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Kosher For Passover Brunch Recipes

Waffles, pancakes, and crumb cake muffins that are also gluten-free

by
Stephanie Butnick
April 02, 2015

For those who keep Passover, exciting breakfast or brunch possibilities are nearly nonexistent. Nothing that rises, fluffs, or flutters for eight long days. Fortunately, there are some lively new options for the chametz-free and hungry. Paula Shoyer, the author of cookbooks like The Kosher Baker, is back with The New Passover Menu, a collection of 65 recipes to take you straight from the seder to the eighth day.

“I wanted to write this book because, whenever I travel or tour the world as a kosher baker and cookbook author, people ask me about Passover food and desserts, no matter what time of year it is,” Shoyer writes in the cookbook’s introduction. “Cooking for Passover meals weighs on people. I have always viewed the holiday’s dietary restrictions as challenges that can be overcome, if you focus on the ingredients you can use.”

Shoyer shared her kosher for Passover recipes for crumb cake muffins and a waffle or pancake mix, both of which are gluten-free. They’d go great with our Passover Bitter-Herb Bloody Mary.

Crumb Cake Muffins (gluten-free)
Reprinted with permission from New Passover Menu © 2015 by Paula Shoyer, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
Makes 16-18 muffins

Prep time: 15 minutes; let butter sit for 15 minutes to soften
Cook time: 22–25 minutes
Advance prep: May be made 3 days in advance or frozen

Equipment:
Two muffin tins and paper liners (can be disposable)
Electric mixer
2 large mixing bowls
Measuring cups and spoons
Silicone spatula
Cutting board
Knives
Medium bowl

These muffins have a scrumptious crunchy top and a soft cakey interior.

You can make these parve by substituting water and margarine for the milk and butter.

For the batter:
4 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup milk
3/4 cup gluten-free cake meal or potato starch
Dash salt

For the streusel topping:
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup pecan halves, chopped into 1/3-inch pieces
1/2 cup walnut halves, chopped into 1/3-inch pieces
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 tablespoon gluten-free cake meal or potato starch

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place paper cups into 16 to 18 cups of two muffin tins.

To make the batter:
Place the yolks, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, if using, and milk in a medium bowl and beat with an electric mixer at medium speed for 1 minute. Add the cake meal and beat for 2 minutes more until mixed. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites on low speed until foamy. Add the salt, and then beat the egg whites on high speed until stiff. Use a silicone spatula to fold the whites into the batter in four parts, mixing at increasingly slower speeds after each addition until all the whites are incorporated.

To make the streusel:
In a medium bowl, mix the cinnamon, brown sugar, pecans, and walnuts. Add the butter and cake meal and use your fingers to work the mixture until it sticks together. When the mixture comes together, break it back into crumbs.

Fill the muffin cups two-thirds to three-fourths full with the batter. Sprinkle the crumbs on top, dividing them evenly among the muffins.

Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Waffles or Pancakes (gluten-free)
Reprinted with permission from New Passover Menu © 2015 by Paula Shoyer, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
Makes 4 large waffles or 6 to 8 medium pancakes

Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Advance prep: Batter may be made one day in advance; waffles may be made one day in advance and reheated

Equipment
Measuring cups and spoons
Zester
Medium bowl
Electric mixer
Whisk
Waffle maker
Silicone spatula

In 2013, my family was in Israel for Passover, so I won the get-out-of-Passover-cooking-free card that year. The hotels in Israel serve enormous breakfast buffets with every kind of salad, cheese, yogurt, fruit, cake, bread (for Passover—really), and cookie you can imagine. I was fascinated by the appearance of waffles at two different hotel buffets, and my kids were thrilled. One hotel even had a frozen yogurt machine—the yogurt made an excellent topping. After tasting the waffles, I was won over and convinced that everyone needs a waffle maker for Passover. This batter can be used to make pancakes as well.

1 1/4 cups ground almonds
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons vanilla sugar
1/2 cup potato starch
2 large eggs, separated
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon orange zest (from 1 orange)
1/2 teaspoon salt
Nonstick cooking spray

In a medium bowl, whisk together the ground almonds, baking powder, sugar, vanilla sugar, and potato starch. Add the egg yolks and whisk. Add the milk and orange zest and whisk to combine.

In a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the egg whites at medium speed and, when the eggs are foamy, add the salt. Turn the speed up to high and beat the whites until stiff. Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.

Heat your waffle maker and generously coat it with cooking spray.

Measure about 3/4 cup of batter for an average waffle maker. Drop batter in the middle of the waffle maker. Slowly close the top, taking care not to push down too hard. Let the waffle cook for about four minutes, or until browned. Remove from waffle maker and serve.

The Recipes


Waffles or Pancakes (Gluten-Free)

Waffles or Pancakes (Gluten-Free)

Crumb Cake Muffins (Gluten-Free)

Crumb Cake Muffins (Gluten-Free)

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.