Eyal and Nadav's Toast Crowns with Chocolate Pudding Dip

Nadav with toast crowns and dip in
Chestertown, Hanukkah 2025

Eyal and Nadav and I like to discuss breakfast at sleepovers.

Since I often make them Chocolate Sweet Potato Pudding when they visit, and also Toast Crowns for breakfast (both recipes are on this blog), they had a great idea.

Toast Crowns with Chocolate Sweet Potato Pudding Dip!

It's especially fun when the dip is in a fancy glass!

S'more Meringues

Shula had this idea and we found a fun recipe by Jamie Geller. It worked perfectly. We did have leftover melted chocolate and graham cracker crumbs, which we combined and spread out thin. Here's our double recipe.

4 egg whites
2/3 c sugar
1 c graham cracker crumbs (smash in a bag if you don't have them already ground.) - for Passover, sugar and matzah meal would probably be good
6 oz Hershey's chocolate bars

Heat oven to 215 degrees. Spread a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. These don't spread much at all, so just leaving a little space is enough.

Beat the egg whites, slowly adding the sugar, until stiff an glossy.

Drop a tablespoon of batter and pull up the spoon so it has a nice twisty top. Shula took a butter knife and made shapes and designs.

Bake for 90 minutes. Leave in the oven overnight if you do these in the evening.

Melt the chocolate on the induction burner set at 2. Stir while melting; it goes fast.

Set the cracker crumbs on a small plate. It's fine if there are some bigger pieces. Dip each meringue in the melted chocoate and then set it on the crumbs. Put them on their sides to harden. You can refrigerate.

For Passover, just leave off the crumb layer, or try sugared matzah meal for some crunch.

Very pretty! 

Claudia Roden's Yogurt Cake

A 7" cake. It puffs and settles.

Here is Claudia Roden's Yogurt Cake. It's the same idea except adding yogurt gives it more heft. Eyal and Nadav love it! They call it yogurt muffins, for mysterious reasons. Note it has flour. Probably you could sub almond flour if you wanted to do this on Pesach, or make it gluten free. It's much lighter than cheese cake, but similar.

4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature - put the yolks in the larger bowl

½ cup granulated sugar
3 T [try doubling this for a denser cake] all-purpose flour (can be whole wheat)
1 ⅔ cups whole-milk Greek yogurt, or strain regular yogurt in a coffee filter for an hour or two.
1 lemon, zested and juiced

Optional: 1/2 c blueberries
Pinch of salt (optional), cinnamon to taste

Heat oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8- or 9-inch springform pan, or two smaller (A 7" and 5" works well).

• Using an electric hand mixer, beat egg whites until they're stiff peaks
• Using the same mixer, combine yolks and sugar (no need to wash beaters after the egg white). Beat on medium-high until the mixture is very pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
• Mix in flour, yogurt, lemon zest and juice, and salt until fully incorporated.
• Gently fold half of the egg whites into the yolk-yogurt mixture until only a few streaks remain. 
• Fold in the remaining whites, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl, until the batter is evenly mixed, light and smooth.
• If you add blueberries, add a little flower to coat them. Take about 2/3 of the blueberries and mix in the batter. Save the rest for the top.
• Scrape the batter into prepared pan(s) and smooth into an even layer. Set the balance of the berries on top of the cake/s. These will not sink.
• Bake until the top is speckled with golden brown and puffed, 35 to 55 minutes. ( This burns if you don't watch it! You can cover with tin foil if it's browning too fast.
• Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cake cool before cutting. Serve warm or cold.

Mac'N'Cheese Pancakes

This is barely a recipe, but hey. It's a kiddo favorite (sometimes!) and amps up the protein. Leftovers go in the lunch boxes. It makes mac n'cheese into finger food.

Prepare one or two boxes of Annie's boxed macaroni & cheese; tubes are better than shells. Cool a bit. Add an egg or two, and stir.

Melt butter over medium heat on a large skillet or tawa. Drop by spoonfuls and fry until well-browned. Turn. I am generally impatient with waiting for a great brown. 

Smaller is better for this. 

