Uncategorized
These Jewish baked goods made the New York Times’ list of ‘25 Essential Pastries’ in NYC
Inspired by the “bakery renaissance” that’s currently underway across New York City — if you spot a line somewhere, there’s a very good chance there are baked goods at the end of it — T: The New York Times Style Magazine has assembled a list of “The 25 Essential Pastries to Eat in New York City.”
Among those on the list are several Jewish treats, including a buttery, chocolatey babka that’s made New Yorkers’ mouths water since 2013 and a tiny knish filled with sauerkraut and dill from a buzzy new bakery on the Lower East Side.
To assemble their of list 25 standout pastries — a tough task, we imagine — the magazine assembled a panel of renowned bakers: pastry chef and writer Tanya Bush; pastry chef Camari Mick; chef and Milk Bar founder Christina Tosi; Bánh by Lauren founder and pastry chef Lauren Tran; Shaun Velez, executive pastry chef at Daniel; and baker and cookbook author Melissa Weller.
Among the panel’s picks are some beloved old-school sweets like Lloyd’s Carrot Cake and the sour cream glazed doughnut from Peter Pan Donut & Pastry Shop; upscale creations like the Lysee mousse cake from Lysee and four Jewish-inspired desserts. Keep scrolling to see, in alphabetical order, which Jewish pastries are on the Times’ list.
1. Agi’s Counter’s cheesecake
Opened in 2021 by Brooklyn-based Jewish chef Jeremy Salamon, Agi’s Counter (818 Franklin Ave.) was inspired by Salamon’s grandmother, Agi, a Hungarian Jew and a Holocaust survivor.
“Most people, when they hear Hungarian, if they have any idea the first thing that comes to mind is probably paprika or goulash — maybe chicken paprikás,” Salamon, a James Beard Award-nominated chef, told the New York Jewish Week last summer. “The concept is so limited.”
The cheesecake at Agi’s Counter has been on offer since the restaurant opened — in fact, for a while, it was the only dessert on the menu. “A riff on the dense, creamy New York style often credited to Arnold Reuben, who made it a century ago at his Jewish diner, Reuben’s Restaurant in Midtown, and later popularized at diners like Junior’s, which first opened in 1950 in Downtown Brooklyn, Salamon’s version is a thick wedge made with Philadelphia cream cheese on a crushed graham cracker crust,” the magazine describes.
The cheesecake at Agi’s Counter with a blueberry compote. (Screenshot via Agi’s Counter Instagram)
At Agi’s Counter, the “well-executed take on a classic” is served topped with extra virgin olive oil, Maldon salt and a lemon wedge during dinner service. As part of the weekend brunch menu, it is topped with a blueberry and coriander compote.
“It was like $18, and I was there for lunch, so the dessert was actually the most expensive part,” said Tran. “I thought, ‘Oh, bold.’ And then I was blown away.”
While you’re there, don’t miss Agi’s Counter’s tuna melt, which features “oily, slow-cooked tuna, alpine Cheddar, pickled peppers, celery, dill and Kewpie mayo. Last year, it was one of 11 Jewish sandwiches on the New York Times’ list of “57 Sandwiches That Define New York City.”
2. Breads’ chocolate babka
The chocolatey, buttery, braided babka at Breads Bakery has been delighting New Yorkers since 2013, when the Israeli-inspired spot first opened near Union Square.
Breads’ buttery, laminated dough — “crispy-edged, springy and oozing with a Nutella-and-chocolate filling” per the Times — reignited the popularity of this Ashkenazi dessert across the city (and eventually in Paris, too.)
Today, Breads has six locations around the city, and its babka has become a New York icon — the bakery reportedly sells over 1,000 babkas a day during the winter holidays, per the Times. Co-founder and owner Gadi Peleg refers to his baker as “the house that babka built.”
According to panelist Weller, Breads “started a trend of babka, and also the trend of laminated doughs being used in different ways.”
Added Tosi: “He really defied the odds of how much chocolate one could put in babka.”
