Music-Themed Dessert for Parshat Vayigash

In this week’s Torah portion, Serach, the daughter of Asher, was appointed to let Jacob know his son Joseph was alive and well in Egypt. Serach wanted Jacob to hear the news slowly so as not to overly excite the elderly man, so she played a song about Joseph being alive.

For this week's parshah, we will create musical cookies and place them on top of a basic mousse trifle. Follow along and join us in creating this dessert.

What You Will Need:

Basic Sugar Cookie dough (recipe below)
Instrument cookie cutter (we used a violin)
Baking Chocolate
Graham Crackers
1 Instant chocolate pudding
2 cups non-dairy milk
1-16 ounce Non-Dairy Whip Topping
1 9 ounce bag of chocolate chips

Sugar Cookie Recipe:

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (plus more as needed for rolling)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract.

Directions:

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the margarine and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond extract

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until combined. The dough will be relatively soft. If the dough seems too soft and sticky for rolling, add 1 more tablespoon of flour.

Divide the dough in half and roll out both pieces of dough on parchment paper. Lightly dust one of the rolled-out doughs with flour. Place a piece of parchment on top. This prevents sticking. Place the second rolled-out dough on top. Cover with plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then refrigerate for at least an hour.

Once chilled, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2-3 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Carefully remove the top dough piece from the refrigerator. Using a cookie cutter, cut the dough into shapes. Place the music shapes on the baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

Chocolate Outline:

Once the cookies are baked, cool them completely.

To create the chocolate outline, melt some baking chocolate until melted. Place the melted chocolate in a piping bag or ziploc bag. Make a small hole at the tip. Carefully pipe around the border of the cookie and any other outline and detail you would like to make. Let the cookies harden.

Chocolate Pudding:

Follow the directions on the Instant Chocolate Pudding packet.

Chocolate Cream:

Whip the 16 ounce topping on high speed until the cream reaches a hard-peak stage. Next, melt 3/4 of the bag of chocolate chips. Once melted, fold the melted chocolate chips into the whipped topping. Place into a ziploc bag and create a hole in the corner.