Several months ago, The Jew & The Carrot featured the recipe for my mom’s amazing chocolate cake - the one that my brother and I begged for every birthday - mostly for the thrill of eating sweet, homemade frosting directly off the beaters.

Then yesterday, a reader sent me the following email:

“Long ago you posted a recipe for your mom’s chocolate cake. Finally I got around to making it for Shabbat dinner this past week. Since I’m really into my new camera and having lots of fun taking food pics, I thought I’d share the image. I used real roses and borage [to decorate it] too. Everyone loved the cake-the recipe is a keeper.” - Emily

With Mother’s Day coming up on Sunday, I figured now is the perfect time to share this delicious cake once again.  Happy Mother’s Day Mom! Recipes and another photo below the jump.

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x-posted at Lilith

Amy Ephron at The Huffington Post has a theory: “In order to be First Lady you have to have a cookie recipe.” Ephron’s tone is (of course) tongue-in-cheek as she describes Martha Washington’s “jumbles,” (a pretzel/biscuit hybrid) Jackie Kennedy’s peanut brittle, and Nancy Reagan’s coconut macaroons. Still, she brings up several serious questions.

If Hillary Clinton gets elected President, what sort of “cookies” would Bill be required to make? In other words, how would a woman’s presidency change the traditional roles of first spouse? And, more importantly, how would it change the presidency itself?

What sort of expectations of traditional “feminine/motherly” conduct would be foisted on Clinton in the White House? How would she balance her necessary role as Commander-in-Chief with these expectations (or would she)? Would she be pressured - like former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir was - to serve a literal “steaming pot of tea and [homemade] cookies” to diplomats?

The answers to these questions remain to be seen - but if Tuesday’s primary in Pennsylvania has anything to do with it, Bill had better start perfecting his baking technique.

Golda Meir’s Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe here
Hillary Clinton’s Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe here.

If you haven’t yet seen the “things white people like,” website - well it’s probably best not to admit it to anyone and just sneak a peek here. The unavoidable “things Jewish people like” spin-offs (here and here) are pretty great too - not surprisingly, “buffets” top the list.

One of the lists claims that Jewish people like “taking sides on the Hydrox/Oreo debate.” Yeah…yeah, it’s true.

Any Jewish child reared in the 1980s (and likely the 1970s, but I can’t vouch for that) can remember the plate of Hydrox cookies that graced the shul social hall after services.  They sat there stoically, the stand-in for their more popular, but lard-filled cousins, Oreos. Hydrox reigned the kiddush table until Oreos ditched the pig fat and got kosher certification in the late 1990s. Twas the touch of death for Hydrox, which was discontinued in 2003.

Still, some nostalgic Jewish cookie lovers insist that the Hydrox is a superior cookie that simply got a bum deal.  Personally, although I do have a soft spot for Oreos (I’ve been known to eat half a bag in times of emotional trauma - a practice I don’t recommend!), I’ll generally take an organic Newman O (mint flavored) over an Oreo any day.  What about you?  Which chocolate sandwich cookie - past or present - tugs on your Jewish heartstrings?

Valentines Day is coming up this Thursday - and while it’s not a Jewish holiday per se, it’s as good a day as any to remind the people in your life that you think they’re pretty freaking awesome.  To help you express your loving sentiments - the sustainable way - The Jew & The Carrot offers our newest resource list:

Kosher Sustainable C.H.O.C.O.L.A.T.E

All of the chocolate bars included on the list are kosher-cerfitied and some combination of organic, fair trade, cane-sugar sweetened, and vegan.  (sweet!)  If you want to put that chocolate bar to even better use, check out Chef Laura Frankel’s amazing recipe for chocolate mousse.  And if you’re looking for something a little bit more risque, the company Green Knickers is offering a Valentine’s day special: a bar of chocolate from Divine with every pair of organic cotton, fair trade boxers or briefs you purchase.  (I can’t find anything on Divine’s kashrut status, but this was too cute not to include.  Thanks to Grist for the hat tip.)

 I lived in Oregon for two years (the defunct hippie enclave of Eugene to be exact), so before any of you west coast readers get all up in arms over what I’m about to say, just remember I’m a sympathetic member of the tribe.

It’s just that, since moving to New York, I’ve fully realized to extent to which the east coast, and NYC in particular, sets the cultural tone for the rest of the American Jewish community. Seinfeld - New York. Woody Allen - New York. Manischewitz…okay, Cincinnati and then New Jersey, but close enough.

Considering the cultural monopoly east coast Jews have on most things Jewish, it seems to follow that the majority of successful Jewish food entrepreneurs would hail from the more neurotic side of the Mississippi. So I was utterly taken aback when Lois Leveen proved me wrong on her blog MacaroniManiac.

