Krembo
This is my version of the Krembo, a classic Israeli childhood snack. As kids, we’d get a box of twenty-four Krembos with a cookie base. We’d start eating away, and smearing these chocolate-covered marshmallow treats onto one another’s faces. There are different ways to eat a krembo—some devour the entire chocolate shell first; others hollow out the chocolate by sucking out the creamy inside. I think the best way is on your own, without sharing. You can find them in supermarkets all over Israel, but they taste even better when homemade. If you’re short on time (and long on children), you can use store-bought cookies as your base instead of making your own.
- Duration
- Cook Time
- Prep Time
- 20Servings
Ingredients
Homemade Cookies:
- 2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 10 cookies)
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- ¼ cup finely chopped pecans
Cream Filling:
- 1 cup sugar
- ⅓ cup water
- ½ teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- 4 egg whites
- Pinch of cream of tartar
Ganache:
- 11 ounces 72% cacao chocolate
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
Preparation
For the Homemade Cookies:
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Combine the graham crackers, butter, and pecans in a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients are well combined and the texture is like grainy sand.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and form 2-inch disks directly on the sheet. I usually grab the cookie cutter and pack in a little bit of the graham cracker mixture in-side, then pat it down. This gives my cookies a nice uniform shape, but if you don’t have anything on hand, there are no strict rules against making them freehand.
4. Bake in the oven until the cookies are crisp, about 20 minutes. Place them on a rack and cool completely before handling. Reserve the baking sheet and parchment paper to use for assembling the krembo.
For the Cream Filling:
1. Place the sugar, water, and lemon juice in a small saucepan and dissolve completely over low heat. Simmer just until a candy thermometer reads 235°F; alternatively, to check whether the sugar is ready, old-school style, simply scoop a teeny tiny amount of syrup onto a spoon and drop it into an ice bath. If the syrup congeals, it’s ready.
2. While the sugar is heating, whip the egg whites with an electric mixer until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and keep whipping over medium speed. Once the syrup is ready, carefully and slowly drizzle the syrup into the mixing bowl with the egg whites while the mixer is run-ning. Keep whipping the whites until the mixing bowl is cool to the touch and the mixture is stiff and glossy, 5 to 7 minutes.
To Assemble:
Scrape the cream filling into a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch round tip. Place the cookies back on the baking sheet lined with the parchment paper. Carefully pipe a 3-inch mound of cream filling onto each cookie, covering the entire surface area and finishing it off with a peak at the top. Place the almost-finished krembo in the freezer overnight or for at least 5 hours.
For the Ganache:
When the krembo is finished hanging out in the freezer, you can start on the ganache. Bring a medium pot of water to a simmer. Combine the chocolate and oil in a large bowl, then place it over the simmering water. Melt the chocolate and stir occasion-ally with a rubber spatula until thoroughly combined
To Finish:
The next step is a bit messy...The simplest way is to place a rack on top of the baking sheet lined with parchment paper and then place the krembo right on top of that rack. When you pour the ganache over the krembo, the ganache will drip past the cooling rack and onto the parchment paper. The ganache should harden almost on contact with the frozen krembo, creating a nice chocolate shell. Use a spatula to lift the cookies from the cooling rack and onto a serving platter. Crumple up the parchment paper for an easy cleanup so you can have more time to enjoy these gooey treats.
Excerpted from Balaboosta by Einat Admony
Recipe originally published in JOY of KOSHER with Jamie Geller Magazine Purim 2014 SUBSCRIBE NOW
