Category: Recipes

Apple strudel is one of the great achievements of Ashkenazi Jewish baking—a paper-thin sheet of hand-stretched dough rolled around a filling of spiced, caramelized apples and toasted breadcrumbs, then baked until the pastry shatters into a thousand golden, flaky layers. It’s the kind of baking that requires skill, patience, and a clean kitchen towel, and the result is something that no store-bought version can approach.

The strudel tradition came to Jewish bakeries through the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where Viennese Apfelstrudel was the queen of pastries. Jewish bakers adapted it by replacing butter with oil, creating a pareve version that could be served after meat meals. The hand-stretched dough—pulled so thin you can read a newspaper through it—became a point of pride among Jewish grandmothers, a skill passed down through generations and demonstrated with theatrical flair at family gatherings.

Making strudel dough from scratch is an exercise in trust. The high-gluten dough, rested until relaxed and extensible, is stretched by hand over a tablecloth until it becomes nearly transparent. Rolled around a fragrant filling of tart apples, sugar, cinnamon, golden raisins, and toasted breadcrumbs (which absorb the apple juices and prevent sogginess), the strudel bakes into a pastry that crackles at the touch and reveals layer upon delicate layer within.

The black and white cookie is as New York as the Brooklyn Bridge and as Jewish as a Sunday morning at Zabar’s. Half-moon of vanilla fondant, half-moon of chocolate—this oversized, cake-like cookie has been a fixture in Jewish bakeries, delis, and appetizing shops across the five boroughs since the early 20th century. It’s the cookie that launched a thousand Seinfeld references, the one Jerry called “the symbol of racial harmony”—two colors coming together on a single cookie.

The origins of the black and white trace back to the German and Eastern European Jewish bakers who established themselves in New York in the late 1800s. Known as Halbmonde (half-moons) in German baking tradition, these cookies were adapted by Jewish bakeries like Glaser’s, Zabar’s, and William Greenberg to become something distinctly New York. The key is in the base: not a crunchy cookie but a soft, cakey round that’s really more of an individually portioned sponge—tender, lemony, and yielding.

A truly great black and white cookie has three non-negotiable qualities: the base must be soft and cake-like (never crunchy), the fondant icing must be smooth and just-set (not dry or chalky), and the dividing line between black and white must be crisp and clean. This recipe delivers all three, with a pareve formula that makes these cookies suitable for any occasion—from a Shabbat kiddush spread to a weeknight treat.