Zabar's Blog

Recipe for Caramel Popcorn

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

One kid plus one adult, needed for this recipe. First, you make the popcorn. Then, the caramel sauce. Pour it on the popcorn, with some peanuts, and bake. A couple of stirs of the hot mixture, and Voila! A crunchy treat is born. The Complete DIY Cookbook for Young Chefs is filled with great recipes to make with your kids. Pita chips, smoothies, muffins, and even pesto. The companion book, Kitchen Explorers! has puzzles, games, and experiments sprinkled in with even more recipes. These books are perfect gifts for a budding young chef.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from The Complete DIY Cookbook for Young Chefs by America's Test Kitchen.

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Recipe for Raspberry and Rose Party Hearts

from Afternoon Tea at Home by Will Torrent, photography by Matt Russell

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

Make these lovely biscuits (cookies) for your sweetie. Then master the techniques for scones, jellies, and curds. There are recipes here for new takes on traditional British tea fare: deviled egg mayonnaise sandwiches with micro herbs, and cucumber sandwiches with yuzu and chive butter. Next on my list: pbj cookie sandwiches, sour cherry cake, and Veronica’s gingerbreads.

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Recipe for Tomato Sambal

from Coconut & Sambal by Lara Lee

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This wonderful book is an armchair cook’s trip into an Indonesian kitchen. The sambal featured here is a versatile relish that you can make as spicy as you please. I am exploring this book’s interesting dishes, made with lemongrass, pandan leaves, and palm sugar. Next on my list: Peanut sauce, crispy fish, and bakso meatball soup.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Coconut & Sambal by Lara Lee, photographs by Louise Hagger and Laura Lee (Bloomsbury)

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Recipe for Carrot and Potato Tagine with Peas

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

A tagine is a flavorful, slow-cooked stew. It’s also the vessel that it is cooked in, which is a kind of pot bottom with a tall, tapered cover that allows steam to build up so the food stays tender. This cookbook has lots of recipes for vegetarian dishes, often served with couscous, rice, or toasted bread, such as little artichokes with ginger, honey, and preserved lemon; runner beans with tomato and dill; and a creamy pumpkin soup with chili honey. Whip up this easy veggie dish and settle in with the book to take an armchair trip to Morocco.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Vegetarian Tagines and Couscous by Ghillie Başan, photography by Steve Painter (Ryland Peters & Small)

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Recipe for Thai-style Coconut Chicken Curry

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

There are lots of interesting meals for one you can whip up in a flash: try the Florentine soup with sausage and tortellini, salads, stir-fries, paper bag popcorn, and two chocolate chip cookies made in the toaster oven.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Cooking for One by America's Test Kitchen

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Recipe for Storecupboard Pasta

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This book will inspire you to make pasta dishes every night. There are recipes for spicy chickpea and sweet potato penne, cold orzo salad with tomato, artichoke and olives, fried macaroni and cheese balls, and a perfect pesto. And lots more.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Posh Pasta by Phillippa Spence, published by Quadrille

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The winners of Mrs. Zabar's Holiday Cookie Contest

We're happy to share the winners of Mrs. Zabar's Holiday Cookie Contest! Thank you to everyone who entered! ⁠
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Donna C.'s, Stained Glass Cookies⁠


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Lori B.'s, Ugly sweater cookies⁠


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Eileen D.'s, Pistachio Orange Cream Sandwich cookies⁠


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Maria R. S.'s, Grandmother's Linzer

Recipe for Chocolate Covered Pretzels

from Milk Jar Cookies by Courtney Cowan, photography by Ashley Maxwell

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

I was enchanted with these pretty no-bake pretzels. There are wonderful recipes for baked goods, too. Get the book and make some banana split cookies, blueberry ricotta pancakes, and fudge.

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Enter Mrs. Zabar's Holiday Cookie Contest! Click here for the details!

Recipe excerpted with permission from Rizzoli

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Recipe for Latkes with Smoked Salmon, Pickled Blackberry, and Wasabi Cream

Cookbook review by Tracey Zabar

This beautiful book combines traditional and modern kosher recipes, some with an international twist, all with gorgeous photographs. Try the smoked salmon rosettes, shawarma, mushroom lasagnette, falafel with beet hummus, or tuna-stuffed tomatoes. And the adorably named Chicken Massaged with Shmaltz. But try these latkes first.

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Recipe excerpted with permission from Rizzoli Publications

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Enter Mrs. Zabar's Holiday Cookie Contest!

Send one original, never-published recipe & photo of your favorite family cookies.

Just send us an email, cookie recipe, and photo to TZabar@zabars.com with the subject "Zabar's cookie contest 2020" and you'll be entered to win. The winner will be selected randomly on 12/31/2020 and will be contacted by email.

First Prize: Zabar's Baker's Gift Box
Second Prize: Zabar's Dessert Cookie Quartet
Third Prize: Zabar's Black & White Duo Cookie Box

Plus, refer a friend and you each get a chance to win Zabar’s Brownie Bites Box!

(Note: The prizes can be sent to the 50 United States and DC, age 18+ only. Cannot be sent to P. O. boxes.) Cookie photos, your name, and recipes may be published on Zabar's blog and social media sites. One recipe entry per person.