One of the joys of the Days of Unleavened Bread is preparing treats that we rarely make during the rest of the year. To aid your joy, we are publishing a collection of recipes in this year’s Living Church News. Ladies of Living Education-Charlotte teamed up with wives here at Headquarters to bake each of these delicious dishes, and we hope you will find something enjoyable to try!
Of course, there is no mandate to bake your own bread, and you can also find appropriate unleavened bread items at many grocery stores. With careful reading of labels, you can have suitable unleavened bread to remind you of lessons of these important days. However, when feasible, preparing recipes ourselves highlights and enhances the pleasure and happiness of God’s ways, and usually adds the additional benefits of sharing with and serving others. We look forward to many readers also adapting these recipes to fit their needs.
As we are physical creatures, God often commands us to do physical things to help us learn spiritual lessons. Mindful and purposeful actions enrich our thoughts and lives as we prepare for and observe His Festivals throughout the year. And, in this spring Festival season, we also experience the benefit of eating the results!
We hope that this year’s Days of Unleavened Bread season will be most enlightening, encouraging, and enjoyable for all our readers! And may the food we enjoy during these days remind us to partake of the most important unleavened bread as we observe the Festivals that God has designed for our good: “Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth” (1 Corinthians 5:8).
—Editorial Staff
Breads
Bread for Passover Service
Several Passover bread recipes have been circulated in the Church over the years. This recipe is based on Mrs. Isabell Hoeh’s, published by the Radio Church of God and Ambassador College in 1960, and should be a suitable model for any homemade Passover bread.
2 cups whole wheat flour
¾ teaspoon salt
1½ tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
½ cup water
Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix together flour and salt. Cut in butter with two knives or a pastry blender. Combine oil and water and mix well, then pour over flour mixture and mix lightly with a fork. If more water is needed, add no more than a tablespoon at a time, just enough for dough to form a ball. When dough forms a ball, knead on floured board until dough is smooth. Working with one ¼-cup to ⅓-cup portion at a time, roll out on floured board until thin. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and trim edges neatly before baking. Bake for 7–10 minutes until lightly browned.
Cottage Cheese Bread
2½ cups flour
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups cottage cheese
Optional ½ cup shredded sharp cheddar
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix all ingredients. Spoon about ¼ cup of batter at a time onto a greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. Serve warm or cooled. Refrigerate leftovers.
Cottage Cheese Crescent Rolls
½ cup butter
2 cups flour
2 cups cottage cheese
½ teaspoon salt
Toppings of your choice
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix all ingredients well. Refrigerate eight hours or overnight. Divide dough into four pieces. Roll each piece into a circle and sprinkle desired toppings along outer edge. Cut into four, six, or eight wedges, and from wide end, roll up to form crescents. Bake for 30 minutes.
Toppings can include nuts, garlic powder, dried minced onions, salt, cheddar cheese, or even everything-bagel seasoning—or, for a dessert option, cinnamon, sugar, or chocolate chips.
Note: To speed things along without an overnight refrigeration, grate frozen butter into mixture, then set dough into freezer for about an hour.
Golden Delight Pancakes
1 cup ricotta cheese or cream-style cottage cheese
6 eggs
Heaping ½ cup whole-wheat flour
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp oil
¼ cup milk
½ tsp vanilla
Place all ingredients in a blender. Cover and blend at high speed for one minute. Pour ¼-cup portions of batter on a greased griddle and, when browned underneath, flip to cook other side. Makes 20 four-inch pancakes. These can also be cooked as waffles. Bake extra and freeze—reheat in a toaster and they are as delicious as freshly made.
Honey Bread
2 cups flour
¼ cup brown sugar
¾ cup melted butter
¼ cup water
2 tablespoons honey
Preheat oven to 350°F and mix ingredients together. On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to half-inch thickness. Place dough on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 17 minutes. Let cool and slice as desired.
Jewish Almond Bread
4 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 cups flour
1 cup butter
½ cup sliced almonds
½ teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons almond extract
Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix eggs, sugar, and one cup flour. Add butter, mix well. Add two cups flour, almonds, vanilla, and almond extract. Pour into greased pans—small loaves work well. Bake for 30 minutes.
Soft Matzo
2⅓ cups flour (plus more for dusting)
4 tablespoons olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup water
Combine all ingredients and form a soft ball of dough, then roll into a 15x8-inch oval and place on a floured 18-inch piece of parchment paper. To make serving easier, lightly score top by running knife through it in a diamond-shaped pattern, being careful not to cut completely through dough. Transfer paper with dough onto baking sheet, then transfer all to bottom rack of oven. Broil at high for ten minutes—flipping after five minutes—or until bread is golden brown and spotted.
Desserts
Almond and Coconut Cake
1 ½ cups almond flour
½ grated coconut
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
⅔ cup melted and cooled butter
2 tablespoons almond flakes
Powdered sugar for garnish
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a nine-inch springform pan lined with parchment or baking paper. In bowl add almond flour, coconut, salt, and sugar, whisking well to combine. In another bowl whisk together eggs and vanilla. Add cooled butter to eggs and whisk well. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix well. Pour into a prepared pan and spread out evenly. Scatter sliced almonds on top. Bake in oven for 40 minutes or until top springs back slowly when gently pressed. Cool cake in pan on wire rack. Once completely cooled, remove. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.
