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Potato Latkes
Makes 50 Latkes
8 Large Yukon Gold Potatoes, peeled and shredded
2 onions, grated
4 tablespoons all purpose flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups olive oil
Kosher Salt to taste
Using a Cuisinart (or a hand held tool), shred potatoes and
onions on a coarse setting. Drain as much liquid as possible using your hands
and paper towels. Place in a bowl with flour and egg. Mix well.
Heat ½ cup olive oil in a 12 inch skillet on medium high
heat until bubbling. Work quickly and make a small fist full of the potato
mixture with your hand (or tongs) and squeeze out the liquid. Place into the
frying pan and flatten slightly. Repeat until you have filled the skillet. Cook
until golden (about 3 minutes per side) on both sides and season with kosher
salt. Remove and drain on a paper towel lined plate. Repeat the process, refilling
the skillet with oil until all of the mixture is used up. If freezing, follow
the freezing steps below:
Freezing Tips
1) Drain on paper towel lined plates for 2 minutes.
2) Transfer to a plate or tray that fits into your freezer.
3) Quickly "fresh freeze" the latkes uncovered
until they begin to harden (about an hour or two)
4) Transfer to freezer bags and seal out any excess air.
Reheat in an oven on 400 degrees until crispy. Serve with
sour cream and apple sauce.
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Gingerbread Cookies
Makes about 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on cookie cutter size
This is one of our favorite recipes to make with kids. Sometimes we let them help make the dough (the honey in the dough makes it super easy to work with), while other times we streamline the process by making and baking off a giant batch of cookie dough and enlisting the kids at the backend for decorating detail. Whether you're baking gingerbread people or a gingerbread house, everyone can get into the fun with sprinkles, shoestring licorice, different colored icings, nonpareils, and other edible decorations.
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup light molasses
6 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 teaspoons ground cloves Cookie cutters (such as gingerbread people, snowflakes, etc.)
Decorating candies and supplies
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk the flour, baking soda, spices, and salt together in a large bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl using a hand mixer or a standing mixer. Add the eggs, honey and molasses and beat well, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl as necessary. Mix in the dry ingredients in two additions until no dry patches remain and the dough forms.
Turn the dough out onto a generously floured work surface. Divide it in half and, using a floured rolling pin, roll it into a 1/4-inch thick sheet. Use cookie cutters to cut out the desired shapes. Transfer to the prepared baking sheets and bake until golden but not too brown, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool completely before decorating. | |
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Dear Friends,
The holidays are a time to come together with friends and family. And it's often in the kitchen - cramped or spacious - where you all end up. We'd like to help you enjoy this time spent with friends and family in your kitchens, and have packed this issue with cost-effective ways to make this time productive and memorable. And, since many people are cutting back financially during this economically challenging time, we also highlight how Cooking With Friends saves you money. We hope you have a fulfilling and filling holiday! Please e-mail us at info@cookingwithfriendsclub.com and check out our web site, featuring our blogs and lots of great tips at www.cookingwithfriendsclub.com.
Alison and Shannon
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Cooking With Friends
Offers Ways to Save Money The N.J. Star Ledger newspaper featured Cooking With Friends in its October Chicken Challenge Smack Down article showing how cooking together is an extremely effective way to save money. (To read the story: www.cookingwithfriendsclub.com.) There are numerous ways you and a friend can share cooking and baking expenses this holiday. Here are a three of our favorite suggestions:
Take a trip to Costco or Sam's Club together.
It's hard to beat the price of a five-pound bag of sugar at Costco, but for many of us, despite a low price, this quantity is excessive and would only lead to waste if purchased alone. That's why we like to shop with our friends, split the bounty and of course the costs.
Make food gifts together.
Get together with your friends to make holiday gifts for neighbors, teachers and co-workers. Homemade food gifts are significantly less costly than store-bought items, and of course filled with much more meaning. Gift making has become an annual tradition for many CWFC members. Some of our personal favorites are homemade granola (See our recipe for Festive Fruity Granola), apple butter, sugared cranberries, holiday breads, biscotti or cookies. And, when you're finished making the food, it's fun to get creative and package the gifts together too!
Bake and decorate together.
Get together with a friend or two and have a baking session - pies, cookies or breads. When friends share ingredients and expenses, there's a lot less to buy. If you're making pumpkin pie, one of you can be responsible for the pureed pumpkin, someone else the flour and sugar and another eggs and milk. If you and a few friends are participating in a cookie exchange, pre-bake your cookies and have a decorating party together. Everyone brings a large jar or two of sprinkles and other festive toppings - more variety for less money! When baking and decorating together, you're bound to use everything up and certain to save money. |
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Cooking With Friends Helps Local Families by Baking More than 200 Loaves of Bread
The holidays are a time to look outside of our own families to see how we can help those in need. That's exactly what the Cooking With Friends Club did recently in New Jersey by baking breads for a local Food Pantry for the Thanksgiving holiday. Here's how it worked: CWFC members got together in small groups, baked various types of breads together - pumpkin, apple and banana - stocked their freezers and two days before Thanksgiving, and brought the breads to the Food Pantry. Cooking and baking with your friends is a rewarding way to give to others and the purpose of coming together will also strengthen your friendships. Whether it's a friend in need, a sick or elderly neighbor, or an organization such as a food pantry, there are many people who would appreciate delicious and homemade food during the holidays. |
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Throw a Cooking With Friends Holiday Cookie Exchange or Appetizer Swap
All across the country, members are gearing up for festive and beneficial food swaps - such as cookie exchanges and appetizer swaps. These gatherings are a great way to socialize with friends while also taking home some useful holiday foods. If you are interested in hosting a food swap, join our Yahoo group for "How To" information: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CookingWithFriendsClub/ | |
Tool-of-the-month:
Multi-tier Oven Rack
This compact multi-tiered oven rack will expand your oven capacity, allowing you to cook more food at once. It holds three levels of heavy duty casseroles and folds flat for storage. It's a must have tool for friends cooking together in bulk with limited time. It sells for $22.00 online at Sur la Table. |
Lots of Latkes
It's almost Hanukah, and even if you don't celebrate the holiday, it's hard to resist making, eating and serving your guests the crisp and delicious potato pancakes called "Latkes". They make a great hors d'oeuvres or side dishes and can even be substituted for hash browns alongside a weekend morning egg breakfast.
Latkes are an ideal food to make with a friend since they are best made in bulk, freeze exceptionally well and will crisp up in your oven when reheated. Get two skillets and an assembly line going to fill your freezer.
No Fail Latke Making Tips:
· We like Yukon Gold potatoes since they have a creamier consistency, although you can certainly use other types if you wish. We did a taste test last year against the Russets and the Yukons won!
· Use shredded potatoes and onions for a more authentic and crispy result, rather than pureed potatoes.
· Lightly pan fry the latkes instead of deep frying them for a healthier result and sprinkle with kosher salt.
· Use extra virgin olive oil for a richer flavor.
· Since potatoes retain a lot of liquid, work with your hands instead of tongs to strain out the liquid as you place the potatoes in the pan.
· Use two large skillets and work in an assembly line fashion with your friend. One of you forms the pancakes, and the other seasons, flips and strains.
· Make some homemade apple sauce and let it simmer while cooking the pancakes. The sweet scent is sure to get you in the mood to cook (and eat)
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Cooking With Friends on Washingtonpost.com
On three Tuesdays in December-Dec. 9, Dec. 16, and Dec. 23-Shannon
will be the guest food blogger on www.washingtonpost.com.
Log and comment on her blog and share your communal food experiences. |
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Alison Bermack and Shannon Henry
Visit our web site at www.cookingwithfriendsclub.com.
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