Desserts

Khremzlakh

Ingredients:

Matzemeal (matza flavor) - 2 glasses
eggs - 4-5
butter - 3 tbsp.
Honey or jam - 3 tbsp.
Nuts - 1/2 glass
ginger - 1/3 tsp.
sugar - 3 tbsp.
salt - 1/4 tsp.

Khremzlakh—sweet Passover meal from matzamel. Put matzamel into a pot, add 1 glass of warm salty water, leave it for 15-20 min. When it gets cold add butter with yolks. Add honey or jam, nuts, ginger and beat up white of eggs, mix carefully. If it's too thick add 1-2 tbsp. water, if too watery - add flour. Divide pastry into small peaces and form balls of triangles. Bake on the pan, serve cold with tea.

Kugel

Kugel is another dish that encompasses several different things, and the relationship between them is hard to define. The word "kugel" is generally translated as "pudding," although it does not mean pudding in the Jell-O brand dairy dessert sense; more in the sense of bread pudding. The word "kugel" is pronounced "koo-gel" (with the "oo" in "book"; not to rhyme with "google") or "ki-gel," depending on where your grandmother comes from.

Kugel can be either a side dish or a dessert. As a side dish, it is a casserole of potatoes, eggs and onions. As a desert, it is usually made with noodles and various fruits and nuts in an egg-based pudding. Kugel made with noodles is called lokshen kugel. Below is my recipe for a noodle kugel.

3 eggs
1/4 cup melted margarine or butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 lb. wide noodles
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup almonds
1/2 cup chopped apples

Beat the eggs thoroughly in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter, sugar and cinnamon beat until thoroughly blended. Cook the noodles and rinse them in cold water. Do not drain them too thoroughly. Put the noodles into the egg mixture and stir until the noodles are coated with the mixture. Let them sit in the refrigerator for about 15-30 minutes, so the noodles absorb some of the egg mixture. Stir again.

Put about half of the egg-noodle mixture into a casserole dish. Put the raisins, almonds and apples on top. Put the remaining egg-noodle mixture on top of that. Bake for about 30-45 minutes at 350 degrees, until the egg part is firm and the noodles on top are crispy. Can be served warm or cold.

Fruit kugel

1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup diced dried apricots
1 cup apple juice
12 ounces wide flat egg noodles
1/4 pound unsalted butter -- or margarine, melted
1 tablespoon sugar -- optional
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup peeled diced apples
1 teaspoon cinnamon -mixed with
2 tablespoons sugar

In a small bowl, plump raisins and apricots in apple juice for 30 minutes; drain well. Oven: 375 degrees

Brush a 7 x 11- inch or 9 x 13- inch baking pan with 1 tbsp. of the butter (or margarine). In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook noodles till al dente, about 10 minutes; drain in a colander. In a large mixing bowl, combine drained noodles, the remaining butter, and sugar, if using, and mix well.

Mix in eggs. Fold in drained raisins, apricots and apples. Spoon into prepared baking dish. Sprinkle generously with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake till golden brown and crisp on top, about 30 minutes.

Serves: 10

Rice Pudding

2/3 cup converted rice
2 1/4 cups water
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 2/3 cups half and half
2 teaspoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 egg yolks

Bring rice and water to boil in medium saucepan. Simmer covered until rice is tender and most of the water is absorbed. (about 25 minutes)

In small bowl, stir together sugar, cornstarch and salt. Stir into hot rice with half and half. Stirring constantly, bring to boil for one minute.

Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla.

In small bowl slightly beat egg yolks, gradually stir in about one cup of hot rice mixture; stir back into remaining rice mixture. Stirring often, cook over medium heat just until mixture starts to bubble.

Let stand at room temperature. Sprinkle in cinnamon and serve warm.

Teiglakh

Ingredients:

Flour - 1.5 glasses
sugar - 1 tbsp.
butter - 1 tbsp.
egg (yolk) - 3
soda -1/4 tsp.
Vinegar - 1 tsp.

For syrup:

sugar - 2 tbsp.
honey - 3 tbsp.

Decorate with ground almonds and walnuts.

Pound yolks with sugar, add fluxed butter, flour and soda with vinegar. Make thin plaits from pastry, cut into 8 - 12 mm. pieces, put into bolter to get rig of extra flour. Bake until it becomes flushed.

For syrup mix sugar with honey, cook 10-15 minutes, add baked balls and cook until it becomes pink. Put the paste on the board, cut into pieces and strew with nuts.

Pie with poppy seeds

Ingredients:

Flavor - 3 glasses
sugar - 2 tbsp.
butter - 150 g.
kefir or milk - 2 glasses
eggs - 2
salt - 1 tsp.
yeast - 30g

for filling:

poppy-seeds - 1 glass
raisins - 1 glass
sugar - 1 glass
egg - 1
vanilla sugar - 5 g.

for baking:

honey - 2 tbsp.
butter - 2 tbsp.

for powder:

sugar powder - 1 tbsp.

For pastry: put kefir or milk into a pot and dissolve yeast in it. Add flour for liquid pastry (like for pancakes) and put in the warm place for fermentation. When the liquid pastry starts to settle make a pastry. Add eggs, sugar, salt, flour. Cover the pot with towel and put into warm place. In 2 hours knead dough and put on the board.

For filling - wash the poppy seeds in the water and put it in boiling water. When water boil again put poppy seeds in the bolter to let extra water stream down. Put in and raisins into mincing machine to mince. Add sugar, eggs, vanilla sugar, mix everything.

Make patties, plunge them in the mixture of sugar and honey and put it in the deep form. Bake 40-45 minutes. Powder with sugar powder.

