The girls dug into their cakes with great gusto after a Shabbat dinner of soup, Alex’s homemade pizza and salad.

Date Bread

 I spoke on the phone with my granddaughter, Sami, a few days ago and she asked me when we were going to make the cookie packages this year and if she could help. My heart is breaking because, as I feared last year, this long-standing family tradition that goes back over 30 years, has come to an end this year. My sister, Adele, arrived at her winter home at The Villages (an over 55 community) in Florida yesterday with her husband, Larry, and dogs, and will be gone for several months. In a few days, I will be flying, along with Saul, Ari, Brenna, Ken, Randi, and Beth to Orlando for a six-day vacation and celebration of both Adele and Larry’s November 70th birthdays on Thanksgiving, a holiday that Adele has prepared for our family ever since she was first married. When I explained to Sami why we would not be making all the cookies and getting together to package them, we began to discuss which ones we might be able to make together.

“Can we at least make the gingerbread teddy bears? I really love the black and white ones (chocolate ganache cupcakes)!”

“My personal favorites, and your mother’s, are the lime cornmeal cookies,” I told her.

“What about the ones with the pink sugar on top (mango teacakes)?”

So we ran down a list of our personal favorites while my eyes grew teary and I tried to figure out with her when we could manage to get together in the next month and have enough time to bake at least a few of them.

I realized that I haven’t finished putting up all the recipes as I had intended last year, so hopefully in sufficient time for other people to access them, I will try to finish up posting the remaining handful. For the complete list, access the post 30 Cookie Recipes and Other Gift Foods.

Date Bread

• 3/4 cup raisins
• 1 cup chopped pitted dates
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 3 Tbsp. margarine or butter
• 3/4 cups boiling water
• 2 large or extra-large eggs
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup sugar
• 1-1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• non-stick cooking spray

With a fork, mix raisins, dates, baking soda and salt.

Add margarine or butter and water.

Let stand 20 minutes.

Heat oven to 350°F.

Spray a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan or three mini loaf pans with non-stick spray.

Beat eggs, and then beat in vanilla, sugar and flour.

Mix in date mixture until just blended thoroughly.

Turn into pan.

Bake 1 hour and 5 minutes for large loaf, or about 40-45 minutes for small loaves, or until done.

Cool in pan for 10 minutes and remove.

Date bread freezes extremely well. Wrap in foil when cool and place in a sealed plastic bag.

When we are having a dairy meal, our favorite way to “gild the lily” is to slice the bread thinly and sandwich lightly-sweetened, vanilla-accented whipped cream cheese between the slices.

Felafel (Fried Chickpea Patties)

 My sabra (native born Israeli) husband Saul and I have known each other since I was eleven and he was fourteen. My first encounter with felafel was in the late sixties when Saul noticed that a felafel restaurant had opened on Bustleton Avenue near his home in northeast Philadelphia. He was so excited and enthusiastic about the availability of this dish, of which I had never heard before, that I could not wait to try it. I could not understand why his mother, who was an excellent cook of Hungarian extraction, had never made it if he missed it so much from his childhood in Israel. I liked it very much when I first tried it at that restaurant, although my first encounter with “s’chug” the fiery pepper sauce that is a common accompaniment was not so pleasant.

While we were in college, a food truck opened up on Temple University’s campus, which provided our fix. Shortly after we were first married in the 1970s, supermarkets began to carry packets of dry felafel mix. I used to add water, let the mixture sit for a few minutes and then drop small hand-rolled balls into hot oil to fry. These were acceptable, but not as good as the felafel we began to get at the festival following the Israel Day Parade in Philadelphia.

