Nut-Free Desserts Recipes

	Chocolate Mousse Tart (non-gebrokts, gluten-free) I found this recipe in Susie Fishbein's "Passover by Design". The series of cookbooks is quite lovely; I envy the cast of contributors who make the books so attractive. The photo of the ... Read More
	Ukrainian Poppy Seed Loaf I really like to give credit when credit is due. Many of the recipes we've used for years have been copied without source notations. Who knew I'd be typing a blog about food on motzei Shabbat ... Read More
	Marble Loaf Tea Bread Tea breads are old school; especially when made with old school ingredients. A good marble loaf is my favorite. I feel less guilty eating a cake without frosting. A thin slice with a cup of tea is Sha... Read More
	Fortune Cookies It's that time of year; time for Chinese food. We have a vegan place in town that is kosher. That said, I'm a meat eater and I love a quick stir-fry - chicken or beef. I still have some of tho... Read More
	Pastry Cream - Dairy or Pareve Creating a dessert buffet a couple of weeks ago, my client requests a pastry cream filled tart topped with fruit. It's a little tricky to make pareve pastry cream but following brisket and chicken... Read More
	Apple Raspberry Crisp I love apple crisp and the addition of raspberries is stellar. Tangy raspberries and tart apples with a crispy cinnamon and nutmeg scented topping. It is the perfect dessert for those not up for attem... Read More
	Swedish Apple Pie Yontif is just out. All of you are breathing a sigh of relief. Looking like a deer caught in headlights, I have 2,000 meals ahead of me in the coming week. A stack of event plans needs... Read More
	Chocolate Honey Cake (Note: This is a previous post coming to the forefront for the holidays.)So, let's get one thing straight - I don't have a Jewish mother or grandmother. As a convert, I lack the fond memory of... Read More
	Apple Crown Cake (yes, the one!) (For those who missed this, I'm bringing it back to the home page for Rosh Hashana ~ also, this photo was just sent by Marc Jacobson who has to make more for Rosh Hashana as they ate this one!)Thi... Read More
	Deluxe Honey Cake I haven't a clue where this recipe originates. I've been making it for nearly 20 years and in huge quantities since I started catering and baking. I love making this honey cake because when I ... Read More
	Old Fashioned Snickerdoodles I'm a recovering picky eater who survived many years on a lean diet of Coke and plain bagels. As a kid, I liked baking brownies and refrigerator cookies. Snickerdoodles never popped up on my radar... Read More
	Rainbow Hamentachen This is my feeble attempt at wishing everyone a fun and happy Purim. Slammed with catering these past few weeks, my creative Purim urges have been trapped in my brain. Due to my hectic schedule, once ... Read More
	Leah's Famous Chocolate Babka Chocolate babka rules, rocks and was the most popular item after challah in the bakery. It is also the most requested 'next video' and you can now see it here! Putting up an Ind... Read More
	Crumb Topping I always sprinkle this crumb topping liberally on my babkas. It is a simple mix of flour, sugar and margarine. It lends texture and crunch to the babka crust. I also use it on my rugelach for the same... Read More
	Cinnamon Rolls Not too long after my father passed away, I drove to Seward Park for a meeting with one of the Rabbis. I had only been catering for a year or so and was going to help with his son's bar mitzvah pa... Read More
	Yeasted Sweet Dough This is an extra rich yeast dough perfect for many baked goods; babka, cinnamon rolls, coffee cakes, etc. I've been making it forever always with great results. We've made a how-to v... Read More
	Malasadas ~ Portuguese Doughnuts Chanukah is a time of dreidels and sufganyot, latkes. As a convert, hitching a ride on the turnip cart of culinary traditions feels often times like riding shotgun with the real McKleins. Whatever I c... Read More
	Chinese Sesame Balls ~ Gluten-free I've only made sesame balls twice in my life. Yesterday and today. I watched a video online, found a recipe in my Maui Extension Cookbook and pulled a recipe from About.com. Yeah, wish me luck jus... Read More
	Bumwelos ~ South African Style Thinking I'd keep my mother company as she recoups from a chest cold, I load my car with a pantry of ingredients and equipment. I figure I can make Chanukah treats for the website and visit at the... Read More
	Apple Crisp with Oatmeal Streusel Topping I spend the last of the holidays on the amazing apple crisp diet. Making a couple of pans for my friend Susan for Sukkot, I peel another 5 pounds of apples for myself. The handy apple peeler and corer... Read More
	Funfetti Cake Part of me is procrastinating. I should be working on Thanksgiving recipes. Only one glitch; fresh turkeys haven't arrive at the market and mashgiach can't come until this afternoon. I love wh... Read More
	Fig and Raspberry Tart with Sesame Almond Crust This is another favorite of mine from "Baking with Julia" by Dorie Greenspan. Called a "raspberry-fig crostata' in the book, a crostata is a tart in Italian. With Amanda Knox's ... Read More
	French Apple Tart Rosh Hashana and weeks of holidays are fast approaching. I'm crazy busy with catering and want to get more recipes uploaded. Solution at this point: put foods for the holiday onto my catering even... Read More
	Jam Thumbprint Cookies Thumbprint cookies are a standby classic that I really don't see all that often. Good parve, they are fabulous made with real butter....and, what isn't? With a simple indentation fil... Read More
	Vanilla Cake or Cupcakes with Real Buttercream Frosting Wow. Hurrying to make food for 3 events last erev Shabbat, I realize that I don't have my vanilla cake recipe. Sha-zam! - my Smart Phone (or, not-so-smart as Aviva says because it is my phone... Read More
