Chanukah

Hi everyone,

Last month my family and I celebrated Chanukah. I love to decorate my house with special Chanukah decoration that my kids create most of them. This holiday bring joy and light to our small family, especially since that in the last three years, we celebrated Chanukah far from the rest of our family members.

One of the traditional foods we usually eat in Chanukah is fried food!!! I know it is too good to be true. Therefore, for eight day the kids (not me) have many opportunities to enjoy good and tasty fried food, from simple French fries to delicious homemade doughnuts.

 month before Chanukah was here I was looking for giving some lift and update to my doughnuts recipes repertoire and it was just in time that I was reading about a new baking book dedicated to doughnuts.



The author of the book is Lara Ferroni; she is a food writer and photographer from Seattle. You can visit her blog and enjoy her amazing photos recipes and interesting posts. When the book arrived, I was very surprised to find a recipe for fritters called Loukoumades. It is my family traditional treat for Chanukah and being far from my family, I felt closer to them thanks to that recipe.



As Lara mention in that recipe, this fritters are a traditional treat on the island of Cyprus.

Loukoumades
Adapted from Lara Ferroni cookbook “doughnuts”

½-tablespoon (5 grams) active dry yeast
¾-cup lukewarm water
¾ (100 grams) all purpose flour, divided
Pinch of salt
1 large (about ½ pound) baking potato, peeled and cut in half
¼ cup of honey
Two tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
¼-teaspoon ground cinnamon
Vegetable oil for frying

In a bowl of stand mixer, combine the yeast and water. Add ¼-cup flour along with the sugar and salt. Stir and cover. Let sit for 20 min in a warm place.

Cook the potato until tender, let cool and mash well.

Add the mashed potato and the remaining flour to the yeast mixture. With the paddle attachment or the dough hook, beat to form smooth / wet dough. Cover and let sit for 2 hours.

For the syrup, in heavy bottomed pot stir together honey, lemon juice, cinnamon and splash of water. Boil on medium low heat until thickens. Set aside

Heat at least 2 inches of oil in a heavy bottomed pot until frying thermometer register 360 F.
Drop in heaping teaspoon of the fritters dough (do not over crowded the pot). Turn the fritters occasionally, until they are golden and puffed. Drain on a paper towel and let cool slightly.

To serve, Place the puffs in a bow and drizzle with the syrup.

Enjoy!!

One Date, Two Birthdays!

Hey everyone,

Let me tell you a story about the births of my two adorable kids!

Eight years ego my daughter was born and three years later my son came. So far it's a very ordinary story right?

There is one small twist to this story, both of them were born on the same date, three years apart! Oh yeah. When people hear about that the usual question is "did you guys plan that? ", believe me we didn't...

anyway, long story short, when my kids were younger we celebrated their birthdays together and they didn't show any resistance. I know, you probably think like we did, one date two birthdays and one party, ideal!!

I knew that it won't last forever, this year my kids asked to have a separate birthday party.

So in a matter of two weeks I found myself planing and throwing two birthday party's. Don't get me wrong, I love birthdays, especially when it's my kids.

The kids asked for decorated cakes and tasty sweets for them and their friends to enjoy during their birthday parties. I did my best to fulfill their wishes!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my dear kiddos!!!!!

New season, new Jewish year and apple fritters recipe

I'm getting excited every time when a new season is starting to give the first signs. The weather starts to change and getting cooler, although in Vegas its still warm and dry. For me the main sign that symbol the fall is the variety of apples that pile up at the markets, red, yellow, green, you name it. I can't have enough of that colorful tasty fruit.

Apples not just symbolize the beginning of the fall season, it's also a part of the Jewish new year tradition, called Rosh Hashanah. The traditional food for this Jewish holiday usually include apples and honey, to symbolize a sweet new year.

Two weeks ago my family and I celebrated Rosh ashanah, and I was looking to bake something that include both apples and honey. Also, I wanted to create a bite size pleasures that will capture the best flavors. So, I found this recipe that fit perfectly to what I was looking for! Apples fritters with creamy honey glaze. There is noting like a small bit size of fried dough with small apples pieces in it that is topped with sweet honey, confectioners' sugar and heavy cream glaze.


The recipe adapted from Elinor Klivans cookbook “Donuts”

Fritters dough

150 g all purpose flour

60 g granulated sugar

1 tsp baking powder

¾ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp salt

⅓ cup whole milk

1 large egg

1 Tbsp lemon juice

½ tsp lemon zest

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 large apple cored, peeled, and finely chopped

canola or peanut oil for deep frying


Cream and honey glaze

125 g confectioners' sugar

85 g honey

3 Tbsp heavy cream


Making the dough

In a large bowl whisk together all the dry ingredients (flour,sugar,cinnamon,baking powder and salt).