My ultimate felafel experience was in Israel in the small town of Afula where the preparation of this beloved street food is high art, both culinary and performance. Israelis have a special gadget that they use to shape the patties, rather than rolling them into balls. When Saul and Ari visited Israel three years ago, I asked them to bring one back for me. It was one of the only kitchen gadgets I didn’t already own. I could not take the trip with them then because I was taking care of my mother, who was on hospice. They brought me two of the spring-loaded gadgets which, until recently, have been languishing in a kitchen drawer. Several of my attempts to make felafel from scratch ended in frustrated failure when, despite my best efforts, the balls dissolved into oily crumbs. The pre-packaged mixture has become very costly for such modest ingredients as chick peas and dried herbs. Consequently, I decided to try again recently, especially as I had a surfeit of fresh herbs over the summer, such as coriander, parsely, basil and dill.

I took to the internet this time, reading dozens of recipes and the reviews of them that people who tried the recipe had posted. Apparently, having them fall apart in the hot oil is a common problem. My research taught me two tricks. One is that the dough should be extremely cold before frying. The other, is that the oil temperature is critical and ideally should be at 360°F, so using a thermometer was also a critical necessity. After reviewing all those recipes on the net, I decided to go back to my favorite cookbook by Gloria Kaufer Greene, The Jewish Holiday Cookbook. I was very glad that I did. Saul and I were very pleased with the results. I modified the recipe in minor ways. I used more fresh herbs and in a greater variety than called for in the book, and I used three slices of of multi-grain bread in a doubled batch. I also did not precook the dried chickpeas. Using the Israeli gadget (Saul removed the spring which made it very hard to handle), together we made 92 perfect felafel patties that tasted authentic and delicious.

The only problem I have with them is that I am a very spontaneous person. Planning a day ahead that I am going to make felafel so that I have time to soak dry chickpeas overnight is problematic for me. Felafel can be made from canned chickpeas, which I have tried, but the texture is not as it should be. Anyway, if you can plan ahead, and follow all these tips, you, too, can have lots of wonderful felafel at a pittance. Stash them away in the freezer, and then you can bake them a few at a time, as needed, to satisfy the craving.

Felafel (Fried Chickpea Patties)

(makes approximately 7 dozen)

• 1 lb. bag dry chickpeas (also known as garbanzo beans)
• 2/3 cup bulgur wheat
• grated rind and juice of 2 large lemons (approximately 6 Tbsp. lemon juice)
• 4 large or extra-large eggs
• 6 Tbsp. cold water
• 2 large cloves elephant garlic, or 4 regular garlic cloves
• 1 Tbsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 tightly packed cup of assorted chopped fresh herbs, which should include parsley and coriander, and which may include dill, basil, sage, thyme, and/or marjoram
• 1 tsp. hot sauce, such as s’chug, or Sriracha, or cayenne pepper, smoked chipotle pepper, or whatever floats your boat
• 2 tsp. kosher salt
• 3 slices fresh, pareve, multi-grain bread, processed into crumbs in a food processor
• several cups of oil for frying, preferably, peanut oil

Sort and wash the dry chick peas well. Put in a container with ample space for them to swell and cover with cool water. Soak overnight, or for at least 8 hours.

Put the bulgur wheat into a mesh sieve and lower until covered into a bowl of warm water. Soak about 20 minutes, lift out of the water and allow to drain well.

Chop the garlic in a food processor until fine. Add the herbs and chop fine.

Add the drained chickpeas, lemon juice and peel, eggs, and water to the processor bowl and pulse process until the chick-peas are very finely chopped, but not puréed.

Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and mix in the rest of the seasonings, the drained bulgur, and the multi-grain breadcrumbs. Cover the mixture and refrigerate for at least two hours, or up to eight hours.

Heat about two inches of oil to 360°F. being careful not to overheat. I do this in a wok. Form mixture into one-inch balls and flatten slightly into tiny croquettes, or use a felafel gadget made for the purpose, and carefully slide each patty into the hot oil, frying a few at a time. Do not crowd them.

Fry them for a few minutes, turning once, until they are golden brown and crispy on the outside. Remove from oil with a slotted spoon or spider and drain on paper towels. Repeat until the mixture is finished.

