A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking [Paperback]

Marcy Goldman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 15, 2009

The updated edition of a kitchen classic, now with 30 new recipes for favorite savory holiday dishesKeep age-old holiday traditions alive and start delicious new ones with A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking, nominated for a Julia Child Cookbook Award. Professional pastry chef and BetterBaking.com creator, Marcy Goldman has lovingly assembled a comprehensive collection of easy-to-follow, time-tested recipes from one of the world's great baking traditions, from sweet raisin challah for Rosh Hashanah to apricot-filled Hamantaschen for Purim and velvety Shabbat marble cake. Now bring the warmth of the holidays into your own home with hundreds of easy-to-follow, time-tested recipes, certain to bring back old memories and create new ones.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking, Goldman defines Jewish cooking as a combination of influences from religious laws, holiday and seasonal events, what is locally available, and cross-cultural adaptations created as Jewish families moved around. She also explains much about Jewish dietary law and other food customs.

Holidays, in particular, call for foods with symbolic as well as sensory resonance. This leads to baking a special, spiral-shaped challah--a reminder of life's continuity. This egg bread is reserved for the Sabbath and most holidays, while triangular Hamantaschen, a pastry resembling the three-cornered hat of the evil Haman, are unique to the lively holiday of Purim.

Novice cooks will appreciate Goldman's list of "Winning Recipes for the Bakery Challenged." Her discussions of yeast (five pages) and sensible equipment (seven pages) are an education for any baker, while everyone will enjoy her killer frozen cheesecake, which you can keep for unexpected guests; flourless and rich, rich Espresso Truffle Torte; and Smoked Salmon, Dill, and Cream Cheese Pizza. Whatever your persuasion, Marcy Goldman's A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking belongs on your bookshelf. --Dana Jacobi --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Goldman's cheerful cookbook provides recipes for all sorts of baked goods, from traditional Jewish fare (Delicatessen-Style Classic Sour Cream Coffee Cake) and treats for specific holidays (an Etrog Cake for Sukkot) to others that are just plain good (New Wave Chocolate Tunnel Cake). A chapter on breads contains recipes for both New York-Style Water Bagels and Montreal Bagels, as well as Pumpernickel Cranberry Rolls. This book will satisfy any challah devotee: a chapter on Shabbat offers Traditional Friday Night Challah and "This Tastes Like Cake" Fresh Yeast Sabbath Challah (Goldman likes wordy, exclamatory names). A chapter on Rosh Hashanah boasts cunning New Year's Sweet Challah Miniatures and a New Year's Apple Challah. Many desserts, like a Blitz Cherry Cake, are easy and fast. Others, like Pomegranate and Sour Cherry Mandelbrot, incorporate unusual ingredients without getting too wacky. The true test of the Jewish baker, of course, is Passover, and Goldman provides a wealth of the flour-free inventions, notably My Trademark, Most Requested, Absolutely Magnificent Caramel Matzoh Crunch, Passover Rich Chocolate Genoise and Buttercream Roll, and Mock Chestnut Torte.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Whitecap Books Ltd.; Anv edition (September 15, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1770500030
• ISBN-13: 978-1770500037
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 7.8 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #458,450 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #96 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Kosher

More About the Author

In addition to my cookbooks, you can visit me at my website, www.Betterbaking.com, an online baking and lifestyle magazine I launched in 1997. That's where you'll find more of my original recipes as well as features, book and product reviews and I answer your questions on baking. You can also follow me on Twitter to get my free bonus Twitter Recipe of the Week. Check out my cake blurbs (along with other fine baking colleagues) at the New York Times Cake Blog, or you can hear me on Martha Stewart Sirius, often on the holidays (whatever time of year it is) taking - what else? baking!

My cookbooks include The 10th Anniversary Edition of A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking (Whitecap Books, 2009) and The New Best of BetterBaking.Com (Whitecap Books 2009), Passion for Baking, (Oxmoor House, 2007) and the upcoming The Baker's Four Seasons and When Bakers Cook, two new cookbooks for 2013.

My online life:

www.BetterBaking.com
www.BetterBakingBlog.com
www.MistressofScents.com
www.TangoConfidential.com

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars So good, I've purchased several for gifts! January 8, 2003

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

After several months of using this cookbook over and over and over, I decided to buy it for friends. It is extremely user-friendly, because many of the recipes use basic ingredients and are uncomplicated to make. The directions are well-written, and the final product turns out exactly as I visualize from the recipe, even when baking unfamiliar treats.

I keep reaching for it, because there are so many wonderful cakes, that I can always find something different or unusual, without worrying because I've never tried the recipe before. Variations are often included, as well as cooking times for different pan types and sizes.

It's one of those cookbooks where you can flip through it and consistently find something appropriate, without requiring a trip to the store for some odd ingredient. The honey cake is fantastic, but the double fudge cake on pg. 110 "wows" everybody every time. Bring that one to your next family get-together (I use a bundt pan and skip the glaze, or drizzle on a quick confectioner's sugar glaze after it's cooled), and they will think you stopped at a bakery (I'm not kidding).

The only minor issue, is that on recipes where a range of flour is given (e.g. soufganiot), I sometimes need to add even more flour. This was the same with another (hamantaschen), where it was obvious that the dough was too sticky to shape. So while some experience is helpful, common sense can tell you if more flour is needed. This has never been an issue with any of the cake recipes, only those which are naturally more flexible on the ingredients.

Good Shabbos!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful recipes November 6, 2001

By Jennifer E. Bernat

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I checked this book out from the library several times before buying it. The Passover Chocolate Torte was a raving success at our family's seder. The honey cake is to die for. And the pareve cocoa cake is delicious! I've served all of these to non-Jewish friends, and they've loved them all. None of these recipes taste like they've been "kosherized". They're wonderful to start with!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Incredibly wonderful! May 28, 2005

By Mark Twain

Format:Paperback

This book is truly awesome ... tried-and-true specialties, each written very clearly to guarantee success, and each preceded by a brief description telling why it is so wonderful. The first recipe I tried was the Caramel Matzoh Crunch, which has now become a staple. I'm not Jewish; these wonderful recipes should appeal to anyone with taste buds. The only caveat is that the author apparently revised her Honey Cake after the book was published -- and even I, who previously despised honey cake, love Marcy Goldman's. (The revised version was published in the newspaper, and that's the one I tried.) Don't miss this book; it is absolutely wonderful.