Lemon + Wild Blueberry Hamantaschen

Well. I haven't been on this thing in quite a few months. But there's nothing like a holiday recipe for a quick comeback!

I made a big batch of hamantasch dough for Babyccino, and have been getting recipe requests that I've been responding to via text message. Here's a much easier way for ya'll to get in on the easiest most fool-proof hamantasch recipe ever! And it's all thanks to The Shiksa (I adapted her recipe a bit, but more importantly I used her folding method)!

Over the course of the last two months the girls and I have moved into a new apartment, and while unpacking was taken care of immediately, and nesting done all along the way, we are only just getting settled enough to really call it home. And home means holidays. And holidays usually means food... Hence, this post.

This dough was so easy to whip together - you definitely have all the ingredients on hand. And there's none of that waiting or refrigerating bullocks. Just dump your ingredients into a mixer (or a bowl :)) and start mixing it to incorporate it all. It will look shockingly crumbly before it takes on the form of nice good sugar-cookie-like dough. Just keep mixing past the crumbliness, and it'll morph to perfection before your very eyes.

Flour a work surface (these are the very best and worth every damn cent!!), and use a rolling pin to spread out your dough to about 1/8 inches thick. Use a 3" (or larger!) cookie cutter, or a glass with that sized rim, to cut out your cookies circles. Use less than 1 teaspoon of filling per cookie! I think this is where I used to always mess up: overstuffing. Also key factor, using a filling that won't be too runny and seep out the edges. Thicker jams and fruit preserves work much better good ol' American generic jelly. Reserve that stuff for the PB&Js. Pick up a jar of serious jam and you'll be much better off. I love using Bonne Maman for hamantaschen (and for Sunday eggs and soldiers). The flavor is off the charts! Plus once we've done one dry, I remove the labels and put those cute french jars to use throughout the house. This year I used Wild Blueberry, and I can personally vouch for the consistency being perfect for Purim cookies.

Once you've jammed all your circles, it's folding time. This is the utmost important part in any successful hamantasch. Folding, as opposed to just pinching corners, is what keeps your little packages nice and neat. Much like wontons. You can even set out a little bowl of water to use as a "seal" if you're having trouble. But you shouldn't have trouble. Follow The Shiksa's guide to How to Make Perfect Hamantaschen, and you'll be sitting pretty. Bake for about 23 minutes on 350. And that's a wrap!

Here is the recipe:

• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• zest of one lemon
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt

Easy as pie, right? Enjoy!!

P.S. Check out "Stomp Stomp Stomp (the Cookie Song)" by Karen Daniel for an adorably refreshing Purim song!

Apple Cider Donuts

Freida and I made a little impromptu pit-stop at BabycakesNYC last week, and I indulged myself (and all my senses!) with an Apple Cider Donut. My mind was blown. When I got home I googled the goodie, and apparently these little meltable morsels are all the rage right now! Thought I'd share some of the fall donut love before the deep-fried festivities begin!

Here's the recipe from StyleMePretty.com:

Ingredients

• FOR THE DONUTS:
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp apple pie spice
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ cup apple cider
• ¼ cup milk
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp. butter, melted
• FOR THE CINNAMON SUGAR TOPPING:
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. cinnamon
• 2 tbsp. butter, melted

Instructions

1. FOR THE DONUTS:
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, baking powder, apple pie spice & salt.
4. Stir in cider, milk, eggs, vanilla and melted butter.
5. Beat together until combined.
6. In a lightly greased donut pan, fill each cup 3/4 full.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the donuts spring back when touched.
8. Cool for 2-3 minutes, then remove from pan.
9. FOR THE TOPPING:
10. Meanwhile, mix together sugars and cinnamon until combined.
11. Brush each warm donut with butter and toss in cinnamon sugar mixture.
12. Enjoy while still warm!

If you need a good kick in the pants to get to making some of these fried sweet clouds of heaven, read this Washington Post article. And if you want more of a rustic version...

Homemade Apple Cider Donuts with Buttermilk (you can make buttermilk at home!)

If you want a side of humorous reading with your recipe.

