Holiday Party

Don't you hate when you remember five minutes before a holiday party begins that you forgot to bring something? And then maybe you have the wherewithal to remember that the host loves sauvignon blanc so you find a liquor store to grab a bottle so that you aren't empty-handed. But what if the party is on a Sunday and you live in Minnesota so the stores are closed. You are out of luck...and irritated by those ridiculous blue laws.

I have a better idea. Make some beautiful cookies (a cookie press makes any cookie prettier), cover them with sparkly sugar, throw them in the freezer and bring a small box to each party you are invited to.

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Apple Shortbread

If peach shortbread was not enough for you, how about trying a batch with apples and honey? Next week is the Jewish New Year so I decided to switch things up, honor the tradition of apples and honey on Rosh Hashanah and write my first guest blog post on TCJewfolk. 

Check out the site, gather the ingredients for the recipe, and go bake yourself some shortbread.

Hamantashen

A common joke among Jews is that many holidays can be summarized with the following phrase:

"They tried to kill us. We won. Let's eat."

Purim fits this phrase quite well. 

The holiday of Purim just ended and for those of you not familiar with its significance, it recognizes the “salvation” of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman’s plot to destroy, kill, and annihilate them.

This holiday is celebrated with a carnival-like party AND delicious cookies called hamantashen. The cookies are triangle in shape and filled with a variety of flavors. 

The recipe that I use comes from my mother. To be quite honest, the way that this dough comes together is unusual. That said, it works perfectly and tastes delicious so I feel no need to modify it.

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Hamantashen
makes 45-50 cookies

Make the cookies: Combine eggs and butter in a small bowl.

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl then add the eggs and butter mixture.

Mix until combined and chill for a few hours; when ready to use, let dough soften at room temperature.

Using a decent amount of flour, roll out dough to roughly 1/8" thick; using a round cookie cutter, cut 3" circles.

Fill with 2/3 teaspoon of desired filling and fold to create triangle (note: this takes practice!)

Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

1 cup melted butter (cooled)
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup sugar
4 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp fresh orange juice
Grated rind of orange
Grated rind of lemon

Desired fillings (apricot, poppy seed, cherry, chocolate ganache, fig, etc.)

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Apricot

Chocolate Ganache with Almonds