Tag: dessert

Moscato Strawberries Two Ways

Ah strawberry season…you are finally here! There is nothing I love more than to walk into a supermarket and be greeted by the sweet scent of strawberries. (OK, to be honest, I’d prefer to walk past the farm stand and smell the sweet scent of freshly picked strawberries).

I wait all year for sweet berry season, when the strawberries are so naturally sweet, they’re like nature’s summer candy. I never understand those people that dip their strawberries in sugar, I mean, aren’t they sweet enough?

While I may not agree with dipping my strawberries in sugar, I do love me some macerated strawberries. Macerated strawberries are strawberries that are sprinkled with sugar to draw out the liquids and create a sweet, syrupy sauce, without cooking. I like to add a hint of balsamic vinegar to balance out the sweetness, for a truly luscious summer dessert.

Besides for balsamic macerated strawberries, I also love to macerate strawberries in some light and sweet Moscato wine. The wine infuses the strawberries with it’s peachy goodness, while the strawberries infuse the wine with their juicy sweetness. Win-win, wouldn’t you say?

This stuff is delicious straight out of a glass, but you can also serve it over ice cream, pound cake or even yogurt.

Moscato Macerated Strawberries

1 lb. strawberries
1 cup Moscato wine
3 tbsp honey

Method:

Wash and hull strawberries and cut into quarters. Place in a bowl with wine and honey and let sit in refrigerator until strawberries soften and release their juices, 2 hours-1 day.

VARIATION: try macereating other fruit like blueberries or raspberries.

Now if you’re a strawberry purist and think raw strawberries should only be eaten straight out of the carton (or dipped in sour cream), I totally get you. Macerated strawberries are not for everyone! Buttttt I want to shift your attention to another preparation – that of cooked strawberries, ala strawberry sauce! Of course you can simmer up some strawberries with lots of sweet sugar for a thick strawberry syrup that’s achingly sweet. Or…or you can do something a little more glam and little less cloying, and simmer your strawberries in some honey and moscato until you get a lovely sauce that’s just perfect over angel food cake or lovely on some goat cheese ice cream.

Speaking of goat cheese ice cream, I just may have the creamiest, most delicious, sweet yet mildy tangy cheesecake ice cream coming your way. Oh yes. You’re welcome.

Moscato Strawberry Sauce

1 lb. strawberries
1 cup Moscato wine
3 tbsp honey

Method:

Wash and hull strawberries and cut into quarters. Place in a pot with wine and honey and bring to a simmer. Cook strawberries until they begin to fall apart (you can mash them a little with a fork to help them along), and the sauce thickens to a syrup, 20-30 minutes.

Related Recipes:

Moscato, honey & vanilla bean poached apricots
cherries in red wine syrup
strawberry limonana
strawberry rhubarb soup

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Peanut Butter Bars

Ah, chometzfest! That day or two after Passover when we stuff our faces with all the delicious foods we’ve missed for 8 days.

Yes – just 8 days! What is it about Pesach that leaves us craving chometz (leaven food that’s prohibited during Passover) so much? It’s just over a week and we can barely hold out for our pizza. Is it just a case of wanting what you can’t have?

I can still remember the lines around the block of the pizza store a mere hour or two after Pesach ends. Who’s not guilty of standing on those endless lines for a fresh hot slice of cheesy heaven?

Now that I have my own kids, I’m not about to waste my time waiting for pizza. Instead, we break out a couple of boxes of fun sugary cereal for a Cereal Chometz Party. My kids can’t get enough, and the pizza can wait for another day.

The next morning, I whip out some fresh, hot pancakes or cake, to enjoy the crumby deliciousness with a cup of hot coffee.  Now, that is what I miss over Passover. And peanut butter, of course!

Read on for some more chometz recipes in the Kosher Connection Linkup below!

