Key lime cheesecake bars

This is a good recipe for parties -- you can make it a day or two ahead and just stash it in the fridge.  You can decorate the bars with flaked toasted coconut or lime zest or little thin slices of lime, or chopped macadamia nuts or sliced almonds.  To make it more festive, you could also add food coloring to the cream cheese filling, or pipe whipped cream instead of sour cream.  You can also halve the recipe for a family-sized dessert. 

For the crust:

2/3 pound (2 packages out of the box) graham cracker crumbs
1 stick butter
1/4 cup sugar


For the filling:

2 8-oz packages of cream cheese
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
2/3 cup key lime juice
zest of one lime
2 tablespoons flour

For the topping:

1 cup sour cream
more lime zest, or toasted coconut flakes (optional)


Preheat oven to 350.  Line 2 8 x 11 baking pans with parchment.  In a bowl, mix crust ingredients and press half into each baking dish.  Bake for 10 minutes.  While the crust is baking, mix cream cheese sugar, and vanilla together until smooth.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each.  Add remaining filling ingredients, stir to combine well, and spoon half over each crust.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is a light golden brown and the mixture is set.  Cool for an hour and then refrigerate, covered, until just before you are ready to serve.  Spread the sour cream over the top and decorate as you like.  Cut into squares and serve. 

Bright summer slaw with pineapple vinegar dressing

This is a fresh, colorful, and tasty vinegar-dressed slaw that's great for parties, because is quick to make, makes a lot, and keeps very well.  Pineapple vinegar can be bought at many Asian food stores.  I have heard of people making their own, with cider vinegar, but I haven't tried it.  If you can't find pineapple vinegar, you can substitute cider vinegar, but you might want to adjust the sugar, because pineapple vinegar tends to be sweeter.  This recipe is GREAT with ribs or on fried chicken sandwiches or fish tacos. 

For the dressing: 
1/2 cup neutral oil, like canola or peanut
3/4 cup pineapple vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp szechuan red chili oil, more to taste (I love this oil from Blank Slate Kitchen!)
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp dry mustard
1/2 tsp ground black pepper


For the slaw:
about 4 cups finely shredded green cabbage (half of a medium head)
about 4 cups finely shredded red cabbage (a whole small head)
2 cups chopped fresh pineapple (about half a small pineapple)
3 medium carrots, grated
1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
(I have also added chopped star fruit to this if you have it, or halved seedless grapes, or flaked unsweetened coconut)


Put all the dressing ingredients in a jar and shake to dissolve the sugar.  Refrigerate until just before you serve the slaw.  Put all the slaw ingredients in a large bowl and toss.  Just before you serve it, pour the dressing over the slaw and toss again. 

Cold noodles with fresh vegetables and sichuan dressing

This is a nice fresh cold pasta salad, with lots of flavor.  It can be a main dish in summer, especially if you are cooking for vegan friends.  Fast to make, and easy to take to parties -- I usually bring the pasta, vegetables, sauce, and garnishes in separate containers and assemble just before serving.  The sauce is spicy when you make it, but not as spicy once it's on the noodles.   Black vinegar, an aged rice vinegar, has a wonderful sort of funky smoky taste, if you can find it. #vegan

The salad:
1/2 lb dry spaghetti or whatever pasta you want to use
salt for pasta water
1 tsp vegetable oil, for tossing with noodles
1 cucumber, peeled and julienned
2 cups of finely shredded napa
2 cups of mung bean sprouts
about 1 cup of steamed, shelled edamame (optional)

The sauce: 
2 tsp grated ginger
2 tsp minced garlic
1-2 tbsp sichuan red chili oil (I LOVE this oil from www.blankslatekitchen.com), or 1 tbsp regular red chili oil and 1/2 tsp toasted ground sichuan peppercorns.  I usually start with just 1 tbsp and then add a little more after the salad is assembled, depending on how spicy you want it. 
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp zhenjiang (chinkiang) black vinegar, or Shaoxing wine, or rice vinegar (black vinegar is my favorite, but it can be hard to find)

Garnish:
2 tbsp toasted hulled sesame seeds
3 scallions, chopped or julienned
more sesame oil, to taste
1/2 tsp ground sichuan peppercorns (optional)


Instructions:

The whole recipe can be made while the pasta water is heating.  Cook the pasta  in salted water to taste, drain, toss with vegetable oil, and refrigerate.  Prepare the vegetables and set aside.  Mix all the sauce ingredients and refrigerate.  Just before you serve it, toss the pasta with the vegetables, pour the sauce over it and toss to coat, scatter garnishes on top. 

Mickey Mazur's Mandelbrot

2 eggs, beaten
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 c. oil
2 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
handful of poppyseeds, or to taste
cinnamon and sugar, mixed, for sprinkling

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Mix eggs, sugar, and oil.  Add flavorings.  Add flour and poppyseeds.  Make into 3 logs and place on a greased baking sheet.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, turn off oven and take logs out of the oven.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, slice, and put back in the oven (heat still turned off) and leave them in there until they crisp up. 

Lorraine Horwitz' Noodle Kugel Recipe

Note:  This recipe was contributed to the West Hartford Beth Hillel cookbook in 1975 by Rebbetzin Lorraine Horwitz.  I'm preserving it here because this is the recipe that Rel's grandmother, Mickey Mazur, uses.  I've left the original measurements and directions but added some notes below.

Lukshen Kugel

1 box broad noodles*
3 eggs, beaten
1 c. sugar
1/4 lb butter
1 1/2 c milk
dash cinnamon
1 small carton cottage cheese*
1/4 lb cream cheese
1/4 lb American cheese, diced**
1 c. sour cream

Pour eggs over cooked noodles, add milk, cottage cheese, cream cheese, American cheese, sour cream, sugar, and cinnamon.  Mix together gently.  And 1/8 lb butter (cut up).  Place in  a 9x13 pan and spread crushed corn flakes on top.  Dot with remaining butter.  Bake at 350 for 1 1/12 hours.

* I did some research and I believe that Manischevitz egg noodles used to come in an 8-ounce box.  I am guessing, based on other kugel recipes, that the cottage cheese is about 8 ounces.

** American cheese seems very odd, but Mickey said that it really didn't make the kugel taste like American cheese.  

Very Peanuty Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe is delicious -- about twice as much as peanut butter as usual, so lots of peanut flavor, very buttery, not too sweet, and a nice saltiness.  Dough freezes well, as do the baked cookies.  If you like, you can tuck a chocolate chip into these, or roll in chopped nuts or sugar, but honestly they're really good just like this. 

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla (yes, tablespoon)
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Pre-heat oven to 350.  Cream peanut butter, butter, and sugars until fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg and mix until combined.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, salt, and soda, and add to butter mixture.  Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Holding a fork with its tines parallel to the baking sheet, gently press the tines into each ball of dough, flattening it slightly.  Turning the fork 90 degrees, repeat, so that each ball has a cross-hatch pattern on it.  Bake for about 6-8 minutes, until beginning to brown, and cool on a cooling rack.  These keep very well frozen or in a cookie tin. 

Lillian Herter Carter's Coconut Crisp cookies

1 cup butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 cup coconut
1 cup bran flakes


Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees.  Cream butter and sugars, add egg and vanilla an mix well.  combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and add to the egg mixture.  Stir in coconut and bran flakes.  I usually chill the dough a bit.  Drop from a teaspoon onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 400 for 7-10 minutes.