Cookie Cutter Kneidlach

Wait. Don’t panic! We’ve got normal, run-of-the-mill, round matzah balls (see here). But there’s always room for more interpretations, and these kneidlach more than earn their place. They turn classic Jewish penicillin into a celebratory hurrah you can read, or a get-well card you can eat (they really are perfect for lifting spirits on sick days).

To make them, begin with your favorite matzah ball soup recipe; once the “batter” is chilled as called for in the recipe, place it on a parchment-lined baking sheet, flatten it gently with your hands, and then stamp out shapes using simple cutters—letters, hearts, flowers, etc. Avoid cutters with lots of sharp edges, which tend to fall apart; clean, rounded shapes hold up best (a heart works beautifully, for instance; anything too jagged, like a star, might not hold up).Freeze the stamped shapes again, for at least 30 minutes, on a parchment-lined sheet before cooking to help them hold their form. Then resume the soup recipe, using a slotted spoon or spider to gently lower the shapes into the pot. 

If you stamp out letters, be warned: longer nouns and names tend to get…abstract. “REBEKAH,” for instance, would almost certainly arrive at the table looking like a brothy anagram. I vote for “YAY” or “ILY”—something short and sweet that has a fighting chance of still resembling itself post-simmer. (And they’re bound to yell an all-caps “YAY!” when the bowl appears, so it’s fitting.)