Peanut Butter Bars

1 cup Flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
peanut butter crumb topping (recipe follows)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Crumb Topping

1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat an 8″x8″ baking dish with cooking spray.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and whisk to combine.

In a separate bowl, mix the peanut butter, sugar, and egg and stir until creamy. Add the milk and vanilla and stir until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Pour the batter into the greased baking dish and set aside.

Add all the topping ingredients to the bowl you used to mix the dry ingredients. Mix until crumbly.

Spread the crumbs over the cake batter and top with chocolate chips. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until slightly puffy and very lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Yield: approximately 16 squares.

Other peanut butter recipes:

peanut butter mousse
peanut butter fudge ice cream pie
peanut chicken curry
peanut butter corn flake crunch ice cream

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Pecan Pie Lace Cookies with Raspberry Filling


This is like the Chanukah cookie that wasn’t. Well, almost. You know that little thing called sleep? Those precious hours of rest that we all take for granted, until we haven’t had any? Well, I’m more than a little sleep deprived lately, and while I try to be organized about my blogging calendar, I all but forgot about today’s Thanksgivukkah linkup. I had  planned to post these pumpkin ricotta pancakes/cheese latkes but you know what happens to plans when you’re a walking zombie. I did post them alright. Just a wee bit too early.


Sure, I could have skipped out on the linkup fun altogether, but the truth is, I was kind of excited about challenging myself to another Thanksgivukkah mashup recipe. And there’s something else too. I’ve got to come clean with y’all.  Me, the serial non-baker. The one that swore off dough’s and pastries of any kind — has got the baking itch.


Yes, it’s true. I’ve been baking. A lot. Cakes, bars, muffins and cookies. And I’m even kind of enjoying it. So when I realized I needed to come up with another Chanukah/Thanksgiving recipe, I went straight for my favorite of all baked goods – cookies!


I’ve been making lace cookies for years. so when I thought about what kind of cookie to make, I decided to adapt my classic lace cookie recipe to include pecans as a riff on pecan pie. Then, instead of filling the cookies with chocolate, I used raspberry jam, ala Chanukah jelly donuts, and finally, instead of a the traditional chocolate drizzle over the top, I decorated the florentines with Chanukah symbols. What I didn’t realize is just how amazing everything would come together. Raspberry jam, chocolate and lacy pecan cookies are like a match made in heaven!


I hope y’all enjoy my last minute Thanksgivukkah recipe. Be sure to check out all the other great mashup recipes in the Kosher Connection linkup below!


Pecan Pie Lace Cookies with Raspberry Filling

1/2 c light corn syrup
1/2 c shortening
2/3 c packed dark brown sugar
1 c all-purpose flour
1 c finely chopped pecans
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
raspberry jam, for filling
melted chocolate, for drizzle

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly grease a baking sheet* (if you are using an aluminum cookie sheet, make sure it’s completely flat without any indentations). Add the corn syrup, shortening and brown sugar to a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla, salt, flour and pecans. Drop batter by level tablespoon onto the baking sheet, about 3 inches apart. Bake for approximately 7 minutes, until set. Cool for 5 minutes**.

Spread good quality raspberry jam over cookies and pair to create sandwiches. Melt the chocolate in the microwave and decorate the tops of the cookie sandwiches with Chanukah symbols.

*You do not need to grease the baking sheet again in between each batch as the cookies will leave a greasy residue.

**Do not try to remove the cookies from the baking sheet until they have cooled COMPLETELY.

NOTE: If the batter gets too cold and sticky to handle, rewarm it over low heat, or, you can keep the batter warm by placing the saucepan over hot water.

TIP: Spread the raspberry jam on the cookies before serving. If done too far in advance, the cookies will become soggy.

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Gingerbread Cupcakes with
Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you’ve probably already drooled over these gorgeous gingerbread cupcakes. I made them during the fast of Tisha B’av, so I wasn’t about to photograph them, but I did talk about them, a LOT. The next day, I had just 3 cupcakes left, so I decided to do what any foodie/blogger would – share! It was hard not to gobble down the last of them before getting a good shot, they’re just THAT good.

