Guilt-Free Gelt Hannukah Cookies

Hanukkah “gelt” refers to small amounts of money given to Jewish children during Hanukkah. Nowadays, exchanging Hanukkah gelt usually means giving chocolate coins wrapped in shiny foil. This tradition began in the 1920′s, when an American candy company called Loft’s produced the first chocolate gelt coins.

If you have been in the holiday candy aisle of any store, you’ve probably seen chocolate gelt—chocolate disks wrapped in foil to look like coins, usually in a mesh bag.  These candies are a fun part of Hanukkah. The word gelt means “money” in the Yiddish language, and at Hanukkah, children traditionally received coins as a gift.

Coins are needed to play dreidel, a game traditionally associated with Hanukkah.  A dreidel is a top with four sides, and each side has a Hebrew letter on it.  Dreidel is a game of chance played with at least two people.  In addition to a dreidel, each player needs 15 coins. To begin, each player puts a coin in the “pot.”  The first player spins, and wins or loses depending on what Hebrew letter shows after the dreidel is spun.

Here is a cheat sheet for what happens when the dreidel is spun: (by jillbcooks)
If Nun appears, nothing happens, and the next player spins the dreidel.
If Gimel appears, the lucky spinner takes the whole pot.
If Hey appears, the spinner takes half of the pot.
If Shin appears, the spinner must add a coin to the pot.
(http://www.bettycrocker.com/community/blogs/viewblog/jillblog/2008/12/16/giant-hanukkah-gelt-cookies)

Ingredients

• 1 cup (200 grams) butter or pareve margarine, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix margarine and sugar until 
2. smooth. Add in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, mix flour with baking 
3. powder.  Slowly add flour mixture to dough until just blended. 
4. Divide dough into 2 balls. Do not refrigerate the dough. Flour rolling pin, rolling 
5. surface and cookie cutter. Roll out dough until 1/8 inch thick. Cut into shapes. 
6. Use a spatula to place cut-out shapes onto an ungreased cookie sheet. 
7. Continue rolling and cutting cookies until the dough all the dough is used. 
8. Re-flour surface, rolling pin and cookie cutters as needed. 
9. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned.    

After cookies have baked and cooled to touch, coat lightly with cooking spray, then sprinkle with golden decorating sugar and top with an unwrapped chocolate gelt coin

For the most delicious dreidel you've ever tasted, see our note with the recipe for Hershey's Brownie Dreidel, coming soon to our L'il Mermaids blog