Applesauce Kugel

Ingredients:

1 lb wide noodles
4 eggs
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup margarine, melted
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)
2 cups applesauce
cinnamon and sugar

Cook noodles until nearly tender and drain.

Beat eggs , add remaining ingredients except sugar and cinnamon, mix well. Add noodles and mix well.

Pour into a 9 x 13 greased baking dish. Combine 1/4 cup cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar and sprinkle on top. The amount of cinnamon and sugar can be adjusted to taste.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until browned on top.

Jerusalem Noodle Kugel

Ingredients:

16 oz. extra fine noodles
6 eggs, beaten
2 cups pareve milk whitener, soymilk, or rice milk (I use soymilk)
2 standard envelopes onion soup mix
Black pepper to taste
2 10-oz. packages frozen chopped spinach, well drained and squeezed dry
4 oz. margarine

Cook noodles and drain.

Mix together eggs, pareve milk whitener, onion soup, and pepper. Mix in spinach, then noodles.

Melt margarine in a 9"x13" pan. Pour in spinach/noodle/egg mixture. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes

Caramel Kugel

6 tablespoons melted butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 cups milk, 1 cup sour cream, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 16 ounces cottage cheese, 16 ounces cream cheese, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 6 eggs, 8 ounces cooked egg noodles 4 tablespoons butter melted with 1/2 cup brown sugar.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix together all ingredients except noodles and butter/brown sugar mixture. Beat until mixture is very smooth and thin. Add the cooked egg noodles and pour mixture into a lightly greased 9 x 12" baking pan.

Bake for 45 minutes, or until it BEGINS to set. Then, using a large spoon, insert spoonfuls of the melted butter/brown sugar mixture into the pudding.

Bake for another 15 minutes or until the kugel looks firm.

8-10 servings

Tzimmes

Tzimmes is any kind of sweet stew. It usually is orange in color, and includes carrots, sweet potatoes and/or prunes. A wide variety of dishes fall under the heading "tzimmes." On Passover a tzimmes is made of carrots and pineapple chunks boiled in pineapple juice. It is served also withh sweet potatoes, white potatoes, carrots, and stewing beef. Tzimmes is commonly eaten on Rosh Hashanah, because it is sweet and symbolizes our hopes for a sweet new year. The word "tzimmes" is often used in Yiddish to mean making a big fuss about something.

2 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 onions, sliced
3-4 pounds chuck or beef brisket
3-4 large carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
2-3 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 1/2 cups dried prunes, pitted (soak them 30 min. if really dry)
1/2 cup honey
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
a few grindings of peppercorns
water

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. In oven safe casserole or pan, heat the oil and then cook the onion, stirring and cooking until light brown. Set the meat on top of the onions, and then arrange the carrots, potatoes, and prunes around the sides.

Spoon the honey over, sprinkle with lemon zest, lemon juice, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Pour over enough water just to cover the meat. Cover the pot and bring to a boil on the range, and then put in oven for 4 hours.

To serve, slice meat and arrange vegetables around. Drizzle with any remaining juices.

Meat Tzimmes with Knaidel

Ingredients:

Tzimmes:

2 - 2-1/2 pounds breast flanken (short ribs)
1-2 Spanish onions, in large dice
3 pounds carrots, in 1-inch rounds
2 pounds sweet potatoes, in 1-inch chunks
3/4 cup sugar
salt to taste
water to cover

Optional additions:

1-2 apples cut into chunks
6 pitted prunes (prunes burn easily, so stir tzimmes frequently)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Knaidel:

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup oil or 1 stick margarine
3 tablespoons cold water

Makes 10-20 Side Dish Servings

For the Tzimmes:

In an 8-quart pot, place the flanken on the diced onions. Simmer over low heat 1-1 1/2 hours, until almost tender. Do not add water. The meat will release its own juices. When meat is nearly done, add the rest of the ingredients and water to cover. Any or all of the optional ingredients can be added at this point. Continue cooking for 1 hour until the vegetables are soft.

You can add a knaidel to the tzimmes about 45 minutes before vegetables are finished. Remove the meat, divide into serving size pieces and return to the tzimmes. If the mixture is too liquidy, dissolve 1 tablespoon flour in 1/3 cup cold water and stir into the tzimmes. Simmer until thickened.

For the Knaidel:

Sift the dry ingredients together. Add oil and water and mix thoroughly. Form this knaidel mixture into a rounded oblong. Put the knaidel into the tzimmes, tucking it next to the meat for the last 45 minutes. Make sure there is enough liquid for the knaidel to absorb and expand. If not, add water in small increments. Cover the pot and let cook for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Gahntze Tzimmes

3 to 4 lbs. boneless brisket
2 tbsp. Schmaltz (rendered chicken fat)
3 lg Carrots
1/2 lb Prunes--pitted
1/2 lb Dried apricots
1 Lemon--thinly sliced
3 lg Sweet potatoes
Juice of 1 orange
5 cups Boiling water
1 1/2 tbsp. Brown sugar
2 tbsp. Flour

Sear meat well in hot fat in a Dutch oven or heavy skillet on top of the stove. Transfer to a roasting pan. Peel carrots and cut in 1-inch round slices. Place them around the meat. Add prunes, apricots and lemon slices.

Peel sweet potatoes and cut in 1-inch slices. Place over meat and fruit in the roaster.

Add orange juice to boiling water. Combine brown sugar and flour and add enough water to make a thin paste. Add this paste to the orange juice mixture. Pour over the Tzimmes. If necessary, add more boiling water to bring liquid to the top of the tzimmes. Cover. Bake at 400 degrees for 1 hour. Reduce heat to 325 F. and continue baking 4 1/2 hours. Uncover and bake 30 minutes longer.