Besides being incredibly moist, these gingerbread cupcakes are chock-full of warm autumn spices. I didn’t think my kids would go for the flavors of ginger and nutmeg, but I was SO wrong – they could not get enough. Not only that, my little cream-cheese-haters were licking the frosting off their fingers! I think I’m going to start whipping up sweet cream cheese concoctions and call them “frosting sandwiches.” It will make lunch a whole lot easier for me!

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting
adapted from The Collegiate Baker

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/3 cup molasses
1 cup hot water

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg to a bowl and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl, mix the  oil, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs and mix to incorporate. Add the molasses and stir to combine. Add half of the dry ingredients and half of the hot water to the wet mixture and mix until incorporated. Repeat with the second half of the dry ingredients and hot water.

Fill cupcake pans about 2/3 full and bake for approximately 18 minutes, until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Brown Sugar Cream Cheese Frosting

1 8oz. container whipped cream cheese
4 tbsp softened butter
1 cup confectionars sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla

Method:

Add the cream cheese and butter to a bowl and mix with a spoon to combine. Add the brown sugar cinnamon and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add the confectioners sugar 1/3 of a cup at a time, stirring until thickened.

1 year ago: chicken lollipops 
2 years ago: cherry yogurt popsicles 

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S’mores Cookies

It’s funny to see just how crazy people are about cookies. Me included. Recently, I posted a review of my day at Governor’s Island. I mentioned, in passing, what we brought along for our picnic, s’mores cookies included. I was so excited to receive lots of feedback on my post – but it was all in the form of a recipe request. “Did you say s’mores cookies?” Why, yes I did. “Can I have the recipe?” Well, of course.

So, here I am sharing my accidental recipe for s’mores cookies.

When it comes to cookie making, I’m always in sort of a dilemma. And I’m going to be frank here. So please don’t run away after you read my serious foodie confession, ok?

I don’t like butter.

There, I said it.

I don’t like butter.

Now before you close the screen and punish me for my culinary blasphemy, let me explain. It’s not so much that I don’t like it. It’s just that it doesn’t sit well with me. Anything too creamy or buttery just makes me feel sick.

And there’s something else too, which makes baking entirely difficult.

I HATE margarine.

If you’ve read up on it, you probably know just how bad margarine is for you. In fact, it’s just ONE molecule away from plastic! When I was in culinary school recently, we only had a meat kitchen (it’s a kosher school and under kosher dietary guidelines, milk and meat are not eaten or prepared together), so whenever a recipe called for butter, we used margarine instead. I had a habit of teasing my instructor about all the “plastic sauces” we were preparing.

So, back to cookies. When you can’t use butter or margarine, cookie-making becomes quite a difficult task. It’s hard to get that perfect crumb when using oil, but I try anyway. In this case, I succeeded. Filled with chocolate chunks, marshmallows and graham cracker pieces in every bite, these smores cookies have become a family favorite. And you know what the best part is? They’re not made of plastic.

S’mores Cookies

2 cups of flour
1 cup of sugar
1/3 cup of brown sugar
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of canola or melted coconut oil
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 graham crackers, lightly crushed
1/2 cup mini marshmallows
1 3 0z. bar chocolate, cut into chunks

Method:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, combine the oil, eggs, and vanilla.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix to form a dough. Add graham cracker pieces, marshmallows and chocolate chunks. Form balls with approximately 2 tbsp worth of batter and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet (8 per sheet). Try to form the cookies so that the marshmallows and chocolate chunks are mostly covered in the dough (you may need to press it together with your hands). Bake for 12-14 minutes.

Yield: approximately 18 cookies.

Related recipes:

Chocolate & olive oil Chanukah crinkle cookies
S’mores chocolate toffee bark
Cowboy cookies

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