If you didn’t know any better – like I didn’t when we first came here – you’d probably assume, with good reason, that both of these tins contained condensed milk: But that’s where you’d be wrong. Sure, at least at first glance, the Hebrew text is exactly the same: חלב מרוכז וממותק / chalav merukaz umemutak / concentrated sweetened milk. But the English is different, and therein lies the key difference between the two – the one on the right is FAKE. Here are the ingredients of the real thing (on the left): Milk (55%), sugar (45%). That’s it. Pure and simple. Now, here are the ingredients
One of the basic baking ingredients that’s particularly tough to come by in Israel is corn syrup. And some Fridays, it seems like every single recipe I want to try – whether it’s pecan pie (or the pecan bars I made today!), peanut brittle , or something else – relies on a generous quantity of the stuff. Corn syrup in a recipe isn’t just for flavour, so as most people have found, you usually can’t just substitute something else, like honey, maple syrup, or straight sugar. Corn syrup does some kind of magic that I can’t explain and helps things thicken up and set, especially in candy making. (If you know, feel free to explain it to me in the comments!) But there is one thing you can substitute: INVERT SUGAR. Invert sugar is a sugar-water syrup that’s been boiled to 236°F (114°C) and then cooled off slightly. At that temperature, the sugar turns… well, magical. Again, explain it to me in the comments. But essentially – it turns into cor...
Cream cheese can be a hit or miss affair here in Israel. Sure, some brands are okay for eating, but where the native product fails is usually when it comes to baked goods that call for genuine cream cheese, as I discovered at Shavuos a couple of years ago. It's too thin, too gummy, too shiny, whatever. It's just... WRONG. In case you’re wondering, sour cream is called “krem gevina shamenet,” and as you can see, there are lots of flavour choices… …but none of them are anything I’d want to bake into a cheesecake. But then this year, I found out I could make my own. And not only does it taste great, it works perfectly in recipes! I won't bother calling it a RECIPE, because it's too easy to be a recipe! It only works if you're in Israel, simply because you can’t get Israeli dairy products here. Then again, if you're outside of Israel, you can probably just buy Philly. The truth is, you can buy Philly here in a lot of places as well, as...
I think it's a great idea to make tiny challas Friday night for the kids.
ReplyDeleteThey love it and it's fun.