Israeli Foods: Desserts

Baklava is a delicacy found throughout the Arab world. The Jews who came to Israel from Arab countries continue to prepare and enjoy the taste of baklava. This sweet pastry is sold in both Jewish and Arab markets, and comes in a multitude of varieties.

Pastry
1 lb. phyllo pastry sheets
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1-1/2 cups melted sweet butter
Dash of ground clove
5 tbs. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups walnuts, pistachio nuts or hazelnuts, roughly chopped

Syrup:

2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup honey
3 slices orange & lemon rind
1 cinnamon stick
3 cloves
1 tsp. lemon juice

Pastry: Place sheets of phyllo pastry in a 13x9x2 inch pan, brushing every other sheet evenly with butter. When ten or twelve sheets are in place, combine walnuts, sugar, cinnamon, and clove, and spread 1/3 of this mixture over the sheet. Place another five or six buttered sheets of phyllo on top of nut mixture. Repeat this process two more times, alternating nut mixture with five or six sheets of buttered phyllo. Preheat oven to 350 deg F (180 deg C). With a sharp knife, cut baklava into diamond-shaped pieces. Heat remaining butter (there should be about 1/2 cup) until hot and light brown. Pour evenly over the baklava. Sprinkle a few drops of cold water on top and bake for 30 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 300 deg F (150 deg C) and continue to bake for one hour.

Syrup: In a saucepan combine water, sugar, honey, lemon juice, orange and lemon rind, cinnamon stick and cloves. Heat mixture until a drop forms when placed into a cup of cold water, then simmer for an additional 20 minutes. Strain. When the baklava is baked, pour syrup over it. Makes 30-36 pieces.

400 grams margarine or unsalted butter
1/2 cup oil
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons baking flour
5-7 cups flour-simply add 5 cups and the remainder
Add gradually until the dough is soft and not sticky

Sift flour; mix all the dry ingredients together (if you like, you can add up to five cups of flour at first, and then add additional flour slowly as necessary) (if you want, you can add the seeds to the five cups of flour and then add more flour gradually as necessary) cut the butter into small pieces. Mix everything together to get a fine smooth dough. Make cookies. (Bake the cookies)

It is advisable to add a mixture of seeds-like granular Sunflower, flax, caraway seeds, anise, whole sesame seeds, sesame seeds white, black, or possibly poppy seeds.

It's possible coconut, or only sesame.

If you are adding to it many seeds, like in the crisp Moroccan cookies recipe -One must reduce the quantity of the flour.

And take account the stripe that is usually on the cookie does not become like a smooth pastry cookie without garnishment.

The abundance of fresh fruit in Israel, ripe from the fields and orchards, makes fruit salads a natural choice. After a good meal, nothing is more refreshing than this cool dessert.

3 oranges
2 apples
lemon juice
nuts
1 tbs. sugar
2 fresh peaches
grapes, melon, pears, or 1 can fruit cocktail

Cut the apples and oranges into small pieces. Add lemon juice and sugar. Add the rest of the ingredients a short time before serving.

Although many Middle Eastern and Mediterranean ingredients and dishes have become part of the repertoire of chefs throughout Europe and North America, the only dish invented in Israel to attain international acclaim has been this one. Originally devised by Tsachi and Linda Buchester, the dish was widely copied locally, and many Tel Aviv and Jerusalem chefs even began to believe that they and not the Buchesters had invented it. So it seems to be in America, France and Belgium today, where the dish now appears as the "unique invention" of the chefs in many highly prestigious restaurants.

1 cup (225 ml.) sweet cream
6 Tbsp. sugar
6 egg yolks
2 Tbsp. Amaretto liqueur
150 gr. halvah, broken into small pieces

In a bowl whip the sweet cream until it forms stiff peaks. In a small saucepan mix the sugar with 6 Tbsp. of water and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and let the mixture cool.

In the top of a double boiler, over but not in boiling water, place the syrup and add the egg yolks and Amaretto. Mix with a hand mixer without stopping until the mixture is thick in texture and lighter in color and begins to form a foam on the surface. Remove from the heat, transfer to a mixing bowl and add the halvah. Mix at a high speed without stopping for 15 minutes and then fold in the whipped cream, mixing gently with a plastic spatula until the mixture is even throughout.

Transfer the mixture to a loaf pan, cover with plastic wrap or parchment paper and place in the freezer for a minimum of 6-8 hours. Serve in thick slices as a dessert.

Serves 4-6.

Honey cake is the traditional cake of the "Land of Milk and Honey." Honey cake is a must for the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana, since its sweetness symbolizes the wishes for a good year ahead.

3 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 cup nuts, walnuts, or almonds
4 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
4 tsp. vegetable oil
2 cups dark honey
1/2 cup brewed coffee

Optional

1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/8 tsp. powdered cloves
1/2 tsp. ginger

Sift flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger together (spices depend on your personal taste).

Beat eggs, gradually adding the sugar. Beat until thick and light in color. Beat in oil, honey and coffee; stir in flour mixture and nuts. Grease an 11x16x4 inch baking pan and line with aluminum foil. For 2 smaller cakes, use two 9 inch loaf pans. Turn the batter into the pan(s). Bake at 325 deg F (170 deg C) 1-1/4 hours for the large cake, 50 minutes for the 2 smaller ones, or until browned and cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack before removing from pan.

