holidays

Pain d’Epices – The Feeling Of Christmas

15.12.2011 49 Comments

Every where I look right now, it seems that everyone is hands and elbows deep in Christmas baking, truffle rolling and cookie decorating. I wish I could say the same for our household. Every year, I bake, cook and mix Christmas gifts for friends and family. A dozen boxes packed with homemade goodies to eat (cookies, chocolate, cakes) and to drink (extracts, infused liqueurs, etc…). This year, well…I am feeling already behind.

By this time in December, I usually have lists of who is getting what, which cookies need to be made and refrigerated, which ingredients need to be marinated and so on. This year? I have zip. So far… No wait! We did put our Christmas tree up yesterday and decorated the house a little. I love how a few twinkling lights and ornaments can instantly brighten one’s day.

On the baking front, however…Not even a couple of cookie doughs parked in the freezer. No egg whites aging for macarons. Only the infused booze is getting better as days go by since I have nothing to do it…I have motivation. I am just oscillating between being overwhelmed with choices and underwhelmed by my decisions. ugh…

Work has kept me deliciously busy and I am not complaining. I have had the opportunity in the last few weeks and days to shoot for some pretty darn motivated and inspired people. The workshop this past weekend was such a great way to round up all the workshops held so far this year. I was thrilled it was in my town, in a space I really want to support the best I can and with some pretty awesome attendees. You can read more about it on Lauren’s blog, Still + Life.

I guess it doesn’t help that my lack of baking is greatly due to the fact that I’m booked on shoots way passed Christmas. I also know that it might me because my mind has been preoccupied with family issues back home. My parents had to cancel their trip to Charleston for the holidays. They need to be home right now and they need every bit of moral support.

We call and email everyday and are forced to revisit memories and stories. It’s bittersweet but it’s also very heart warming on the eve of a lot of celebrating and gathering. It’s our way of keeping together across the miles. Of course, the conversations turn to food at some point or another. We go down memory lane with holiday meals and treats we shared throughout the years. Came one or fifty, there was always good food going around the table.

One scent that brings me home everytime, even so far away, is the spice mix used in the traditional "pain d’epices". A blend of cinnamon, cardamom, clove, star anise, black pepper, orange and lemon peel. You can find the mix already blended and ground in most good epiceries but it’s not that complicated to make yourself. There are as many ways to blend it as there are regions of France.

While the components are the same, the proportions may vary. What I love about this spice blend is that is lends itself to so many preparations, well beyond Christmas. A little dash in rice pudding. A sprinkle over fish and roasted vegetables. A little bit in a potato gratin…I could go on and on about the versatility of using these spices from sweet to savory.

This week it was waking up to the promise of a little pain d’epices for breakfast was the best therapy. The scent of childhood and story telling time spent listening to my grandfather’s stories for hours. The texture of velvety Christmas morning spent playing quietly in our room with the presents Santa had brought that night. All wrapped up within the smooth spiced sugar coating the pain d’epices.

Every morning it connected me to my loved ones a little. That scent evokes my family, the time spent together baking and getting goodie packages together. It reminded me that beyond what I was feeling or how busy I’d be until Christmas day, that there were good reasons to push through and get my baking lists pinned down and to get to it. One specifically: making people happy.

What are your favorite treats to give throughout the holiday season? Please, share a recipe if you have one!

Pain D’Epices:adapted from Saveurs France, December 2011.

Makes 12 mini cakes

Ingredients:
For the spice mix:
equal parts in ounces or grams (I usually go by 30 grams of each & refrigerate)
cinnamon
cardamom
clove
star anise
black peppercorns
dried lemon peel
dried orange peel

Place the cinnamon, cardamom seeds and the rest of the ingredients in a coffee grinder and process until finely ground.

For the cakes:
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup milk
1 cup Jeanne’s gluten free all purpose flour mix or regular flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon spice mix for Pain d’epices
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, kept cold
1 large egg

Sugar coating:
equal parts sugar and equals spice mix stirred together well.

