G.G. Sima’s Potato Latkes

When my sister and I began doing recipe research for our catering business many years ago, we decided that mini potato latkes would be a great addition to our list of hors d’oeuvres. Almost everyone likes crispy little nuggets of fried potatoes accompanied by sour cream, applesauce, or both. They are economical and non-threatening. After going through scores of recipes with various quantities of added flour, soaked bread, bread crumbs, matzoh meal, etc., we deferred to Saul’s Mom’s philosophy and recipe which is the height of simplicity.

To her mind, there should be nothing in potato latkes but potatoes, salt, pepper, and eggs, with perhaps the addition of a little bit of grated onion. She eschewed the food processor in favor of a flat, wire grid-type grater to achieve what she considered to be the perfect consistency. We soon gave up trying to produce hundreds of them by hand in favor of a combination of grating disc and steel knife on the food processor to approximate the right consistency.

When making a quantity of these, be sure to prepare the recipe in small batches—only what your frying pan or pans will accommodate immediately after grating and mixing. If you let the batter stand around for more than 15 minutes, the potatoes will begin to turn an unappetizing gray. At one party that we catered, the guests did not like our white-interiored, crispy latkes because their Grandma’s were always gray and soft. Sometimes, there is no accounting for people’s tastes.

G.G. Sima’s Potato Latkes

• peanut oil for frying
• 3 large or 4 small potatoes (preferably russet or Yukon Gold)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 Tbsp. finely grated onion (optional)
• sour cream (optional)
• applesauce (optional)

Begin heating at least a half inch of oil in a large frying pan or wok to a temperature of 365°F. Watch carefully to make sure it does not overheat while you are preparing the batter. Also, make sure that the oil level does not come too close to the top of the pan in case the oil begins to foam.

Peel potatoes and place in a bowl of cold water to prevent oxidation if they will be sitting around for more than a few minutes before grating.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs, salt, pepper, and onion (if desired) with a wire whip. Set aside.

Run potatoes through the grating disc of the food processor. Turn out into a clean bowl.

Replace the grating disc with the steel knife. Refill the food processor with the grated potatoes and pulse until desired consistency is achieved, typically, 16-18 short pulses. Turn the mixture out into a small-holed colander or sieve. Squeeze and press out as much moisture as possible.

Add the potatoes to the egg mixture and stir thoroughly. Ease large, rounded tablespoonsful of the batter into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown on bottom and then flip each one over to do the same on the other side. Remove from oil with two forks, slotted spoon, or spider and drain on paper towels.

If making several batches, rinse all bowls and utensils in plain, cold water before proceeding to next batch. Hot water will cause the leftover potato starch to cling to the items.

Serve immediately with sour cream or applesauce if desired, or freeze when cool in a single layer, tightly wrapped. To rewarm, bake, uncovered at 350°F. just until heated through.

Mini Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes

I think this will be the last of the cookie recipes for a while as the seasonal nature of preparing multitudes of varieties will be over, for the most part, tomorrow. I will continue to post them, here and there, because my intention is to make them available anytime and anywhere to the whole family so that we can collect them all together in one place and have a definitive volume at some point. At the moment, I have moved onto other types of cooking and I am becoming bored with posting cookies every time I post a new blog here. I am not even sure exactly how many types we make and will have to refer to the photos to jog my memory.

I save the really good chocolate for this recipe, usually Callebaut or Valrhona, which I purchase at Whole Foods. It is becoming more and more difficult to find the foil mini muffin cases that perfectly fit into my mini cupcake pans, which help these keep their shape. This year, I ran out and had to resort to using the paper liners. Hopefully, I will find a new supply by next year. Almost everywhere I checked had either a too-small petit fours size, or a too-large mini muffin size. They used to be called mini biscuit cases.

These puff up a lot during baking and then disappointingly sink back in like a fallen soufflé when cool. Because of this, there is a nice depression, all the better for filling with white chocolate ganache.

Mini Chocolate Ganache Cupcakes

• 6 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) chocolate
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 2 large eggs
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose unbleached flour

Line 4 dozen mini-cupcake pans with paper-lined foil mini muffin cases. Preheat oven to 350°F.

Melt the chocolate slowly with the butter on very low heat or over a double boiler. Stir until smooth. Set aside.

