Category: Desserts

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Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Mandel Bread

Dark chocolate Hazelnut Mandel bread (Kosher for Passover)

As Passover quickly approaches, I am reminded of the many reasons I look forward to it every year.  It’s not because I have an affinity towards the bread of affliction, or because I get to use the fancy tablecloth, but because my mom makes her famous (at least to me) chocolate chip hazelnut mandel bread. Try as I may, like a salty, golden potato chip, I just can’t have one. This Jewish answer to Italian biscotti is the stuff dreams are made of. Sure, you can make them all year round, but part of their allure is that Mom only makes them but once a year.

Mandel Bread cast of characters.
Mandel Bread cast of characters.

These cinnamon-sugar-coated logs crumble ever so gently, like a toppled sand castle in your mouth. And while I have come to expect nuggets of chocolate in most of my favorite desserts, the hazelnut chunks are like my very own buried treasure. Understandably, hazelnuts are not inherently Cuban, but they certainly illicit strong memories for me of my maternal grandmother. She always had a bowl of whole nuts on the coffee table. Two nutcrackers hanging from the side invited any guest to have at the assortment.  My Abuela and I always knew hidden amongst the large ominously large walnuts and the oblong-shaped almonds, the crowned jewels of the bowl were the small golden shells that covered the most delicious hazelnuts. Best of all, cracking the shell to one made a distinctly sharp sound. I often offered to crack her a handful, just so I could take pleasure in the pitch.

Mandel Bread Dough

To me, it’s no accident that my mother adds hazelnuts to her mandel bread, as they are clearly the cream of the nut crop. My favorite is when she manages to slice the cookies in such a way that the center of a nut shows, making it simply irresistible. To make my stash last all 8 days of Passover, I keep a bag stored in the freezer, taking out only one or two pieces at a time. This usually does the trick. Sometimes. Ok, hardly ever.

 

Mandel bread, lining up to be eaten.
Mandel bread, lining up to be eaten.

Served alongside a nice cup of tea, these cookies will make you forget it is Passover.

 

Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Mandel Bread (Passover)
 
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Jewish
Serves: 12
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
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Delicious served with a cup of tea.
Ingredients
  • 2¾ cups matzoh cake flour
  • ¾ cups potato starch
  • 1 cup, plus 4 tbs sugar
  • 1½ cup vegetable oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • dash of salt
  • 1 cup chopped hazelnuts
  • 1 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. In a small bowl, mix cinnamon with 4 tbs sugar, and set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, sift together flour, starch and salt. In a separate bowl, mix together with a fork the oil, 1 cup of sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Add one cup at a time of the flour mixture until just combined.
  4. Fold in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts.
  5. Separate the dough into 3 balls. Spread each ball into an oval on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle dough with half of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
  6. Bake for 30-35 minutes. After baking, and while they are still a little bit hot, slice into ½ to ¾ inch wide pieces.
  7. Turn pieces over on sides, and sprinkle again with the rest of the cinnamon sugar mixture.
  8. Lower the oven temperature to 200 and bake again for 10-15 minutes. Cool before serving.

 

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Perfecto para Purim: Guava and Cheese Hamantaschen

If you live anywhere near southern California, then you know that the best bakery in town is Porto’s. This family-owned Cuban bakery specializes in everything from decadent confections and savory sandwiches, to picadillo-stuffed potato balls (my husband’s favorite) and the moistest, most egg-y challah this side of the Mississippi.Yes, you read that right. The best challah in town can be found at the Cuban bakery. No matter the time of day, there are always long lines filled with people aching to get their pastry fix. Sure, Porto’s carries the classic pastries familiar to their clientele, but if you want to get something authentic to their Cuban baking traditions, there is one obvious choice: The Refugiado (or Refugee), a delicately flaky strudel, filled with pungent guava and creamy cheese.

Porto's Guava and Cheese Refugiados
Porto’s Guava and Cheese Refugiados

I’m pretty sure that my family alone kept Porto’s in business for a good many years, as any life event worth celebrating featured these desserts, which is where I derived my theory on its peculiar name. Guava and cheese is a classically Cuban combination, and one eyes-closed  bite of a Refugiado transports any Cuban native to their motherland.  Essentially, It’s a taste of home, and it’s one that I desperately wanted to replicate in my new hamantaschen recipe.

Guava and Cheese Hamantaschen
Guava and Cheese Hamantaschen

My husband and I have been known to hop the Purim carnivals in town, searching for the perfect hamantaschen, so there was a little bit of pressure for me to find just the right recipe. After scouring my stash of cookbooks, and wading through my favorite blogs, I tested 3 different recipes for hamantaschen, but none of them came up to snuff.  I tackled my filling problem relatively quickly. My first batch used guava preserves, which didn’t hold up to the heat, and unceremoniously pooled from the dough. Then, I tried the heartier guava paste, and that seemed to do the trick, but I was still off on the dough. One batch, the dough was too soft, the next, too dry, and so on. Witnessing my flour-fueled displays of frustration (and tasting all three reject batches), my husband finally offered a suggestion: Get in touch with Marci.

Marci is a long-time family friend, who met my mother-in-law through their temple Sisterhood. She was also an official witness at my wedding, and signed the ketubah, which is currently proudly displayed in our living room.  According to my husband, nobody makes better hamantaschen than Marci, and it made sense to me to go straight to the source. When we connected, Marci explained that not even my mother-in-law had this recipe! Which, of course, explains why it was so absent from my combined family cookbook. As soon as Marci generously shared her winning dough recipe, I went to work, and wouldn’t you know it…my husband was right.

Preparing my hamantaschen.
Preparing my hamantaschen.

I mixed, rolled, cut, and folded this dough with ease, and it baked into perfect little guava and cheese hamantaschen! As a bonus, the recipe makes a ridiculous amount of dough, and I have a bunch left in my fridge, so I can play around with other filling options, soon.

The three-step folding of a hamantaschen
The three-step folding of a hamantaschen

 

 

 

Guava Paste
Even the container of guava paste shows an image of the classic pairing with cheese in its serving suggestion.

More hamantaschen

Even more hamantaschen

In case you were curious, here's a batch of the rejects.
In case you were curious, here’s a batch of the rejects.

5.0 from 2 reviews
Guava and Cheese Hamantaschen
 
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: Cuban and Jewish
Serves: 72
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
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Cultures combine in this delicate Purim treat.
Ingredients
For the dough:
  • 1½ cups sugar
  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 4 eggs
  • ½ orange, juiced and zested
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 4½ cups flour
  • 4 tsp. baking powder
For the filling:
  • Guava paste
  • Cream cheese
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar and the oil. Add eggs, and mix well.
  2. Add the juice and zest of ½ an orange, as well as the vanilla extract.
  3. In another bowl, sift together the salt, flour and baking powder, then add to the bowl with the wet ingredients, mixing only until everything is well combined.
  4. Split the dough into four sections, and wrap each section with plastic. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
  5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  6. Take one of the four sections of dough from the refrigerator, and on a lightly floured surface, roll to ¼-inch thick. Cut discs using a 2½-inch cookie cutter, and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.
  7. Fill each disc with ½ tsp. of cream cheese and ½ tsp. guava paste.
  8. To mold the hamantaschen, fold over the three sides, creating a pinwheel look, interweaving the sides over each other. Slightly pinch the edges of each triangle.
  9. Bake for 15 minutes.
  10. Cool completely, and serve or store in an airtight container.
Notes
***Note: This recipe makes a very large batch, and can easily be halved or quartered.

 

 

 

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