grammy’s kugel
i’ve been holding onto this recipe for a while now. we made it over the holidays when we were back east at my boyfriend’s house. i just haven’t found the time in my busy work and school schedule to share it with you all since i’ve been back. but it is quite a treat!
i had never had kugel before, a traditional jewish dish, but it was one of the things that my boyfriend requested specifically upon returning home. it is one of those dishes that just tastes like childhood and puts a big smile across your belly at first bite. his mom showed me how to make his grammy’s original recipe, so thanks to her for sharing this family recipe, showing me step by step, and waiting patiently while i snapped copious photos. luckily her version isn’t too sweet, compared to other recipes i’ve seen which use 2-3 times as much sugar. i would describe it as a baked noodle pudding that is very creamy, slightly tart and sweet, and pure comfort food. enjoy it on your next special occasion!
lochen kugel
12 oz egg noodles
16 oz cottage cheese
8 oz sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick butter
3/4 c sugar
4 eggs separated
graham cracker crumbs and cinnamon sugar to top
more sour cream to garnish
preheat the oven to 350F and put your butter in a sauce pan over low heat to melt. then boil and drain the noodles. wait at least 10 minutes for the noodles to cool off.
separate the eggs and whip the whites until they hold their peaks.
once the noodles are cool you can mix in the cottage cheese, sour cream, vanilla, sugar, egg yolks and most of the melted butter (save a little for the top.) fold in the egg whites until just incorporated and pour the mixture into a greased 13 1/2 x 8 inch pan.
mix your graham cracker crumb and cinnamon sugar mixture in a small bowl (approximately 1/4th cup of crumbs, 2 tbsp sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon.) sprinkle the crumb and cinnamon sugar mixture over the kugel evenly, then pour the rest of the melted butter over to finish. cover with foil and pop in the oven.
bake for 45-60 minutes or until the center is set.
let cool slightly before slicing into squares. serve warm with a dollop of sour cream. you can make it ahead of time and warm it in the oven.
yields 12-15 servings
whole lemon and ginger tea with honey
between the farmers market and chinese medical school, i get a lot of different recipes relayed to me in short little snippets – usually no more than 15 words or so. off the top of my head i think of the sweet pickled carrots and daikon or the okra and miso marinara, both of which the farmer i work for told me about. but there are many, many more that have found their way into my diet.
this recipe is one someone at my school gave me on a day i was looking particularly run down. she asked “are you okay?” and when i explained that no, i wasn’t exactly feeling that great, she handed me two fresh plump lemons out of a big bag she had filled from her tree at home. she told me “bring it home, wash it well, cut up and boil. make sure you add honey.” i did just that, but added a knob of ginger for good measure.
the combination of lemon, ginger and honey are really lovely this time of year. they can soothe coughs or sore throats, settle upset stomachs, boost your immunity, and warm up a chilly body. it is becoming quite a routine for me to make one of these in the morning.
whole lemon and ginger tea with honey
1 whole lemon
1 large thumb of ginger
about 2 c water
1-2 tbsp honey
chop up the ginger and whole lemon (peel and all) into thin slices, add to the water in a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer. let cook over med-low heat for 15-20 minutes. strain the liquid into a large mug and stir the honey in while it is still hot. enjoy!
yields 1 large serving
parsnip muffins and blood orange mimosas
i rarely follow recipes word for word. i’ve been toying around with the proportions in this whole wheat apple muffin recipe from smitten kitchen, but with everything except apples. i tried them with blueberries, pear – and now – shredded parsnip, which i got the idea for from the very gingery parsnip cupcake at four cafe. i bulked up these muffins with some extra ground flax seed, as well as fresh and ground ginger.
i made them with some fresh blood orange mimosas, which i am surely i’m not the first person to think of, but am still proud for figuring out! when i was brainstorming beautiful ways to display the bright colors of these seasonal sweeties, this was the one that most enticed me. for one, it is one of the simplest ways to highlight the flavor and color of the blood oranges, since you simply juice and mix with champagne. and secondly, it can be fun to find an excuse to drink champagne before noon.
together these will contribute to a beautiful valentine’s brunch and can be prepped ahead of time.