The traditional way to serve felafel is to slice open a pita pocket, stuff several warm patties inside the pocket, and then top with salad. On top of that goes tahina dressing and s’chug  to taste. Back in the days when my kids were little, before it was possible to find tahina widely available, we used to top the felafel with ranch dressing. My daughter tells me that, even after residing for two years of schooling in Israel, she still prefers it that way.

Leftover felafel patties freeze well and can be rewarmed in the oven, at 350°F, uncovered, until just heated through.

Deviled Eggs

 I have made these old-school appetizers since I was a teenager and I have never used a recipe. In the last thirty-five years, since the advent of the food processor (hard to believe that I lived in a time before food processors), I usually put dabs and dollops of things into the bowl with the egg yolks, whiz it all up, and taste to see if it needs more salt, pepper, curry powder, hot stuff, etc., adjusting until I think it is right. The yolk part needs to be a bit over-seasoned to make up for the bland white “cup.” My sister and I were never able to put these on our catering menu because we never knew if the hard-boiled eggs would come out of their shells properly, and they could not be frozen, nor prepared more than one day ahead, so there was no need for a recipe to produce consistent results. We experimented over the years with various methods of cooking the eggs, plunging them immediately in ice water, and even invested in a gadget that pierced the shell ever so slightly to let in air before cooking. The gadget could even whip the egg inside the shell, which we thought would produce a unique yellow egg, but in reality, produced something grey and unappetizing. None of these processes worked. Eventually we found, with a little research, that it is impossible to peel really fresh eggs. Our solution was to always have a couple dozen eggs hanging around in the fridge for a few weeks in case we decided we wanted to have deviled eggs, or buy them from supermarkets where they hung around for a while in the refrigerator case. Older eggs, in my experience, peel very well.

I recently decided that I needed to codify the recipe for the blog, especially since friends and relatives have called me on numerous occasions over the years and I am embarrassed by the fact that I can only tell them what goes in there, not how much. I find that I am making them a lot more frequently these days since I am able to buy shelled, hard-boiled eggs cheaply in sealed packages in the refrigerator case of my supermarkets. The first time I discovered them in packages, I was a little skeptical, but I was quite happy with the quality and the results. I used to like to garnish them with a caper, but apparently Saul and I were the only ones who liked them. We used to find them discarded on all the plates that came back to the kitchen, so we discontinued the practice. Perhaps people are more caper-friendly these days and we should re-institute them.

Deviled Eggs

(makes 24 halves)

• 12 shelled, hard-boiled, large eggs
• 1/2 medium clove elephant garlic (about 2 tsp.)
• 2-1/2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 Tbsp. Hellman’s mayonnaise
• 1-1/2 Tbsp. India relish
• 1/4 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp. curry powder, preferably Moghul
• 1/2 tsp. Sriracha hot sauce
• paprika for sprinkling
• capers (optional)

Mince elephant garlic in food processor with steel knife.

Split eggs in half lengthwise with a small, thin-bladed knife, popping out yolk halves and dropping them into the food processor bowl with the minced garlic. Arrange egg white “cups” on a deviled egg serving dish or arrange on a bed of greens.

Add mustard, mayonnaise, relish, pepper, curry powder, and Sriracha to food processor bowl and process until smooth and creamy.

Scoop yolk mixture into a piping bag fitted with an open star tip.

In a circular motion, starting from the edge of the yolk depression of the egg-white cup, pipe yolk mixture concentrically toward the center, raising the bag and then slightly lowering it to finish piping each one.

Sprinkle each with paprika. I do this by scooping a small amount of paprika into a scissor-type, mesh, tea strainer and gently tapping out some paprika over each egg yolk.

Garnish each egg with a caper berry, if desired.

Method for Making Hard-Boiled Eggs:

Start with eggs that are nearing their expiration date.

Fill a medium-sized pot with a lid (preferably an enameled one, as eggs will discolor an aluminum pot) with a small amount of tepid water.

Place eggs gently in the water and add water, if necessary, to cover the eggs.

Bring eggs to a rolling boil, uncovered, on high heat.

