Maids of Honor (Tartlets)

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One of our signature dessert offerings during the eleven years that we had a catering business was beautifully-arranged trays of exquisite and delectable mini pastries of all flavors, shapes and colors. Maids of honor were always among these offerings and Adele and I have probably made thousands of them over the years. People love desserts that are one-bite indulgences and give them a chance to taste many flavors without the calories of a large dessert. Pressing the chilled dough into the mini cupcake pans is the most tedious part of the job, but it can be done sitting down while chatting with a friend or watching television sporadically.

Maids of Honor (Tartlets)

Pastry:

• 6 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups all-purpose flour

Blend cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Stir in flour. Form into a thick disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Press small pieces into mini cupcake pans. I use the back handle of a large ice cream scoop, pressing it into the dough in the pan to facilitate this process.

Jams or Jellies (preferably homemade)

Cake

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2/3 cup milk
• royal icing (optional)
• candy decors (optional)

Put about 1 tsp. jam in each tartlet.

Make cake batter by creaming butter with salt and vanilla and gradually blending in sugar until light and fluffy.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Sift flour and baking powder. Add alternately with milk to mixture.

Add sour cream.

Fill tartlet shells about 3/4 full using a scoop, spoon, or pastry bag fitted with a plain tip.

Bake at 350°F. for 20-25 minutes. Remove from pans using a small thin-bladed knife or small offset spatula.

When cool, top with a swirl of royal icing and a candy decor.

Royal Icing

This icing, which hardens rock solid, was once made with raw egg whites. Years ago, when salmonella became a problem, I switched to using Wilton meringue powder.

• 1 lb. confectioner's 10x (powdered) sugar
• 3 Tbsp. Wilton meringue powder
• 6-10 Tbsp. warm water

Beat at low speed of electric mixer for 7 to 10 minutes.
Makes approximately 3 cups.

Walnut Sandwich Cookies from Martha Stewart

The beginning of last week involved a lot of cookie-baking in preparation for our family cookie extravaganza which, hopefully, will take place on Thursday evening. I made my usual seven varieties, and this year I decided to try an eighth. Several months ago, Mom’s hospice volunteer, Marianne, brought me a package of walnut-shaped cookie molds that she purchased in Europe. A friend had requested that she bring some back and she kept a package for herself. She gave them to me last year after I gave her some of my cookies and told me that I would be more likely to use them than she would. I almost never watch Martha Stewart on television, but a week or so before she gave me the molds, while I was flipping channels, I had caught the tail end of Martha and Jennifer Esposito making walnut cookies. After I received the molds, I looked up the segment on Google and printed out the recipe. This past week seemed like the perfect time to try it out, and I am very pleased with the results. I can’t wait to deliver some to Marianne.

Some of the extra tips I would give is to spray the mold with non-stick cooking spray the first time before powdering with sugar. After that, the mold is sufficiently seasoned from the cookie dough itself to hold the right amount of powdered sugar to keep the next one from sticking. I also found that by mounding the dough slightly in the mold, I had more of a handle on peeling back the edges to loosen the dough. I did not need to trim around the cookies when I unmolded them. Neither did I need to clean the mold. Also, do not grease the pans. Believe it or not, they came off easier on an ungreased cookie sheet as long as they were removed immediately, while still hot. Through trial and error, I discovered that the best (and nicest looking) way to fill the cookies with the chocolate walnut filling is to roll small quantities of the filling into a ball and press to fit one of the cookies. Then, press the second one gently on top. I also used Frangelico, a hazelnut liqueur which I adore and always have on hand, instead of the walnut liqueur called for in the recipe.

Walnut Sandwich Cookies from Martha Stewart
(Makes approximately 25 cookies)

• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 6 oz. (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 Tbsp. walnut liqueur or Frangelico
• Confectioners’ sugar for mold
• Non-stick cooking spray

Whisk flour, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a medium bowl.

Beat butter, cream cheese, and sugars with a mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in yolk and walnut liqueur, then add flour mixture, beating until just combined. Form dough into a 1-inch-thick disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Using a dry pastry brush, generously dust a walnut springerle mold with confectioners’ sugar. Cut a piece of dough about the size of the mold (available from House on the Hill). Press dough into mold with fingers, working from center. Gently coax dough out of mold with fingertips and onto a baking sheet, and trim edges with a knife. Repeat, spacing cookies 1 inch apart on sheets and cleaning mold often. Freeze for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Bake cookies until set, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from pans while still hot and allow to cool to room temperature.

Pipe or spread 2 teaspoons chocolate-walnut filling on flat side of 1 cookie. Alternatively, scoop out about 2 tsp. of filling and roll into a ball in your hand. Flatten it with your fingers onto a cookie half. Press flat side of another cookie onto filling to sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies and filling. Cookies will keep, covered, for up to 2 days.

Chocolate Walnut Filling

Makes 1-1/4 cups, enough for 25 cookies.

