Category: Sweets

Cookie Charcuterie Board

4/3/2020

As we are all well aware, there has been a quarantine for a few weeks now because of the Coronavirus pandemic. My school has been closed for quite some time now and although I do miss seeing my friends in school, there have been benefits to not being in school. One of them is that I finally have a chance to start blogging again. It has been difficult lately to find time to write with all of the work I have. Since I can’t exactly go to restaurants and write, I decided to start blogging about my cooking and baking adventures. Recently, I was inspired to do a cookie charcuterie board. So, the concept would be to make a few different cookies and put them on a board to take pictures of. This idea was inspired by other kinds of boards like breakfast boards and a video the New York Times did about cookie boxes. My idea was a hybrid of the two. I had so much time that I was able to just spend the whole day baking which was so amazing and relaxing. For the board I decided to do four different cookies: black and white cookies, hamantaschen, ossi dei morti, and a version of homemade Pocky.

The first cookie I made was the ossi dei morti because they took the longest to chill. I got the recipe from Mark Bittman’s cookbook, Recipes Around the World. These cookies are basically just Italian chewy sugar cookies. They are nicknamed “Bones of the Dead” this is because they last a very long time. There was an option to add almond, vanilla, or cinnamon, I decided to add almond because it was an Italian cookie and I felt that almond is in most Italian cookies, so I went for the almond. These cookies were very easy and were mostly hands-off. I would recommend making these if you want a longer baking project and not to bring to a last minute party because it has a long chilling time. These are great to make during quarantine though.

The next cookies I made were a version of the Japanese snack, Pocky. I basically just took a breadstick recipe from Mark Bittman’s Recipes Around the World ,but I dipped them into chocolate and coconut. Originally I thought that these would be hard breadsticks, I did not realize that this would produce a softer bread stick. It was still good, but not exactly Pocky. This cookie also took a long time to make, but it was a lot of fun to knead the dough for the breadsticks. To make these at home you can find a breadstick recipe hard or soft (preferably hard) and then dip it in chocolate and any other topping. For toppings I would recommend (sprinkles, crushed up pretzels, any crushed up nuts, or coconut).

The second to last cookie I made was hamantaschen. These are cookies that are eaten on the Jewish Holiday Purim. They are meant to represent Haman’s hat. Haman was the bad guy in the Purim story. Hamantaschen are traditionally filled with jam or jelly, some people take it to the next level and put chocolate, peanut butter, and marshmallow fluff in it. Some people even flavor the dough. I decided to do my favorite filling which is very traditional which is raspberry jam. I have been making hamantaschen with my grandma since I was little, so this cookie has always been a favorite of mine. My favorite recipe to use is one from the website Saveur, they use cream cheese in their dough which gives the dough a nice tangy flavor that compliments the jam very well, I would recommend sticking to jam or jelly for this recipe because it goes best with the dough. I also like to add lemon zest from one lemon to the dough to enhance the flavor of the cream cheese. These cookies came out really good, but some exploded because I like to put a lot of jam in it. If you don’t want them to explode you just put less jam. They are delicious either way. I make these cookies even when it is not Purim, so I would recommend trying out the recipe online.

The last cookie I made is very well known and one of my favorite cookies, black and white cookies. Recently, I have been very into watching the New York Times Cooking channel on YouTube and I found one video that Melissa Clark created about making the perfect black and white cookies. I decided that I needed to try them out because it would be nice to be able to make them instead of having to buy them. The recipe was very straightforward and easy to make. The cookies themselves were so moist and cakey, which is why I love them so much. For the icing, I would definitely recommend making the icing on the thicker side because I made it way too thin and it kept dripping off, specifically the vanilla icing. I would also recommend putting in a little lemon juice and instead of the hot water put a little lemon juice to add a little more tang to the icing and to offset the sweetness of the confectioners sugar. If you can’t tell, I am obsessed with putting lemon zest in baked goods. To me, it’s a nice enhancer and makes the sweetness of a baked good less overwhelming. I totally recommend trying out Melissa Clark’s recipe. You can probably find it on the New York Times Cooking website. Also, watch the video to get a few extra tips and to see how she created the recipe.

Overall, this was a super fun project and I am so happy with how it turned out. Baking is definitely therapeutic for me, so having a whole day to make was heaven. I hope that everyone’s families are all safe and if you have the chance I recommend trying all of the recipes I mentioned in the post. I will link them below.

