What Makes These Chocolate Macaroons Unique

If my chocolate macaroons look different than other chocolate macaroons you’ve seen, there are two possible reasons:

Hamantaschen dough is really easy to make and requires no refrigeration time! The filling options for Hamantaschen are endless – from poppy seed filling to all kinds of jams, chocolate, and more. I share lots of unique ideas in this post as well as tips and tricks for how to get the triangular cookies to hold their shape.

There is a bit of a rift in the Jewish community as to what the perfect hamantaschen texture should be.

Rugelach were a regular nosh in my house – ever-present beside platters of bagels, lox, and whitefish.

This post was sponsored by Red Star Yeast. They make baking with yeast easy!

Challah is my favorite bread. It’s the bread that my dad would bring home from bakeries when I was a kid and I would devour (adding no toppings whatsoever – not even some butter).

Passover pull-apart garlic rolls are best served right out of the oven, just after covering them in fresh garlic, oil, and basil. Then, they are almost like little Passover popovers: light, airy, and flavorful.

Warning: In an act of bread-craving desperation, I’ve had some Passover rolls that had been sitting around for several days; at that point they resembled the stones used for building pyramids in the Passover story.

Purim is almost here and it’s time to start thinking about hamantashen (the triangular cookies that are supposed to remind us of evil Haman’s hat). Hamantashen, like all Jewish foods, can be made with a variety of different doughs and fillings. Family traditions are influenced by great-grandmothers who toted recipes from the old country.

It’s “pie” time for a change, so I’m twisting tradition by creating this hamantashen pie. The pie’s top crust is a veritable hat shop with its selection of triangular hamantashen. However, the whole hamantashen pie, not just the crust, tastes like the famous cookie.

This Tzimmes recipe (Tsimis recipe) is the Jewish answer to green bean casserole.

We skip the greens and the creamy soup and instead spend our holidays eating a sweet stew made with root vegetables, apples and pineapple (if you’re my mom), raisins, and other dried fruits.

Challah is a rich bread almost like a brioche, but more eggy and less buttery. It works just as well as brioche in my brioche French toast. In fact, challah is one of the best breads around for French toast.

During most of the year, challah is served as an oval loaf. But, on Rosh Hashana, round challah is always served. Rosh Hashana is the Jewish new year and the round shape represents the cycle of life.