bagel Archives - Splash of Sherri

the new passover bagel

Posted on April 12, 2020 by Sherri

This year I tried a new Passover bagel recipe. It’s unlike any other I have tried before. Why is this bagel different from all other bagels? Sorry, but I think you knew I just had to go there! For one thing it’s made with almond flour making them gluten free. It’s not like a big crusty and doughy bagel made with flour and yeast, but it can’t be – no yeast or flour! However, using just a few Passover friendly ingredients I was able to bake something that was the perfect addition to our Sunday morning breakfast. It’s crusty on the outside and a little chewy on the inside which gives that bagel feel. You won’t believe it!

The Passover bagels we all know and love during this holiday are really more like rolls or popovers than a bagel. They are really good, but not a bagel as much as we try to convince ourselves they are! These are much more like a bagel and they are even boiled first. When I made them this morning I could not wait to share them with you. They get a big thumbs up from my family and if only we had lox in the house it would have be a win, win! But, we did have TempTee cream cheese so no complaints!

They are really easy to make and once you get the hang of it, the second time around is even easier. It took me about 20 minutes to get the dough ready and boil them so not too bad. Baking was under 30 minutes which was great. All in all worth the 45 minutes start to finish with an end result of 6 delicious Passover bagels. They are best warm from the oven, but what isn’t? I really liked it toasted (which I definitely recommend for any leftovers the next day). My son thinks they will be great as bagel chips, I’ll have to get back to you on that. The recipe only makes six and they all disappeared in minutes, so no leftovers today to try that out.

One of the fun things about Passover is we make different foods we don’t ordinarily during the year. This makes them more special and boy do we have to be creative about it! The new Passover bagel is proof of that! I hope you give this recipe a try – I think you’ll really like it. Happy Sunday everyone…..Enjoy!

Ingredients
3 cups blanched almond flour
1 cup potato starch (or tapioca starch)
2 teaspoons baking powder (kosher for Passover)
2 tablespoons. honey
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar*
1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
2/3 cup warm water
1 egg (or yolk only) – for egg wash
Toppings: everything bagel spice, sesame seeds, Poppy seeds, or other favorite bagel topping

set up
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Set your rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 350° F
3. Set a large shallow pot of water filled ¾ full on the stove and bring to a boil. By the time you are done with the dough it should be boiling. Once it comes to a boil reduce the heat so you have a gentle boil.

time to make the bagels…
In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients until well incorporated and there are no lumps. In a second bowl or large measuring cup, combine all wet ingredients (except the egg) and mix by hand until honey looks dissolved. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and mix in the wet until a smooth dough forms. It feels like a moist playdoh. Let it rest for a couple of minutes.

Divide the dough into 6 equal portions which will be a little over ½ cup each. Roll each piece into a ball and then flatten slightly. Press your index finger into the center and make a hole. The dough is pliable enough to pick up and form it from both sides. Repeat with each bagel.

Carefully drop bagels into the simmering water and wait until they float to the top. This takes about 30 seconds to a minute. Gently remove with a slotted spoon and arrange them on the prepared baking sheet. Continue with all of the bagels.

Bake the bagels for 10 minutes.

Remove bagels from oven and brush with beaten egg or egg yolk (whichever you are using) and topping. It’s best to brush and top one bagel at a time so the seeds will stick.

Return bagels to the oven and cook for 20-25 more minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10-20 minutes before serving. Some sites say this allows for them to firm up a bit. If there are leftovers the next day, toasting is best.

*a few sites say you can omit the cider vinegar bit I think you need it. Speaking of sites, I have adapted this recipe from various sites all extremely similar or the same I don’t have a clue which one created it. So here is a shout out to just a few I looked at. www.kiwiandcarrot.com www.koshereveryday.com and www.healthstartsinthekitchen.com if you are the original creator, please take a bow!

egg in a bagel is how I celebrated national bagel day

Posted on January 21, 2020 by Sherri

Egg in a bagel is how I celebrated national bagel day (FYI it was last Wednesday). How did you celebrate? Did you even know there was such a thing? I didn’t. Shouldn’t everyday be National Bagel Day? In any case, this is a holiday I can really get behind. It’s so inclusive – everyone loves bagels and there are so many toppings – don’t get me started.

I could have celebrated the traditional way with a bagel, lox and cream cheese, or even a bagel and tuna salad – but no lox in the house, and as for tuna, I eat way too much tuna as it is. I didn’t want to celebrate with plain old scrambled eggs and a toasted bagel, that didn’t seem fancy enough. I wanted to really whoop it up and party! Yes, this is how I party – with a bagels! Just ask my friends; they all know it’s true and now the secret is out.

