Kichel

“Who makes their own kichel?” exclaimed an astounded friend in amazement, at a pre-Covid19 party (remember those) where I had served a plate of my homemade kichel with the aperitifs. Out of the corner of my eye, I happily noticed that the kichel were disappearing quickly. As a lifetime kichel-lover, I searched intensely for the quintessential recipe for kichel when I stumbled across this one by Ben Moskowitz, owner of the Star Bakery in Oak Park Michigan. Mr. Moskowitz shared his recipe with Jewish food doyenne, Joan Nathan, the James Beard Award-winning author and New York Times food writer. This recipe appeared in Joan Nathan’s Jewish Holiday Cookbook.

Kichel

According to food historian Gil Marks in his Encyclopedia of Jewish Food , kichel, meaning little cake or cookie, started out as a smaller version of the German kuchen, meaning cake. Kichel can be sweet or savory, but the version we’re making today is eier kichel, egg kichel, made with oil, lots of eggs and coated with a generous amount of sugar. Eier kichel, for many decades a mainstay at Kiddush after Shabbat morning services, is as popular today as ever, especially when served with herring, according to preeminent Toronto caterer Kalman Lowenthal of Jacobs Catering.  For many Ashkenazim, Jews of Eastern European descent, kichel are a comfort food (I confess: they’re my weakness). These kichel are light, crisp, sweet, and crunchy. Make these cookies once and you’ll never buy them from the bakery again.

The dough for this recipe needs to be beaten for a full five minutes in order to allow the gluten to develop. This is a job for a stand mixer, not a hand mixer. Afterwards, the rest period for the dough allows the gluten to relax. Don’t skip it. I use turbinado or raw sugar to coat the dough. Granulated white sugar works fine but I like the extra crunch of the larger sugar crystals in these cookies. These kichel are keepers. Stored in an airtight container, they will last a nice long time, that is if you can keep their location a secret. Good luck!

Assemble your ingredients and combine as directed in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat the dough on high speed for five minutes. The dough will be quite sticky. Don’t worry, that’s how it should be. Cover the dough and allow it to rest in the bowl on the counter for 1 hour. The dough can also be refrigerated overnight at this point.

Sprinkle your pastry board or counter with 1/2 cup of sugar. Scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the sugar. Sprinkle the top surface of the dough with another 1/2 cup sugar for a total of 1 cup sugar. Flour your rolling pin lightly and roll out the dough. You don’t need to put any flour on your pastry board or counter. The sugar will keep the dough from sticking. Roll the dough into a rectangle that measures approximately 12 inches by 18 inches. It should be about 1/4 inch thick.

Using a pastry wheel or a knife cut the dough into long strips that are about 1 inch wide. Cut each strip into pieces that are about 2 inches in length. Lift each 1 inch by 2 inch piece of dough and twist it to make a bow tie by rotating your wrists in the opposite direction. (This sounds complicated but it’s not). Place each bow tie kichel on a parchment lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart.

Bake the kichel for 18 minutes on the middle rack of the oven, until the kichel are golden brown. I bake them one sheet at a time. Allow them to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container.

Print Recipe

Kichel

Cookies, cakes, pies and desserts

By Joan Nathan's Jewish Holiday Cookbook – Serves: 60

Prep Time: 20 minutes – Cooking Time: 18 minutes – Total Time: 38 minutes + 1 hour resting

Airy, crisp and sweet, these kichel are an addictive treat.

Ingredients

• 5 large eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 1/3 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup turbinado or raw sugar for rolling (white granulated sugar will also work) FOR ROLLING

Instructions

1

Put the eggs, vanilla, oil, 1 teaspoon of the sugar, flour, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and blend on low speed until incorporated; then beat on high for 5 minutes.

2

Remove the paddle and scrape the batter down the sides of the bowl using a spatula. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rest for about 1 hour.

3

Preheat the oven to 350 F. and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

4

Sprinkle your work surface with 1/2 cup of the raw or turbinado sugar (white granulated sugar will also work just fine).

5

Put the ball of dough in the center, flatten it slightly with a rolling pin, sprinkling the dough with the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar. (You may want to flour your rolling pin slightly but do not flour your rolling surface or the dough.)

6

Roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 inch into a rectangle about 12 X 18 inches. Using a pastry cutter or a knife, cut the dough into long strips about 1 inch wide. Cut across the long strips every 2 inches to make little rectangles of dough, 1 inch by 2 inches.

7

Lift each little dough rectangle, twisting it in the middle by rotating your wrists in the opposite direction to make a bow tie, and place it on the cookie sheet, leaving 1 inch between each strip.

8

Bake the kichel for 18 minutes on the middle rack of the oven, until golden brown. This may take longer than 18 minutes in your oven. Keep your eye on the kichel and remove the pan from the oven when they appear to be the right color.

Notes

Do not be tempted to skimp on the oil. I tried that already. The kichel taste better with the full 2/3 cup of oil. I obtain best results using bread flour for this recipe. Allow the kichel to cool completely before placing in an airtight container.