Recipes Blog

Recipe for Chocolate Shortbread from Desserts Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

There are so many amazing recipes in this cookbook, I wasn’t sure where to start. I suggest you pick a chapter and start baking! Snack cakes was first for me. Pumpkin-chocolate, classic gingerbread, and applesauce were my choices. Then, on to pies. There’s a whole chapter devoted to variations of the beloved apple pie. After that, cakes, of course. Or try this simple and simply wonderful chocolate shortbread. Next on my list: cranberry-orange cake with olive oil. Happy baking!

Enter the Giveaway of: Desserts Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen and Zabar’s Giveaway: 2 Zabar's 79th Street Subway Mugs & 1 pound of Zabar's Special Blend Coffee on Instagram (Beginning on Sunday, 1/29 - check back then!) You can also enter by emailing info@zabars.com.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Desserts Illustrated by America’s Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Lille Bakery’s Raspberry Sugar Berliners from New European Baking by Laurel Kratochvila

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This lovely book will take you on a trip through Europe, via the baking kitchen. There are all sorts of recipes for breads, pastries, and cookies that will improve your baking skills. Celebrate Chanukah with these amazing doughnuts, which are filled with a raspberry whipped cream filling. There are recipes in the book to make alternative fillings, such as a pastry cream and varieties of fruit jam. These little doughnuts are the perfect treat for the holiday. Next on my list: Wild Fennel Bread, Brioche Bread Pudding, Lemon Meringue Danishes, and a Pistachio Cloud Tarte. Halva Flan? Yes, please.

Enter the Giveaway of: New European Baking by Laurel Kratochvila and Hanukkah Gift Box (Kosher) on Instagram (Beginning on Sunday, 12/04 - check back then!) You can also enter by emailing info@zabars.com.

Recipe excerpted with permission from New European Baking by Laurel Kratochvila (Prestel, 2022). Text © Laurel Kratochvila, image © Małgosia Minta.

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Recipe for Brown Sugar Snaps from The King Arthur Baking School

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book is full of detailed instructions for baking all sorts of doughs, and beautiful photographs for clear understanding of each recipe. There are sourdough and yeasted doughs, pre-ferments for pizza and bagels, and laminated dough for pastries. I was charmed by these simple cookies, and made them with a sprinkling of raw sugar. Next on my list: Ciabatta; S’mores Tart; Cream Scones; and a lovely Cocoa Streusel Coffeecake.

Enter the Giveaway of: The King Arthur Baking School and A Touch of Zabar's gift on Instagram (Beginning on Sunday, 11/6 - check back then!) You can also enter by emailing info@zabars.com.

Recipe excerpted with permission from The King Arthur Baking School (The Countryman Press)

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Recipe for Mexican wedding cookies from Sweet Paris by Frank Adrian Barron

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This perfectly gorgeous book is filled with lovely cakes and sweets. Curl up and read about them, then after your armchair trip to Paris, run into the kitchen and bake! Today’s recipe is for a cookie that deserves to be on your dessert platter all year long. Next on my list: Gâteau Orangette, a marvelous chocolate cake with candied orange peel; Pain d'épices (Alsatian gingerbread); and a savory cheese board. 

Enter the Giveaway of: Sweet Paris by Frank Adrian Barron and Zabar's Classic Sweets & Coffee Bundle on Instagram (Beginning on Sunday, 7/10 - check back then!)
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Recipe excerpted with permission from Sweet Paris by Frank Adrian Barron (HarperCollins)

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Recipe for Cheese Blintzes with Blueberry Sauce from Zabar’s: A Family Story, with Recipes by Lori Zabar

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Grandma Lilly Zabar left me an enormous pile of dessert dishes and ice cream bowls. Every Sunday, my large and still growing family gathers around the table for lunch, and we fill those dishes with dessert, often birthday cake, Lilly’s blintzes, or my cookies. Whenever Lori Zabar shared a meal with us, she would reminisce about her summer birthdays, celebrated with cake in those very dishes. 

We lost our dear Lori a few months ago, but she left us with countless memories of her smile and her laughter, and this book, her memoir of the Zabar family and the store. We will miss her forever.

Portrait of Louis & Lillian Zabar

From Zabar’s: A Family Story, with Recipes by Lori Zabar. Copyright © 2022 by Lori Zabar. Excerpted by permission of Schocken, a division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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Recipe for millionaire's shortbread from a good day to bake by Benjamina Ebuehi

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This lovely book will inspire you to go into the kitchen and bake. The millionaire's shortbread was a hit with everyone in my family. Next on my list: potato & cauliflower curry pie; cherry & coconut tahini cake; and chocolate & fig bostock.

Recipe excerpted with permission from a good day to bake by Benjamina Ebuehi, published by Quadrille

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Recipe for Frosted Spiced Cookies from The Italian Bakery: Step-by-Step Recipes with the Silver Spoon

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

These festive holiday cookies will make your house smell heavenly. When I made these in the shape of gingerbread people, I had everyone bite the legs off first, so the cookies didn’t run away. Next on my list: a lovely ricotta and black cherry tart with chocolate; strawberry mousse on a pistachio sponge; and a date and apple cake. Oh, and a coconut cake with a layer of mousse. Happy baking!

Recipe excerpted with permission from The Italian Bakery: Step-by-Step Recipes with the Silver Spoon (Phaidon)

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Recipe for Candied Fruit Cake from French Pastries and Desserts by Lenôtre

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Gaston Lenôtre was one of the great French pastry chefs of all time. This cookbook is an updated version of my tattered edition from the late 1970s. Try this simple cake, studded with candied fruit. When the filling was used up, I made another version in the book, with dried fruit and nuts. Next on my list: raisin rolls, made with brioche dough; strawberry Charlotte; and the adorably named Little Prince Cake with red currant jelly, for the littlest Zabar, three years old.

Reprinted with permission from French Pastries and Desserts by Lenôtre (Flammarion)

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Recipe for Snowman Cocoa Bombs from Cocoa Bombs by Eric Torres-Garcia

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Cocoa bombs are spheres of tempered chocolate, with cocoa powder and little marshmallows inside. You place one inside a mug, and pour hot milk over. The bomb explodes, and there's your sweet treat. Buy the book for detailed instruction on how to temper the chocolate and fill the molds. What to make next? Perhaps the adorable dark chocolate reindeers with pretzel antlers or one with peanut butter and milk chocolate. I will sit in front of the fireplace and decide with a mug of this hot chocolate.

Recipe excerpted with permission from Cocoa Bombs: Over 40 Make-at-Home Recipes for Explosively Fun Hot Chocolate Drinks by Eric Torres Garcia, Ryland Peters & Small 2021. Photograph by Alex Luck © Ryland Peters & Small 2021

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Recipe for Chocolat Chaud from Fireside Food for Cold Winter Nights by Lizzie Kamenetzky

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

There is a gorgeous French onion soup that was calling my name, and a goulash too. But this French hot chocolate called louder. Next on my list: Swiss chard gratin; a Bubbe-worthy schnitzel; and Gateau de Savoie, a light, lemony cake, studded with bits of citrus peel and served with whipped cream and boozy cherries. Lovely.

From Fireside Food for Cold Winter Nights: More than 75 Comforting and Warming Recipes by Lizzie Kamenetzky, Ryland Peters & Small Photo: Nassima Rothacker © Ryland Peters & Small 2015, 2021

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