1-2-3 Miracle Bars

This recipe is a very traditional Passover recipe. Everyone seems to have their own version. They are so popular in our house, that I make them all year ‘round.

The recipe is very flexible, fast, easy, and even gluten free. The recipe here calls for brown sugar, but I have made them with white sugar in a pinch. You can even substitute the chocolate chips for dried fruit and nuts or more almond flour.

Once I made them with only ground walnuts and decorated them with a walnut on top. They looked very pretty and tasted good as well. I have also made them with 3 cups of almond flour and no chocolate chips. For some reason, no one liked them.

As I write this, I wonder if I would have added lemon zest and rolled them in icing sugar if that would have made them tastier?

For whatever reasons, everyone in my family prefers chocolate chips version. I guess you could say that chocolate in our family is its own separate food group.

My husband likes these cookies so much that he is not above hiding them in the freezer. Then, no one can find them, and he can keep them all for himself. That tells you how great these cookies are. A ringing endorsement!

1-2-3 Miracle Bars

Ingredients

2 cups ground almonds

1 cup brown sugar (you can use white sugar for a crisper cookie. We like them chewy)

2 eggs

1 cup chocolate chips

Optional: add 1 cup of raisons or chopped nuts instead of the chocolate chips, for something different.

Post update: I swapped out 1/2 cup almond flour for 1/2 cup dried coconut, and it came out awesome!

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. I chill the dough for several hours so that it will be easier to roll into balls. The cookies also hold their shape better when it is chill. For bars, bake in a preheated 375*F oven on a parchment lined or greased 9×13 pan. Bake for 23 minutes. For cookies, shape into balls and bake for 12-15 minutes.

If anyone makes this with lemon zest, almond flour and rolled in icing sugar, please let me know how it came out. In my books, anything with lemon tastes better.

Here are the pictures:

Here they are, fresh out of the oven.

My husband LOVES them!

Just for fun, I thought I would include 2 nut cookies from vintage Jewish cookbooks.

Conclusion

It is interesting to me to see how recipes change over time. Although the ratios are similar, most people do not bake like this for Passover anymore. The preference today is even to avoid baking with matza meal or cake meal altogether. I am no different. I find that the taste of matza meal and cake meal is drier, and the texture is crumblier. Then, after Passover, no one wants to touch them. My goal is always to make food that people would want to eat even if it wasn’t Passover!

Please try the 1-2-3 Magic Bars. Hopefully, everyone will enjoy them as much as we do!

Love,

Carol & family.

I am also posting here 2 pictures that I made for Passover Adaptions for icing sugar and flour. I hope everyone will find them helpful!

Chocolate Challah Kugel

I’m back!

The picture of the adorable cat above, is the latest addition to our family.

At the end of this post, I will share more about him.

Stay tuned!

I have missed blogging, but, for some reason, I uncharacteristically found myself with nothing to say for the past year.

I hope that I have found my voice again, and this is a new beginning!

Part of my inspiration to renew this blog was an off the cuff comment by one of my patients.

During one of my groups at work this week, “Walter,” said, “Carol doesn’t look like someone who likes to cook.”

At first, I thought his comment was completely off base, and I felt slightly offended. To me, he was making an unsubstantiated assumption.

Upon reflection, it occurred to me: perhaps “Walter” was really trying to communicate something else?

Is it possible that “Walter” was really expressing his disappointment that this year there is no funding available to have a holiday party?

Maybe what he really wanted to say was: “does Carol care enough about us that she would make us a party and do all the cooking?”

I am still thinking about the incident, as you can tell.

The upside of his comment is that it reminded me how much I really do miss blogging.

And just in case his comment could really be taken at face value, I was motivated to actually sit down and write a new post on my sorely neglected blog.

My motives might be a little immature, but, I really do have so many recipes to share on juggling special diets, special needs and time challenges!

Chocolate Challah Kugel 

This recipe is really a recent adaption of my challah kugel. I am trying to come up with creative ways to use up leftover bread.

I am happy to say that it was a big hit!

Ingredients:

16 oz. challah

1 ½ cups water

1 ½ cups chocolate chips

1 ½ cups milk (I used rice milk)

1/2 cup cocoa

6 eggs

1 cup sugar: ½ cup brown sugar and ½ cup white

2 teaspoons vanilla

½ teaspoon salt

4 tablespoons oil

Optional: icing sugar sprinkled on top after it’s baked.

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375* F.

Crumble or break up challah into small pieces into bowl.

Add chocolate chips.

Combine water, milk, cocoa, eggs, vanilla, salt and oil and whisk until smooth and well-blended.

