Holiday and Seasonal Recipes and Tips

The Jewish year is full of delicious tastes and smells, with traditional foods for each holiday and season. Look around for creative new recipes and for tried and true classic recipes.

Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur

• A pre-Rosh Hashana challah show that got me thinking - Just this past Wednesday night, I was invited to give a large challah experience to a big group of ladies here in Jerusalem at someone’s private residence. There was an overflow crowd of over 50 women, in every age bracket and wow, did they ask a LOT of questions! It’s always a warm feeling to be able…
• Mini Honey Cake Muffins - Mini Honey Cake Muffins We eat and also give honey cake out to friends in honor of Rosh Hashana, to symbolize our wish that they enjoy a sweet new year…I’ve been making these for years and they are always amazing…what a tasty way to say Shana Tova… Makes about 45-50 or so mini muffins Ingredients…
• Sweet Challah Toppings - Sweet Challah Toppings Sweet crumble topping 100 grams marg 1/2 cup white sugar 1 cup flour 1 tsp. cinnamon Crumble it together until it’s, well, crumbs. If too mushy, add more sugar another 2 Tablespoons and a bit more flour. Recrumble. If it is too dry, add a bit more margarine. I try not to…

Sukkos

• Esrog Jelly - Some of you wrote me asking how to use your esrogim to make esrog jelly. I have to admit that I only tried it once in my life and was not terribly successful at it so I haven’t done it again. This recipe is from Hamodia Newspaper (Oct. 30th, 2014 issue), there is an entire…
• Crunchy Pumpkin Pie - Crunchy Pumpkin Pie This is the only part of the recipe that has margarine; but since it’s not a major part of the pie and it’s really only to hold it together, I kept it in. You can either use the recipe for pie crust that I’m going to write here, or one frozen pie…
• Pumpkin Muffins - Pumpkin Muffins Ingredients 4 eggs, separated 3 cups finely ground whole wheat flour 1 cup regular whole wheat flour or more of the finely ground 1 tsp baking powder 3 tsp baking soda 2 cups light brown sugar OR white sugar ½-1 tsp nutmeg 1 & ½ tsp cinnamon 1 cup finely chopped walnuts (when…

Chanukah

• Four Glaze Toppings for Chanukah Doughnuts - Four Glaze Toppings for Chanukah Doughnuts Here are easy and DIY recipes for glazing many flavors of doughnuts. Chocolate glaze: 1 cup powdered sugar 2 tablespoons water 2 tablespoons cocoa 2 tablespoons oil Mix in a bowl with a spoon until smooth. It should be the consistency of loose peanut butter. If it is too thin, add…
• Fire and safety tips for Chanukah - Fire and safety tips for Chanukah This special fire safety download was prepared by Mrs. Chaya Malka Abramson. Chaya Malka Burn Foundation Author of Who By Fire The download includes: * A poem about how to be careful during Chanukah in your home.* How to prevent burn accidents.* What to do in case of a…
• Potato Latkes Three Ways - Chanukah Potato Latkes — THREE IDEAS! What would Chanukah be, after all, without those old time favorites, our Latkes? Here we’ll just see different ways to serve this favorite oldie, and perhaps even a way to cut down on the amount of oil in a typical latke: This makes about 10-12 ordinary sized latkes. This…

Purim

• Chef Avi Chemal’s Distinctively Delicious Halva Hamentashen - Chef Avi Chemal’s Distinctively Delicious Halva Hamentashen Ingredients Dough: 3 cups flour ½ c. sugar 1 c. margarine or butter 1 Tbsp. baking powder 2 eggs 3 Tbsp. orange juice ½ tsp. vanilla extract Filling: Chopped walnuts Coconut flakes Crushed halva Method Using a mixer, combine sugar and margarine/butter till fluffy. Add remaining ingredients and…
• Meatball-filled Mini Pie Hamantaschen - Meatball-filled Mini Pie Hamantaschen Ingredients 7 ounces of ground beef 1 onion chopped and sautéed till lightly browned 2 onions sliced into half rings 1 egg Salt Cinnamon Coarse black pepper Pie dough, or ready-made unbaked pie dough Optional: Thinly sliced cranberries and/or other dried fruits foil cupcake/muffin tins Method Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix…
• Colorful Sweet Hamantashen - Colorful Sweet Hamantashen Ingredients Challah dough 1/4 cup oil for smearing 1 egg for glazing 2 tablespoons poppy seeds Colorful sprinkles Method Cut challah dough into sections that are between 6-7 tablespoons in size. Shape each piece gently into a ball. Roll out each ball so that it resembles a flat circle. Fill each with…

Pesach

• Crunchy Coated Baked Apples - Crunchy Coated Baked Apples Yield: Each apple is one serving, but most people will want more than one serving of this one! Ingredients 6–8 medium green apples, peeled Oil as needed 1½ cup crushed walnuts or almonds, or a mix of both ¼ cup sugar 1 packet vanilla sugar White raisins, optional Method Peel and…
• Gluten-free Chocolate Sponge Cake - Gluten-free Chocolate Sponge Cake Serves 6–8, depending on how generous you want to be with the slices… Ingredients 8 eggs 1¼ cups sugar 5 T. cocoa 2½ – 3 & 1/2 T. potato starch Method Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. Prepare a large 10″ tube pan. Although most sponge cakes say not to…
• Butternut Squash Kugel - Butternut Squash Kugel Serves approx. 8 Makes one 8×11-inch tray OR 1 medium sized loaf pan Ingredients 2½ cups (20 oz) cooked and mashed butternut squash (about 2 medium squashes) 5/8 cup potato starch ½ cup oil ½ cup sugar 3 eggs 2 tsp. cinnamon Method Cut the butternut squash in half lengthwise. Place the…

Shavuos

• Home-made Labaneh (similar to Greek Yoghurt ) - Home-made Labenah This comes out really more like thick “Greek” yoghurt. Submitted by Laura, a Challah Bytes reader For this I use a combination of ready made yoghurt, gil, eshel, 9% sour cream. I try to keep the fat content of the yoghurt down as much as possible. Of course the higher the fat content…
• Quinoa with Peas and Cranberries - Quinoa with Peas and Cranberries Submitted by Laura, a Challah Bytes reader Ingredients 1 cup uncooked quinoa 2 cups water Salt to taste (I use 3/4 of a teaspoon to one cup uncooked quinoa) 1 small (or medium) onion — depends on how much you like onions 1 tablespoon curry powder — you can use…
• Homemade “American” Cream Cheese - “American” cream cheese Here’s how to make your own. Ingredients 2 containers (comes to 2 cups of sour cream) shamenet (I use ones with less fat) 2 containers leben (equivalent to 2 cups buttermilk) 2 tsp salt Method Mix together. Place a clean dry cloth with clothespins over a large bowl. Pour it all in…