parsnip muffins
3/4 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 tbsp flax seeds – ground
1/4 c coconut oil
1/2 c brown sugar, with some extra
1/2 c greek yogurt
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 c shredded parsnip
blood orange mimosas
equal parts blood orange juice and champagne
preheat oven to 450F
[NOTE: this muffin recipe yields a little less than most (which usually produce closer to a dozen and a half.) this recipe made just 8, but if you need more you can double or triple the ingredients.]
take out your eggs and 1/2 cup of yogurt so they can start to come to room temperature. and meanwhile, shred the parsnip, grate the fresh ginger and grind the flax seed to have everything ready when you start making the batter.
if you are unfamiliar with parsnips, they are a winter root vegetable that i find most similar to carrots. they get thicker than carrots and have a very unique and pleasant bright note to them. if you’ve never tried one you simply must! i find larger ones are easier to deal with for purposes like these, so you don’t have to peel several small ones. i peeled a large one and shredded it in my food processor, it turned out a little more than i needed for this recipe.
when it comes to ginger, i keep a large knob in the freezer because it keeps it fresh and makes it easier to grate (less stringy bits and no juice dripping.) just keep in mind when you grate the frozen ginger it will be more fluffy, so you have to grate more than you think to fill up a whole teaspoon.
i find the flax is easiest to grind in a coffee grinder, leave it on for a few seconds until the seeds are very finely ground.
to make the batter, mix the coconut oil and brown sugar in a medium bowl. the oil will need to be liquid to do this, which won’t be a problem on a hot day, but if it’s solid you can give it a few seconds in the microwave until it’s just liquified – just don’t get it too hot or it will melt the sugar and could curdle the eggs.
next mix the vanilla extract, greek yogurt and grated ginger into the same bowl – followed by the eggs. make sure this mixture is smooth.
in a large bowl, mix together both flours, the ground cinnamon and ginger, baking soda and powder, pinch of salt and ground flax seeds. whisk these together to incorporate evenly. add in the liquid ingredients and mix gently just to combine. mix the parsnip shreds in last.
the batter should be a little thick and dough-like, not watery, i’ve found this makes a fluffier muffin.
scoop spoonfuls of the batter into a muffin tin, fitted with liners. i also sprayed the liners with a little cooking oil to help them peel out easier. they should be most all the way full if you want a big top on your muffin. sprinkle with a little additional brown sugar.
bake at 450F for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400F and cook another 7 minutes or so. the tops should have risen an inch or two and starting to brown. let cool a few minutes before removing from the tin. you can enjoy them immediately, they are best fresh, or save them a day or two in a air-tight container.
for the mimosas, juice the blood oranges ahead of time and strain to remove the seeds and pulp. you can keep the juice in the fridge for a day or two, until you are ready to use it. make sure to pour the champagne first and orange juice second, or it gets really bubbly and hard to fill the glass.
i don’t know much about champagne so i picked this one because it had a pretty label and looked kind of fancy – but it was only $10 so it didn’t break the bank.
enjoy any time of the day, but especially for breakfast or brunch. these two winter treats go together wonderfully!
christmas cinnamon buns
i was away for the holidays, celebrating in the boston area with my boyfriend and his family. during that time we were in the process of transferring the website onto a new server and working out the kinks inherent in any major shift. if you’ve experienced problems with the site, just hold in there, all will be fixed soon.
i worked up quite a few recipes that are currently on deck to be posted, but since it’s been a busy week back at work and school i’ll appease you for now with these drool-worthy cinnamon buns i made on christmas morning. no real recipe for them, but i loosely based them on this cinnamon swirl bread i made in the past. just cut into pieces after rolling up (i used dental floss to great nice, clean cuts) and i let the pieces rise in a 9×9 pan overnight, covered with plastic wrap in the fridge. i’m pretty sure i used twice as much cinnamon-sugar filling than in the original recipe, but it made them even better. for the icing i whisked together some melted butter, powdered sugar and a little milk.
these were great on christmas morning but they are able to make any morning extra special.