3. Elbow Bread’s potato sauerkraut knish
The Lower East Side’s buzzy Elbow Bread (1 Ludlow St.) opened last October, where baker Zoë Kanan has been busy creating old-school Jewish baked goods with a modern twist.
Backed by partners Eric Finkelstein and Matt Ross, the founders of the popular Flatiron Jewish luncheonette S&P, Kanan — who’s been called “a baker’s baker” by New York Magazine — turns out delicacies like bialys and rugelach, as well as contemporary hybrids like a challah honey bun, which is part croissant, part challah and “our sweetest ooey, gooey item,” Kanan told the New York Jewish Week.
“There aren’t many Jewish bakeries here anymore,” Kanan said. “I saw an opportunity to do something here [on the Lower East Side], in a location with so much Jewish history, and bringing my own personal style to it, which borrows from a lot of different techniques and ingredients. I love the classics and tradition is important, but what I find myself thinking about is ways to reinterpret.”
The pastry that made the T Magazine list is a savory one: a tiny sauerkraut knish, made of flaky laminated pastry wrapped around mashed Yukon Gold potatoes “flecked with crunchy salt and flavored with sauerkraut, onions, sour cream and fresh dill.”
“Knish was this thing that you just didn’t want,” panelist Weller said of the small pastry. “I love that she decided to reinvent it. Because it needed that.”
4. Fan-Fan Doughnuts’ guava and cheese fan-fan
After successfully launching the NYC mini-chain Dough Doughnuts and ice pop company La Newyorkina in 2010, Mexican-Jewish pastry chef Fany Gerson opened her Brooklyn doughnut shop Fan-Fan Doughnuts (448 Lafayette Ave.) in the fall of 2020. Despite launching during the pandemic, lines formed out the door.
In her work, as in her life, Gerson enjoys reflecting on the richness of her Jewish and Mexican heritages. “I feel like through time I’ve explored it through food and I’m kind of bridging the two worlds,” Gerson told the New York Jewish Week in 2021.
A close-up of the guava and cheese fan-fans at Fan-Fan Doughnuts. (Screenshot via Fan-Fan Doughnuts Instagram)
During Hanukkah, Gerson sells delicious and inventive sufganiyot, which are traditionally fried, round jelly-filled doughnuts that are enjoyed during the holiday. But the pastry that made the Times’ list can be enjoyed year-round: an éclair-inspired doughnut, known as a fan-fan, that’s filled with cream cheese, glazed with guava and topped by a brown butter walnut cookie crumble.
The treat is “inspired by the guava cheese roll from one of her favorite Mexico City bakeries,” according to the Times.
“That’s the thing about food, it’s not ephemeral,” Gerson told us. “How many memories are tied to food? A smell can take you back.”
—
The post These Jewish baked goods made the New York Times’ list of ‘25 Essential Pastries’ in NYC appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
Uncategorized
Trump Says Gas Prices May Remain High Through November Midterm Election
U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions from reporters while Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio look on, as they attend a meeting with oil industry executives, at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., January 9, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that the price of oil and gasoline may remain high through November’s midterm elections, a rare acknowledgement of the potential political fallout from his decision to attack Iran six weeks ago.
“It could be, or the same, or maybe a little bit higher, but it should be around the same,” Trump, who is in Miami for the weekend, told Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures With Maria Bartiromo” when asked whether the cost of oil and gas would be lower by the fall.
The average price for regular gas at US service stations has exceeded $4 per gallon for most of April, according to data from GasBuddy. Trump’s comments on Sunday came after weeks of asserting that the spike in prices is a short-term phenomenon, though his top advisers are cognizant of the war’s economic impacts, officials have said.
Earlier on Sunday, Trump announced on social media that the US Navy would blockade the Strait of Hormuz and intercept any ship that paid a crossing fee to Iran, after marathon talks between the US and Iran in Pakistan over the weekend did not yield a peace deal.
