Efrat's Favorites
Oven-Braised Osso Buco
Osso buco slices that I sear in a pan and braise in the oven over vegetables with red wine and stock for about two and a half hours, until the meat is tender.
No-Bake Cheesecake with Crumb Topping
A chilled cheesecake on a shortbread base, with a cream of whipped cream, soft white cheese and cream cheese and baked crumbs on top.
Nestlé-Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
Classic chocolate chip cookies based on Nestlé's recipe, with butter, two kinds of sugar and plenty of chocolate chips.
Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
Soft chocolate cookies with Irish cream and coffee, rolled in sugar and powdered sugar so they crack open in the oven.
Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies
Rolled cookies made from a butter and cream dough, filled with Nutella or any other spread and sliced before baking.
Chocolate Finger Cookies
Little fingers of butter-and-cheese dough filled with Nutella or jam and nuts, which I make in a big batch and keep in a sealed container.
Chocolate Pull-Apart Yeast Cake
Two loaf-pan yeast cakes made of dough and chocolate-spread layers stood on their sides, so you pull them apart by hand, glazed with maple syrup.
Easy Rough Puff Pastry
A quick puff pastry I make at home from flour, grated frozen butter and ice-cold water, with a few folds that build the layers.
Amsterdam Cookies
Soft Amsterdam-style chocolate cookies with milk chocolate in the dough and squares of white chocolate hidden inside, which I like best still warm.
Chocolate Krantz Cake
A braided yeast krantz cake filled with chocolate spread and cookie crumbs and brushed with syrup, and one batch of dough gives me three cakes.
Chocolate Mousse Cake for Passover
A chocolate mousse cake for Passover without a speck of flour, with a baked chocolate base, a real mousse made with eggs and a ganache glaze.
Homemade Chocolate Yeast Cake
A yeast cake with a chocolate-butter filling that I bake in two loaf pans, either as a roll or as a rose cake.
Honey Rolls
Soft yeast rolls sweetened with honey, brushed with butter and honey before baking.
Maamoul Roll with Chocolate or Jam
A soft, crumbly dough I fill with Nutella or jam, roll into logs and slice into cookies dusted with powdered sugar.
Muffins from the Booklet
Simple butter muffins made with a cup of eshel, which I change up each time with chocolate chips, nuts, coconut, raisins or blueberries.
No-Knead Olive Rolls
Green olive rolls from a dough that rises slowly overnight; the next day I just shape them and bake with ice cubes for a crisp crust.
No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread
A simple bread I bake in a hot cast-iron pot, first covered and then uncovered, for a crisp crust. Sometimes I add olives and herbs.
Overnight-Dough Rugelach
Chocolate-filled yeast rugelach from a dough that rests in the fridge overnight, so it's easy to roll, finished with sugar syrup to keep them soft.
Overnight Dutch Oven Bread
A four-ingredient bread that rises slowly overnight and bakes in a hot cast-iron pot, so with almost no work I get a loaf with a deep brown crust.
Pancakes
Simple two-bowl pancakes that I serve with maple syrup or a warm chocolate sauce.
Roast Chicken with Lemon and Garlic
My whole roast chicken stuffed with lemon, garlic, thyme and rosemary, on a bed of root vegetables and chicken broth.
Vanilla Meringue Rose Cookies
My rose cookies, a butter and sour cream dough rolled around a vanilla pudding meringue, sliced and baked until the bottoms turn golden.
Savory Sesame Ka'ak Cookies (Abadi-Style)
Crisp, savory little sesame rings in the style of Abadi, from a dough that comes together in the food processor in minutes.
Soft Pretzels
Big soft pretzels that I dip briefly in a baking soda bath, then bake with egg wash and coarse salt until golden.
Sliced Almond Cookies
Crisp little cookies of sliced almonds held together with a bit of sugar, honey and one egg white, with no flour and no mixer.
Cheese Brioche Swirls
Soft brioche swirls filled with mascarpone, vanilla and lemon zest, baked in a muffin pan and served warm with powdered sugar.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
My chocolate chip cookies with walnuts: one dough that I vary with add-ins depending on what I have at home.
Pecan Fingers
Small butter and honey cookies with chopped pecans that I roll in powdered sugar while still warm and keep in a tin for two weeks.
Cream Puffs
My cream puffs (or eclairs) made from choux pastry, filled with whipped vanilla cream and dipped in bittersweet chocolate.
Gyoza (Meat Dumplings)
Gyoza filled with ground meat and vegetables that I pan-fry, then steam in the skillet and serve hot with a soy and rice vinegar dip.
Iraqi Pitas
Thin Iraqi pitas from a simple yeast dough, which I cook one at a time on an upside-down pan and serve right away.
Maple Walnut Cake
A sour cream and walnut cake mixed in one bowl. Right after baking, I soak it with maple syrup.
Nutella Babka
A buttery yeast babka filled with Nutella, twisted into a ring and baked until browned outside and soft inside.
Quick Dill Pickle Slices
My pickled cucumber slices with dill, garlic and a little heat, in an apple cider vinegar brine that's ready to eat after a day.
Pizza and Focaccia Dough
My simple olive oil yeast dough for pizza and focaccia; it rises for 45 minutes and is ready to roll out and top.
Real Chocolate Croissants from Scratch
My chocolate croissants, made from homemade yeasted laminated dough with three butter folds and a night in the fridge, filled with a piece of chocolate.
Red Cabbage Salad Like the Falafel Shop
My red cabbage salad, like the one at the falafel stand: sliced very thin with lemon, garlic and oil, and left to soften a little before serving.
Successful Focaccia
Three small yeasted focaccias with olive oil, which I top with coarse salt and rosemary and bake until golden.
Three-Layer Chocolate Cake
A three-layer chocolate cake, with a baked chocolate base, a whipped ganache layer and whipped cream, finished with chocolate shavings.
Triple Chocolate Brownies
Bittersweet chocolate brownies studded with white chocolate, milk chocolate and pecans, which I take out of the oven while they're still soft.
My Go-To Knotted Rolls
Soft yeast rolls from a full kilo of flour, which I tie into knots, brush with egg and top with sesame, poppy or nigella seeds.
Almond Lemon Crescent Cookies
Small crescent cookies made with ground almonds, butter and lemon zest, baked just until they start to turn golden and dusted with powdered sugar.
Amsterdam Cookies
Soft chocolate cookies with chopped milk chocolate in the dough and white chocolate squares inside, which I bake for only 8-9 minutes.
Apple Crumb Pie
An apple pie with apples cooked in butter, cinnamon and pecans, over a shortcrust base and topped with crumbs of the same dough.
Soft French-style loaves
Three baguettes from a simple dough of flour, water, yeast and salt, baked hot with a pan of water in the oven.
Cheese Bourekas
Puff pastry triangles filled with kashkaval and salty cheese, brushed with egg and sprinkled with sesame seeds.
Chocolate Rose Cake
A yeast cake of chocolate-spread swirls baked snug in one pan, so they open up like roses.
Fluffy Rugelach
A big batch of soft yeast dough I shape into rugelach, crescents or a roll, brushed with sugar syrup as soon as they come out of the oven.
My Coleslaw
My coleslaw: white cabbage and carrots in a light mayonnaise dressing with mustard and lemon. It's a simple salad that I toss together in a few minutes.
Grated Root Vegetable Salad
A salad of grated root vegetables and beets in a vinegar, mustard and garlic dressing, which I mix ahead and keep in the fridge until serving.
Cocoa Rugelach
Yeast-dough rugelach made with oil, filled with a cocoa and coffee spread and glazed with sugar syrup the moment they come out of the oven.
Hedgehog Meatballs
Beef meatballs with rice that pokes out like hedgehog spines, simmered in a tomato sauce with chicken stock.
Krembo Like the Store-Bought Kind
Homemade krembo like the store-bought ones, a crisp cookie, an egg-white and sugar-syrup foam and a chocolate or Lotus coating, served cold from the fridge.
Chicken-Liver Stuffed Matzo Balls
Matzo meal kneidlach with a center of chopped liver, cooked in boiling water and served in soup.
Oven-Baked Chicken Schnitzel
Chicken thighs and drumsticks in a schnitzel-style breadcrumb coating, baked in the oven instead of fried. I serve them with chili mayo sauce.
Dutch Oven Olive Bread
My no-knead bread baked in a covered pot in the oven, with chopped olives in the dough and a crisp crust.
Quick Pretzel Without Yeast
These are my quick pretzel rolls, made with self-rising flour and yogurt, no yeast and no rising time. They go straight into the oven with sesame seeds, coarse salt, or za'atar.
Real Jerusalem Bagels
My Jerusalem bagels, long and covered in sesame. A simple yeast dough, no boiling, straight into the oven until golden.
Biscuit Cake
A no-bake biscuit cake with layers of vanilla pudding and soft white cheese under a bittersweet chocolate ganache, set in the fridge.
Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies Draft
Thick, soft chocolate chip cookies that I freeze for a few minutes before baking so they don't spread.
Chocolate Rugelach Draft
Rugelach from a butter yeast dough that rises overnight in the fridge, filled with a chocolate and tea-biscuit cream and dipped in sugar syrup straight from the oven.
Quick Nutella Cookies Draft
My quick butter and Nutella cookies, five ingredients in the mixer and about 10 minutes in the oven.
Nutella Pinwheel Cookies Draft
My Nutella pinwheel cookies, from a butter and cream dough that I roll out, spread, roll up and slice before baking.
Rozelach (Nutella Yeast Pinwheels) Draft
Little spirals of simple yeast dough rolled up with Nutella, baked for just a few minutes and served warm.
Soft Yeast Croissants Draft
Soft crescent rolls from one big yeast dough; I fill some with butter and sugar and some with a square of chocolate.