Hello and happy (almost) Purim! Can you believe that it’s almost Purim time? I seriously feel like it was JUST yesterday that I was making cheddar Sriracha latkes on The Feed Feed and now I’m making hamantaschen? How can this be? My waist line is not ready for all the holiday hamantaschen baking! Blargh!

 

 

 

I’m back from my little jaunt to exotic Dallas, Texas for the BBYO International Convention. I was there giving two separate presentations — one on food sustainability through the kosher lens plus a joint session with my girl, Amy from What Jew Wanna Eat. Amy and I had a session up against Aidy Bryant from Saturday Night Live and while our workshop was heavily attended, I’m not convinced that the majority of our audience weren’t students who weren’t able to get into the Aidy Bryant workshop. But that’s OK! They got to learn about food blogging so ha! Suckers! Ya learned something new!

I had SUCH an amazing time with Amy and meeting so many teens who frikkin’ love their Jewish selves. It was a bit of  a mind-trip to be at a BBYO conference as a 36 year-old mother of two. My days as a Jewish high school convention-attendee were so much fun but also so incredibly awkward (here’s to being a teen in the mid-90s). It felt crazy to be walking around this convention with the confidence that a grown woman should have while my 16 year-old self was screaming out, “Look at me now! I’m a grown a** woman. Now watch me lay in bed for an hour and read before turning out the lights for a sensible bed time of 9pm!”

But these hamantaschen! Oy! These hamantaschen. I did some research on Pinterest to get some inspiration for this year’s hamantaschen flavors. I have another flavor combo in my back pocket for the next week but for now, I’m really loving on the intensity of the chocolate in this dough and the realness of the fluffy middle. My official taste-tester for these was my husband as he ate enough Oreo/Hydroxy cookies as a child to consider himself an Oreo/Hydroxy expert and he swears it tastes like the real deal. Only, be warned, this chocolate dough is chewy and soft, the way I prefer my hamantaschen. You MUST be vigilant with your refrigeration/freezing of dough. Do not skip these parts of the process. They are vital. But, in case you do miss a bit and end up with wonky-shaped hamantschen, just delicately squeeze some filling over it and no one will ever know!

busy licking the spatula

 

a journey through Amy and Whitney learning how to pose for a picture.

 

(Heads up, this is NOT a hard cookie dough. I am not a fan of hard cookies so I made a soft, chewy cookie dough. See narrative and notes in the directions on maintaining the dough’s form while baking. Happy eating!)

Ingredients for Cookie

Ingredients for Cream Filling

Directions for Cookie

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using handheld mixers), beat the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add egg, milk, espresso or coffee, and vanilla until mixed thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and salt. Slowly add dry mixture to wet mixture until incorporated. (Note: if the dough is too soft, increase flour amount by 1/4 cup of flour until firm – see notes written in narrative regarding the chilling and softness of the dough).

Shape dough into a disk, wrap in saran wrap and chill for AT LEAST (I chill mine overnight) an hour. Once chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees with rack in the center. On a floured work surface, roll out dough to a scant 1/4-inch thickness. With a 2 3/4-inch round cutter, or wide-rimmed drinking class, cut out circles; place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Gather scraps, chill while previous cookies are baking, and repeat with your roll-out and cutting until all dough is used.

Whisk together remaining egg and 1 teaspoon water in a bowl. Brush circle edges with egg wash; pinch seams together. Freeze until firm, about 30 minutes. Bake cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet, 1 sheet at a time, about 10 – 12 minutes. Allow to cool completely before adding filling.

Directions for Filling:

Using a mixer, cream the butter and shortening until fluffy. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla. I used an icing bag with a small, round tip for filling centers of the cookie. You could just as easily ‘ice’ the centers with a knife or spoon but I do not think it will be as easy as using an icing bag and tip.

IMG_3911

 

Friends! It’s us, the 4 Bloggers who dish, otherwise known as Amy from What Jew Wanna Eat, Liz from Kosher Like Me, Whitney from Jewhungry and Sarah from The Patchke Princess. If you follow any of our blogs, you know that about one and a half years ago, we co-authored a Passover Recipe entitled, “4 Bloggers Dish: Passover; Modern Twists on Traditional Flavors“. We had a ball writing that book and have shared a special connection ever since. We share in our success, both food and non-food related. It’s pretty awesome.

So, to celebrate this holiday season, our second as 4 Bloggers who do, in fact, dish, we decided to get 8 of our favorite latke recipes together to share with you. Check them out below and, if you’re interested, you can also check out our book by clicking on the title listed in the paragraph above. Chappy Chanukah!

 

Latke Recipe Round-Up Jewhungry Kosher

Cheesy Breakfast Latkes from Kosher Like Me

 

latke final 3

 Ramen Latkes from Jewhungry

Latke Recipe Round-Up Jewhungry Kosher

 Rainbow Latkes from What Jew Wanna Eat

Latke Recipe Round-Up Jewhungry Kosher

Cheese Latkes with Fruity Toppings (Latke Bar!) from The Patchke Princess 

Latke Recipe Round-Up Jewhungry Kosher

 Latke Gratin (contributed by Melissa Roberts) – Kosher Like Me

Latke Recipe Round-Up Jewhungry Kosher

 Carrot “cake” Latkes with Whipped Cream Cheese Topping by Jewhungry

 

Latke Recipe Round-Up Jewhungry Kosher

Kimchi Quesadilla Latkes by What Jew Wanna Eat 

 

 

World’s Best Classic Potato Latkes by The Patchke Princess

Avocado Matzah Toast Jewhungry Kosher blog

2011 Whitney is giggling like a little school girl right now. See, I was just starting out in this blog game and I already had a girl-crush on one special food blogger—-one Amy Kritzer from What Jew Wanna Eat. I loved her creativity. I loved that she didn’t fit into any textbook definition of “Jewish”. I loved that she gave voice to a Jewish crowd that loves Jewish food and their cultural identity. Plus, she’s funny. Fast forward 2 years and I’m receiving an email from her asking if I’d like to collaborate on an e-cookbook.  I mean, are you kidding me!?!?! I didn’t even have to think about it. YES! And then my husband was all, “You work full time, you have an infant and you are going to write a cookbook in 6 weeks!?!?” Again . . . YES!! Amy asked me!! Clearly, he didn’t understand the amazingness of the situation as much as I did. Marine scientists? What are ya gonna do?  Anywho, you can find out more about our cookbook in Amy’s post below so let me keep on gushing. I am extremely grateful to Amy for making this here guest post and for being a mentor to me in this blogging world. I truly admire her career. I admire her take on food. I admire her for her fun outlook on life and most importantly, I admire her for being incredibly successful and not taking herself so seriously. Check out the post and recipe below. I hope everyone is having a happy, peaceful and meaningful Passover.

 

Hello, y’all! Amy from What Jew Wanna Eat here. I’m pumped to guest post for Whitney today. I don’t remember how I first found Whitney and her adorable blog, but I was immediately drawn in by her candid stories and cuter than cute family (not to mention, mutual love of Jewy blog names).

Avocado Matzah Toast Jewhungry Kosher Blog

Last year, I got to know Whitney even better when we wrote a Passover e-book along with Sarah and Liz. Not only was it super fun chatting with Whitney and the girls on our weekly video chats, but I got to see first hand some of her creative recipes like Zucchini Fries with Horseradish Aioli and Mashed Potato Bar (um, can I eat a mashed potato bar every night?)  So when Whitney recently announced she’s expecting baby number two, I was obviously psyched, but sad to learn she had pretty much only eaten matzah ball soup her first trimester! I love matzah ball soup as much as the next Jew, but there is such thing as too much of a good thing.

Avocado Matzah Toast Jewhungry Kosher Blog

Now that it’s Passover, I thought Whitney could use some easy, kid-friendly, chametz-free noshes. My go-to breakfast of late is the Pinterest-worthy avocado toast, so I thought why not create a Passover version? This one has a Middle Eastern inspiration with za’atar, and a little kick from crushed red pepper (for my Texas roots).

 

Avocado Matzah Toast Jewhungry kosher blog

 

Avocado Matzah Toast with Za’atar and Radishes

 

Ingredients:

1 small avocado

1 teaspoon za’atar, or to taste (if not eating kitniyot, leave out sesame seeds)

½ lemon, juiced

2 matzot

¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)

2 radish, sliced thin with a knife or mandolin

1 hard boiled egg, sliced thin

Drizzle extra virgin olive oil

 

Directions:

In a small bowl, mash together avocado, za’atar and lemon juice with a fork. Carefully spread on matzah pieces, making sure not to break matzah. Sprinkle with crushed red pepper and garnish with radish, egg, and olive oil. Nosh!

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