brown sugar and black tea roll-out cookies
i don’t usually make roll-out cookies because, well, they as just so plain. but i’ve been seeing so many fun-shaped cookies around the blogs that i’ve been itching to make a batch myself when i was inspired by smitten kitchen‘s nutmeg maple butter cookies. so i raided my cupboards to find the dregs of a bag of brown sugar and regular organic sugar. i sat down to stare at them with my cup of tea in hand, when i had the idea.
with cookies like this you don’t need much: all that is really needed is butter, sugar, flour, and some type of liquid to bring it all together. some people use an egg or some milk to help fill out the liquid portion, but that’s where the black tea comes in. when paired up with the brown sugar they add a very subtle but lovely touch to an otherwise boring butter cookie.
and to decorate, i made some naturally colored sugars. the pink comes from a few pomegranate seeds and the green from a leaf of baby spinach. when the cookies are brushed with a glaze to help the colored sugar stick, these simple little cookies become just a touch more special – and perfect for the holidays.
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brown sugar and black tea roll-out cookies 1 stick butter (1/2 c) 1/2 c brown sugar 1/4 c brewed black tea pinch of salt 1 1/2 c flour 1/2 tsp baking powder . glaze 2 tbsp sugar 2 tbsp water . naturally colored sugar sugar a leaf of baby spinach a few pomegranate seeds .
start off by brewing the black tea. i used 1 tea bag and brewed it in a small amount of water, only about half a cup. this yielded a really subtle black tea flavor but you can brew it with 2-3 tea bags if you want a stronger flavor. do this first so it has plenty of time to cool down and won’t melt the butter when added to the dough.
mix together your brown sugar and butter. this is easiest if the butter is soft but you can also cut them together with a pastry cutter – mix so that the sugar is coated but small chunks of butter are fine. add the black tea in with the butter/sugar mixture and loosely mix it in – it won’t be smooth but that’s not a problem.
in a separate bowl mix together the flour and baking soda so they are evenly dispersed, then slowly add these dry ingredient into the butter, sugar and tea mixture. the mixture should be fairly solid, but not so stiff it can’t be rolled out. stick the dough in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
preheat the oven to 375F.
meanwhile set up a place to roll out the cookies, like a large cutting board or other flat surface. sprinkle a little flour and spread it out. do the same with a large cookie sheet, or you can cover with parchiment paper or foil.
start by rolling out half the dough to about 1/4th an inch and cut out the cookies.
bake for 7-9 minutes or until they are toasty brown around the edges. repeat for the other half the dough, then for all of the trimmings of dough that weren’t used in the first 2 roll outs. you can knead it back together, let it rest in the fridge and keep doing this until all the dough it gone. the cookies towards the end will have slightly more flour incorporated but it doesn’t change the flavor too much.
when they come out of the oven let them rest for 1 minute on the pan, then at least 10 minutes on a cooling rack.
once you’ve gotten in the groove of rolling, cutting and baking the cookies you can make your colored sugars.
i did this on two separate plates with raised edges, adding about 1/4th cup of organic sugar to both. just work the pomegranate seeds into the sugar one at a time, removing the hard inner seed with each one. you could also do this with pomegranate juice by dropping in 1 drop at a time. add until it is your desired color but keep in mind it won’t get too red without the sugar getting too wet, so i settled for a more subtle pink color.
for the spinach i only used 1 leaf and it gave it a good color. because i used baby spinach it all worked in when i rubbed it into the sugar and there was nothing to remove. you could also do this with spinach juice by adding one drop at time but not too much for sake of flavor.
to make the glaze you simply add the 2 tablespoons water and 2 tablespoons sugar and heat in a pan until bubbling. let bubble for about 30-60 seconds and then pull from the heat. this will make a sticky sugar syrup that when brushed on the cooled cookies will help the colored sugar stick. just be sure to be gentle with these as the sugar is held on fairly delicately. if you put it in ziplock and let them rustle around, you’ll find as i did that the sugar has fallen off.
to customize this recipe you can swap out regular or turbinado sugar for the brown sugar, you can use replace half of the flour with whole wheat to make it a little more hardy, add in seasonings like cinnamon or nutmeg, or you can replace the black tea for any other liquid like milk or juice. you could even replace the butter with non-dairy margarine to make them vegan.
enjoy and happy holidays!
yields 3-4 dozen cookies