From Kiddush Table to Pastry School
How childhood synagogue cookies led to my most treasured recipe
Shalom from Israel,
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One of my early food memories is Shabbat morning at synagogue, beelining out of the sanctuary as soon as Adon Olam ended to get a prime spot at the kiddush table. Long folding tables, with their plastic wrap, adorned with platters of cookies, herring and crackers.
We’d hover over the tables, with our outstretched hands ready to pounce on our favorite cookies, waiting for the communal amen as the Chazzan concluded singing the prayers over wine and challah.
I knew the pickled herring wouldn’t run out, because it never did. My place was in front of the cookies. All sorts of cookies. Tri-color Rainbow cookies. Rainbow sprinkle cookies. Little shortbread cups filled with parve pastry cream and topped with glazed grapes or strawberries. Bite sized cream puffs filled with the same parve cream. They went fast.
Despite having walnuts (the devil’s nut), the brownies weren’t always a no-go for me. I could easily eat that thick, dense frosting layer and manage to get the slab of frosting off in one piece, completely avoiding the walnuts. The seven layer cake didn’t interest me.
Nor did those gross ones that were oval-shaped, intensely flavored with artificial almond extract, half dipped in chocolate and covered in slivered almonds with a thin fruit filling. Blech. There were some that were better than others, but the linzer cookies were always reliable with their crumbly texture, powdered sugar and super sweet jam filling.
Those linzer cookies had vanished from my mind entirely - you just don't see them here in Israel. So when we made these buttery, jam-filled shortbread cookies on my very first day studying pastry at Bishulim: The Israel Academy of Culinary Arts, I was hit with instant recognition. Those same perfect rounds with their jam-filled centers and delicate powdered sugar dusting - they were unmistakably linzer cookies. Same crumbly texture, same sticky-sweet jam. Just, you know, made with real butter and by someone who actually knew what they were doing.
We made a variety of cookies that day, I made my first “mistake” in pastry school by “forgetting” to add the raisins to the chocolate chip cookies, because I had to defend the honor of what it means to be a chocolate chip cookie.
These elevated linzer cookies became one of my most treasured recipes from pastry school. Over the years, they've become a family favorite (as long as the jam is strawberry). The technique is simple enough for home bakers, but the results rival any fancy bakery. Here's how to make them:
Linzer Cookies
Ingredients:
2½ cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon (1 gram) baking powder
1¼ cups (150 grams) confectioner's sugar
⅔ cup (150 grams) butter, cut into small cubes
3 egg yolks (60 grams)
1 tablespoon (15 grams) water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For decoration and filling:
⅓ cup (40 grams) confectioner's sugar
Raspberry preserves (or preserves of your choice)
Instructions:
In a bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and confectioner's sugar.
In a small bowl, whisk together egg yolks, water, and vanilla.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, combine the flour mixture with cubed butter. Mix on medium speed until butter is incorporated and mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Add the egg yolk mixture and mix on medium speed until dough comes together. If dough remains shaggy, add water a teaspoon at a time until it forms a cohesive mass.
Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and divide in two.
Preheat the oven to 320°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Take half of the dough and place it between two pieces of parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to ¼ inch thickness. Repeat with the second half of the dough. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and wait 3-4 minutes. Carefully remove the top parchment paper (see note below). Flip the dough over and peel off the second piece of parchment paper. Place the rolled out dough back on one of the pieces of parchment paper. NOTE: If the dough pulls up with the parchment paper, your dough isn't cold enough—put it back in the fridge for another five minutes. If your dough cracks, your dough is too cold—leave it out for a few more minutes.
Use a 3½-inch round or fluted cookie cutter to cut cookies, then use a smaller cutter to cut the centers out of half of the cookies. (You can gather the scraps, form into a disc, and reroll once between two pieces of parchment paper.)
Place the cookies 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets and bake for 7-8 minutes. Look for minimal browning. For crispier cookies, bake for an additional minute.
Allow cookies to cool slightly on the baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Once cool, place only the cookie tops (the ones with holes) on a wire rack with a tray below it. Dust with confectioner's sugar.
Spread preserves on the bottom halves (solid cookies). Gently place the dusted tops on the preserve-covered bottoms to form sandwich cookies.
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Starting this week, I’ll be sharing my favorite music and books for those who are interested.
Listening: Carseat Headrest - The Scholars
Reading: Mark Twain by Ron Chernow
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