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350F and position a rack in the middle. Butter 12 mini bundt cake pans or other of your choice.
In a small saucepan set over medium heat, stir together the honey, dark brown sugar and milk until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat and reserve.
In a food processor or with a pastry blender, combine the flour, baking powder, spice mix, and unsalted butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
Whisk the egg into the cooled milk mixture and add it to the flour mix. Pulse a couple of times until the mixture is smooth. Divide the batter evenly among the prepared molds and coo 20 to 25 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out free of crumbs. Let the cakes cool completely before rolling them in the sugar coating.

A Little Something A Little Different: A Festive Table

09.12.2011 21 Comments

A few weeks ago, the lovely Camille from the very creative Camille Styles site asked me if I wanted to be part of her "12 Tastes of Christmas" series. I already knew the recipe I wanted to contribute, one of my favorite from last year, a Homemade Gravlax And Prawn Crackers Appetizer. I also took the opportunity that it was Thanksgiving when she asked to come up with a pretty and sweet theme for the table setting.

I must say, I have a strong aversion for yellows and oranges. It’s visceral. When Thanksgiving comes around, I always try to break out of the traditional yellow and orange center pieces. As far as I know, there is no rule that says you can’t do purple to celebrate. The table set I created this year to solve that issue not only takes care of the usual Thanksgiving colors but also works perfectly for a different kind of Christmas.

I went to one of my favorite sites for table setting inspiration, Sunday Suppers and got inspired by various ideas here and there. The table runner was a couple of long pieces of burlap topped by a single slab of wood (neighbor’s old fence). I gathered bottles of different sizes to play vases and added Fall-ish accents like nuts in their shells, Forelle pears and a few candles.

What I love is that it took literally no time and a small budget to put it all together and it was so much fun to do and look at throughout the day! The napkin rings slash place tags where made by printing tags on two different shades of blue and tie them up with some simple jute twine.

Anyway…I thought with all our posts about food, it might be nice to show the actual way we enjoy it during the holiday dinners. Hmm yes, I don’t pull out the wedding china at every Sunday gathering! I am already thinking of ways to do a variation on that table setting for Christmas. Stay tuned!

For more pictures of the table and the recipe for the Homemade Gravlax And Prawn Crackers Appetizer, please head over to Camille’s post, here.

Have a great weekend! I will be teaching an all day workshop on Saturday at Heirloom Book Company in downtown Charleston. There are still a couple of spots available if you can make it!

Drunken Pumpkin Bourbon Tart With Mascarpone Cream

22.11.2010 52 Comments

Holidays really have a tendency to make us marvel at the time gone by year after year don’t they? We shake our heads in denial and wonder how can time fly by this fast. Right now I am grinning as I look at the calendar, thinking that I’ve done a lot and yippee there is way more to do! There are things I’ll happily leave behind when the new year rolls in but overall I am saying out loud "Yes! Let’s do this again and often please!" That’s worth a good slice of pie and glass of milk.

Like most of you celebrating Thanksgiving, the week is going to be a bit of whirlwind at the house. Some of you travel to be with your family, some of you host the traditional dinner, some of you try your best to avoid the madness of it all, stores and crowds. Some of us still have to work and meet deadlines in the middle of it. That’s the holidays indeed.

This year we decided to break the routine and decided that since Christmas was already planned to happen here with B’s family, we could make ourselves scarce and gather some of our favorite people around a table full of good food, good cheers and good talks. If I had one word for the driving force behind this past year for us, it would be "friends" and I am thankful for the ones coming to stay with us this week.

One thing I have learned to bake for Thanksgiving in B’s family was pumpkin pie. And sweet potato pie. And pecan pie. And…well that’s plenty to give you an idea that pumpkin pie was not something I grew up eating or making. I have to admit that up until a few weeks ago I liked it "fine" or "ok". Yes, I am definitely a pecan pie kind of girl. So what changed?