And, a new variation. take about half the mac n' cheese only and add an egg. It made five large pancakes, so go with a bigger skillet.

Then, since the Cheddy Mac was kinda runny, we had Mac N'Cheese pancakes with a side of mac n cheese, and they dipped the pancake into the cheesey sauce. A very orange dinner. It's a little more work, but does break the monotony of mac n'cheese being their main entree!

CakeDoodle Birthday Tiered Cake

Today was Eyal and Nadav's 4th Birthday. They were so excited.

I baked a cake from King Arthur, a classic Depression era recipe with cocoa, flour, vinegar, baking soda - and no oil or butter, and brought it over to the Henry School Garden where their pizza party was. 

Made up for the missing butter with the frosting!

Divide the batter into two small spring forms. I did 5" and 7", but I suggest 8" for the bigger layer. A one inch edge isn't much surface to work on. Nomi called it a showstopper. It was fun. The cake and frosting are quite yummy, but the presentation seals the deal. 

The Cake:

1 1/2 c flour
1 c sugar
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa, Dutch-process or natural*
1/2 t salt
1 t baking soda
1 t vanilla
1 T cider vinegar or white vinegar
1/3 c vegetable oil
1 c  water or milk

Heat oven to 350. Spray two springforms well, 8" and 5" recommended.

In large bowl, mix dry ingredients, using a strainer for the cocoa and baking soda. Whisk well.

In a small bowl, mix the liquid ingredients. Add to the dry, and stir until fully mixed.

Split the batter between the two pans, and bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. The smaller may finish first.

Turning 7! With milk cocktails!

The frosting is classic birthday cake! And great for sprinkles. If there’s extra frosting, lucky you! It’s a dip.

1 stick softened butter

3 c. confectioners sugar

1 t. vanilla

2-3 T milk

Use a giant bowl- the powdered sugar is likely to go all over. Beat the butter until creamy. Add the ingredients and beat until spreading consistency. With confectioners sugar it's best to not add all the liquid at once. Start with 2 T and add the third as needed.

When cake is cool, put the larger layer on a serving plate. Frost the top and center the smaller tier on top. Frost away, and go heavy on the sprinkles!

This served a lot of people, cut into small pieces. Nadav told one of the moms that the special ingredient in this birthday cake was LOVE. Sure was! Eyal was thrilled. He kept saying "It's SO good!"

Reena Spicehandler's Apple Dapple Cake

This super rich cake is from the 60s. 

They were devoured! Even by Shula - who doesn't especially like cake but LOVED the frosting.

1 1/2 c. oil
2 c.white sugar
3 eggs
3 c. peeled, chopped apple (doesn't need to be too fine - some visible apple chunks are nice)
3 c. flour
l t. baking soda
1 t. salt
2 t. vanilla
1 c. chopped nuts (also doesn't need to be too fine)

Cream oil, sugar, and eggs
Add flour, salt, and baking soda
Beat well and add remaining ingredients - this is a very heavy batter.

Bake at 350 for one hour [in greased pan like a bundt or tube] - I used Convection with a large pan and small pan for Thanksgiving cakes. 30 minutes for a small cake, more like 45 for a bigger.

Glaze

3/4 stick butter or margarine
1 c light or dark brown sugar firmly packed
1/3 c milk

Boil 10-15 minutes (until thick). This takes patience! Let it cool for a minute or two before pouring over the cake. Let the icing sit on the top of the cake(s) and dribble down. When it's really thick it hardens into caramel on the cake. 

In the original version, you pour the glaze into the cake while still in the pan. I prefer to drizzle the icing on cooled cakes.

Grandma Beshie's Toast Crowns

 

Toast Crowns are always something the boys looks forward to about Sleepover Breakfasts.

Toast crowns have two ingredients: toast and a spread. This morning it was Trader Joe's Cinnamon Roll Spread on whole wheat bread.

Cut the toast in half. Cover each half with the jam or spread. A spatula knife is good for that.

Cut into triangles, and voila! There's the crown. This is on one of the trays I have here for kiddos. I made the name up long ago - Uncle Zach stresses marketing. It works!