• 3 oz. (6 Tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1-1/2 oz. (1/2 cup) walnuts, toasted and finely chopped
• pinch of salt
• 5 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted and slightly cooled

Beat butter with confectioners’ sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in walnuts and salt.

Beat in chocolate.

Use immediately.

Cashew Tartlets

As far as I am concerned, cashews have it all over pecans any day of the week. These bite-size tarts are only difficult so far as sitting and pushing the dough into those little mini muffin pans. If you get a friend or family member to participate, the work goes quickly and good conversation makes the process less tedious. In order to get the corn syrup mixture neatly into the cups, a few years ago I discovered that squirt bottles really facilitate the process. These are very inexpensive and can be purchased at craft stores such as Michael’s or A.C. Moore. A scissors or X-Acto knife will allow you to cut the hole at the top of the bottle as wide as you wish to achieve a good flow and a wide-tube funnel allows you to fill the bottle from the mixing bowl easily.

Cashew Tartlets

Pastry

• 1 stick (1/2 cup unsalted butter)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large or extra large egg
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• non-stick cooking spray

In a large mixing bowl, at medium speed, beat butter until softened. Beat in sugar until light and fluffy.

Add egg and vanilla and beat until well mixed.

Reduce speed to low and gradually beat in flour until a dough forms.

Press small balls of dough into non-stick-spray-coated mini muffin cups.

Filling

• 3 large or extra-large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2-1/2 cups coarsely chopped cashews (approximately)
• 36 whole cashews (approximately)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In medium bowl, beat together eggs, corn syrup, sugar, butter, and vanilla until well blended.

Spoon about 1 heaping teaspoon chopped cashews into each pastry-lined cup.

Top each with a whole cashew.

Spoon or squeeze about 2 teaspoons of the corn syrup mixture over cashews in each muffin cup.

Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and tarts are lightly browned. Cool in pans for 5 minutes.

While still warm, use a small, thin-bladed knife to remove tart from pans.

Store in a tightly covered container.

These freeze beautifully.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Sufganiyot (Israeli Donuts)

The first night of Chanukah this year is December 11. For many years, with numerous classes of religious school students and with my own children and grandchildren at our family Chanukah parties, we prepared sufganiyot, which are traditional fare in Israel for Chanukah because they are fried in oil. Foods fried in oil, such as potato latkes, are traditional because of the ancient story about the one small vial of consecrated oil (only enough to burn for one day) that was discovered when cleaning and re-dedicating the Holy Temple in Jerusalem after it had been desecrated by the Greeks in the time of Antiochus IV. The small quantity of oil burned for eight nights until another batch could be prepared to light the ner tamid, the eternal light, which was present in the Temple, representations of which appear in every synagogue today. This miracle is remembered as we light the eight-branched chanukiah (candelabrum) each night of the holiday.

Sufganiyot

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large or extra-large egg
• oil for deep fat frying (I prefer peanut oil or Crisco vegetable oil)
• confectioner’s sugar or sugar and cinnamon for dusting

In a large bowl, place flour, baking powder, sugar and salt and stir to mix.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add 1/4 cup of oil, milk, sour cream and egg. Mix with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Pour frying oil about 1-1/2 to 2 inches deep in skillet or wok and heat to 375°F. or until small bubbles appear around the handle of an inserted wooden spoon.

Drop mixture by teaspoonfuls into hot oil so they do not touch each other. Alternatively, an inexpensive donut-maker gadget exists for dropping the batter in rings into the oil. You may need to thin the batter a little bit with milk so it flows smoothly out of this gadget.

Fry until golden brown (3 to 4 minutes on each side).

Drain on paper towels and sift powdered sugar on top, or dip in sugar-cinnamon “sand.”

Serve and eat immediately while still warm and delicious. These do not freeze well and are not very good the next day. They are not designed to be made in advance.

Toffee Squares

Last year, I ran out of time to post all the cookie recipes my family prepares. I lost interest in posting these after December, but since we are all focused on the preparations again right now, I will try to put up a number of them this year. My aim is to get all of them up here eventually so that every member of the family will have access to them in the future. One of these days, I will post a list of every one that we make. I am sure there are more than two dozen. These are very easy to make and are delicious and sturdy for packaging. Toffee is one of my favorite flavors. They also won’t pull out your fillings like a Heath Bar might, and they look very appealing as well.

Toffee Squares

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• 1 cup brown sugar (light or dark)
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 8 oz. chocolate chips
• finely chopped nuts

Cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in egg yolk, vanilla and flour.

Spread evenly on ungreased 11"x 15" jelly roll pan. Bake at 350°F. for 20-25 minutes.

Remove from oven and immediately spread with 8 oz. of chocolate chips while still hot. Chocolate chips will melt within a few minutes. Spread chocolate evenly across the surface.

While still warm, sprinkle with finely chopped nuts.

Chill before slicing into squares.

These freeze beautifully.