And of course there are heaps of recipes on Pinterest. You can even go Paleo with these babies!!

It's the perfect way to capitalize on this years mash-up of fall and fried! Enjoy!!!

One Last Summer Scoop

So! The end of August is a little lad to be sharing Summer tips, but I've only just discovered the very best ice cream scooper EVER. And I figured I'd share the joy of deliciously delectably just-soft-enough scoops of summer-y goodness, for you to savor the last little bits of the ice cream season.

You may have heard of the $20 Zeroll ice cream scoop. Well, this is it's knockoff. And while I feel bad for the awesome folks at Zeroll for coming up with the most genius ice cream invention since the waffle cone only to have it ripped off and sold for under 5 bucks, I'm happier that someone actually did knock it off and bring perfect scoops of ice cream to the masses. The idea is this: the scooper is made of cast aluminum and is filled with self-defrosting fluid in the handle. Just by holding the handle, you're warming up the liquid and when you turn it upside down to scoop... well, the proof is in the pudding ice cream.

We've been eating way too many ice cream cones around here since I bought this amazing little kitchen gadget! It may just be the best $5 you'll ever spend. Get one here.

2 more things:

• this idea from Pinterest is genius for saving time when serving dessert to guests
• for those of you with an ice cream maker, this Apple Bourbon ice cream recipe looks insane!

Seasonal Snacking

I love these Summer months and the garden bounty that comes with them! Suddenly, my crisper drawer is filled with fruits and vegetables that not just taste juicy and succulent, but even smell heavenly. It's like we go 8 months eating generic tomatoes - tasteless, styrofoam versions of the real thing, and suddenly without even noting it, we're cutting up fragrant, fleshy, juicy summer tomatoes! Same with the berries! Whiter-than-they-should-be strawberries that taste pretty much like an extremely watered-down batch of the real thing... But nothing really makes my palate sing quite like summer figs! Green figs, to be exact. This colorful little gems are by far one of my favorite fruits, and I've been pounding suthem all season long. Hudi's been loving them as well, and usually has one or two with breakfast or lunch. And both my girls even chowed down on fig and feta pizza last week! What I'm saying is, go out and get yourself some green figs if you haven't yet this season - they're too good to miss out on! Farmers Market, Whole Foods, and Trader Joes all carry organic, locally grown, giant, gooey ones. They're impossibly delicious with sliced Havarti, or a smudge of Camembert. They will only be available for another month or two so get 'em while you can!!

Also, figs seem to be cropping up all over the fad-foodie blogs. Try them in recipes like this, this, and this.

Whipped Feta!

The concept of "nine-days dinners" tends to be a little cliched. Everyone seems to always be talking about how difficult it is to produce family-friendly nutritious meat-free deliciousness for a whole week. And while I grew up eating mostly Macrobiotic (meet my mother) and was even vegetarian for about 10 years, I still tend to get a little bored as the 9 days taper off... So! I was browsing some foodie sites a bit this morning over coffee, and I happened upon whipped feta and almost fell out of my seat! This stuff is just genius. I mean, Pinterest has been showcasing the usage of feta in a myriad of different salads and sandwiches, so apparently it's a big food trend at the moment, but nothing I've seen even comes close to the awesomeness of this creation!! This makes the richness of feta as easily available as chummas! Dunk some pita chips, dollop some in your eggs, slather on toast, spread in a lasagna, stuff some mushrooms... this stuff is wickedly adaptable and seems to be simple as ever to conjure up!!

And so, as soon as my kid's early morning screening of Nick Jr. is through, we'll be heading out on our Sunday morning walking ritual (with the pull-toy crocodile in tow, no doubt), and heading over to Trader Joe's in quest for the best feta ever to whip up some novel lunch and dinner. Here's the recipe:

- 8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled and at room temperature

- 3 ounces whipped cream cheese, at room temperature

Add crumbled feta to a food processor and pulse until small crumbs remain. Add in cream cheese and puree for 4-5 minutes, scraping down the sides when necessary, until feta is super creamy. That's all. :)

Enjoy!!