By Emily Moore, JTNews Columnist
It is with honey that the High Holidays of our hearts begin. Honey is the taste behind our wish for a sweet new year, the comforting nectar into which we dip hopeful apples as the first personal act in the Days of Awe.
Everyone’s Bubbe’s honey cake is devoured during the family gatherings of these days as we contemplate what is gone and what is yet to come. This year, I’d like to give you some wonderful new reasons to explore the taste of honey as the most fitting fulfillment of the sweetness we need to begin our new year.
Use whatever flavor honey you choose; the varieties are particularly plentiful now in late summer when one of the primary honey “harvests” is in full swing. Farm stands have spicy fireweed, mellow blackberry, high-toned wildflower and sometimes my favorite, deep smoky buckwheat. You can also take a pint or a quart container to PCC, Whole Foods Market or Central Market and fill it up with their bulk honey at a discount.
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First, let’s have a Russian tea – made with citrus, spices and honey – from Ashkenazic ancestors, to make in big batches for everyone who stops by during the holidays. Serve it hot, ladled from the stove or, if Indian summer graces us, over ice with a thin slice of orange.
Russian Tea
6 whole cinnamon sticks
juice and grated rind of 1 orange
12 whole cloves
juice and grated rind of 2 lemons
1/2 cup honey
1/8 cup black tea leaves (Irish or English Breakfast work best)
2-1/2 quarts boiling water
Simmer spices, honey and grated rind with 2 cups water for 10 minutes, then let steep for one hour. Strain.
Steep tea in boiling water for one to two minutes, strain and add to citrus juices and the spice mixture. You may use apple or grape juices in addition to the citrus if you like.
This recipe makes 10 cups.
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I always thought teiglach (or pinyonati in Sephardic housholds) was a complicated cookie-candy that only our grandmothers knew how to make. When I was growing up, the activities of our complicated lives precluded the notion that this ultimate “homemade” Rosh Hashanah honey treat might be made at home. Then, recently when I was visiting my mother, I found The Jewish Festival Cookbook, written by Fannie Engle and Gertrude Blair in the fifties, an era when Jewish housewives had the Herculean job of “making” each Jewish holiday from scratch. So the recipes Engle and Blair presented for each dish were straightforward, delicious – and very doable. Here is their version of teiglach, which calls for no extended kneading, transferring of dough from pan to pan or rolling the boiling hot dough into hundreds of little balls (all practices that make scrumptious teiglach, but who has the time?). Please try this traditional, “simplified” version.
Teiglach
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1-1/2 to 2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup honey
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 cup nutmeats (walnuts, almonds or what you have), coarsely broken
Mix the flour, salt and baking powder.
Beat the oil and eggs together ‘til blended
Slowly mix flour mixture into the oil and egg mixture until a soft, but not sticky, dough is formed. Add a bit more flour if needed just to keep the dough from being sticky.
Knead briefly ‘til smooth, then roll and twist the dough into a rope about 1/3 inch thick. Cut into small pieces about 1/3” in length.
Bake the little pieces of dough in a well-greased shallow pan in a quick (375°) oven for about 10 minutes until light brown. Shake the pan occasionally to brown evenly and keep the balls separated.
In a two-quart saucepan, bring honey, sugar and ginger to boiling. Boil gently for five minutes.
Add the pieces of dough and the nuts. Stir gently over low heat using a wooden spoon, until the mixture is deep golden brown, 25-40 minutes.
Wet a board with cold water; have more cold or ice water ready to dip your hands in while you briefly form the dough.
Pour the hot teiglach onto the board. With wet, cold hands, form into a cake about eight inches square and two inches deep. Cut into two-inch strips; then cut each strip diagonally at two-inch intervals.
When cold, store in tightly covered containers, separating layers of the candy with waxed or parchment paper. “Stores indefinitely,” declare Engle and Blair. Makes 3 to 4 dozen.
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I just couldn’t resist the notion of letting you in on Sour Cream Spiced Honey Cup Cakes with Chocolate Honey Frosting. I think we all feel that our day, our week, maybe our year could be better if we allowed ourselves a cupcake every once in a while!
Kids often feel that way, and some savvy entrepreneurs around the country – and in our town – have found that a cupcake might just hit the spot in helping grown-ups be not quite so grown up, and maybe relieved for just a moment of the responsibilities and troubles that all years bring. So go ahead, have a cupcake – a honey cupcake – for the new year!
Sour Cream Spiced Honey Cup Cakes
1/2 cup shortening, parve margarine or butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup honey
3 egg yolks
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. soda
1 cup sour cream or non-dairy sour cream
3 egg whites
Cream shortening or margarine until light.
Add sugar and honey and cream well again.
Add yolks, one at a time and beat well.
Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the creamed mixture alternately with the sour cream, stirring just ‘til blended after each addition.
Beat the egg whites stiff and fold gently into the batter.
Spoon into paper-lined standard sized muffin tins, filling ‘til about 3/4 full.
Bake at 350° for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a central cup cake comes out clean. Be careful not to overbake – nobody likes a dry cupcake.
Cool completely in the pans, then frost.
Makes about 24 cup cakes.
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The frosting is rich – more like a chocolate ganache or truffle filling than a frosting. In fact, you can roll any cold, leftover frosting into balls and coat with sifted cocoa to make some yummy chocolate honey truffles. It’s best to frost the cup cakes while the frosting is still warm or it won’t coat as well. Dip the top of the little cake completely into the warm frosting and use a twisting motion to pull it back out – you’ll then get the typical “peaked hat” look so appealing on cup cakes. If the frosting does cool down too much, just heat it gently in the same double boiler you made it in, whisking while it heats, or simply spread it on with a short, spreading knife or spatula.
French Honey Chocolate Frosting
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or parve margarine
1/2 cup light cream
1/2 cup honey
1/2 tsp salt
6 squares unsweetened chocolate, cut into small pieces
4 egg yolks, well-beaten
Combine sugar, butter, cream, honey, salt and chocolate in the top of a double boiler. Place over simmering water.
When the chocolate is melted, beat with a whisk until all ingredients are blended.
Pour a small amount over the egg yolks, beating the chocolate mixture in vigorously, then slowly pour the yolk mixture back into the chocolate in the top of the double boiler, whisking continuously.
Put the chocolate pan back over the simmering water and cook two to five minutes, or until the mixture thickens slightly, stirring constantly.
Remove from the heat and beat with the whisk ‘til slightly cooled and of “topping” consistency; it’s usually right when it will hold a peak on the end of your finger or a spoon.