Hamantashen! (filled shortbread cookies)

24. March 2011 · 12 comments · Categories: Baking, Brunch, cooking, Dessert, food · Tags: , , , ,

For those of you who don’t know, Hamantashen are Jewish cookies/pastries  recognizable by their three-cornered shape. The shape is achieved by folding in the sides of a circular piece of dough, with a filling placed in the center. They are traditionally eaten during the Jewish holiday of Purim (sorry this recipe is a little late, as Purim was on March 20th). Hamantaschen are made with many different fillings, including prunes, nut, poppy seed, date, apricot, apple, fruit preserves, cherry, chocolate, dulce de leche, halva, or even caramel or cheese.

Poppy seed, prune and jam are the most traditional of the fillings. In fact, I never even knew of those other combos, but Wikipedia informed me of them.

Wikipedia also taught me something else new…the singluar of hamantashen is actually hamantash. I think that’s a fact that few jews know, as you usually hear people say “I just ate a hamantashen.” Well, thanks Wikipedia!

These cookies are named as a reference to Haman, the villain of Purim, as described in the Book of Esther. In Hebrew school I always learned that they were shaped in a triangle because that is the shape of the hat that Haman wore. But in my research for this blog post, I found out that the pastries are actually supposed to resemble the “ears of Haman.” Personally, I think that hat story is better. Who wants to eat an ear?! Well, unless it’s an Elephant Ear ;)

I thought it would be fun to have my great (and oldest!) friend, Erica, bake these up with me. I’ve known her since I was just a wee 4 year old :) So the two of us baked up a storm this weekend and produced lots of Hamantashen, while chatting it up and having some girl time…in my opinion, the best way to bake!

*Please note that all cookies shown are Erica’s. She made hers nice and pretty  and didn’t get greedy with the fillings and overfill them like I did. Hers came out cute and attractive while mine were ugly and messy.

In making this recipe there are some tips I learned:

1. DO NOT OVERFILL the cookies. If you do, they will explode and all the filling will ooze out. I teaspoon should be plenty for attractive cookies. If you don’t care how pretty they are, then fill as much as you want, because they still taste good :)

2. Do not roll the dough too thin or the cookies will not keep shape as well. 1/4″ is the perfect thickness.

3. Make sure the rolled-out and cut dough is cold before you try to form the cookies or they will stick to your hands and not to themselves.

4. Make sure the cookies are cold and firm before putting in the oven. Put them in the freezer for at LEAST 20 min. If you don’t, the cookies will spread way too much in the oven and the filling will ooze out.

5. Cool thoroughly after removing from oven.

Now, without further ado, the recipe :)


Hamantashen

Adapted from the New York Times
Yields about 20 cookies

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 large egg yolks
8 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature, in small pieces
Grated zest of 1 lemon
2 1/4 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
Dash of salt
1 large egg, beaten, for the glaze
Various fillings: jam, chocolate chips, nutella, or anything your heart desires

1. Put the confectioners’ sugar and the egg yolks in a food processor and blend. Add butter and lemon zest and process to blend. Gradually add the flour and the salt, pulsing until it forms a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or overnight. 2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 pastry sheets with parchment paper. 

3. Roll out the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. If dough is too soft at this stage, refrigerate rolled-out dough for 20 min or until firm.

4. Use a round cookie cutter or glass to cut 2.5-inch circles. Put a heaping teaspoon of the filling in the center of each, and press up the sides to form triangles. Brush the tops with beaten egg. Put trays of cookies in freezer for about 20 min or until very firm.

5. Remove cookies from freezer and bake until golden and dough is delicately firm all the way through, about 20 minutes. If trays are on different racks, switch them after about 10 minutes.

Ho-tteok, Sweet Korean Pancake

07. March 2011 · 17 comments · Categories: Breakfast, Brunch, Cake, cooking, Dessert, food, recipes, Uncategorized, vegetarian · Tags: , ,

Ho-tteok is a variety of filled Korean pancake, and is a popular street food of South Korea. According to Wikipedia, it is usually eaten during the winter season, which works out well for this blog post :)

It is believed that hotteok originated from Chinese merchants who immigrated to Korea after the late 19th century. Unlike many Chinese pancakes, which often contain savory meat fillings, hotteok are stuffed with sweet fillings, to suit Koreans’ tastes. They traditionally contain a filling of brown sugar, chopped walnuts or peanuts and cinnamon, that melt when the cake is fried.

