Saturday, September 08, 2007

honey and spice and everything nice

these small, lightly-spiced, honey cookies are actually called gâteaux (gatt-oh). such baked goods are often made and served at rosh hashanah, especially when they contain honey — an integral ingredient in many of the foods we eat at this time of year.

they are very easy to make and let you be as creative as you want when it comes to dressing them up and are even a good project to make with children. of course, if you choose not to spend time embellishing, they can always just be baked plain.

you can freeze these small "cakes" a few days before the holidays, or any time of the year, and take them out as needed. one nice thing about these cookies is that they are not overly sweet at all and only mildly spiced — enough to please almost everyone.

to gild the lily, so to speak, the plain ones or almond-coated versions are sometimes dipped in a honey syrup. if doing this, then make your syrup with 1:1 proportions and quickly dip each and let dry.


petits gâteaux au miel

makes approx. 30

ingredients:

3 eggs
3 1/2 tbsp honey
6 tbsp sugar

1/2 c oil

2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ginger powder
1/2 tsp cloves
1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 c oil

1 egg yolk + 2 tsp water

sprinkles of your choice
regular or coarse sugar
sliced almonds

or 1:1 honey dip -- mix equal honey and water and boil 2 minutes.

method:

preheat oven to 325 F.

in a large bowl, place the eggs, honey and sugar together. measure out the oil and set aside.

in another bowl, place the dry ingredients together and mix them.


blend the egg mixture well with a mixer. add the oil in a stream and mix until completely incorporated.

now add 1 cup of the dry ingredients and blend with the mixer.

add the rest by hand with a wooden spoon.

the mixture will be somewhat sticky and very soft.

line baking trays with silicone paper (parchment) or foil. if using foil, you MUST lightly oil the sheet.

oil your hands and pull out pieces of dough about the size of tablespoon. roll them into marbles. remember they will almost double in size so don't make them too large.

place them on the sheet with space in between (about 2 inches).


if using sprinkles:

then grab one of the balls and dip it in sprinkles. place them sprinkle side up back on the baking sheet.


if using sliced almonds:

make your egg wash and paint all the balls of dough with the egg. take several almonds and push them on the balls of dough. place as many as you can.

repaint the balls of dough with eggwash and then sprinkle sugar over them.

do not press down on either of the types you make.

bake for about 15 minutes only. remove to a cooling tray.

the almond coated cookies (or plain ones) can also be quickly dipped in a 1:1 honey syrup. you cannot do it with the sprinkles as they will "bleed". let them sit to dry on a baking rack.

the interior will be soft and almost cake-like, hence gâteau.

enjoy!



6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi! I just found your blog and I think it is great! I just added it to my own blog roll. I will definitely make these honey gateaux for Rosh Hashanah. Thanks! Happy New Year!

burekaboy — said...

hi bakinghistory - thanks for your comment and visit :) glad to hear you enjoyed what you've seen.

this recipe is a very old sephardic spanish one (LOL, minus the sprinkles). hope you like it. they stay fresh for about 3 days or so; you may want to freeze leftovers as they become denser with time. you can also decorate them with chopped pistachios or coconut - that is usually done after they are dipped in the syrup so it will stick (you don't bake those 2 types of embellishments). you can also change the spices around to suit your taste. hope you enjoy them.

thanks for adding me to your blogroll.

shanah tovah m'tukah :)

TopChamp said...

they look so cool!!!!!!!!!! Sorry it's been a while but without broadband it takes too long to blog.

burekaboy — said...

TC - thanks! glad to hear things are back on track. that must have been annoying with no broadband connection. we're all so dependent these days on email and the internet.

thanks for stopping by ;)

Sandra Le Petrin said...

Je viens juste de sortir ces petits gâteaux du four, so soft and tender, not too sweet.. Mais je viens de lire qu'ils restent frais 3 jours seulement.. ooh, i guess i'll have to bake a new batch for sukkot and these ones.. on a déjà bien entamé la boîte!!
Thanks BB!

burekaboy — said...

avital - merci pour avoir essayé les recettes! oui, ces gateaux au miel ne sont pas tres sucrés et sont vraiment soft and tender. ils peuvent se garder comme ca qqls jours mais apres ca, ils commencent a devenir plus durs (unfortunately). quand meme, ils sont encore bons avec le thé ou café. c'est une recette marocaine d'une amie.

quelle autre recette? les biscuits au sesame? je les adore en particulier quand je les fais avec l'eau de fleur d'orangier (tu peux mettre 1 ou 2 cac dans la pate aussi). si tu ne les as pas fait, tu dois les essayer ;) j'ai dit 3 jours mais vraiment ils resteront frais pour 5 a 6 jours. ils sont leur meilleurs, comme tous biscuits, juste apres la cuisson.