Whole Wheat Passover Mandel Bread

The seders are over and you've had it with those canned Goodman's macaroons (or have you?) This year, whole wheat (spelt too!) matzo is proud on those doilies in the Passover aisles. This product, Aviv's Whole Wheat Organic Matzo Cake Meal, may be a harder to find. I found it in Whole Foods (and can't seem to find it anywhere else). But, if you're looking for organic and whole grain this week, pick up a box. It's about $.50 more than the 'other' cake meal. 

This is a 'classic' Passover recipe and my mother always made it with Nestle's chocolate chips. This year, my 81 year old mother braved major surgery to repair 'her aching back'. She could barely walk. Nothing stops my mom. She's the bravest person I know. She even baked her Passover Mandel Bread before she went into the hospital!

Mom in her kitchen.

On my next visit, I'll bring some of these and see if they meet with her approval. 

This recipe is dedicated to my mother.

I am the most beautiful box of cement matzo in the world.

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Whole Wheat Passover “Mandel Bread”

adapted from and dedicated to my mother

by Blue Heron Kitchen

Preheat oven to 350º F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.

CREAM:                                2 cups granulated white sugar

                                              ½ pound butter (83% European style – “Plugra” is

                                              made by Hotel Bar, and it's really good.)

                  1 tsp. pure orange oil ( or grated orange zest from

                  1 large orange)

ADD:          6 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each egg

            

SIFT TOGETHER:    2 ¾ c. whole wheat matzo cake meal 

                                  (Aviv brand found at Whole Foods

                                  Markets.)   

                                  ½ tsp. kosher salt

                                  ¾ c. potato starch

                                  1 tsp. ground cinnamon

FOLD:                                   dry ingredients into egg, butter, sugar mixture

ADD:                                     1 cup chopped toasted and cooled pecans 

                                               8 oz.  dried currants

FORM: into 4 - 2” wide [about ½-3/4” high] loaves [two loaves per cookie sheet – width, not length] and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mix. [for w.w. version, sprinkle with raw can sugar (coarse, raw, sanding sugar)]

BAKE: in preheated oven for 35-45 minutes, rotating cookie sheets half way through the bake, top to bottom and front to back.

COOL:  loaves on racks for about half an hour.

SLICE:  into 1/2” pieces and finish cooling on racks. Store in airtight container. May be frozen.

N.B.:   These cookies are not baked twice (though I’ve spoken to women who do bake them twice. I don’t know much about cement. One of my husbands was part Italian, but his family knew more about throwing epithets than about pouring cement. You don’t have to be a paisano to know that if you’re pouring cement, it should start out moist.

            Zei gezunt.

            p.s. At the end of the week, you may wanna go to: “Tabula Rasa Bran Muffins”.  

A couple of loaves

Gingered Bourban Pecan Biscotti and We Are One Day of Action

Last week, I scored some out of this world organic sugared ginger while marketing with my daughter, Captain Kitchen, at Fairway in Red Hook. This ginger is so good that we triple-tied the bag and made a bee line for the popped riced cake machine.

Whether you're getting out the feather and clearing out the chametz before Passover, looking for something to fill in for the chocolate you gave up for Lent; or if you're like me and you're going out on your 467th first date and despite going to the gym, vacuuming and changing the linens, you still have more energy than you know what to do with, bake these. 

You might also want to bake them because they just may be about the best recipe I've ever published. No kidding. 

And happy spring (that's a photo from the orchid show in the Bronx ... pretty cool, isn't it?)

peace and love,

jane

Ginger Bourbon Pecan Biscotti

Blue Heron Kitchen

Ingredients:

3/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 c. whole wheat flour

1 ½ tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. kosher salt

½ c. whole wheat graham flour (Bob’s Red Mill)

4 oz. unsalted butter, room temperature (83% butterfat, European style is best)

3/4 c. granulated sugar

1/4 c. dark brown sugar 

2 eggs, size large, room temperature

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

¾ tsp. ground ginger

¾ c. pecans, toasted, cooled and chopped
3-4 oz. sugared (candied, but not in syrup) organic ginger

1 ½  tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 ½ tsp. bourbon (I use Maker's Mark for baking.)

1 egg white at room temperature

Coarse sanding sugar

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350º F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or Silpat.

In a small bowl, measure the sugars and set aside.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk both flours, baking powder, salt, graham flour, cinnamon and ground ginger together.  Set aside.

In a Kitchen Aid mixer or with a hand held mixer, cream butter and sugars until very smooth.

Add eggs, and continue to beat, scraping down bowl as needed.  (With your silicone beater blade, you'll be able to just about skip this tedious job.) Beat until light, smooth and creamy.  Then, beat in extract and liquor (if you don’t have bourbon or if you're on the wagon, double the vanilla extract).

Dump in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed, until just incorporated. 

Add the chopped pecans and chopped candied ginger, and mix just to blend. Finish it up by hand.

Form two rough logs, 12”-14” long and about 11/2“ – 2” wide each. Use your hands and don’t handle them too much. Don’t pat them too much or they’ll be too ‘dense’.  Just be sure they aren’t too flat because they'll spread.

Whisk the egg white with a little bit of room temperature water (just a dash), until a little foamy. Brush on top of logs and sprinkle with the coarse sanding sugar.

Bake in the center of your preheated oven for about 15 to 20 minutes or until they logs are golden, turning the sheet around, half way through the first bake. The loaves should be slightly soft and springy to the touch.

Transfer to a rack and cool for about 15 minutes to 30 minutes. (The longer you cool them, the easier it will be to slice them for the second bake.) A serrated knife works best.

If you've turned off the oven, bring it back to 350º.

Transfer the logs to a large cutting surface (use a big spatula) and slice them on a slight angle, about 3/4” thick. Lay them on the sheets and bake them for about 10 more minutes. Once they start to turn ‘golden’, remove them from the oven and cool on racks.   

Store in airtight container and hide (them, silly).

Yield: 3 to 3 1/2 dozen