	Gluten-free Toasted Oatmeal with Dried Cherries Cookies I've been wanting to make these cookies for a couple of weeks. I have 4 events this weekend but I want to make a gluten-free oatmeal cookie. Guess what is on the dessert table this Shabbos at one ... Read More
	Hungarian Shortbread with Rhubarb Jam Filling I told Lucy in May that I'd upload this recipe....hmm, it's only a couple of months later. Sorry! This is one of my favorite bar cookies in the world; the entire world. Ruchie, who eats only c... Read More
	Perfect Lemon Bars (Pareve or Dairy) Serving these lemon bars the other day, a guest said, "Oh, the world's most perfect lemon bars!" They weren't always the most perfect. Often the center wouldn't set up as much as... Read More
	Rugelach ~ Chocolate, Cinnamon Walnut or Jam (Parve or Dairy) We don't have a sign reading "over a billion sold" but we have certainly made many, many rugelach. Thumbing through "The 2nd Avenue Deli Cookbook" while looking for the falafel... Read More
	Strawberry Rhubarb Tart In the spring, just as Passover is approaching, I start looking for rhubarb. One of our more popular desserts that time of year is Apple Rhubarb Crisp. I make it ritually for the Hillel Passover lunch... Read More
	Easy Vanilla Buttercream Frosting (Dairy or Pareve) There is a large group of customers from the old bakery who love this basic, easy to make frosting. Back then, needing a pareve frosting for Shabbat cakes and wedding cakes, we make this by ... Read More
	Galaktoboureko I first hear of galaktoboureko from my friend Carl who professes it to be his favorite dessert. Looking online, I find a recipe and make it but I think it comes out heavy. Galaktoboureko is a Greek se... Read More
	Rice Krispie Treats with Marshmallows and Sprinkles Lag B'Omer is a picnic day, an upshurin day, a day to be casual and get the kids outside to play. BBQ's, hot dogs, hamburgers ~ nothing too fancy. Desserts are simple, too. Rice Krispie treats... Read More
	Sephardic Biscochos Biscochos are in my top favorite cookies to make. They are a Sephardic classic, especially in this town. Catherine Scharon is my adopted Sephardic grandmother and she taught me her way of making these... Read More
	Gluten-free, Dairy-free, Egg-free Flan or Flop? Designing the Mexican dinner as a 'MEAT' meal, I need a parve dessert. I want to do a flan and happen across this recipe online by Mark Bittman. Look at it ~ such promise for being free of glu... Read More
	Trifle What's a trifle? Scrumptious dollops of custard and whipped cream layered with sponge cake and fresh strawberries. This is fabulous when real DAIRY is used and works surprisingly well as... Read More
	Apple Rhubarb Crisp (Kosher for Passover) This is my favorite Passover dessert. I ate an entire 8" round pan of this for breakfast and lunch yesterday and today. Forget the plate. I just stuck a fork into it and told my crew 'don'... Read More
	Flourless Chocolate Cake This is a must make for Passover. Similar to the Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake in appearance, this cake is much lighter. Many flourless chocolate cake recipes are similar so what makes one better t... Read More
	Chocolate Chip Cookies (Gluten-free or Not) What does 'or not' mean? I have many requests to share gluten-free recipes. This means I have to develop some recipes. Fine with me as I love to learn new stuff. My basic philosophy is&nb... Read More
	Dobos Torte (original 7-layer cake) (Dairy or Pareve) This is the original version of the 7- layer cake. Thin layers of sponge cake, thin layer of chocolate buttercream, repeated 6 times and topped with a caramel layer. This photo shows a dripping layer ... Read More
	Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake (Kosher for Passover) The Chocolate Raspberry Truffle Cake is to Passover what the Apple Crown Cake is to Rosh Hashana. We make it yearly for individual seder packages and by the 1/2 sheet pan for the Hillel lunches. It is... Read More
	Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (Dairy or Pareve) I reserve this frosting for very special occasions, for cakes like the Dacquoise or Dobos Torte, as it is a bit time consuming to make. Maybe it is easier making a small batch rather th... Read More
	Best Ever and Easy Hamentachen We rolled out (no pun intended) the first of the hamentachen this week at a Kiddush lunch at Herzl. Three hundred and fifty pieces disappeared quickly ~ poppy seed, apricot, raspberry, strawberry, and... Read More
	Gluten-free Hamentachen I did not need to find out how wonderful these are....absolutely did not need to know. If I take one more bite I'm going to have to say it again. I made these hamentachen pareve but they taste lik... Read More
	Hamentachen Filling - Chocolate Brownie Purest decry my chocolate hamentachen filling. I say, "Ha! ~ it outsells poppyseed by 2:1!" It's true. Hamentachen cookie dough surrounds a brownie; what could be better? Somehow we'... Read More
	Hamentachen Filling - Apricot In the past, we've purchased our apricot filling in large 40 pound buckets. It isn't always easy to find pareve. Last year, there was a huge snow storm in the East and the trucks weren't g... Read More
	Hamentachen Filling - Prune Prune Lekvar is available in bulk quantities by special order at the bakery supply, in 50 pound buckets. Hmm, sort of a lot since it isn't the best selling hamentachen filling. But, it is really e... Read More
	Hamentachen Filling - Poppy Seed I received an email today asking if I have a recipe for poppy seed filling. I'm thinking two things; 1) someone noticed I didn't put up a recipe for poppy seed filling and 2) I have a can open... Read More

About Leah

Hi! Thank you for stopping by to watch me, Leah, cook kosher. I've been the owner operator of my boutique catering firm in Seattle, Leah's Catering, for the past 14 years.
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