Pascale’s Kitchen: Honey for a sweet New Year

In just a few short hours, we will be welcoming in the New Year.

And there’s always a few minutes to make one more easy confection to serve at your joyous family dinner. And so, today I’m sharing three tasty desserts that can be prepared in no time.

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They are all made with honey, which as we all know is traditionally eaten on Rosh Hashanah.  

Mini Honey Cake Muffins

Makes 12 muffins.

• ¾ cup oil
• ¾ cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• ½ cup honey
• ½ cup silan (date syrup)
• ½ cup walnuts, broken into pieces
• 1 tsp. ground cloves
• 3 cups self-raising flour, sifted
• 1 level tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. Turkish coffee
• 1 cup boiling water

Toppings:

• ½ cup walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 170°. Mix the oil, sugar, eggs, honey, and silan together in a large bowl. Add the walnuts, cloves, flour, and baking soda, and mix well. 

Dissolve the coffee in the boiling water, then add it to the mixture and stir. (If you add the coffee grounds as well as the liquid, the color of the cake will be much darker, but the taste will remain the same.)

Pour the batter into a pitcher. Line a muffin tray with paper liners, then spray them lightly with oil spray. Pour the batter into the muffin liners until they are ½ to ¾ full. Add the walnut pieces on top of the batter. 

Bake the muffins for 40-50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the muffins comes out dry and clean. Remove the tray from the oven and let the muffins cool down.

• Level of difficulty: Easy
• Time: 1 hour
• Status: Parve

Quick & Easy Apple Tart

Makes 20 tarts.

• 1 package (800 gr.) puff pastry, cut into 20 squares
• ½ cup apricot jam, or vanilla cream, or marzipan cut into thin strips
• 3 or 4 apples, pitted and sliced thinly, soaked in lemon juice

Egg wash:

• 1 egg, gently beaten

Topping: 

• ½ cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 200°. Arrange the puff pastry squares on your work surface. Cut out another square inside each square with a margin of 1 cm from the edge. 

Spread the jam, cream, or marzipan in the center of the square, then place 3 or 4 apple slices on top, and drizzle a little honey on top. Next, lift up two diagonal corners of the pastry and press them together. Prepare the rest of the pastries in the same fashion. Alternatively, you can press the other two corners together as well, which will make the pastry look like a flower. 

Place the pastries on a paper-covered baking tray. Gently brush the pastries with the egg wash. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove and allow to cool, then sprinkle powdered sugar on top.

• Level of difficulty: Easy
• Time: 30 minutes
• Status: Parve

Honey Cookies

Makes 30-40 cookies.

• 100 gr. butter or 80 ml. canola oil
• ¼ cup (50 gr.) sugar
• ¼ cup (60 gr.) dark sugar
• 3 Tbsp. (60 gr.) honey
• 2 Tbsp. (40 gr.) silan
• 1 large egg
• 2 cups (280 gr.) flour (You can use spelt flour, or half whole wheat and half spelt, or half whole wheat and half regular.)
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. ginger powder or cinnamon
• ¼ tsp. ground cloves
• 1 tsp. baking soda or 1 heaping tsp. baking powder, or a combination of the two
• 1 tsp. Turkish coffee, finely ground
• 1 cup boiling water

Toppings:

• ½ cup white or gold sugar
• ½ cup powdered sugar

Glaze:

• 200 gr. powdered sugar
• Juice of 1 lemon
• ¼ tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 180°. Add the butter or oil to the bowl of an electric mixer and mix at low speed. Gradually add the sugar, brown sugar, honey, silan, and egg, while continuing to mix until smooth. 

Gradually add the flour(s), salt, spices, baking soda and/or baking powder while continuing to mix until smooth. Place the dough into the fridge for 5-7 minutes. 

To prepare the toppings:

Put the white sugar in one bowl and the powdered sugar in another bowl. 

Wet your hands and roll out balls of dough 3-4 cm. in diameter. Roll the balls first in the white sugar, then in the powdered sugar. Arrange them on a tray covered with baking paper. 

Bake the cookies for 10 or 11 minutes. Once the cookies burst open, take the tray out of the oven, and let them cool on a wire rack. Store them in an airtight container. 

To make the glaze:

Mix the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon together in a small bowl. Transfer the mixture to a pastry bag and squeeze out lines on top of the cookies. Alternatively, you can dip the cookies in the glaze. 

• Level of difficulty: Easy
• Time: 20-30 minutes
• Status: Parve or dairy

Translated by Hannah Hochner.