Madjula's Sweet Potato Chocolate Mousse

This is from a Indian cooking website, Manjula's Kitchen, I started watching during the Pandemic when I was cooking a lot and up for learning more about Indian techniques. Though this recipe is thoroughly Southern California American. I found home cooking videos were good company. Eyal and Nadav are very down with this dessert! I have made it for them many times, and keep trying different ingredients.

1 large sweet potato, boiled
½ cup coconut milk full fat, chilled - 

    or a 4 oz can of evaporated milk

    or 4 oz (or so) of sweetened condensed milk. THEN ELIMINATE THE SUGAR.

    or 1/3 c. powdered milk + water or milk. Amount is flexible. 1/3 to 1/2 c does it.
4 Tbsp cacao powder
4 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp cinnamon powder

Peel sweet potato. In a bowl, add cocoa, sugar, coconut milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Use an immersion blender until smooth - it makes the pudding creamier than a potato masher.
Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Serving Suggestions from Madjula
When it is fully blended, scoop the Pudding into the individual serving bowls and refrigerate for an hour. Remove the Pudding from the refrigerator after it has chilled. Serve the Pudding with your choice of topping. I like to garnish with sliced almonds. You may top with fresh fruit, or seeds. Also, chocolate pudding tastes great as a dip or spread.

Irish Soda Bread / Bundt

This is 2 c. of flour, in a cast iron pan

This recipe is from a book I picked up from a Little Free Library, The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook by Sharon Kramis. I have modified it for a 10" skillet, using 2 cups of flour.

1 egg

1 c. buttermilk

2 c mixed flour (can include wheat germ, flax seed, etc)

1/2 t. baking soda 

1 t  baking powder 

4 oz butter, softened 

1/2 c raisins 

9/7, 2022 - New Yonim at ECP

1/4 c sugar

Pinch salt

Heat oven at 350.

Olive oil or butter a 10" cast iron skillet. 

In large bowl, mix flours, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, currants, and salt. To break up any lumps, I now use a small sieve instead of a sifter. Add soft butter and work it in.

In a smaller bowl, whisk eggs and buttermilk. Make a well in the flour, adding the butter (cut it into small pieces in winter when room temperature butter is colder) and the buttermilk/egg. Stir with a spoon until it comes together, incorporating the flour from the periphery.

Knead right in the bowl (really not much different than stirring) until it's a shaggy dough that holds together. It's quite sticky.

Place the dough in the skillet and spread into the pan. Score a large X, going the full depth, and separating the sections if possible. (This allows the baking to reach the center.) Take a knife and tap each quadrant to let the fairies out. (I saw that on YouTube!)

Bake about 32-35 minutes, covering with tin foil if it browns too quickly (the norm if you bake in the Breville). Test with a toothpick. 

Grandmother Kramis's Irish Soda Bread (3 cup recipe) from the cookbook

Grease/Flour a bundt pan (baker's spray) - my adaptation

1½ c. regular flour
1½ c. whole wheat flour (my change to the recipe) - a small portion can be wheat germ and flax seed
¾ t. baking soda
1½ t. baking powder
⅜ c. sugar (you could decrease this)
⅜ c. currants or ¾ c. raisins
Pinch salt
6 oz unsalted butter, melted 
2 eggs
1½ c. buttermilk (powdered works OK)

In large bowl, mix flours, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, currants, and salt. To break up any lumps, I now use a small sieve instead of a sifter.

In a smaller bowl, whisk eggs and buttermilk. Make a well in the flour, adding the butter and the buttermilk/egg. Stir with a spoon until it comes together, incorporating the flour from the periphery.

Knead right in the bowl (really not much different than stirring) until it's a shaggy dough that holds together. It's quite sticky.

Place the dough in the bundt pan. 

Bake about 32-35 minutes, covering with tin foil if it browns too quickly Test with a toothpick. 

Yum!

Here is an old version from the NYTimes that was posted on the Coronobake FB Group. It has no sugar or butter but more raisins:

Diane Casteel

2 C all purpose flour

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1 t caraway seeds

1/2 C raisins

1 C buttermilk

Sift dry ingredients together. Add the rest. Knead on floured board for 5 min [or in the bowl]. Shape into rounded loaf. Cut an "X" in the top of the loaf, half an inch deep. Place on greased baking sheet. Preheat oven to 375°. After placing baking sheet with loaf in the oven, turn the oven down to 350°. Bake 45-50 minutes. Enjoy!

