Cafe Liz

All it takes is one ingredient to turn loquats (or any other stone fruit) into a sweet, alcoholic concoction: sugar. This fabulously simple preparation comes from my sister-in-law Ora, who got the basic concept from the Encyclopedia of Country Living. Ora presented us with little containers of brandied loquats for Purim. We couldn’t stop eating them, and we couldn’t believe they were that easy to make. Now that loquats are finally coming into season, I gave it a try myself. [...]

These biscotti have a tendency to vanish. Biscotti are twice-baked cookies, once into a loaf, and the second time after being sliced, and until crunchy. Something about the denseness means they don’t lose much — if anything — from being made with matzo meal instead of flour, and thus kosher for Passover. I got the recipe from my mother, who explained to me that she never bakes the full batch at once, because however much you bake, it immediately disappears. [...]

Purim is approaching, and while I haven’t decided on a costume, I did decide to dress up my hamentaschen in Middle Eastern outfits. Hamentaschen are traditional Ashkenazi Jewish cookies notable for their three-pointed form, which according to tradition resembles the three-cornered hat of Haman, the holiday’s antagonist. (In Hebrew, for some reason, they’re called oznei haman, or “Haman’s ears.”) Last year I dressed up my hamantaschen as Japanese-inspired mochi cookies, this year I they resembled Middle Eastern pastries. The Purim [...]

The mix of spices in this ice cream may not be the definitive recipe for masala chai — if there even is such a thing — but it produces a taste that I associate with the Indian tea, and is quite good. The light brown demarara sugar rounds out the flavor with a light molasses kick. Now, let’s enjoy some ice cream while it’s still warm.

One of our friends, Gil, contributed 4 liters of fresh juice to our Rosh Hashanah meal — a great solution for a person with a juicer who doesn’t cook. The side effect? Massive, massive amounts of leftover fruit pulp — those 4 liters took about 15 kilos of fresh fruit to make. I have a hard time seeing food being thrown out, so we asked him to bring us the pulp. We’d find something to do with it.

Rosh Hashanah starts this Friday, and I’m hosting. Festive holiday meal! And I get to cook it all! Yay! (Well, aside from the dishes my guests are bringing.) My excitement could easily lead to way too much food, if I weren’t limited by a combination of time and resources. Needless to say, I’ve been spending the week dreaming about what I’m going to make. And, doing trial runs of potential desserts. In all honesty, jello isn’t my favorite dessert — [...]

I have a slight mango obsession. I’ve been stockpiling them. Every week I go to the market, I feel an urge to buy more — regardless of how many are left in our fridge. I must have had about 20 at some point last week. I’m just so excited that they’re both in season and affordable. So, I’ve been forced (oh, the pain) to find creative ways to go through them. A mango a day keeps the doctor away, no? [...]

I first encountered dulce de leche liquor when I was around 20, on a trip to Buenos Aires. Always one to travel light, I went with only a small backpack, which made my mother all the more amused when I returned home, having managed to stuff five bottles of wine and two bottles of dulce de leche liquor into that little bag. (Ah, the good old days, when you could still bring liquid onto flights). Shortly after, she “confiscated” one [...]

This recipe really gives it all away at once — cherry coconut sorbet with amaretto. That’s what’s in it: cherries, coconut and amaretto. Oh, and a bit of sugar. It’s really that simple. I’ve been eying the beautiful cherries at the market for the past several weeks now. They’re not exactly the cheapest fruit, but fortunately the price has been coming down to 20-25 shekels a kilo, and I usually make the splurge. It’s well worth it, because the cherries [...]

My friend Leonie gave me a jar of organic goat’s milk dulce de leche from Sde Bar. It so happened that I had another identical jar that had been sitting in my fridge for the past year, so I knew I had to use it quickly — I like dulce de leche, but we don’t eat it on its own. So, I decided to turn it into a cheesecake. On another unrelated note, this is my 100th post … how [...]