In Israel, all young men and women are required to enlist for military service at the age of 18. The soldiers, who manage to get home only once every several weeks, enjoy getting parcels with sweet things from home; and mothers are very efficient in keeping them well-supplied with cakes. Derived from central Europe, the popular kichlach are to be found in many of the packages destined for young soldiers. No adequate substitute has so far been found for the homemade product. The word kichlach is Yiddish for cookies.

3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tbs. sugar
1 cup sifted flour
1/4 tsp. salt
4 tbs. poppy seeds (optional)

Beat eggs until light, then beat in oil, sugar, flour and salt. Beat until very smooth. Stir in poppy seeds, if you desire. Drop by the teaspoon onto a greased baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches between each (they spread and puff while baking). Bake at 325 deg F (170 deg C) for 15 minutes or until browned on the edges. Makes approximately 36 cookies.

2 tablespoons beer yeast
1 kilogram flour
4 cups warm water

Mix all the ingredients together and let them rise for 2 hours. Kneed dough again, and let the dough rest. Make into balls, with a hole in the middle (like a doughnut shape) and fry in a deep pot of boiling oil. 

Date cookies with nuts and almonds

Dough ingredients:

200 grams margarine
4 cups of flour
1 package baking powder
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup warm water

Filling ingredients:

2 teaspoons vanilla
1 package dates (like a paste)
100 grams chopped walnuts
100 grams chopped almonds

Put all the dough ingredients together and make a dough. Put the dough aside for 20 minutes. Mix all the ingredients of the filling. Take a piece of the dough, flatten it, fill it with teaspoon of filling, and make a ball. The balls should be put on a baking pan that is covered with baking paper and put in medium oven for 20 minutes.

Cookies are ready when the bottom turns golden. When the cookies are cooled, spread with powdered sugar and store in a sealed box.

On Fridays, you can smell the distinct aroma of rugelach on every street corner in Israel. People anxious to buy them for the weekend will line up at their neighborhood bakery to get them hot out of the oven. Unfortunately, due to their small size, there never seems to be enough of these delicious pastries to go around.

Dough

5 cups flour
2 sticks margarine
2 oz. fresh yeast
3/4 cup sugar
3 eggs (beaten)
2 cups milk or water

Filling

jam
mixture of 1 cup sugar and 1/3 cup cocoa

Mix yeast with 1 tsp. sugar and 1/2 cup of lukewarm milk (or water), until yeast starts bubbling. Mix in rest of ingredients and knead until dough doesn't stick to pan. Cool in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

Roll dough into a flat sheet. Spread jam on dough and spread sugar, cocoa mixture on top. Cut into triangles and roll starting from the base of the triangle. On a cookie sheet, bake at medium heat (375 deg F, 190 deg C) until golden (25-35 minutes). Makes approximately 40.

This is the traditional cake of Israel-and it is exceedingly popular. It has no Hebrew name but is called by the European designation, tort. This cake appears in many shades and shapes and is covered in a variety of ways. A typical method involves cutting the cake horizontally in two and covering it with fresh strawberries (for which Israel is famous), jelly and whipped cream.

6 egg yolks
1-1/4 cups sugar
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon rind
6 egg whites
1/4 tsp. salt
1-1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder

Beat egg yolks; gradually add sugar, beating until thick and light in color. Stir in lemon juice and rind.

Beat egg whites and salt until stiff but not dry. Pile on top of the egg yolk mixture. Sift flour mixed with baking powder over egg whites and fold in carefully. Turn into a 10 inch tube pan.

Bake at 325 deg F (170 deg C) for 50 minutes or until browned and free from sides of pan. Invert and let cool.

Because of conventional meal times in Israel (main meal between 12:00 and 2:00 pm; supper at 7:00 pm), many Israelis have coffee or tea with cake between 4:00 and 5:00 pm. It is not considered proper in Israel to offer someone coffee or tea without cake. This is one of the most popular cakes in Israel.

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
5 egg yolks
2 tsp. baking powder
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups sifted cake flour
3/4 tsp. salt
confectioner's sugar

Cream shortening and beat in sugar. Add one yolk at a time, beating after each addition. Sift together flour, salt and baking powder and add to batter, alternating with milk. Beat in vanilla. Grease a 10 inch loaf pan and dust lightly with flour. Pour in batter. Bake at 350 deg F (180 deg C) for 1 hour or until cake tester comes out clean. Cool on a cake rack. Sprinkle with confectioner's sugar.

Makes approximately 33 small donuts

560g (4.5 cups) flour
1 tablespoon yeast
2 teaspoons salt
70g (1/4 cup + 2 teaspoons) sugar
50g (1/4 cup) butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
Up to one cup of milk

Directions for making dough:

1. Mix flour with yeast, salt and sugar, mixing after each addition.
2. Add softened butter in chunks, and work into the flour mixture with your fingers.
3. Add eggs and vanilla, and work into the mixture.
4. Add most of the milk, but not all, and mix into a workable dough.
5. Turn out onto your work surface and knead until smooth and elastic.
6. Form a ball, place in the bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise 1 ½-2 hours.

Directions with ready dough:

1. Flour surface, roll out dough to 1 cm thick.
2. Cut circles with a cookie cutter.
3. Set on tray to rise for 20 minutes.
4. Heat oil on a low flame until it reaches 165-170 degrees C (330-335 degrees F).
5. Fry in batches of 4-5, cooking 2-2.5 minutes on each side.
6. Take out of oil and let cool in a large bowl lined with paper towels.
7. Fill with jam (blend or whisk jam before putting in the squeeze jar), and garnish with powdered sugar. Squeeze a drop of jam on top for garnish.