Black and White Cookies

Hamantaschen

Ossi Dei Morti and Breadstick Recipe

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A Food Crawl in February

2/24/2017

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Of course, since it is a break this week my Dad and I have to do a food crawl in the city. What’s a food crawl? It’s a full day packed with food. We start in one spot and go from place to place walking and eating. Our plan for this year was to start at Dominique Ansel. Next stop would be Dō, a place that sells raw cookie dough. Then we’d go to Ippudo for ramen, Sugar Fish for sushi, Beechers (the home of The World's Best Mac & Cheese), Eataly and Donut Plant. As you can see, there was a big day of eating ahead of us. My Dad and I both agreed that we would split everything because if we each got an individual portion it would be too much.

Dominique Ansel is the home of the famous cronut. You might have had a cronut before, but it was probably a knockoff. This was the real thing. The home of the cronut where it was originally sold. That was not the only thing they sell there. They also have frozen s’mores and cookie shots. My Dad and I were so overwhelmed that we almost bought everything in the store. We came to our senses that we could not buy everything. We paced ourselves and decided to buy a cronut, a frozen s'more, a DKA (which stands for “Dominique's Kouign Amann"), and madeleines. We ate the cronut, the frozen s’more, and one madeline there for breakfast. They have a monthly flavor for the cronut and the February flavor was lychee, rose, and pistachio. To be honest I thought I wasn't going to like it at first, but all the flavors went really well together. The outside was like a hard shell with a fluffy inside that had a mixed sweetness from the lychee and the rose. The frozen s’more was a marshmallow stuffed with ice cream and it was toasted on the outside. It tasted so good but it was super cold when you bit into it, but it paired well with a warm marshmallow. Even just one madeline was enough to get your taste buds dancing. When you ate them warm they taste so good. As I said, we each had one. They were moist and warm and you can taste the lemon zest which didn’t overpower the madeline but was just enough to it balance it with the fluffiness. I kept asking if I could have one more as we were walking to our different stops, but my dad kept reminding me that we had to save some for my Mom and my brother. At home, we tried the DKA. It was almost like biting into a pastry filled with creme brulee. The glazed outside was similar to the cronut, and the cream inside was heavenly. My mouth is watering as I even think about it.

Our second stop was DŌ, where they sell raw cookie dough that is safe to eat so you won’t get sick from the raw eggs and the flour. They used this special flour without any of the bad chemicals and used these special eggs that were specially grown. The lines at this place were said to be sometimes up to four hours. Now, I know what you are thinking four hours just for cookie dough! You have already eaten raw cookie at some point in your life. That is probably true, but they also have cool flavors like S'mores, Fluffernutter with marshmallow fluff, and Heavenly (with nutella, caramel, and chocolate). Now tell me you do not want to go DŌ even if you have had cookie dough! My dad and I got lucky and we were second on line and only had to wait an hour and a half. It seems long but it really wasn’t that bad. When it was time to go in, they gave the first 20 people tickets to go. My Dad and I of course already had a game plan of what flavors we were getting. We got their signature chocolate chip to eat right away in a chocolate chip cone and then got chocolate chip, S’mores and Heavenly to go. Since we were going to be walking around a lot, they gave us a freezer bag with the DŌ logo on it and two ice packs to keep them cold. We took the cookie dough in the cone to Washington Square Park and took cool pictures of it before we ate. It was so rich and creamy and it tasted better than any other cookie dough like Toll House or Pillsbury. My favorite flavor was the S’mores because it tasted like summer and sitting by the campfire. Basically, if you are on a food crawl or have nothing to do, go to DŌ and I guarantee you’ll love it.

Next we had to go to ramen. In the February weather, how could we resist? So, we went to one of my Dad’s favorite ramen spots in the city, Ippudo Ramen. We were the first ones in and my stomach was growling for real food, not just sugar. As soon as it opened we walked in and at Ippudo Ramen whenever someone walks into the back where the tables are, they shouted so that everyone knows that you are walking into the restaurant. It was very fun and creative. When we sat down it was kind of like looking at a forest. There was a huge tree in the middle of the restaurant. It was a cool design. We got the first bowl of ramen which we split obviously. But even that little bowl was enough for me to know it was the best ramen I had ever tasted so far. I know I always say that but I am not exaggerating. The description of the soup was: the original silky “Tonkotsu” (pork) soup noodles topped with Ippudo’s secret “Umami Dama” miso paste, pork chashu, cabbage, sesame kikurage mushrooms, scallions, and fragrant garlic oil. Now I am sure your mouth is watering. Usually I do not like tonkotsu broths, but this broth was different. It was silky and had a salty taste that balanced with everything in the bowl. The noodles tasted fresh and weren’t soggy at all, and the Umami Dama was super good even though I didn’t think it would be, but it was delicious and brought the soup together. Overall, it was the best ramen ever!!!