I’m sure you’ve heard of an egg in bread or at least know about it. It’s called so many things. I actually found a website which says it goes by 66 different names so maybe you know it as: an egg in a basket, a rocky mountain, egg in a hole, Popeye, and my all time favorite – moon over Miami!. It’s just like what it sounds like, a slice of bread with a hole cut out of the middle and an egg dropped in then grilled to a toasty perfection. I’ll post about the traditional one another time but for now, let’s celebrate the bagel!

So there they were, 4 ingredients: a bagel, 2 eggs, and butter, that’s it. Bagels are so prefect for this recipe because they already have a hole in the middle. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before – it was delicious! Really delicious. It has all of the elements you want in a traditional egg in bread – the crispy grilled buttery bread and perfectly cooked oozy yolk, which when cooked together is nothing like eggs with a bagel on the side; this is a marriage. When you cut into the bagel and the yolk breaks, it’s like liquid gold.

Maybe it was the everything bagel seasoning, or the crispy and chewy goodness of the bagel grilled with butter that made this an egg in bread 2.0 – whatever it was, I’m hooked. And hey, it’s not too late to celebrate, I think the bagel deserves a whole week! Don’t you?

So here we go, four ingredients: 2 eggs, a bagel cut in half, and butter for the pan – that’s it.

ingredients
1 everything bagel cut in half (or any bagel you like)
2 extra large eggs
1 tablespoon butter (more if you like a lot of butter)
Salt and pepper to taste
optional toppings or sides: chives, asparagus, avocado, smoked salmon, more everything bagel seasoning!

directions
If the hole in the bagel is too small, take a round cookie cutter and make a larger hole. If you don’t have a round cookie cutter (which you should so please go buy one) just use a knife.

Melt butter in a large frying pan or skillet set to medium heat. Place the bagels cut side down and grill for about 2 minutes. Crack and egg into the hole. Cook for about 3 minutes or until you see the egg white becoming a little opaque. Flip carefully and cook another 3 to 5 minutes depending on how cooked you like your yolk – plate and Enjoy!

vegetable cream cheese, it’s my favorite schmear!

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Sherri

Vegetable cream cheese, it’s my favorite schmear!

It’s 11am on Sunday morning and if I was back in New York right now, I would be standing on line at a bagel place behind someone drinking coffee, maybe texting or talking on their cell phone, hair unkempt (lots of hats on Sunday mornings!) reading the Post patiently (or maybe not so patiently – it is NY after all). Standing there in the warmth of the store I would inhale the aroma of Sunday.

Chances are if you are one of my neighbors in Columbus, Ohio – you are not having this kind of experience today. It’s challenging to say the least to get a good bagel here but even more challenging to get vegetable cream cheese. Northeast friends, brace yourself and take a deep breathe… we don’t have bagel places like you do! The closest we have to a NY bagel is Bruegger’s Bagels https://www.brueggers.com/ (a 25 minute drive from my house) or we can get a bagel delivery from Sammy’s Bagels http://sammysbagels.net/ but we certainly don’t have vegetable cream cheese!

So today instead of standing “on line” – yesterday I went “online” and placed my order for a dozen bagels which were then delivered to my doorstep at 4am this morning! I ran downstairs like a little kid and opened the front door to my house, only to find a big brown bag filled with bagels! I opened the bag and breathe in… Sunday has arrived!

So after all of this, you are probably wondering if there a recipe somewhere in here? Yes! I like to eat my bagel with a vegetable cream cheese schmear but it’s not sold in Columbus – so, I make it myself. If you have never had vegetable cream cheese before it’s a must. It’s creamy and has crunchy little gems of carrots, green onion, radish, and celery. It’s so easy to whip up and to adapt the ratio to your liking. The real bonus is that I can make it lower in fat by using the reduced fat cream cheese. Next time you have a bagel try it with a vegetable cream cheese schmear. You’ll thank me! Enjoy!

This recipe is open for adaption. If you don’t like carrots, skip it or add red or green pepper instead. The same goes for all the other ingredients. Listed are what is traditionally found in vegetable cream cheese and how I like it. Recipe fills a little bit more than a 16 ounce container. In my house, that’s enough for one breakfast!

2 packages of 1/3 reduced fat Philadelphia cream cheese close to room temperature
6 tablespoons finely sliced green onions (scallions)
4 tablespoons finely diced carrots
4 tablespoons finely diced radish
3 tablespoons finely diced celery (place on a paper towel after dicing and pat it dry)

Dice all of the vegetables very finely. I have seen some recipes suggest grating the vegetables. I don’t recommend that. It makes for a very different texture and flavor.

With a hand mixer, cream the 2 packages of cream cheese until fluffy, about 1 minute. Add the vegetables and blend just to incorporate. That’s it! If you don’t have a mixer, you can use a food processor to whip the cream cheese, then fold the vegetables in by hand. Enjoy!