Beat the eggs and sugar and salt until thick and pale. Stir in the vanilla and the cooled chocolate mixture. Stir in the flour until just combined.

Use a 1-1/4-inch ice cream scoop, leveled off, to fill the cases. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes until tops have puffed up. Cool them on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and allow them to cool completely.

Use a mini ice cream scoop (1-inch) to scoop a portion of White Chocolate Ganache onto the center of each mini cupcake. Immediately sprinkle with non-pareils before the ganache begins to set. Let the chocolate set completely for 12-24 hours before packing. These freeze very well. Makes 3-4 dozen.

White Chocolate Ganache

• 9 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• Tiny colored non-pareils
  

In a small heavy saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Let stand five minutes, then stir until smooth. Stir in the butter until incorporated.

Let stand until set enough that a ribbon of the ganache, dripped across the top of the mixture with a spoon, takes a count of 10 before disappearing back into itself. If it sets too much, rewarm gently on very low heat and cool again until the correct consistency is reached.

Lemon Cheese Logs

These cookies are one of our longstanding staples. My brother commented that they are his favorite among all the varieties we make. They are crispy, melt-in-your mouth delicacies that are fun to make and are especially appealing to make with children because the dough is firm enough to be easily handled; and who doesn’t like dipping almost anything in chocolate and sprinkles?

Lemon Cheese Logs

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 small package (3 ounces) cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg yolk
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use Ceresota or Hecker’s)
• 1 cup finely chopped walnuts
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. grated lemon peel (use a microplane)
• 1 small package (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate morsels, melted
• colored decorating sprinkles

Cream sugar, butter and cream cheese in large mixer bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg yolk. Stir in flour, walnuts, salt and lemon peel. Refrigerate covered at least two hours.

Heat oven to 325°F. Shape about 1 Tbsp. of the dough into a log, one inch long. Repeat with remaining dough.

Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake until light brown, about 12 minutes in conventional oven; about 8 minutes in a convection oven. Cool on wire racks.

Dip ends of logs in chocolate; dip chocolate coated ends into decorating sprinkles. Let stand on wire racks until chocolate sets.

Can be frozen, stacked between layers of waxed paper in airtight containers. Makes about 8 dozen.

Finnish Christmas Stars

We have been making these cookies for so many years that I can’t remember the source. As usual, over the years we have found ways to tweak the original anyway. They are very distinctive-looking among the assortment, and like the Cream Cheese Frills, are delicate and not overly sweet. Also like the frills, they have a tendency to open up in the middle when baking, so we have applied the toothpick trick to these as well.

Prunes have gotten a bad rap over the years as food for constipated old folks, but we always liked them. In order to overcome the marketing hurdle, they are now being sold as dried plums. Funny how a plum is something so desirable, yet drying it into a prune makes it undesirable.

One of the ways in which the recipe was tweaked was to add a star of royal icing leftover from the gingerbread cookies in order to cover the hole left by the toothpick and make sure the corners would not pop up.

Probably ten years ago, Adele discovered that a special cookie cutter existed to facilitate this particular shape of pinwheel cookie and purchased them for both of us. Making these has become a whole lot easier ever since.

Finnish Christmas Stars

• 1 cup pitted prunes
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1-1/4 cups small-curd cottage cheese, sieved
• 1 cup butter
• 2-1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour (I use Ceresota or Hecker’s)

Heat prunes, water and sugar in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally, to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer covered until prunes are tender, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly. Purée in blender or food processor 3 to 5 seconds. Stir in lemon juice. Refrigerate covered 3 hours.

Meanwhile, cream cottage cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Mix in flour. Refrigerate covered with plastic wrap until firm, about 3 hours.

Heat oven to 400°F. Divide dough in half. Roll one half on lightly floured surface into an 18 x 12-inch rectangle. (I use a pastry cloth and stockinette-covered rolling pin.) If dough becomes too soft, refrigerate during shaping to firm. Cut into 3-inch squares. Cut slits with sharp knife from each corner toward center, about 1-1/2 inches (Figure 1). Alternatively, use pinwheel cookie cutter.

Place on ungreased baking sheet. Place about 1 tsp. of the prune mixture in the center of each square. Fold half of each corner over the center, pressing to form pinwheel (Figure 2). Put a plain wooden toothpick down through the four corners in the center to help hold them in place while baking.

Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes in a conventional oven, 8 minutes in a convection oven. Remove toothpicks. Cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough and prune mixture. When cool, pipe a star or dollop of royal icing into the center to cover the hole and keep the corners together. Makes about 4 dozen.

Once icing has set completely, cookies may be stored in a single layer in covered shallow trays in the freezer. (If only the people who design plastic ware would design shallow trays for storing single layers of cookies in the freezer! Are we the only people in the world who freeze large quantities of cookies?)

Royal Icing
(See blog post for gingerbread people or click on the link above.)

Mango Teacakes with White Chocolate Ganache

We make so many different kinds of cookies in my family, but we are always on the lookout for something new and different that incorporates a favorite ingredient, in this case, fresh mangoes. If you have never cut into a mango, be advised that it has a large, white, flat seed at the center to which the pulp clings tenaciously. Cut in half a little off center as close to the seed as possible. Score the pulp in the halves with a sharp knife into squares and invert the peel to pop out cubes of the pulp to make separation from the peel easier. Wikipedia calls this the hedgehog method.

My sister commented a few years ago that we were pretty heavily into chocolate, not a bad thing, but my son-in-law Alex is allergic to it, and my particular branch of the family would choose a good vanilla or citrus dessert over chocolate any day.

The recipe came from the Food Network site a few years ago. The cookies were delicious and sturdy, but looked so plain compared to the others we make that I needed a way to spiff them up a bit. After making a batch of mini chocolate ganache cupcakes, I had some of the white chocolate ganache left over and decided to add a tiny drop of pink food coloring to distinguish these cookies and add some color to our assortment. By the following year, everyone still remembered them and asked me to make the pink cookies again, so they did distinguish themselves among all the others. Alex still can’t eat them, though, unless I leave some of them plain.

The raspberry extract (McCormick’s) is a relatively esoteric ingredient that I only found recently. When I used it this year, I noticed that it contains propylene glycol, not one of my favorite ingredients. Since I already had bought it, I used it, but the cookies are delicious without it.

Mango Teacakes with White Chocolate Ganache

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup mango puree (pulp from one large, ripe mango puréed in a food processor)
• 1-1/2 tsps. lemon zest (use a microplane)
• 1 tsp. raspberry extract (optional)
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I use Ceresota or Hecker’s)
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 400°F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer. Add the mango purée, lemon zest, extracts and egg and mix well.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. On very low speed, carefully stir portions of the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, alternating with the buttermilk.

Drop portions of the dough with a 1-1/4-inch ice cream scoop onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in a conventional oven; 10 minutes in convection oven, or until golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Top with White Chocolate Ganache. Makes about 4 dozen.

White Chocolate Ganache

• 5 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 small drop pink food coloring (optional)

In a small heavy saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. Remove from heat and add the chocolate. Let stand five minutes, then stir until smooth. Stir in the butter until incorporated. Stir in the food coloring, if using.

Let stand until set enough that a ribbon of the ganache, dripped across the top of the mixture with a spoon, takes a count of 10 before disappearing back into itself. If it sets too much, rewarm gently on very low heat and cool again until the correct consistency is reached. Use a mini ice cream scoop (1-inch) to scoop a portion onto the center of each cookie. Let the chocolate set completely for 12-24 hours before packing between layers of waxed paper. These cookies freeze very well.

Lime Cornmeal Cookies

These are my absolute favorites of all the cookies the family makes. I love food with texture, and cornmeal gives these a little extra crunch and flavor. The lime is a tart, terrific counterpoint to the sugary glaze.

Several points could give you trouble, but if you watch out for them, these are worth the effort. One is that the dough is very sticky. I have provided a quick-time here of our system for keeping the cookies uniform and unstuck. Do not skip the parchment paper! Once the bottom of the glass gets seasoned by pressing a few, they tend to stick less. For the first one, spray the bottom of the glass with non-stick cooking spray before dipping it in the cornmeal. Another tricky area is the consistency of the glaze. With all glazes of this type, whether on cookies or cakes, drip a ribbon of glaze with your spoon or beater across the top surface of the glaze mixture. Count to 10. The ribbon should take 10 seconds to disappear into the rest of the mixture. If it takes much longer, add a few drops of lime juice or water. If it disappears too quickly, add some powdered sugar until the correct consistency is reached. Once the cookies have been glazed, give them 12 to 24 hours for the glaze to set completely before attempting to stack or pack them between sheets of waxed paper. Of course, it should go without saying that you should only use beautiful fresh limes and their juice for this recipe. Use a microplane to easily get the relatively large amount of grated rind needed.