The next place we went to was a little bit far, but totally worth the walk. It was Sugar Fish, a really popular sushi restaurant. It had a pretty decent line, but we were in the first wave of people and we got the second to last table. We were doing really well on timing everything out. On the menu, yes they do have regular sushi rolls that you can get, but why do that at this amazing restaurant? Why not let them pick for you? So, we did. We picked the “Trust me” menu. I got the smallest size and my Dad got the medium size. At Sugar Fish they have a rule that they will not give you any extra soy sauce, wasabi, or rice. They did this because it was the traditional Japanese way of eating sushi. On the menu they also have other rules that they follow at Sugar Fish. For example, they want you to eat any hand rolls immediately, and also dishes that have sauce on them already should not be dipped in any other sauce. I have to admit I was a little nervous at first because although they show you what you are going to get, I wasn’t really familiar with what I was about to eat. We started out with edamame, but our first fish dish was tuna sashimi. Now, I have to say I do not like soy sauce it is way too salty for me. That day though I had an exception, because the sauce was so good. It was salty, but also a little sweet and it went really well with the tuna. The only complaint was that it was really little and I wanted more of it on the plate. The next dish was a sushi dish it consisted of; Albacore Sushi (1-pc), Salmon Sushi (1-pc), and Yellowtail Sushi (1-pc). The sushi had a sauce on it that was sweet and it really complimented the flavor of the fish and the soft hot rice. When you dipped the sushi in the soy sauce all the flavors blended making it so much better, especially since it wasn’t a ton of soy sauce and you can actually taste the dish. The last dish for me (my dad had one more dish) was I had a toro hand roll. When it came I was so excited to eat the roll it looked delicious and I was starving. The crispy seaweed went really well with the soft warm rice and the cold crisp fish. I really wish they had sent out two. It just felt like a perfect combination especially to end the amazing meal. I suggest if you do go there to just put a little faith in them and get whatever size Trust Me suites your hunger.

Then we just went around shopping at a few places. We went to Beecher's Handmade Cheese. It has the “World’s Best Mac & Cheese” that is the brand name but it actually is the best. There cheese is amazing and I especially like the Flagship. We got to sample them so we eventually got my favorite Flagship cheese to bring home.

After we went to Beecher's, we went to Eataly, but stopped to take pictures of the Flatiron building. It is a building that has an illusion of being flat. Inside there are all types of stores, but it is the outside that people really enjoy. Then we were off again to Eataly. The reason why I love Eataly is because it reminds me of an outdoor market, all crowded with different parts of the building selling different things. One thing it is famous for is a whole entire wall with Nutella jars on it. We walked through the markets and looked at all of the different vegetables in the market. We also got to taste a cheese that no one can touch because the cheese sweats. Now, I know that sounds gross, but we tasted the cheese and it was really good. We asked the man who handled the cheeses why it did that. He said that the cheese’s moisture builds up and turns into sweat. It was really cool to just go there and walk around, not just to try the food. I really love Eataly and hope I can go the next time we decide to go into the city.

The last place we hit up before going home was Doughnut Plant. They have very creative flavors of donuts that are super delicious. This was my first time though, but my Dad had gone before. There are so many names for donut shops that are so similar that sometimes I mix up their names, like Doughnut Plant and Donut Project. We walked into our last stop exhausted from our long day to the smell of delicious donuts. It was a little place that was perfect for our last stop. On the wall there were donut pillows that were awesome. We decided to order a creme brûlée donut, a carrot cake donut, and a tres leches donut. We took them home and didn't have any there. The creme brûlée donut had a nice creamy filling and tasted exactly like creme brûlée. The carrot cake was my favorite. It was a moist cake with an amazing cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese frosting is my favorite frosting, so obviously I took a liking to it. The last donut was a tres leches donut. It is a donut that has three milks; whole milk, condensed milk, and evaporated milk. It was a very moist cake and I thought it wouldn't be that good, but it was amazing. I would definitely go back if I was in that part of the city again.

Overall, I had an awesome time in the city and cannot wait for the next food crawl!

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Halloween Treats

10/30/2016

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Halloween is a super fun holiday especially when you make treats. But when you cannot have treats because of allergies, that is not fun. My brother has a tree nut allergy and cannot have the treats his class brings in because it risks him having an allergic reaction. So I decided to make him treats that he can have and share with his class! I was going to make him mummy Rice Krispie treats and if you have an allergy to peanuts or tree nuts this is a good recipe for you.