Well. The great thing about photographing cookbooks is the amount of recipes I get to cook and style before anyone else. Like a secret mission. No matter how complicated, long, short, easy…from just ok to outstandingly delicious. There is a bit of a void when a shoot wraps up and I know that once the files are processed and sent off, well the baby is not mine anymore. It grows in the hands of a team of people putting the author’s words together with my images. A part of me does not want it to end.

You can imagine that after finishing Holly Herrick's cookbook shoot a few weeks ago, I was thrilled to hear that her publisher wanted her to post a few recipes on her blog already. Teasers if you want until next Fall that the book comes out. A nice little way to hang on to the fun I had shooting a little longer. I am glad Holly started with the Drunken Pumpkin Bourbon Tart as you can see in the sliced shot which will be in her book. A little sneak peek and a great recipe. Right on time for Thanskgiving.

I am insanely thankful for all the things I got the chance to photograph and write this year. I am grateful for the opportunities to photograph, co-author and author myself in the year to come. I could never have done it without your support and faith in reading the words on this page. Week after week. Thank you guys for all that you have given me. I hope that I gave it back tenfold and more and will work my hardest to keep doing so.

You are the best! Happy Thanksgiving!

Big congratulations to Audrey Han for winning a copy of Gluten Free Girl and The Chef! Send me your address at mytartelette {at} gmail {dot} com and I’ll pass it on.

Here is the link to Holly’s blog for the Drunken Pumpkin Bourbon Tart to check out the recipe and her notes about it.

I used eight 4-inch tart pans instead and baked them at the same temperature for about 15 minutes.

I topped mine with a little mascarpone cream:
4 oz mascarpone at room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

In a medium bowl, whisk together the mascarpone and honey. Carefully fold in the whipped cream. Spread as little or as much as you wish on top of the baked tart.

For the option of a gluten free crust, check here for a few options.

Wishing You The Sweetest Of Holidays!

24.12.2009 58 Comments

In the midst of all the Christmas preparations in our kitchen and I am sure in yours, I wanted to take the time to wish you a very Merry Christmas and plenty of joy and happiness this holiday season.

In my family we celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with two big dinners. In B’s family, it’s only Christmas Day. His is small-ish, mine is big. Huge actually. Nowadays, we are doing a bit of both even if I am not home and he indulges me in some of my traditions, like the Provencal 13 desserts and listening to "La Pastorale des Santons de Provence". Yes, baby Jesus was born in Provence and his parents spoke with the accent. You didn’t know?! No Christmas is complete without it and in the 30 something years I have been around, I have had plenty of time to learn each character by heart.

Until my grandmother passed away, Christmas Eve dinner was held at my grandparents' house after church and we would go *all* out. Christmas Day’s traditions were a bit more low key as it was the "in-laws" day, meaning my uncles and ant would go visit their in laws during the day and come back for dinner. Those who were without in-laws would make their way to my parents' house for lunch for macaroni, butter, parmesan and a plate of charcuterie. Came 8pm and we would have a Christmas Day dinner usually revolving around a buffet of regional delicacies.

One of our holiday traditions is to make a visit to our favorite chocolatiers, "Les Chocolats Colas" in the town of Maule. True chocolate artists making the most intricate as well as delicious chocolate creations. We usually get a few pieces to take home but we really go there for their chocolat chaud. More like ganache chaude really. Indeed, the chocolate is so rich and so thick that it is served in small espresso cups. Trust me, that is plenty. Strong, spiced just right and silky all the way down to your toes.

As part of my holiday rituals of listening to La Pastorale while baking, I always make sure to fix us a batch of hot chocolate albeit a little lighter than the one we have at the Colas chocolate shop when we go home. B. likes to have a handful of marshmallows in his hot chocolate but I really find store bought ones to be tasteless and gritty. Ok, so they can be gooey mess, marshmallows are so easy to make at home, it’s worth it trying them at least once.