The sugars can be added to the bread and chocolate chips, or to the liquids. This time, I did both. The white sugar I added to the bread, and the brown sugar was added to the liquids. I think it might be better to add the sugar to the liquids so it can dissolve more easily and be more evenly distributed. This recipe is very flexible!

Pour liquid over challah and chocolate chips.

Mix until challah is soft.

Pour into a parchment lined pan and bake for approximately 1 hour or until done.

The texture is particularly creamy when it is baked in a deeper pan containing about 1 inch of water.

When I do not used a hot water bath, I bake it in a 350* F oven instead. It depends on how time challenged I am at that moment.

Serve warm or at room temperature and dust, if desired with icing (confectioners’) sugar. I did not, but I think it might be prettier with it.

Variations:  I have not tried it yet, but, I wonder if this would be good with crushed matzah instead of bread?

Alternatively it might even be made with rice too. Depending on the desired texture, it might be better to lightly blend the rice mixture with an immersion blender before adding the chocolate chips. The goal is to have the mixture slightly smooth but not mushy.

Now that I see how adaptable this recipe can be, I am hoping to explore other variations too.

Here are the pictures:

Bread, chocolate chips and white sugar.

Whisking the sugar, cocoa, eggs, liquid and vanilla

mixing wet and dry ingredients.

The last few pieces. I forgot to take a picture when it was first done.

Enjoy!

As promised, here is the story of our new cat.

Last spring we acquired an outdoor cat, Ari.

I love cats, but, my husband, unfortunately is very allergic to them. So, when we met, I sadly had to give my 2 cats away.

Over the years, I would frequently remind Jay of the tremendous sacrifice I made to marry him. My husband would always joke, “What’s better, having a husband or 2 cats?” He would then add: “Don’t answer that!”

When we first married, I used to be able to find a local stray cat to befriend and share a “Positive Cat Experience.” Over the years, however, that changed. It seems as though there were no longer any stray cats around.

So, as an act of true love, Jay suggested that perhaps I could have a cat again, with the stipulation that the cat was not allowed to come in the house.

It was a tall order, but, with the help of Google, I discovered that there is a local program by the SPCA called “Back Yard Buddies.”

Cats adopted through this program are feral cats that have been spayed/neutered, given their shots, and microchipped. They are not supposed to be indoor cats, and the SPCA gives you all the equipment one needs to train the cat that you will be his/her new feeding source.

It seemed like a win-win for everyone!

My brother was very skeptical when he heard about it. Dov said, “It sounds like taking on a charity project.” I suppose on one level it is.  But, the cat we received is the friendliest feral cat one could ever hope for.

Naturally, life is never how one expects.

Although I am the one who takes care of Ari, ironically, my husband is his chosen person. Ari greets my husband, spontaneously hops up on his lap, and otherwise in general seeks him out.

It is truly very funny.

One of my friends suggested that I sue for alienation of affection, or get another cat who will be MY cat. So far, my husband has vetoed that option.

I am truly enjoying this cat. It is so nice to have a Positive Cat Experience on a daily basis. I just had to share!

Passover Brownies

During Passover, we do not eat leavened food. The bright side is, it is a great time to stock up on gluten free products for the rest of the year.

In my community there is actually a gluten free Gemach after Passover. People donate their gluten free Passover products to give to others who are basically eating Passover food all year round. It is our favorite time to stock up.

One of the culinary challenges of Passover is baking desserts without sacrificing taste and texture.

Growing up, Passover desserts consisted primarily of the ubiquitous Passover sponge cake, closely followed by chocolate or fruit compote. No matter how much effort went into the dessert, after Passover, no one would eat it.

Over the years, one of my culinary goals was to make Passover desserts that even after Passover, people would want to eat.

So far, my flourless chocolate cake is the familial favorite. That was one of the first recipes I posted.

This year, with all the changes taking place, I was even more time challenged. So, I did not have time to make a flourless chocolate cake.

Instead, I made these brownies. I think that this was even more well received. It has been virtually all eaten. I may even have to make more!

Ingredients 

1 1/2 cups oil

3 cups sugar

1 tablespoon vanilla

5 eggs

1 cup ground nuts (or matza meal, if gluten is not a problem and nuts are)

1 cup potato or tapioca starch (I like tapioca more)

1 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Instructions

Officially, the recipe is: stir oil, sugar and vanilla together. Add eggs and blend well. Stir in matzah meal /ground nuts, potato/tapioca starch cocoa, baking powder and salt.

Since I am time challenged, I put all the ingredients in a bowl and mixed everything until blended with a hand held mixer.

Bake in 350*F oven in 13X9X2 pan for 60 minutes, or until done.

1 bowl baking at its best!

The final product. It’s all gone!

Virtually nothing is left!

The greatest compliment I received was, “this tastes as good as regular brownies.” High praise indeed!

Enjoy!