I think I first had Hotteok at a Korean supermarket I went to while briefly living in Texas. It was being made right there in front of me, and it came out so fresh and hot that I burned my mouth on the sweet, sugary filling inside because I couldn’t wait for it to cool. Needless to say, it was delicious. You’d think I would have learned my lesson but I always burn my mouth on hot foods due to my impatience.

The main reason I chose to make this (other than going along with the Asian theme of my last post) is because, out of curiosity, I bought some glutinous rice flour (also called sweet rice flour) the last time I was at the Asian supermarket. I don’t know what I was thinking, really. I thought you could just use it in place of white flour in any recipe. I believe you can  with regular rice flour, but the glutinous type is mainly used in Asian desserts. It’s chewy, from the gluten I suppose, which makes it workable and good for stretching around fillings.

These days, the types of hotteok have been changing continuously. Many variations have developed since the early 21st century, such as green tea, pink bokbunja, corn, and more. In my case, I decided to alter the traditional filling by using crunchy peanut butter in place of the nuts and adding some banana because…well because you can’t have peanut butter without banana (or chocolate) ;)

Though the glutinous rice flour can’t be found in a standard supermarket, you can find it in most large Asian grocery stores, or you can order it online. I highly recommend trying it. And with the leftover, you can make mochi ice cream!

The batter was so delicious that I may try thinning it out and making waffles with it. Whether you choose to make this for breakfast, dessert, or as a snack, I can guarantee you won’t be able to wait to eat it either…and when you burn your mouth, don’t say I didn’t warn you ;)

I submitted my recipe to Yeast Spotting!

 

Hotteok (Sweet Korean Pancake) stuffed with Brown Sugar, Peanut Butter and Banana

Adapted from One Fork, One Spoon
makes 8-10 small pancakes

¼ cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon active-dry yeast
1 cup flour
¾ cup glutinous rice flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup milk
3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil

filling:
¼ cup brown sugar
1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 banana, diced

Stir together the lukewarm water, one tablespoon of sugar, and active-dry yeast in a small bowl until the sugar and yeast dissolve.  Let it sit for 10 minutes, during which time it will start to bubble and foam.

Combine the flour, glutinous rice flour, salt and remaining tablespoon of sugar in a large bowl.  Add the yeast-sugar mixture and the milk.

Using your hands, bring the dough together into a sticky ball.  Knead it a couple of times, for about two or three minutes.  The dough will be sticky, but it should still come off your hands and stay together.  Cover with plastic and place in a warm spot for 3 hours.  (I put my oven on 200 for 30-40 seconds then turned it off and put dough in and turned on oven light)

After 3 hours, the dough will have doubled in size.  It will look pretty puffy.  Knead the dough a couple times until it becomes more elastic, but keep in mind that it will never become a smooth, elastic ball of dough.

Combine the brown sugar, peanut butter and cinnamon in a small bowl. Chop banana into small pieces and put to side.

Heat the oil in a large pan on medium-high heat.  Make sure your pan is hot before you start — your pancake should sizzle when it hits the pan or it won’t form a good crisp crust.  Oil your hands and pinch off a piece of dough, about 2-3 tablespoons.  Knead it into a smooth ball and then stretch it out into a loose circle, creating a depression in the middle.  Fill the depression with the sugar mixture, about a tablespoon worth.  Stretch and seal the dough around the sugar mixture and flatten it between the palms of your hands.

Drop the flattened ball of dough into the pan.  The oil should be hot enough to sizzle.  Smooth some oil on your spatula and press down on the ball of dough, flattening it further.  Continue making balls of dough until the pan has 3 or 4 pancakes in it. Be careful not to crowd the pan.

Fry the pancakes until golden-brown, about 3 minutes on each side.  Remove from the pan and let them drain on a paper towels or a wire rack.  Serve warm.

 

A teaser…

03. March 2011 · 5 comments · Categories: Baking, Dessert · Tags:

So remember that I told you I was planning to enter something into the Pillsbury Bake-off? Well I can’t tell you the recipe yet, but here’s a little preview picture to make your mouth water ;)

I brought some to work and got tons of compliments so hopefully that’s a good sign. Keep your fingers crossed!

Say Cheeeese….cake!

28. February 2011 · 11 comments · Categories: Baking, Cake, cooking, Dessert, food, recipes · Tags: ,

I love baking for no reason. But I really love having an actual event to bake for…particularly because then I know the goods won’t be sitting in my kitchen, calling my name at all hours of the night. I only wish I was kidding about my abilities to communicate with cake.

