Just a spoonful of sugar

Journalism staff shares their favorite holiday dessert recipes

katherine Tsvirkunova

Calling all baking enthusiasts! With the holiday season coming up, the kitchen is usually filled with the familiar scents of earthy spices and warm, buttery treats. Traditional recipes like sugar cookies and fruity puddings are already well known around the season, but how about other unique takes on holiday recipes? Join the Highlander staff as they share their favorite holiday recipes from around the world and the traditions they hold.

Khalid Kishawi, a Highlander writer, takes pride in his family’s own recipe of the dessert known as Kanafeh. Kanafeh is a Middle Eastern pastry made from phyllo dough, Akawe cheese, and mozzarella. Once baked, it is often drizzled in an Attar mixture and sprinkled with chopped pistachios or walnuts. Kishawi’s grandfather would spend hours during the holidays making this traditional pastry, making it very special to Kishawi’s family.

Maya Kornyeyeva, a Highlander writer, makes the traditional Ukrainian snowball cookies with her family around Ukrainian New Year’s, which is celebrated on January 6. These snowball cookies are known for their snowball-like appearance because they are rolled in powdered-sugar once prepared. Snowball cookies are quick and easy to make, so they are perfect to bake with kids.

Amber Chia, a Highlander editor, brings a Malaysian pandan-chiffon cake to the table. Chia’s grandmother makes this light and fluffy green-colored sponge cake every year around the holiday season upon her visits to Chia’s family in the Bay Area. The cake is very well-loved in Southeast Asia, and it is made out of pandan leaves, which are also known as screwpine leaves. The pandan leaves give the cake a slightly earthy or musky flavor, that reminds some people of the taste of vanilla.

Art by Claire Tseng

Khalid’s Jido’s Kanafeh

Serves 10-12 350*F 2-3 hours

Ingredients

For the kanafeh

• 1 pound of Akawe cheese • 1 pound of mozzarella • A bowl of water to soak the cheese in • 2 packages of frozen, shredded phyllo dough • 1 cup of melted ghee butter • 1 tablespoon of kunafa coloring (optional)

• 1 cup of finely chopped pistachios

For the attar

• 2 cups of caster sugar • 1 cup of water • 1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Extra Materials

• Food processor • Saucepan • Medium-sized metal circular tray • Large metal circular tray

Khalid Kishawi Khalid Kishawi, Highlander writer

Directions 1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 2. Cut the Akawe cheese and mozzarella into one-inch cubes and soak in water. Change water every hour to keep the cheese clean. 3. Take the frozen, shredded phyllo dough and run through a food processor until it is chopped into very fine pieces. 4. In a large bowl, add melted ghee and kunafa coloring and mix with the chopped phyllo dough until fully incorporated (make sure to leave some ghee to grease the metal trays). 5. Grease the two trays with ghee and press half of the phyllo dough into the medium-sized metal tray. 6. Drain the cheese and pulse into a food processor. 7. Spread cheese evenly on the phyllo in the pan, leaving a quarter-inch margin. 8. Sprinkle remaining phyllo dough evenly on the cheese and press down until it is packed tightly. 9. Bake on the center rack of the oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. 10. Remove the tray from the oven, and place it

over the large metal tray, flipping the kanafeh. 11. Place the kanafeh back into the oven for 10 minutes to crisp the other side. 12. Mix sugar, water, and lemon in a saucepan over the stove, until it begins to boil. 13. Take the mixture off the stove and let it cool completely. This will create the attar that will be poured over the kanafeh. 14. Cut the hot kanafeh into two-by-two-inch squares. 15. Poor the cool attar over the kanafeh and let it soak. 16. Sprinkle chopped pistachios over the kanafeh and serve immediately.

Katherine Tsvirkunova Kanafeh, a Middle Eastern pastry made from phyllo dough, Akawe cheese, and mozzarella.

DECEMBER 2020 HIGHLANDER 41

Maya’s Snowball Cookies

Makes 25 cookies 350*F 1 hour 15 minutes

Ingredients

1 cup of softened butter 1 cup of powdered sugar (sifted) 2 cups of flour 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

• ½ teaspoon of baking soda • 1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans

Extra Materials:

• Greased cookie tray • Plastic wrap

Maya Kornyeyeva Maya Kornyeyeva, Highlander writer

Directions

1. 2. 3.

4. 5. 6. 7. 8. Measure and prep ingredients as detailed above. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Combine butter and half a cup of powdered sugar into a mixing bowl until the mixture is creamy. Add in the vanilla extract. Add flour into the mixture one cup at a time, adding baking soda in between cups. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and place into the refrigerator for 45 minutes. Remove dough from the refrigerator and shape into 1-inch balls onto a greased pan. Bake for 15 minutes, or until cookies are golden brown. Let cool for about five minutes. Roll the warm (not hot) cookies in remaining powdered sugar to create snowball-looking balls, and serve.

Low Carbohydrate Walnut Snowball Cookies/ Ted Eytan/ Flickr/ CC BY-SA 4.0 Snowball cookies resemble tiny snowballs because of their powdered-sugar coating, and they are usually made around Ukrainian New Year’s.

Amber’s Pandan-Chiffon Cake

Serves 10-12 350*F 2-3 days

Ingredients

7 green pandan leaves 2 tablespoons of water 60 grams of egg yolks 85 grams of castor sugar 150 grams of egg whites 50 grams of oil (Any oil will do, as long as it is flavorless) • 75 grams of coconut milk • 1/8 teaspoons of salt • 80 grams of cake flour • ¼ teaspoons of baking powder Extra Materials: One 9-inch chiffon cake pan

Amber Chia, Highlander editor Amber Chia

Directions

1. Blend the pandan with water and let it separate, it will take a few days. Once separated, strain the pandan and measure out 65 grams of the mixture. 2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 3. Whisk the egg yolks with 25 grams of castor sugar till the mixture is thick and pale. 4. Add the oil, coconut milk, pandan mixture, and salt. 5. Whisk till evenly mixed. Sift the cake flour and baking powder into the mixture and mix until well-combined, then set aside. 6. Beat the egg whites while gradually adding 60 grams of castor sugar. Keep whisking until egg whites reach stiff peaks. 7. Fold the egg whites into the egg yolk mixture in 3 batches until evenly mixed.

Bang mixing bowl against the worktop 3-4 times to get rid of any big air bubbles. 8. Fill the cake pan with the batter and tap molds gently against the worktop to level batter. 9. Bake until the cakes are golden brown and slightly springy, which will take Pandan-chiffon-cake/ Andrea about 35 minutes. Nguyen/ Flickr/ CC BY 2.0 10. Wait about an hour to cool Pandan-chiffon cake is a traditional Malaysian cake made by Amber Chia’s grandmother before serving. during the holiday season.

DECEMBER 2020 HIGHLANDER 43