 

Basic Sweet Parve Kugel

Basically there are 2 type of noodle kugels, parve and dairy.  The dairy ones are usually loaded with sour cream and not very healthy, though I'm sure there are a lot of other varieties.  I've just never been that into them.  For the parve variety, you need them to be moist, so they need a lot of fruit and oil. Here's a basic version.  Sray the pan well, the crust is great but sticks like crazy.

In 2025, I asked Eyal and Nadav if they'd prefer a sweet apple kugel or a sweet matzah kugel. They asked for a matzah noodle combo. I tried it and it was pretty great!

8 to 10 oz. wide egg noodles OR 1.5 crumbled, soaked matzahs + 6 oz. noodles
3 eggs, beaten well
½ c. sugar
lots of cinnamon
a dash of lemon juice
1 large apple, peeled and chopped 

1/4 c apple sauce (helps keep it moist)
½ c. margarine or vegetable oil
½ c. raisins
salt

Heat oven to 350°.  Grease a large pyrex pan, like a lasagne shaped pan, or a deep casserole.

Bring a big pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles.  They don't need to cook as long if you're baking them afterwards, usually the directions will be about 6 minutes. If you're using matzahs, crumble and soak them. Drain both.

Peel and chop the apples and put some lemon juice on them, in a large bowl. Add eggs and beat.
Add oil, sugar, salt, cinnamon and raisins

Add the drained noodles and/or matzot.

Pour into a greased or sprayed pan and bake for an hour or more, till browned.  One challenge with kugels is that the top often burns, so keep an eye on it.

Great for a potluck or shabbat/holiday dinner.


from The Jewish Holiday Cookbook by GLoria Kaufer Greene

Fruity Tofu Lokshen Kugel (Noodle "Pudding") 
8 ounces medium-wide egg noodles
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup orange juice, apple juice, or water
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 pound hard (firm) tofu, well drained and crumbled
1 large apple, finely diced (it is not necessary to peel it)
1 cup dark or light raisins
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)

Cook the noodles as directed on the package, then drain them well.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl, stir together the eggs, oil, honey, juice, cinnamon, and salt unitl well combined. Mix in the tofu, apple, raisins, and walnuts (if used). Add the noodles and stir until completely mixed in. Turn out the mixture into a greased or non-stick spray-coated 7-by-12-inch or equivalent baking dish. Bake in a preheated 350-degree oven for about 45 minutes or until set. Serve warm or at room temperature

Makes about 8 servings.

Fritzie's Matzah Kugel

Being a Jewish homemaker in the 50's & 60's in Fargo meant buying from a small selection of Passover food when it came in special order at the Red Owl, 

the neighborhood supermarket.  (Supermarkets were an innovation in my childhood - before then, we shopped at the neighborhood store, The Economy Grocery, which was a half block from our house.  I was permitted to walk there myself and buy a Popsicle for 5¢, very exciting back in the day.)

Passover food was limited to five-pound packages of matzah (5 individual pounds packed together), bottled gefilte fish, matzah and cake meal, potato starch, Barton's almond kisses and canned macaroons. Maybe we had egg matzah.  Such staples as whole wheat matzah, quinoa, and pasta sauce had not yet made it forth, at least not to Fargo.  Of course we weren't all that strict about Passover, but we did substitute matzah for any bread products and had two seders, with lots of traditional Ashkenazic foods.  Bringing matzah to school was always embarrassing.  Mom baked a lot during Passover.  Passover Brownies were one of her specialties.  I just realized she didn't bake brownies during the rest of the year, so that made them special. And airy sponge cakes, with attendant drama. "Don't slam the door or the cake will fall!" We didn't routinely slam doors, but this really got our attention.
I've had this recipe of my mother's for 37 years, but this is the first year I made it - wow, it's wonderful! If dairy, really good with butter. She made it during the rest of the year, too, for Friday night dinner.  We didn't call it shabbat dinner, but we lit the candles and made kiddush, so that's what it was, of course.  (No challah that I recall).  This kugel is good enough to make when it's not Passover, a high compliment indeed!  The timing is tricky, since it's puffiest right when you take it out of the oven. However, it's still good when it's settled and flattened a bit. Really doesn't taste like matzah...