Both recipes for our favorite creamy and rich hot chocolate and homemade marshmallows after the bump.

Tonight’s dinner will be with some of our closest friends around some French regional delicacies. Low key, reflective and quiet. Just what I like.

Thank you for your readership throughout the years. You cry and laugh with me and everytime I come here and spill some goodies, I feel like having coffee with some good friends. Thank you!

Hot Chocolate:
6 oz (180gr) semisweet chocolate (chips or chopped)
1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
pinch of ground cloves

Place the chocolate in a large bowl. Set aside.
In a large saucepan set over medium heat, bring the milk and cream to a simmer. Remove from the heat and slowly pour the hot liquid over the chocolate. Let the mixture stand for 2 minutes then slowly whisk the mixture until completely smooth. add the spices, stir and serve with the marshmallows.

Vanilla Marshmallows:
1/4 cup (60ml) water
1/4 cup (60ml) light corn syrup
3/4 cup (170 grams) sugar
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons cold water
2 egg whites, room temperature
1 whole vanilla bean, split open and seeded
cornstarch

Line a 8X8 baking pan with plastic wrap. Spray lightly with cooking spray and sprinkle lightly with some cornstarch, shake the excess off.
In a medium saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer. Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites. Add the vanilla seeds and continue whipping until stiff. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and let set 24 hours at room temperature. Unmold and cut squares with a hot knife.

Pumpkin Semifreddo With A Side Of Gingerbread Houses

24.11.2009 79 Comments

Instead of making pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving this year, I am bringing Pumpkin Semifreddo to my sister-in-law’s. It’s a riff on one of the desserts we had last week in Asheville and given that we devoured 8 of them in record time, I am pretty sure his family will also appreciate the change. It’s cold, creamy, mousse-like with a nice crunch from the gluten free streudel on top. Makes me think of Fall with every bite.

I have always had a soft spot for Asheville during Fall and Winter. When we lived in upstate SC, we would take the beautiful mountain roads and drive around the area, always making a pit stop in there. We had an impromptu getaway in Asheville one Christmas years ago and I dragged B. through the gallery of gingerbread houses on display at The Grove Park Inn. I knew there had been a competition. I had no idea I’d be judging it one day, 5 years later! And with a beautiful friend and work peer as my traveling companion to boot.

Arriving at The Grove Park always makes me feel like I have steppped back in time, somewhere around 1935 when F. Scott Fitzgerald could have been my almost neighbor in room 441 (we were in room 552). Truly a special place, yet one that evolved perfectly with time and where people are the embodiement of Southern hospitality. Fun, gracious, never stuffy and most of all with some of the best foods and drinks around.

I love the view out my kitchen but waking up with this everyday made me rubb my eyes quite a few times. Was I dreaming? What do they put in those drinks that one is constantly beaming to be so peacefully there? Wait, don’t answer that one.

Maybe it’s the food. Maybe it’s the mountain air. On Saturday night, we all gathered for a "Meet&Greet" among the judges and were treated to some fabulous finger foods prepared in the nick of time by one of the hotel kitchens. Crab salad shooters, various kinds of sushi, potstickers, sliders, shots of lemon mousse and Tiramisu. A special drinks menu prepared just for us and greatly enjoyed by yours truly. The Gingerbread White Russian was as close to liquid dessert as one can get. Don’t be fooled though…they hit you like a brick about an hour later.

In hindsight I am quite glad I started the day with a virgin Bloody Mary at Corner Kitchen and burned a couple of calories walking through the River Arts District with Tami and Dodie whom we met on our previous trip there (from Asheville CVB).

Yes, there is something magical about The Grove Park this time of year and if you are a sucker for holidays, Christmas, trees and ornaments as much as I am, you will be in heaven walking through the hotel right now. There is a tree in front of every window, each with its own theme. Whether you are a coffee or vintage addict to a Santa and gingerbread figurine lover, you are sure to find a tree for you!