I started off by melting three tablespoons of butter on low heat. I stirred them until they melted completely and then added a bag of mini marshmallows along with some rainbow sprinkles to add some color. You want to keep stirring until it is completely melted before adding six cups of Rice Krispies. Then, you want to keep folding the mixture until the marshmallows look like they are stretching the Rice Krispies. After it looks like cobwebs, turn off the stove. Then get a pan and spray it with cooking spray. Slowly start pouring the mixture into the pan. You want them to cool so put them in the fridge for fifteen minutes. When you take them out of the fridge, you want to put parchment paper over a cutting board. Then, you want to flip the pan onto the board and tap it a few times. Lift the pan, and it should have come out nice and clean. You next want to cut the treats into even squares. Heat up a bowl of chocolate until it is silky smooth. After you heat up the chocolate, you want to take a knife and spread the chocolate on one side of the Rice Krispie treats. To add the finishing touch, cut a mini twizzler in half and stick the two pieces on the treat to make creepy eyes! Keep repeating until you have finished all of them. I hope you will use this recipe and enjoy it just as my family did. Happy Halloween!!!!!

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Anniversary Hot Dogs & Milkshakes

9/24/2016

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What is better than going out for your parent’s anniversary and getting a hot dog, fries, and a milkshake? Going out to get a Black Tap milkshake, with a Walter’s hot dog, and potato puffs is better than that!.

Walter’s Hot Dogs is located in Mamaroneck and, in my opinion, has the best hot dogs you will ever taste. They are split down the middle and charred with a grilled bun. They also are famous for these tiny fried mashed potato balls that are addictive. Black Tap is located in New York City and have these huge amazing milkshakes that are to die for. They are not super heavy, but they are light, creamy, and airy. For one weekend only, they decided to do a little swap. Walter’s was going to sell Black Tap milkshakes and Black Tap was going to sell Walter’s hot dogs. So, obviously my family was going to go to Walter’s and to make it even better we were going on my parents wedding anniversary.

Walter’s is unlike any hot dog stand you’ve ever seen. It looks just like a pagoda. A pagoda is a South Asian temple, that is used to to keep remains of saints, and kings. Even though Walter’s was selling the milkshakes they were also still selling their famous hot dogs. So, when we went we got four hot dogs, two orders of potato puffs, and two milkshakes. We got two because my family of four was not going to drink those huge milkshakes all by themselves.

The first time you bite into a Walter’s hot dog, something is born in your body that hasn’t been there before: the need to go here every weekend. When you bite in the hot dog, you notice a couple of things that make them unique. First, most hot dogs aren’t split. Splitting them makes them get a char inside and outside which makes them crunchy. Also they are not all beef. They are half pork, half veal. I love that it has that nice char and they get so much flavor from the veal and the pork. Next, the potato puffs were perfect. The outside was a crispy fried shell and the inside potato was so soft. The very last thing is the milkshakes. The thing that I really liked about their milkshakes was that they didn’t fill you up so much, and it was very silky and not really heavy. It was a good shake but I just wanted to taste a little bit more of the oreo in the shake. Everything else about it was really good, especially the frosting. Overall it was a really satisfying meal, and I hope to go there again soon!

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Everything Bagel Donuts?!?!

4/10/2016

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Most of you have probably already heard of the new musical called Hamilton. Well my parents went to see it, and when they went they picked up a donuts from an amazing place called The Doughnut Project. My dad bought a box for us to try and in it was a donut that everyone has been talking about called the Everything Bagel Donut. I know that you guys might be thinking that it was not going to taste too good. Well, that went through my mind also when I heard about it.

The first piece of donut I tried was the salted caramel chocolate donut with buttered pretzel on it. You know that was the one that looked like it would be my favorite but, to be honest, it was not my favorite, and here is why. When I took a bite of it the donut tasted exactly like a chocolate donut with crunchy stuff on top. I thought it was more of a plain jane donut that did not really stick out but, it was still pretty good. That is really what I thought about it overall.

The next donut I tried was my favorite. Believe it or not, It was the everything bagel donut with sweet cream cheese glaze. Even though I was hesitant, I thought that the cream cheese was not overwhelmingly sweet but, it was just enough to go along with the everything bagel flavored topping. I thought the bagel donut stood out and you would not find that at every donut shop you went to. To be honest, it was the exact opposite of the first donut.

Next was a very interesting donut, and that is part of the reason why I really enjoyed it so much. It was a long donut that had a maple frosting with a piece of bacon going across. It was the perfect combination because bacon, and maple are like, two peas in a pod. The savory bacon gave a nice touch to the sweet maple. Overall I would say the same thing about this donut as I said for the last.