“No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Any US blockade is likely to add more uncertainty to the eventual resolution of the conflict, which is currently subject to a tenuous two-week ceasefire. The new tactic is in response to Iran’s own closure of the strait’s critical shipping lanes, which has caused global oil prices to skyrocket about 50%.
UNPOPULAR WAR HITS TRUMP’S APPROVAL
The war began on February 28, when the US launched a joint bombing campaign with Israel against Iran. The scope quickly expanded as Iran and its allies attacked nearby countries, while Israel targeted Hezbollah with massive strikes in Lebanon.
The war has buffeted global financial markets and caused thousands of civilian deaths, mostly in Iran and Lebanon.
Trump’s political standing at home has suffered, with polls showing the war is unpopular among most Americans, who are frustrated by rising gasoline prices.
The president’s approval rating has hit the lowest levels of his second term in office, raising concern among Republicans that his party is poised to lose control of Congress in the midterm elections. A Democratic majority in either chamber could launch investigations into the Trump administration while blocking much of his legislative agenda.
US Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, questioned the strategy behind Trump’s planned blockade.
“I don’t understand how blockading the strait is going to somehow push the Iranians into opening it,” he told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
In a separate appearance on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Warner said the blockade would not undermine Iranian control of the waterway.
“The Iranians have hundreds of speedboats where they can still mine the strait or put bombs against tankers in closing the strait,” he said. “How is that going to ever bring down gas prices?”
Although Trump has repeatedly said that the war would be over soon, Republican US Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin told ABC News’ “This Week” on Sunday that achieving US aims in Iran “could take a long time.”
“It’s going to be a long-term project,” said Johnson, who was not asked about Trump’s proposed blockade. “I never thought this would be easy.”
Uncategorized
Israel’s Ben-Gvir Visits Flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound
Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir walks inside the Knesset, in Jerusalem, Oct. 13, 2025. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Pool via REUTERS
Israel’s far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Sunday, saying he was seeking greater access for Jewish worshipers and drawing condemnation from Jordan and the Palestinians.
The compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City is one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East. Known to Jews as Temple Mount, it is the most sacred site in Judaism and is Islam’s third-holiest site.
Under a delicate, decades-old arrangement with Muslim authorities, it is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and Jews can visit but may not pray there.
Suggestions that Israel would alter the rules have sparked outrage among Muslims and ignited violence in the past.
“Today, I feel like the owner here,” National Security Minister Ben-Gvir said in a video filmed at the site and distributed by his office. “There is still more to do, more to improve. I keep pushing the Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) to do more and more — we must keep rising higher and higher.”
A statement from the Jordanian foreign ministry said it considered Ben-Gvir’s visit to be a violation of the status quo agreement at the site and “a desecration of its sanctity, a condemnable escalation and an unacceptable provocation.”
The office of Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said such actions could further destabilize the region.
Ben-Gvir’s spokesman said the minister was seeking greater access and prayer permits for Jewish visitors. He also said that Ben-Gvir had prayed at the site.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office. Previous such visits and statements by Ben-Gvir have prompted Netanyahu announcements saying that there is no change in Israel’s policy of keeping the status quo.
Muslim, Christian and Jewish sites, including Al-Aqsa had been largely closed to the public during the Iran war. There was no immediate sign of unrest on Sunday after Ben-Gvir’s visit.
Uncategorized
Netanyahu Visits Troops Fighting Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Aug. 10, 2025. Photo: ABIR SULTAN/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon on Sunday as military operations against Hezbollah-linked targets continue.
Netanyahu toured forward positions alongside Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, Eyal Zamir, and Northern Command Commander Rafi Milo, meeting troops and receiving operational briefings from commanders on the ground.
Speaking to soldiers, Netanyahu praised their performance and said operations in the Lebanese security zone were ongoing.
“The war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon,” he said, adding that Israeli forces were working to prevent infiltration attempts and neutralize threats such as anti-tank fire and missiles.
He described the northern campaign as part of a broader regional struggle involving Iran and its allies, saying Israel’s adversaries were now “fighting for their survival” following sustained Israeli military pressure.