Best served warm but freezes well—thaw or warm in microwave before serving. Stays fresh in fridge for a week—bring to room temperature or warm in a microwave before serving. Sliced pistachios can be used instead of almonds.
Chocolate Marshmallow Delight
¾ cup butter
¼ cup cocoa powder, sifted
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1½ cups flour
2 teaspoons vanilla
Pinch of salt
Optional 1 cup chopped nuts
Topping:
½ cup butter
¼ cup cocoa powder, sifted
½ cup evaporated milk
About 4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ bags marshmallows
Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt butter and whisk in cocoa powder until smooth. Beat eggs and sugar together and pour into cocoa-butter mixture. Add flour and salt. Mix well. Add vanilla (and nuts if desired). Bake in a greased, floured 9x13-inch pan for 30 minutes. To make frosting, heat milk, butter, and cocoa powder together on stove until smooth. Mix in other ingredients over heat until smooth. Have frosting ready when taking pan from oven so topping will adhere to cake properly. Remove pan from oven and cover immediately with a single layer of marshmallows. Then, pour hot frosting evenly over top. Let cool until topping is completely hardened before cutting.
Gluten-Free Fudge Brownies
½ cup melted butter
1 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips
½ cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Optional ¼ teaspoon salt
Optional ½ teaspoon vanilla
Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8x8-inch baking dish or pan with non-stick cooking spray and set aside. In a medium saucepan on a stovetop, melt butter and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring every 30 seconds until chocolate chips are melted and smooth. Whisk in sugar. Remove from heat and let cool a bit, then add eggs one at a time until batter is smooth. Add cocoa powder—plus salt and vanilla, if desired—and stir until well incorporated. Spread batter evenly into prepared baking dish. Bake at 350°F for 25–30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool completely in pan at least an hour after bringing out of oven before cutting—otherwise they will fall apart.
Gluten-Free Hazelnut Croissant Rolls
2 cups gluten-free flour
¼ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup cold butter
1 egg yolk
¾ cup sour cream
Nutella
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon hot water
½ teaspoon almond extract
Preheat oven to 375°F. Measure flour and salt into large bowl. Cut in butter and combine well. Stir in egg yolk and sour cream and mix well. Shape into three balls. Wrap in wax paper and chill for at least one hour. Then, on lightly floured surface, roll each ball into six-inch circle. Spread Nutella over entirety of each circle. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into 8 or 16 equal wedges. Roll each wedge, starting at wide end. Place on greased cookie sheet with point-side down. Repeat for other two dough balls. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on racks. Whisk together powdered sugar, water, and almond extract to make simple icing. Drizzle lightly over cold butter horns, just to glaze, placing wax paper under racks to catch excess icing drips.
Gluten-Free Jam Cookies
½ cup melted butter
⅛ teaspoon salt
¼ cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1¼ cups gluten-free flour
¼ teaspoon xanthan gum
Your preferred jam, jelly, curd, etc.
Glaze:
4 teaspoons lemon juice or lime juice
¾ cup powdered sugar, sifted (if you find it needs to be thinner, you can add a very small amount of milk)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt butter. Mix powdered sugar, salt, xanthan gum, and flour, and pour in melted butter and vanilla. Mix well to combine all ingredients. Divide dough into three portions, then hand-roll into nine-inch ropes or lengths to fit on your cookie sheet. Place them on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Make shallow depression down center of each rope with your index finger, then fill each depression with jam. Don’t make depression area too deep, or cookies will break. Bake for 20–25 minutes—cookies should be only slightly browned on edges. Cool completely. Prepare glaze and drizzle over jam in crisscross pattern. Once glaze has set, cut ropes into one-inch cookies.
Shortbread Bars
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
2 cups white flour
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cups your choice of chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, or peanut butter chips
Optional pecans
Preheat oven to 325°F. Mix first five ingredients together and spread dough on parchment-paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. When finished baking, immediately pour chocolate, butterscotch, or peanut butter chips on hot dough. Spread melted chips evenly, then top with pecans. Let cool completely, then cut into bars.
Swiss Horns
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup plus ⅓ cup cold butter
Yolk of 1 large egg, lightly beaten
¾ cup sour cream
½ cup chopped pecans
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Optional glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350°F. Pour flour and salt into large bowl, then cut in butter until mix is crumbly. Stir in sour cream and egg yolk, then shape mix into ball. Chill overnight or for at least three hours. After chilling, divide dough into three portions, then roll each portion into twelve-inch circle on well-floured surface. Combine pecans, sugar, and cinnamon to make filling, then sprinkle a third of filling over each circle of dough. Cut each circle of dough into twelve wedges, then roll each wedge, starting at wide end. Place rolled wedges onto greased baking sheets, point-side down. Bake for 15–18 minutes or until lightly browned. If using glaze, combine glaze ingredients, then spread on warm rolls.