My head was spinning at every corner of the hotel with all this whimsy! Glad I found a compass to navigate my way around, down the stairs, up the elevator, around the piano bar and back to our room!

Actually, this much fun is highly conducive to good nights of sleep. I sleep very little and yet I had no problem here putting my brain to rest, close my eyes and sleep a full night. This proved extremely important for the reason I was there in the first place: judging the National Gingerbread House Competition™. Yeah! Get to work Helen! Stop having that much fun with trees! Trust me, this is not an affair taken lightly by anybody. From the competitors entering, to the staff wheeling the houses in the main ballroom to the judges, armed with clipboards and scoring sheets.

One random thing that hit me around noon is that I should have had more than coffee that morning. After looking at two full rows of houses, the smell of gingerbread was making my stomach growl and my concentration weep. We had 5 criteria on which to base our scores and we took plenty of time to evaluate each and every house thoroughly (from 9.30am to 4.30pm).

There are times when putting the camera down is appropriate, especially when you are surrounded with such seriousness as Colette Peters, Nicholas Lodge, Mark Seaman and Steve Stellingwerf pointing to you the latest trends and techniques. To be honest, just to hear the words pastillage and wafer paper was sending me back years ago when I use to eat, drink and sleep that stuff for work and I *had* to put the camera gear to the side.

I did however sneaked in toward the end and while a hired team was taking full shots of the houses, I wanted to focus on the details and the artistry behind some houses. These are some of my favorites in design and whimsy although they did not make it to my top picks as they did not have enough "gingerbread" elements which is what we had come here to judge. Sometimes you have to put your heart waves aside and focus on that spread sheet. The grand prize and other winners in each category can be viewed here.

I did marvel at The Fruitcake House (pictured above). All the details were blowing me away. From the floor tiling to the cracked eggs on the work table, the nonpareilles, the fruit cake tally chalk boards and so forth and so on.

Another one I admired was the first place winner. It reminded me of the of A Christmas Story and the details were so whimsical and aesthetically perfect that everyone had to stop and admire that one. For some judges, there was "not enough gigerbread" to win Grand Prize for others, it was "the one". Yeah, I know, we’re tough, but in the wash-out of scoring and tabulating, I think that we indeed picked all the houses that deserved to be in the Top 10.

I just love the aesthetics and color scheme of that one!

It was a long and exhausting day but we were rewarded with a fantastic dinner at Horizons where I had the chance to sit across Colette and Steve and talk shop, sugar and cake for a few hours. I was also blown away by Mark’s fluent French and truly envy his yearly excursion to France to tour Patisseries.

Before I get to the recipe I want to extend a huge "Thank You" to my fellow judges, to Jeff, Brian "The Gingerbread Man", Susan, Ron and Rick who made our stay so pleasant and memorable. You guys know your stuff and do it well. Bravo.

We have had many reasons to feel lost this year but we have many more reasons to be grateful, starting with our family, our friends and your constant support and visits. Thank You. Have a fantastic Thanksgiving!

Now…let’s talk Pumpkin Semifreddo…

During our lavish dinner at Horizons at The Grove Park Inn, we were presented with a delicious selection of desserts, some I had had the pleasure to make before and one that made everyone ask for more, the Pumpkin Semifreddo. I did not ask for a recipe because it is pretty straightforward to reproduce and instead of doing a full blown plated dessert as we had that night, I served mine in jars and other ramekins for a more casual presentation.