Turn off heat, cover pot, and let stand for 15 minutes.

Drain off hot water and replace with ice water.

For best results, peel eggs while they are still slightly warm.

Apple Galette with Salted Peanut Butter Caramel

My daughter, Jessica, emailed the link for this recipe to me a week or two before Rosh Hashanah this year (2012). The recipe so appealed to her that she asked if I would make it for our family lunch after services. I obliged, and it was very rich and delicious, but quite a bit of work, and the results were pretty rustic, which is fine if you haven’t spent a lot of time on a dessert, but this took a few hours. It comes from a site call kveller.com and is from Melinda Strauss. I modified the recipe slightly, because it calls for candied pecans, which are made separately, and would have taken even more time. Also, I have a slight allergy to tree nuts. My modification was to substitute honey-glazed peanuts, especially because this is the holiday of apples dipped in honey. Were I to make this again, I would probably double the nuts to 1/2 cup, so I will use that measurement below. In our opinion, there could have been more of the crunchy, coated, peanuts. I also used crunchy peanut butter, which worked just fine in the recipe.

The original recipe called for Mountain Rose apples. Since those were not available in my geographic area, I substituted Pink Lady apples, which are a favorite of ours and which held up very well in the recipe. I did not peel them, as in the original recipe, because the skin is very pretty and adds even more texture, but there are those among us who would have preferred them peeled. Alex’s brother-in-law, Matt, had three helpings, and we have never seen him go quite so bananas (or apples?) over a dessert. I think, in the future, I will try to deconstruct this recipe, eliminating the pie crust step. I think it would make a great fondue. We could dip fresh apple and other types of fruit slices into the peanut butter caramel, and then into individual dishes of chopped honey-glazed peanuts.

Apple Galette with Salted Peanut Butter Caramel

Peanut Butter Caramel:
makes 2 cups, recipe adapted from thelunacafe.com

• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup whipping cream, room temperature
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter

Pastry:

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut in small pieces
• 4 Tbsp. vegetable shortening
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup ice water

Apple Filling

• 4 large Pink Lady Apples
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup honey-glazed peanuts

Peanut Butter Caramel:
In a large pot, combine the sugar, cream of tartar and water and set over medium-low heat to caramelize. Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved completely and the syrup is clear, about 5-8 minutes. To prevent crystallization, do not rush this step.

When sugar is fully dissolved, raise the heat and bring the syrup to a boil without stirring. Using a candy thermometer, continue boiling without stirring until the syrup reaches 350°F. and is a medium-dark amber color. Watch the pot carefully as soon as the sugar begins to color because there is a very small window of time between light brown and burnt. Carefully remove pot from heat.

Add the whipping cream and butter carefully. The caramel will bubble up and foment furiously in the first few seconds, hence, the large pot. When the mixture settles down, stir until smooth.

Return the pot to the stove and boil until the mixture reaches 248°F., around 1 minute. Remove pan from the heat and stir in salt and vanilla. Let the caramel cool for about 20 minutes and stir in the peanut butter. If the caramel becomes too thick to spread, it can be thinned out by warming slightly in the microwave and stirring in extra cream, a tablespoonful at a time.

Galette:
In a food processor, combine flour, salt and sugar. Pulse in butter and shortening until the mixture looks like cornmeal. Add ice water and pulse until the dough starts to come together.

Flatten dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, thinly slice apples and mix in the sugar, flour and spices. Cover and set aside.

On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, roll out the dough into a 12-inch circle. Spread the salted peanut butter caramel over the center of the dough, leaving a 3-inch border.

Distribute the honey-glazed peanuts over the top.

Place the apples over the top of that in a pinwheel pattern.

Bring up the edges of the dough over the apples. Slide onto a baking pan, preferably, a round pizza pan.

Bake for 50-55 minutes at 350°F. until the crust is a nice golden brown. If the crust gets too dark during the baking process, you can cover the border with some foil.

Let cool a bit before slicing and serving.