oil for spray
3 whole wheat matzot (or regular)
6 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
Grated rind of one orange or clementine (Easy: instead of grating it, chop the peels through a food processor)
1 t. lemon juice
1 t. cinnamon

1 t salt
1/2 c. raisins 
1 large apple, peeled, seeded, and chopped (or try a small can of crushed pineapple, or apple sauce)
1/4 c. butter (or parve margarine or vegetable oil)
cinnamon & sugar for top

Heat oven to 350°.
Spray a large (2 quart) casserole which has a lid (or devise one from your Passover collection of pots et al)
Crumple matzot and soak in water to cover.
In large bowl, beat eggs and sugar with a hand mixer until THICK, about 3-4 minutes on high.

[I skipped this step the last time I made it, and just beat the eggs by hand - seemed like it came out fine, just not as light.]
Drain the matzot and add them along with raisins, cinnamon, chopped apple, lemon juice & grated orange peel.  Pour into greased casserole.
Dot with the butter, cutting it into smaller pieces. Sprinkle with a little extra cinnamon and sugar.
Bake for 1- 1½ hours. It will puff up, with a delicious crunchy topping.

Serves 6-8, depending on how much else is served.

Note from 2023: it's good cold.

From Nadav Lev Teutsch: "Gwandma, what do you call that apple and waisin thingy?"

Gwandma: "You mean matzah kugel?"

Nadav: "Ya! I want you make it every night during Passover, Gwandma!"

Chunky Berry Soup, AKA Marak Fruit Roll-Up

This is a luscious summer soup, probably our favorite.  I found the recipe in the Inqy.  Eventually I realized that the strawberries were from Watsonville, CA and that the PA strawberry season is short and precedes the blueberry season.  Now I watch for the strawberries very closely, and with luck, like this year - you can snag strawberries at their end and blueberries at their beginning.
A perfect alternative is to substitute about 3 or 4 peeled, sliced ripe peaches.  You get the same texture and the same spectacular color, and the peach and blueberry season are in tandem here in the mid-Atlantic. I often double this recipe, since leftovers are so good.  Like with gazpacho, it's important to make it early enough so that it can chill for 5-6 hours.

1 pint blueberries, rinsed.  Pull off stems.
1 pint strawberries, hulled and halved or quartered,  **OR** 3 or 4 ripe peeled  peaches
1 c. white grape juice (purple works, too)
1/4 c. lemon juice
1/3 c. water
1 T + 2 t cornstarch
1/4 to 1/2 sugar

If you're using peaches, pour hot or boiling water over them and let them sit a few minutes.  The skins will slide off.
Place blueberries, strawberries or peaches, grape juice and lemon juice into a medium sauce pan, cover.  Bring to a brisk boil over high heat. [If using an induction cooktop, let it boil for 3-4 minutes. It comes to the boil so fast, the berries don't pop.] With a gas oven top, that takes awhile; with our new electric stove, it's really fast.  The only thing that takes any real time in this recipe is slicing the strawberries.

Remove from heat. In a measuring cup, mix the water and cornstarch into a smooth paste and stir it into the berry mixture. Return to heat, and quickly bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  This is the neat part - stir for one minute, and the liquid thickens and glistens.  Sweeten to taste with sugar.

Chill thoroughly - for at least 5 to 6 hours. The color deepens. 

Garnish with chopped fresh mint, sliced fresh fruit.  This is a deep, gorgeous color so serve it in bowls which will show that off!  It is refreshing, beautiful, and the lemon juice gives it a lovely tartness which tingles a bit on the tongue.  MMMMM.  The Fruit Roll-Up moniker came from Tasha, at Zach's bar mitzvah, when we served this.

This is DAT's favorite cold soup. Always makes him happy.