Pumkin Semifreddo

Serves 8

For the semifreddo:
1 cup (250ml) heavy cream
3 tablespoons (65gr)honey (I like wildflower the best)
2 tablespoons (25gr) sugar
2 tablespoons water
3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup (120gr) pumkin puree (I used canned as I was making 150 of these for a catered event but feel free to make your own puree from fresh and cooked pumpkin)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger

For the crumble topping:
1/2 cup (80 gr) sweet brown rice flour
1/4 cup tapioca (30gr) flour
1/4 cup sorghum (30gr) flour
1/2 cup (100 gr) light packed brown sugar
1/2 stick (55 gr) unsalted butter, softened

Prepare the Semifreddo:
In the bowl of a stand mixer equipped with the whisk attachment or hand held one with ballon whisks, beat the cream until it just holds soft peaks. Refrigerate it while you prepare the base of the ice cream. Wash your bowl and whisk attachment.

In a heavy saucepan, stir together the honey, sugar, and the water. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Since you are not making caramel, it is ok to stir occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Let it boil and bring the mixture registers 238°F on a candy thermometer.

This second part is easier to do with a hand held mixer than a KA for example since the quantity of egg yolks is small and the bowl tends to be deep in some models. It works, have no fear…it’s just easier with a hand held one.

In the clean bowl of your mixer, still using the whisk attachment, beat the yolks for a minute to loosen them up. Reduce speed to medium and pour the hot honey mixture in a steady stream over them. Go fast enough to prevent the eggs from scrambling but not so fast that you end up with most of the syrup on the wall of the bowl or the whisk. Continue to whip at medium-high speed until the mass is completely cold and airy.

Fold about one third of the chilled whipped cream into the semifreddo base to loosen it up and make it easier to incorporate homogeneously. Add the pumkin puree, the spices and the remaining whipped cream and fold until everything is incorporated.
Divide mixture evenly among dishes cover with plastic wrap and freeze until set.

Prepare the topping:
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a medium bowl, blend the flours, sugar and butter with your fingertips or a pastry cutter to form large clumps of dough. Lay them on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool to room temperature before breaking the clumps into smaller crumbs.

When ready to serve, take the ramekins out of the freezer 15 to 20 minutes ahead of time so they have a "half frozen' consistency and top each semifreddo with some crumble and some whipped cream if desired.

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[Full Disclosure] As a guest of The Grove Park Inn, I did not pay for the room and dinners (friday through monday). Any meals and drinks that were not part of the group scheduled ones (saturday brunch-nightcaps at the hotel) were paid by me. I drove my own little self there, on my own little gas money.

Happy Thanksgiving!

26.11.2008 56 Comments

Thankful that my 5 year old nephew asked me to make him chocolate cupcakes with "snow frosting" for Thanksgiving dinner…even if that’s all he’ll eat. How can I say "no"?!!

Thankful for little things like sprinkles and having this space to tell you about my passion for all things sweet. Thankful to have you read and leave your thoughts post after post.

Thankful for friends who know how much I miss Fall and bring me a bouquet of leaves from a trip to the mountains! Thank you C&H!!

Thankful to my wonderful husband for his constant gift of love, friendships and laughter and for always "expecting the unexpected"….Thank you to my families both here and home. When I keep wavering like a feather you are always the rocks I rely on.

Thankful to the little things in life like ribbons and polka dots, for putting a smile on my face at the oddest time of the day.

Thankful that Christmas is here soon: care packages after cookie boxes after macarons after… shipped to friends and family.
Thankful that B’s family agreed to come here for Christmas dinner and letting me be their host.

Just wanted to wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving and give a few thanks of my own.

Sufganiyot – Jelly Donuts – Beignets Confiture

05.12.2007 41 Comments

Ah…Christmas…!! If I close my eyes real well and stand in front of the open freezer I can even almost pretend it is cold enough for Christmas. I don’t think I’ll ever get used to spending Christmas in a tee-shirt. Sorry if you are drowning under many inches of snow right now, but I envy you…Really, I do. It’s not cold enough for soup, eggnog and stuffing and the small tree we put on the porch looks slightly out of place.