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the milk, egg, lemon juice, lemon zest and the vanilla. Stir with a fork until well blended.

Add the apple and stir just until evenly distributed.

Pour oil to a depth of 2 inches into a deep- fryer or a deep, heavy pan and warm until its reads 360 °F (182 °C) on a deep-frying thermometer.

Scoop up tablespoonful of batter and drop into the hot oil. Try to fry 5 or 6 fritters at the same time, be sure not to overcrowd the pan. The fritters should float to the top and puff to about double their size. Deep fry until dark golden. Transfer to a paper towels lined baking sheet to drain.


The glaze

In a bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and honey until well blended. Add the cream and whisk until smooth. Use right away.

Using a small spoon, drizzle over the fritters.

Enjoy!!

Irit

A visit at Jean Philippe new pastry shop

Like a kid in a candy store, this is how I felt when I went to visit the new shop of the famous pastry chef Jean Philippe , the shop was recently opened at the Aria hotel in the city canter complex, Las Vegas.
Jean Phillip already have a very known shop at the Bellagio hotel, Las Vegas.

One of the benefit of living in Las Vegas for me is the ability to come closer to all the talented pastry chefs that create such a designs and delicious creations!!

I didn't have time to discover all the treasures there and believe me I wanted to do that from the moment I got in. The only thing that I managed to taste was the pistachio ice cream and it was beyond delicious!!

I will definitely go back there and give you more information about this dessert heaven!!

say no more, the pictures will speak them selves.

Sweet breakfast for a sweet school year

Hey everyone,
Now that summer break is over for us, we are more then ready, really ready!! to welcome back the new school year.

Every year since my kids started to go to preschool and elementary school, I always wanted to create a breakfast that will be a combination of good fresh food with high nutritional value! The problem is, that my kids, like other kids, sometimes getting very picky about the things they like and don't like to eat. So I had to compromise, but still I had some nice tricks that I pulled and the kids didn't notice any difference.

The usual request for breakfast is a white bread roll with cream cheese (I know, very simple breakfast), so I thought I will make the same thing with a little twist- mini vanilla cupcakes with cream cheese frosting and on top the creation a fresh strawberry sauce.

It was a huge success !!

The recipe for the basic cupcakes was adapted from “Professional Baking”/ Wayen Gisslen cookbook.

Vanilla cupcakes
150 g unbleached all- purposes flour
50 g cake flour
150 g organic cane sugar
18 g baking powder
1 tsp salt
90 g eggs, beaten
210 g milk
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
70 g unsalted butter
50 g apple sauce

Cream cheese frosting
226 g cream cheeses at room temperature
¼ cup heavy cream
¼ cup confectioner's sugar ( you can add more to make it sweeter)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
(optional) strawberry sauce

Fresh strawberry sauce
200 g fresh strawberry
100 g sugar
40 g water
3 tsp lemon juice

Start by making the cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 400 f. In one bowl sift together all the dry ingredients, in other bowl combine all the liquid ingredients. Add the liquids to the dry ingredients and mix just until all the flour moistened (don't over mix). The batter is enough for 24 mini muffin tin with paper liners. Divide the batter evenly among the muffin cups and bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool completely.

For the strawberry sauce combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan to make simple syrup. Puree the fruit in blender and pass through a fine sieve, warm the puree in a saucepan then add the simple syrup, boil, strain and mix in the lemon juice. Cool.

To make the cream cheese frosting use an electric mixer. First cream the cream cheese and the heavy cream, then add confectioner's sugar and vanilla extract (taste, you can add the strawberry sauce to get more sweetness and a slightly pink color frosting). Finally assemble the cupcake with the frosting and drizzle some of the sauce on top. (you can even put sauce inside the cupcakes to make it more tasty).

Have a wonderful school year!!!

About 'My Pastry Element'

Hello everyone my name is Irit

In my early twenties I realized that I have it in my blood, yes I have one special element that make my life more interesting more delicious and keep me super creative- my pastry element!!

Dreams can come true, I can say that for sure. I came to the us three years ago with my husband and my two sweet kids from Israel, the place that I was born and raised at, went to a culinary school ( Le cordon bleu) and finish the patisserie and baking arts program. After several years of enthusiastic amateur baker, I finely became a pro and my dream became true.

I decided to write this blog in order to share with you my passion for baking, food styling and food photography. come with me as I take you through my journey of that magical world.

This blog is my playground, the place that integrate the many tastes, smells and colors from my childhood and the things that inspire my food life today.

Now days I'm baking and playing with food from my home kitchen and taking baby steps in food photography .

And one thing before I'm getting started, English is my second language, I will try to do my best effort in expressing my self correctly.

To get started here is sneak peek of my latest creation!

Irit