Birthdays are the perfect reason to bake up something good. So I took this opportunity for Nate’s friend’s birthday to make a Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake I’ve been wanting to try.

The recipe said it made 2 cakes. Even with a celebration like a birthday, I’m not sure why anyone would want to make 2 cakes…or at least 2 of the same cake. Ridiculous. Plus, I didn’t have 2 springform pans. So I halved the recipe and hoped for the best.

It turned out beautifully, and delicious. And the birthday boy seemed to enjoy it, which is the real result you hope for on any birthday baking endeavor :)

cheesecake, pre-glazing

 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I think I hear something calling my name from the refrigerator.

 

 

Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake

Adapted from Southern Living
makes one 9-inch cheesecake

Cake

1/4 cup toasted, chopped pecans
2 (1-ounce) bittersweet chocolate baking squares
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels
2 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoons vanilla

Sprinkle 1/4 cup pecans evenly over the bottom of each of 1 greased and floured 9-inch springform pan.

Microwave chocolate squares in a microwave-safe bowl at MEDIUM (50% power) 1 1/2 minutes, stirring at 30-second intervals until melted. Stir until smooth.

Beat butter and 1 cup sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Add melted chocolate, beating just until blended.

Add flour, beating at low speed just until blended. Stir in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and chocolate morsels. Divide batter evenly between pans, spreading over chopped pecans.

Beat cream cheese at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth; add 3/4 cups sugar, beating until blended. Add 3 eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Stir in 1/2 teaspoons vanilla. Divide cream cheese mixture evenly between each pan, spreading over brownie batter.

Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until set. Remove from oven; cool completely on wire rack.

Spread top of cooled cheesecake with 1 recipe Chocolate Glaze (see below); cover and chill 8 hours. Remove sides of pans before serving. Garnish, if desired.

Chocolate Glaze

1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate morsels
1/2 cup whipping cream

Melt 1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate morsels and 1/2 cup whipping cream in a 2-quart microwave-safe bowl at MEDIUM (50% power) 2 1/2 to 3 minutes or until chocolate begins to melt. Whisk until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.

*Note: The top glaze layer came out extremely thick and rich. I think if I were to make it again, I’d halve the amount.

Banana Butterscotch Ginger Wontons with Spiced Chocolate Sauce

15. February 2011 · 6 comments · Categories: Baking, Dessert · Tags: , , , , ,

So after making those ravioli the other day, I was left with more than half of the package of wonton wrappers left. Who could use so many wrappers at once?? After forming about 20 wontons for dinner, I totally lost the energy to make any more. Maybe they have an assembly line of chefs in chinese kitchens. Or maybe I suck at wonton-making…

Well, I decided to give it another go. I figured maybe if I put dessert in the wonton then I would have a longer wonton-making attention span.

I swear I have ADD, but my mom doesn’t believe me. I even want to take a break from writing this blog after two paragraphs. I think that means I have a problem…or I’m lazy. One or the other. I think I’d like to take a nap. Or watch some tv. I’d probably lose interest in that too.

Anyway, where was I. Right, Banana Butterscotch Ginger Wontons with Spiced Chocolate Sauce. Yummy, right? Plus, they’re baked, not fried so that kinda counteracts all that sugar they got goin on.

I don’t know how Asian these wontons are (although they do have ginger), but I’ll keep thinking of other combos to use with the other hundred wrappers that I still have left…I think it’s a never-ending package. I chose this combo because I had some butterscotch chips in my pantry as well as about a tablespoon of crystallized ginger left. The sauce was inspired by those Winter-Spiced Molten Chocolate Cakes I made for New Years.

Unfortunately, I’m not gonna post this recipe just yet. After biting into one of these babies, both Nate and I agreed that while the flavor combo was delicious, the filling was a little on the dry side (Note: after reading this, Nate said this made him sound like a jerk. The fact is I said it was dry and asked if Nate agreed and he said yes). I’m not sure how to moisten it up. I was trying to keep these on the healthy side (plus dairy free), but I think they prob just need some butter. Also, the banana I used was practically green (what can I say, I lack attention span AND I’m impatient ), so I caramelized it for a bit before putting it in the filling, but I think it could have been moister if it was riper. Is moister a word?

So anyway, I think I’m going to try this flavor combo again, maybe by revamping this dessert, or maybe by creating something new…who knows. But I hope the pics at least made your mouth water :)

« Older articles
Newer articles »