Lime Cornmeal Cookies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp. freshly grated lime zest (about 6 limes including for glaze)
• 2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1 Tbsp. freshly grated orange zest (about 2 medium oranges)
• 1/2 tsp. pure almond extract
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour (I use Ceresota or Heckers)
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal, plus more for coating glass
• Lime glaze

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add egg; beat until just blended. Add citrus zests, lime juice and almond extract.

With the mixer on low speed, add flour and cornmeal. Continue beating until well blended. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, shaping the dough into a thick disk and chill until firm, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking pans with Silpats or parchment paper. Fill a small bowl with cornmeal. Using a 1-1/4 inch ice-cream scoop, form balls from chilled dough. Place balls on prepared sheets, spaced about 3 inches apart. Dip bottom of a medium drinking glass into cornmeal. Flatten balls with the bottom of the glass until dough is about a little less than 1/4-inch thick.

Bake cookies until crisp and light-golden brown around the edges, 14 to 16 minutes in a standard oven, 10 minutes in a convection oven. Transfer baking sheets to a wire rack, and let the cookies cool completely.

Use the scoop to measure out about one tablespoon-full of glaze and release in the center of the cookie, allowing it to disperse almost to the edges. Let glaze set. Cookies may be frozen between sheets of waxed paper. Makes about 4 dozen.

Lime Glaze

Makes 1-1/2 cups

• 3-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar (approximately)
• 7 Tbsp. freshly-squeezed lime juice (approximately)
• 1-2 Tbsp. freshly-grated lime zest

Measure confectioners’ sugar into a medium bowl. Add lime juce; stir until smooth. Drip a ribbon of glaze with your spoon across the top surface of the glaze mixture. Count to 10. The ribbon should take 10 seconds to disappear into the rest of the mixture. If it takes much longer, add a few drops of lime juice or water. If it disappears too quickly, add some powdered sugar until the correct consistency is reached. Stir in lime zest. Use glaze immediately.

Cream Cheese Frills

These cookies have no sugar in the dough and rely completely for sweetness on the sugar in the preserves, so if you don’t like oohy gooey stick-to-your-teeth-type cookies, these are probably the ones you will like. They are not only beautiful, but also have a melt-in-your-mouth quality that is delicate and delicious. Once we figured out how to keep them from opening up in the center as they baked, with toothpicks, they were a snap to make. Using a fluted pastry wheel to cut them gives them a little bit fancier shape. Originally, I made very tiny ones, using a ravioli rolling pin to guide my squares. I lack the patience now and, besides, they no longer get lost among an assortment of larger cookies. Fill with a variety of jams for a kaleidoscope of color and flavor.

Cream Cheese Frills

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1 8-ounce package cream cheese
• favorite preserves

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Beat butter and vanilla until creamy. Add flour, salt and oats; mix well until blended. Add cream cheese and beat smooth. Wrap, forming a disc shape in plastic wrap and chill thoroughly.

Roll out on lightly floured board (I use a pastry cloth and stockinette covered rolling pin) to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into 2-inch squares with a fluted pastry wheel, pizza wheel, or knife.

Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Spoon 1/2 tsp. preserves into center of each square (I use a 1-inch ice cream scoop). Bring together two opposite corners into center over filling and overlap slightly. Insert a toothpick at an angle away from the direction it would pull open during baking.

Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly browned at edges and puffed. Bake for 7 minutes in a convection oven. Remove toothpicks once cookies have cooled. Can be frozen between sheets of waxed paper. Makes about 60 2-inch cookies.

Coffee Pretzel Cookies

Since we are now in December, the time has come to start putting up cookie recipes. In our family, everyone has their specialties. We usually get together at some point during the month and swap them so that everyone gets an assortment. Little by little, over the years, new favorites have been added, so the assortment keeps getting larger and larger. There are probably more than two dozen at this point. I am happy that the blog now exists because perhaps we all will have access to each other’s recipes and tips without painstaking copying and so that all our kids will have these recipes in the future. This time of year, I make sure that I have plenty of butter, flour, sugar, eggs, chocolate, spices, baking powder and soda, and pure vanilla extract. Snowy days in December are especially a joy with cookies baking in the oven.

