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Pesach treat

7 sweet sins: Kosher for Passover

When making cakes and cookies for Passover you have to overcome the absence of flour, one of the most basic and important ingredients in baking. Seven creative and original solutions for a sweet spring holiday

Matzo cake Almond cookies Nut cookies Chocolate-orange brownies 
Rich nut cake Organic Passover cake Truffles 
“If they do not have bread - let them eat cake”. If this royal statement had not been attributed to the unfortunate Marie Antoinette and destroyed her public relations for generations, you could have entered it into the Jewish mother’s book of commandments for Passover.

 

The main difficulties with this holiday’s foods are not centered in the realm of the gefilte fish, the chreime, the roast or the cooked vegetables. It occurs on the minefield of the desserts - cookies and cakes without chametz.

 

For a week, bread is exchanged for matzo. The savory pastries, such as quiches, can be skipped for a while or you can make some slight substitutions. But with cookies and cakes for Passover you have to overcome the absence of the most basic and important ingredient in baking - flour. This is also the reason why so much imagination and creativity have been invested in this department, which has led to an accumulated knowledge passed from mother to daughter.

 

And whoever holds by the saying “If there is no flour - there is no Torah” can expect a clash with generations of Jewish mothers, who can teach you a lesson in baking.

 

You will not find an ethnic group or family that does not have their own special Passover cake recipes. The desire to vary the repertoire and to surprise in unexpected places resumes every year. The collection of recipes found here is meant to satisfy this need. We took into account those who are very stringent, beginning bakers, and those who have little time.

 

Almost all of the cakes and cookies do not require special utensils or appliances. Most of them will suffice with just a bowl, a mixing spoon, and a pan (you can even use disposable). Some of them require the beating of cream or egg whites - in which case you will need a beater, preferably an electric one (which today can be purchased inexpensively). They are so easy to prepare and so tasty that we are sure that you will continue to enjoy them even after Passover.

 

Matzo cake
Ingredients

 

5 matzos

2/3 C. sweet red wine

For the cream:

3.5 oz. bittersweet chocolate

1 container sweet cream

3 T. sugar

 

Let's get working

 

The cream: Cook the chocolate with the cream and sugar until the mixture boils and the chocolate completely melts. Remove from the flame and cool. Place in refrigerator and chill.

When the cream is cold, beat it at high speed until it is a light color.

Pour the wine into a shallow pan and dip each matzo in on both sides for a few minutes. Place the matzos on top of each other so that they can absorb the wine.

Place a matzo on a serving platter and spread a fifth of the cream on it. Cover with an additional matzo and spread cream on it as well. Continue layering matzos and cream. Gently press on the last matzo so that the layers will stick to each other and finish with a layer of cream.

Store in the refrigerator. Preferably serve the following day.

 

חזור למעלה
Almond cookies
Ingredients (for 25 cookies)

 

2 egg whites

12 C. sugar

7 oz. sliced blanched almonds

 

Let's get working

 

Pre-heat the oven to 325 F. Line two large pans with baking paper. Mix the egg whites with the sugar (do not beat). Pour in the almonds and mix well. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture into the pan leaving spaces in between. Flatten with the back of a metal spoon and decorate little circles with the tip of the spoon.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the cookies are golden. Take out of the oven, cool and separate from the baking paper. Store in a closed container.

 

חזור למעלה
Nut cookies
Ingredients (for 50 cookies)

 

1 large egg

3.5 oz. powdered sugar

7 oz. ground nuts

2 T. matzo meal

1 tsp. baking powder

2tsp. Hawaj for coffee or a mixture of cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, ginger, and allspice

 

Let's get working

 

Pre-heat the oven to 323 F. Line a shallow pan with baking paper. In a wide bowl beat the egg. Place 2 T. of the powdered sugar in a shallow plate and add the rest to the egg and mix well. Add the nuts, matzo meal, baking powder and spices and knead into uniform dough. Grease your hands and shape the dough into 1 inch balls. Roll each ball in the confectioner’s sugar so that it is coated on all sides. Place on the baking pan with spaces in between the cookies and bake for 12 minutes. Cool and store in closed container.

 

חזור למעלה
Chocolate-orange brownies
Ingredients

 

7 oz. bittersweet chocolate (preferably with 50 % cocoa)

7 oz. butter or margarine

1 ½ C. sugar

4 eggs

4 T. matzo meal

2 T. potato starch

grated peel from one orange

1 T. orange liqueur

3.5 oz. roughly crushed walnuts

 

For decoration:

Crushed pistachios

 

Let's get working

 

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Grease an 11x14 inch baking pan. Place the chocolate, butter or margarine, and sugar into a pot and heat while stirring on a medium fire until you have a uniform dissolved mixture. Remove from the fire, add the eggs one at a time. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour the mixture into the pan, smooth it out and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool and cut into squares. Sprinkle a bit of pistachios on each square.

 

חזור למעלה
Rich nut cake
Ingredients

 

6 eggs

1 C. sugar

2 T. cocoa

1.75 oz. melted butter or margarine

3 T. matzo meal

7 oz. ground walnuts

1 tsp. vanilla

 

Let's get working

 

Pre-heat the oven to 300 F. Grease a 10 inch spring form pan and line with baking paper.

Separate the eggs. Beat the egg whites until smooth. Slowly add sugar and continue to beat until it is stiff and white.

Mix the cocoa with the melted butter and egg yolks. Add the nuts, matzo meal, and vanilla.

Carefully fold the egg white mixture into the nut mixture. Keep adding a part of the egg white mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until it is all mixed.

Pour the mixture into the pan, bake for 20 minutes, raise the temperature to 350 F and continue to bake for another 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire tray.

To serve, you can sprinkle powdered sugar or cocoa on the cake. You can also ice it with melted chocolate, chocolate cream or whipped cream.

 

חזור למעלה
Organic Passover cake
Ingredients

 

2 organic oranges

6 organic eggs

3 C. finely ground organic nuts

1 ¼ C. organic sugar

 

Icing:

organic cream

3 T. organic sugar

 

Let's get working

 

In a medium sized pot cook the oranges with their peels in water to cover for 20 minutes. Cool the oranges, cut, take out the seeds and puree in a food processor.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 F. Grease a 10 inch spring form pan.

Separate the eggs, beat the egg yolks with a quarter cup of the sugar and mix this meringue that was created with the pureed oranges.

Beat the egg whites with the sugar that is left until it is stiff. Fold in the yolk mixture and nuts. Bake for an hour or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Beat the cream with 3 T. sugar and ice the cake when it cools. 

 

חזור למעלה
Truffles
Ingredients (30-35 pieces)

 

1 container whipping cream

12 oz. bittersweet chocolate

2 T. brandy or liqueur

1.8 oz. ground blanched almonds

1.8 oz. cocoa

 

Let's get working

 

Boil the cream and cook on a low flame, until it is about to boil, around 20 minutes, until it is reduced to 2/3 of a cup.

Remove from the fire, add the chocolate and mix until the chocolate melts and it becomes a uniform mixture. Add the brandy and ground nuts and mix well. Cool in the refrigerator until it hardens (about two hours). Sift the cocoa into a deep bowl. Grease your hands and form balls the size of a nut from the hardened mixture. Dip each ball in the cocoa and place in cupcake holders.

Store in the refrigerator or freezer until ready to serve.

 

חזור למעלה

פרסום ראשון: 04.06.07, 00:11
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