The last donut was a pretty cool donut. It was a PB&J donut. It had a strawberry glaze with a peanut butter filling. I thought it tasted almost identical to a PB&J sandwich, and I really liked that they did that. I thought that was very creative. Overall I thought it was a really good donut.

The next time you are in NYC and want a sweet snack, swing on by the Doughnut Project and grab a box of these delicious donuts.

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"Treat" Yourself

3/27/2016

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If you have ever eaten Kellogg's Rice Krispies I’m sure you have seen the recipe on the back of the box for Rice Krispie Treats. Well I have when I eat them I always see that recipe. Each time I saw it I got more and more interested in making them. So, finally I decided I’d make them. I got lucky and I found a full box of Rice Krispies, mini marshmallows, and butter. I heated the stove to medium, and in a skillet I melted three tablespoons of butter. When it was fully melted (which takes a little while), I added in the full bag of mini marshmallows, and melted them until they were fully melted, so that it sort of looked like fluff. Then, I added in six cups of Rice Krispies (which is almost the whole bag), and I mixed it all together until it looked like a Rice Krispie treat. If you have ever seen a Rice Krispie treat you will know that the marshmallow sort of clings to the Rice Krispies. That is how it should look. After you do that you turn the stove off and pour it into a tinfoil pan, and press it down to look like a rectangle. Then, you let them cool for about fifteen minutes, and then cut them. Then enjoy!! The next time you have a box of Rice Krispies lying around maybe you can make these easy yummy treats just like I did. Keep checking my blog because, I have been really getting into cooking and baking more so there will be a lot of blog posts coming up on Jordan’s Lunch Box.

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Amazing Cookies from Levain Bakery!

5/27/2015

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We were in the city visiting my great grandma Peepa, so we decided to go to one of my favorite cookie places, Levain Bakery. At this bakery they have cookies almost as big as your face. When you go to this bakery, they don’t have regular chocolate chip cookies or sugar cookies. They have four kinds of cookies. They have chocolate chip cookies with walnuts, dark chocolate chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin cookies or they have dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. The inside of these cookies feels like cake. My favorite cookie here is the dark chocolate chocolate chip cookie. It’s so delicious! When you’re waiting outside to get a cookie it smells like chocolate brownies that just came out of the oven. If you are going to go there get there early, because the line is enormous. So, if you’re in the city give a drop by Levain Bakery.

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A Passover Seder - Chocolate Style!

4/3/2015

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Tonight is the first night of Passover. Passover is a holiday to celebrate the freedom of the Jewish people from Egypt. The Passover seder is a festival meal. Sometimes it can be boring for kids at the seder, so to make it more fun, grown ups throw special kid seders. At my Hebrew school, they make it more fun by throwing a chocolate seder for kids. The seder is all about chocolate. Chocolate prayers, chocolate matzah, chocolate seder plates, chocolate everything. To start off the seder, we said our first prayer about chocolate, then drank our first sip of chocolate milk. After we said our prayer, we had the dipping of the strawberry in the chocolate sauce. Then we broke the chocolate covered matzah in half the bigger half of the chocolate matzah would get hidden for the afikoman. The smaller piece of matzah we would eat. So, everyone at my table just started grabbing at the matzah and just handed it to everybody. After the chocolate matzah, we told the story of the four different kids and their opinion of chocolate. Then we tried all of the different types of chocolate: white chocolate, milk chocolate, dark chocolate (my favorite type of chocolate), and baking chocolate. When I tried the baking chocolate, it tasted so bland. It was terrible, I think everyone who tried it would agree with me. Next, we did the chocolate four questions and four kids read them aloud. After the questions, we made s’mores and we were allowed to take candy from a different table so everyone went crazy. People filled their plates with candy and and put chocolate seder plates in their mouths. It was really nuts. While everyone was being crazy, they went around with raffle tickets. Then, everyone got settled down and we did the raffle. The prizes for the raffle were two giant gummy bears on a stick, a giant rice krispie bar, and a five pound Hersheys chocolate bar. One of my neighbors Josh won the giant chocolate bar. After the raffle, we did our last prayer and left. I can’t wait to go again next year.

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Cookie Charcuterie Board

A Food Crawl in February

Halloween Treats

Anniversary Hot Dogs & Milkshakes

Everything Bagel Donuts?!?!

"Treat" Yourself

Amazing Cookies from Levain Bakery!

A Passover Seder - Chocolate Style!

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