This recipe comes from a Gourmet Magazine article of December 1997. I have an assortment of sizes of ice cream scoops which are some of the most useful tools in my kitchen. I use the smallest one for these cookies. It is one inch in diameter and I level it off when scooping out the raw dough. I also roll out the 6-inch “ropes” on a silpat, which keeps them from sticking to the surface. Note that the pretzel-type shapes are not overlapped anywhere as the cookies would not bake evenly if they were. I highly recommend not skipping the parchment paper baking sheet liners as these make removal of the cookies a breeze. Also, be especially careful when melting the chocolate that not even a single drop of water gets into it as this can cause the chocolate to seize up, a condition that ruins it and that cannot be remedied as far as I know. My sister and I learned this the hard way when we were catering and steam from the double boiler caused a drop of condensation that dripped into the melting chocolate.

Coffee Pretzel Cookies

• parchment paper for lining baking sheets
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp. finely ground (in spice grinder) coffee beans
• 1 tsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg white
• 2 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened)

Preheat oven to 325°F. and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a bowl, stir together flour, ground beans, cocoa powder, and salt. In another bowl with an electric mixer at low speed, beat butter until just smooth. Add sugar and beat until creamy. Beat in egg white, scraping down side of bowl with a rubber spatula occasionally. Gradually beat in flour mixture until dough forms.

Form a level teaspoon of dough into a ball and with your fingertips, roll back and forth on a work surface to form a 6-inch-long rope. Form rope into a simple pretzel shape on baking sheet (2 loops with ends meeting in center). Make more cookies in same manner and arrange about 1/2 inch apart.

Bake cookies in batches in lower third of oven until firm when lightly touched, 16 minutes for standard oven, 14 for convection. Cool cookies on baking sheets on racks 5 minutes and transfer with a spatula to racks to cool completely.

Chop chocolate and in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, melt chocolate, stirring until smooth. Transfer chocolate to a disposable plastic pastry bag and snip a tiny hole in the end. Pipe thin lines of chocolate over pretzels in a back and forth motion to form stripes. Let chocolate set at least 30 minutes at cool room temperature. Cookies can be frozen, layered between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container. Makes about 60 cookies.

Purple Yam Stuffed Samosas

Maybe, because I like the color purple so much, I think these are the most striking appetizers I have seen in a long time. They are also very delicious and could be frozen after frying and rewarmed in the oven. I also think that most people love foods that are stuffed, and they certainly love foods that are fried. Besides all these elements that make these appetizers appealing, you can serve them to people who are completely vegan. How great is that!

For my own part, the traditional Indian filling for samosas includes lots of peas, so I only ordered them in a restaurant once. I hate peas, a legacy from my childhood where I was obliged to eat them boiled gray-green from a can or with lima beans (even worse :-P) in canned Campbell’s Vegetable Soup. My mother says that from the time I was a baby I was able to eat a whole mouthful of soup and then one-by-one spit out the peas and lima beans. How talented I was! I love edamame, though, which are bright green, smooth and never mealy or gray-green.

Alex Weinberg’s Purple Yam Stuffed Samosas

Samosa Dough

• 2 cups flour
• 1/4 cup toasted sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. chili powder
• 1/3 cup (approximately) cold water

Mix dry ingredients. Add water a little at a time and mix in until a stiff dough forms. Set aside.

Samosa Stuffing

• 1/2-inch piece peeled fresh ginger
• 2 small garlic cloves
• 1 small onion
• 1 small bunch of cilantro
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tsp. cumin
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
  
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper

Place above ingredients in a blender and blend to fine paste.

• 4 medium purple yams, peeled, boiled, cooled and cut in small cubes
• 1 cup shelled pre-cooked edamame
• 1 shredded carrot

Add ingredients from blender to the three ingredients above and stir together gently so as to keep some texture in the potatoes.

Assemble Samosas
Roll dough flat on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Cut into 3-inch circles. Stuff each circle with 2 Tbsp. of stuffing and form into pyramid-like wontons.

• Peanut or blended oil for deep frying

Deep fry in hot oil (approximately 375°F). Remove with slotted spoon or spider to a paper towel lined pan. Serve warm or freeze cooled samosas for future use. If frozen, defrost and warm gently, uncovered, in 350°F. oven.