Recipes

The Perfect Chrismukkah Cookie

Team Tahini: Light, crumbly cookies with tahini-cream cheese frosting are among the recipes in a new cookbook by Adeena Sussman. Image by Lauren V. Allen

By Gayle L. Squires December 19, 2016

The portmanteau word “Chrismukkah” might have been coined in the early aughts, but this is the first year in recent memory that the Christian and Jewish winter holidays perfectly align. The first night of Hanukkah falls on Christmas Eve, and by the time the final eight candles have dripped down the menorah branches, the ball in Times Square will be primed to drop.

In the spirit of adding an Israeli-tinged cookie to Santa’s plate, or a Christmas-inspired treat to your Hanukkah fry-fest, try Adeena Sussman’s tahini sandwich cookies, from her new book, “Tahini.” The sesame paste lends a rich, nutty flavor to the shortbreadlike biscuits and the tangy cream cheese frosting.

The Recipe

At this year’s festivities, let the most difficult decision you make be whether to dunk, twist or crunch.

Gayle Squires is a food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Her path to the culinary world is paved with tap shoes, a medical degree, business consulting and travel. She has a knack for convincing chefs to give up their secret recipes. Her blog is KosherCamembert.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO