Desserts

9 recipes

Cheese Blintzes

A two-stage dish. First, thin crepes (much thinner than a pancake - almost see-through) cooked one side only on a buttered pan, stacked under a clean cloth. Then a filling of farmer cheese (or ricotta drained well) mashed with egg yolk, sugar, vanilla and a little lemon zest. A heaping tablespoon of filling on the cooked side of each crepe, folded into a tight envelope, and fried briefly in butter on both sides until golden. Served warm with cold sour cream and a spoon of red-berry compote.

1 hour 25 minutes Serves4

Chocolate Babka

Brioche-style dough: bread flour, yeast, milk, eggs, butter, sugar, salt. Kneads 10 min till elastic; rises 1 ½ hours. Chocolate filling: dark chocolate + butter melted with cocoa, sugar, cinnamon, cools to spreadable. Dough divides in half; each rolls to a rectangle 40 × 25 cm; filling spreads to edges; rolls up tight; cuts lengthways down the middle; the two halves twist around each other (the iconic babka braid). Lifts into a buttered loaf tin; rises for 45 min; bakes for 35 min at 180°C. Sugar syrup brushes over hot.

4 hours 20 minutes Serves2

Halva

A sugar syrup is cooked to soft-ball stage (118°C). Tahini is warmed slightly. The hot syrup is poured into the tahini and mixed with a wooden spoon just until ribbons form, this is the critical moment. Over-mix and halva turns to crumbs; under-mix and it stays soft. Poured into a lined tin; pistachios are sprinkled on top; set at room temp 4 hours.

4 hours 35 minutes Serves700

Hanukkah Biscuits

A classic vanilla shortbread-style dough rolled and stamped with festival cutters. Butter and sugar creamed pale, an egg and vanilla beaten in, plain flour folded through to give a firm rollable dough. Chilled an hour for the gluten to relax (rolls out cleanly without springback), then rolled, cut, and baked until the edges are just golden - pale at the centre. Cooled, then iced with a simple royal icing tinted blue and white, decorated freely.

1 hour 42 minutes Serves12

Honey Cake

A simple oil-based cake built around a generous pour of dark honey, brewed coffee for moisture and depth, and a quartet of spices (cinnamon, ginger, clove, allspice). Mixed in one bowl, baked low and slow. The crumb is dark and dense without being heavy; the flavour deepens overnight, which is why most Jewish households bake it a day or two ahead of the meal.

1 hour 15 minutes Serves10-12

Knafeh Muffins

The classical knafeh nablusi - pan-sized, layered, drenched in syrup, cut into wedges - translated into individual muffin portions. Kataifi pastry (shredded filo) gets tossed with melted butter until every strand is gilded. Half goes into the cups of a buttered muffin tin and is pressed firm. A mix of ricotta and shredded mozzarella, lightly sweetened and scented with cardamom, goes in the middle. The rest of the kataifi caps each muffin. Bake hot until the tops crisp deeply. A lukewarm sugar syrup scented with rose water and a touch of lemon goes over the moment they come out - the syrup hisses and soaks in. Eaten warm, with cheese still pulling.

1 hour 10 minutes Serves12

Malabi

Cornflour whisks into a small amount of cold milk to a slurry. The rest of the milk warms with cream and sugar; the slurry pours in; the mixture cooks for 4-5 minutes until thick and silky. Rosewater stirs in off the heat; the lot pours into glasses to set in the fridge. The syrup of rosewater, sugar and a touch of grenadine pours over before serving.

3 hours 25 minutes Serves6

Pistachio Babka Buns

A rich babka dough - milk, butter, egg, sugar, yeast - kneaded until silky, given a short warm rise, then cold-proofed overnight to deepen the flavour. The filling is a date paste loosened with hot water, spiked with cinnamon, scattered with chopped pistachios. The dough rolls into a long rectangle, gets the filling spread across, rolls back into a log and cuts into seven 5 cm spirals. The spirals go cut-side up in a round cake tin, rise until they touch, and bake hot. A honey-and-sugar syrup brushed over the buns as they leave the oven sets the top tacky-sweet.

9 hours 5 minutes Serves7

Rugelach

Rugelach dough: equal weights butter and cream cheese, beaten together, with flour and salt, like a cream-cheese shortcrust. Chills for 2 hours. Filling (chocolate version): cocoa, sugar, butter, sometimes chopped chocolate. Dough divides into 4 portions; each rolls into a circle 28 cm across; spreads with filling; cuts into 8 triangular wedges like a pizza. Each wedge rolls up from the wide edge toward the point. Brushes with egg wash; dusts with sugar. Bakes for 22 minutes at 180°C.

3 hours 10 minutes Serves32