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For the Easiest Hanukah Doughnuts Ever
Wherever Jews have lived, we have enjoyed fried doughs. They popped out of our ancient frying pans and much later they ‘made aliyah’ to the Holy Land from Poland filled with red jelly. Now they are the ubiquitous soufganiyot. But other Jewish communities have commemorated Hanukkah with variously named, distinctly shaped, regionally influenced, yeast risen
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Forthcoming! On the Bread Trail
On the Bread Trail serves up explorations of heritage Jewish breads. Puffy yeast doughs, as expansive and mysterious as the survival of the Jewish people, mix with Jewish celebrations to yield surprising and diverse treats for all seasons. Feed your family and friends from the spirit and creativity of our ancestors through their migrations and
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Chocolate Chip Politics
Chocolate chip cookies are on the menu at the Biden White House, part of its recipe for governing in 2021. Visitors to the Oval Office snag chocolate chip cookies wrapped with the Presidential seal. When first lady Jill Biden stopped at the U.S. Capitol immediately after the inauguration, she delivered baskets of chocolate chip cookies
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Why Is Challah On My Matzah Box?
It happened every Passover during my decades as a congregational rabbi. A curious small-print-reading synagogue member would ask why a recently purchased, certified for Passover, matzah box said: “CHALLAH IS TAKEN.” Odd. Everyone knows (and many complain) that leavened foods such as Shabbat challah are prohibited during the festival. Exacting requirements to prevent fermentation–from the
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Israeli Chocolate Spread
Ingredients:1 cup unsalted butter 1 cup sugar 3 large eggs* *1 teaspoon vanilla extract 5–6 heaping tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder Instructions:Cut the butter into small pieces and put in a blender. Add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla, and blend well. Add the cocoa powder and blend well again. Put in a container and refrigerate. Serve
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December Media Stories
There’s definitely been interest in stories about Hanukkah traditions of doughnuts and gelt this past month. Thank you to the following for disseminating ideas based on On the Chocolate Trail and the chocolatebabkaproject: For The Forward story, “A Different Doughnut Recipe for Each Hanukkah Night,” I tested recipes and researched background about Sephardi and Mizrachi
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Order Now! “The Boston Chocolate Party”
I am very excited to share that The Boston Chocolate Party, a picture book co-authored with award-winning children’s book writer, Tami Lehman-Wilzig, will be on the shelves on October 4, 2022. Order now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Target. New England, December 1773It’s time to celebrate the Janucá holiday. Joshua Mendes is excited to
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Zooming for Challah
Thank you to The Jewish Week’s Food and Wine for running my story, “Zooming for Challah.” The internet has been popping with real-time challah baking sessions since shelter in place began. These free pre-Shabbat meet ups nourish a hunger for recipes, relief, rituals, and relationships. Despite nationwide yeast and flour shortages, longtime bakers and novices
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Celebrate the First Shabbat After Passover with a Shlissel Challah
Hasidic communities mark the first Shabbat after Passover with a special challah as they transition back to the world of chametz. They shape the first post-Passover Shabbat challah into a key. The key, or shlissel as it is called in Yiddish, is meant to symbolize openings, passageways, and transition. Rabbi Pinchas Shapiro of Kovitz (b.
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Atayef: Double Fried Filled Pancakes for Chanukah
Aka Ataïf, atayif, qata’if, qatayif, katayef, these pancakes may be filled with nuts or also prepared with cheese fillings for Chanukah or Shavuot. They are also popular at weddings spread with cream and rose petal jam or simply topped with pistachios or almonds. This recipe guides you through a nut stuffed option. Read my story
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Panettone for Breakfast?
While we tend to think of panettone as a Christmas bread, Jewish food writer Edda Servi Machlin shared this version of panettone from her childhood experiences in Italy of eating it for breakfast. She provides an authentic yet simpler process than most panettone recipes and a very tasty one at that. Enjoy it whenever you
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Pan de Calabaza: Pumpkin Challah
This bread brings fall ingredients to your festive meals and reflects the longtime usage of pumpkin among Sephardi Jews. See the Jewish Week for my story about unusual Rosh Hashanah breads, “Beyond Challah and Honey: Rosh Hashanah Breads From Around the World.” Prep time: 30 minutes Rising time: 1 hour 45 minutes Baking time: 45
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What’s a Key (shlissel) Challah?
On the first Shabbat following Passover, after a week deprived of yeasty breads, hassidic custom serves up not just any challah, but a shlissel or key challah. About seven weeks or fifty days later at Shavuot, challot boast ladders and other symbols signifying ascension to heaven. This key shaped bread or bread embedded with an
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Recipe for Fancy Shapes in Dough: Shaping Dough
I used this shaping dough for the five symbols for the Sephardi “Seven Heaven Challah” for Shavuot: The tablets of the Ten Commandments, a Jacob’s ladder to recall the ascent and descent of angels to and from heaven, a hand or hamsa recalling the five books of the Torah, a bird representing the dove of
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Cheese Babka Recipe
This celebratory, cheesy babka belongs on a festive Shavuot table, for sure. Read my story at the Jewish Week “Exotic Celebratory Breads for Shavuot“ Adapted from Beth Hensperger’s The Bread Bible: 300 Favorite Recipes Yield: One large cake DOUGH 1 tablespoon active dry yeast Pinch sugar ¼ cup warm water (105º to 115º) ½ cup
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Seeking A Shikker Challah
When I found this recipe for challah baked with brandy, it called out “Purim.” What could be better than a shikker challah to fulfill the Talmudic opinion of Rava: “One must drink on Purim until that person cannot distinguish between cursing Haman and blessing Mordechai.” (Megillah 7b) Chaleh I “Chaleh I” was published in the
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