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I don’t know what it is, but I have been craving chocolate for weeks. I always enjoy the velvety, luscious stuff, but recently things have gotten out of hand.

It may be the time of year. I don’t mean the holiday set aside for eating chocolate and receiving roses, though the red cupids in florists’ windows may have a subliminal effect. It also isn’t my insatiable sweet tooth - I can bake whenever I want.

I have a sneaking suspicion that the culprits are these amazing new cocoa and chocolate bath products I bought. Read more »

I still remember the first time my suburban food-bubble was burst, when I realized the implications of fruit sold according to season. I was in Israel, and became completely dumbfounded when I couldn’t find the strawberries…”whaddya mean you don’t sell them in the winter?!?”

Of course, as my sister recently reminded me, even junk food lovers know the comforting seasonal rhythms of Cadbury Creme eggs in late winter (they’re only sold from Jan 1-Easter Sunday), Peeps in the spring, and, of course, Mallomars in the late fall.

Ah, Mallomars…If Proust had grown up in New York, he would have traded in his madeleine for a Mallomar. Respectable journalists have sung its praises to the heavens, this perfect confection, only available during the dark, baseball-less months of November through March, so delicate is its thin outer layer of chocolate, that it can’t survive the trip from factory to store in the heat of spring or summer. And what could be more Jewish than a cookie that comes eighteen to a box, 70% of which are consumed by New Yorkers?

The only cookie that comes close is its Israeli cousin, the Krembo. Similar in construction and seasonal availability, writers also wax rhapsodic about krembo season. Plus, according to its wikipedia entry: Read more »

(x-posted from Lilith)

We’ve made it to the final stretch of the “holiday season” (read: the inclusive euphemism for Christmas and New Year’s Eve). Despite Nigel’s insistence that, “no one says Merry Christmas in America” (he’s from England where supposedly everyone says Merry Christmas as if they have a tic), the holidays – and particularly Christmas – can literally be felt, regardless of one’s religious beliefs.

This phenomenon holds particularly true with food. No matter that Chanukah celebrations peaked half a month ago - holiday food is ubiquitous. From late November through New Year’s Eve, red-and-green wrapped chocolates seem to pop up out of nowhere. Alcohol, cookies, pie, and heavily salted snacks also take on “how-did-that-get-into-my-hand?” properties. And whether you spent Christmas dinner with friends or celebrated the “Jewish way” with Chinese food and a movie, holiday foods have a tendency to find their way, often in excess, into our mouths.

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Somewhere during the flurry of the Food Conference and the final shift from autumn into cozy “wintery-mix” weather, The Jew & The Carrot turned one year old.

This first year was a biggie - mentions in the Wall Street Journal and
New York Times, two awards (best new blog and best kosher food/recipe blog from The Jewish & Israeli Blog Awards), interviews with food experts like Michael Pollan and Joan Nathan…phew. We hope that our second year will continue to bring growth to the blog, as we continue to bring you the best news, writing, recipes, and resources from the new Jewish food movement.

In celebration of this milestone, we have two gifts for readers. The first is a recipe for my mom’s “Moistest Chocolate Cake.” This is the best chocolate cake (no, seriously) and a birthday staple in my house growing up. I’ve written about this recipe elsewhere, but couldn’t resist sharing it with you all in honor of The Jew & The Carrot’s birthday. Get the recipe below the jump.

The second is a chance to win a copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables! Farmer John is a CSA farmer based in Illinois. He’s got a serious farming heritage and one of the most entertaining personalities in the fields (note the red feather boa accompanying the coveralls on the book cover.) His cookbook offers seasonal recipes, photos, and stories from his farm Angelic Organics. Answer this question to be entered into a raffle for a copy of Farmer John’s Cookbook: What is your favorite birthday food tradition? (It can be wacky or sweet - but it has to be something food-related that you do for birthdays. Only related comments will be entered into the raffle.)

Cake recipe below the jump… Read more »

Rabbi Deborah Prinz is up to something sweet - exploring the Jewish connection to chocolate.  She writes:

“There are some surprising Jewish connections with chocolate, including Jews in the early chocolate trade and early Jewish chocolate makers.  Because the discovery of chocolate and the Spanish Inquisition, along with the Expulsion of Jews from Spain and later Portugal coincided, the Jewish connection to chocolate in the early days was primarily through Conversos in Portugal, France, Holland, the Caribbean and North America.”

Rabbi Prinz and her husband, Rabbi Mark Hurvitz, are planning group trips to explore The Chocolate Trail, and several speaking engagements including an upcoming lecture in Berkeley on December 6.

Find out more about this interesting project here.