Proof to this madness: I had to stay home and have a mini baking marathon on saturday and around 5pm, I could not take it anymore and had to crank the AC on again…with the oven and the stove on!! Oh yes, the electricity company loves me!! Last night we decided to pretend it was December and used the fireplace…for a total of an hour because it got so hot. Crazy…

Even crazier, when I decided to help some friends celebrate their tradition and stood in front of burning oil and fried sufganiyot for an hour. When I dropped by C' house with a plate full of them and a bottle of eggnog, it was finally starting to feel like the holiday season. I am not Jewish, but C. is and so are other friends around us and since they make sure to wish us a Merry Christmas, I wanted to make something in their honor during this year’s celebration of Hanukkah. She often mentioned the jelly donuts her mother used to make during this holiday and since a sufganiyah is a donut is a beignet, well there was no way I was going to say no, eheheh!!! Hanukkah,the Festival of Lights, is a celebration of the victory of the Maccabees and the re dedication of the Jerusalem Temple. It also commemorates the miracle of the oil that burned for 8 days. Serving jelly doughnuts at Hanukkah, which are fried in oil symbolizes the miracle of the oil that lasted for eight days instead of one.

There are numerous recipes for them online but I wanted to give dear Ole' Martha one last shot. It’s no secret among the blogging community that we have issues with her recipes as written and we end up tweaking them to make them work. I settled on one of hers for the donuts and from a first glance at it, it seemed that the proportions of liquids to solids might work, so I played along. However, I had serious doubt things would work after mixing the dough as it seemed really really soft. But I trusted Martha and after the first rise, the dough was very supple and yet very easy to roll out and proceed with cutting out the sufganiyot.

I know you can’t tell from the pictures, and that is because I did not have time to take proper shots while the gluttons were devouring these, but they are filled with raspberry jelly. I used a homemade one but feel free to use the one you like. Don’t be afraid of frying either. I do not have a deep fryer so I use a cast iron pan with about 2-3 inches of oil in it. The only thing I have added was a tablespoon of orange flower water to the dough. It makes fried doughs that much better…

It was a pleasure to see C’s and the kids' face when I dropped these off. I shared some eggnog and coffee with them while listening to family stories and traditions. I also enjoyed reading more about this holiday that although not completely foreign to me, had not been explained in details and researching recipes as well as history was a fantastic part of blogging. This is my entry to Meryl’s Joyous Jumble, an event meant to discover other cultures' holidays during the month of December.

Sufganiyot, adapted from Martha Stewart:

Makes 20.

2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water, (100 degrees to 110 degrees)
1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar, plus more for rolling
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 large eggs
1 Tb. orange flower water
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons salt
3 cups vegetable oil, plus more for bowl
1 cup seedless raspberry jam

In a small bowl, combine yeast, warm water, and 1 teaspoon sugar. Set aside until foamy, about 10 minutes.
Place flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the center; add eggs, yeast mixture, orange flower water, 1/4 cup sugar, butter, nutmeg, and salt. Using a wooden spoon, stir until a sticky dough forms. On a well-floured work surface, knead until dough is smooth, soft, and bounces back when poked with a finger, about 8 minutes (add more flour if necessary). Place in an oiled bowl; cover with plastic wrap. Set in a warm place to rise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2 1/2-inch-round cutter or drinking glass, cut 20 rounds. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise 15 minutes.
In medium saucepan over medium heat, heat oil until a deep-frying thermometer registers 370 degrees. Using a slotted spoon, carefully slip 4 rounds into oil. Fry until golden, about 40 seconds. Turn doughnuts over; fry until golden on other side, another 40 seconds. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to a paper-towel-lined baking sheet. Roll in sugar while warm. Fry all dough, and roll in sugar.
Fill a pastry bag fitted with a #4 tip with jam. Using a wooden skewer or toothpick, make a hole in the side of each doughnut. Fit the pastry tip into a hole, pipe about 2 teaspoons jam into doughnut. Repeat with remaining doughnuts.