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 (at my house we use Cheerios, but you could use pennies, poker chips or chocolate gelt). 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:
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.
Playing dreidel is a great activity, especially for a large group. The group can play tournament style, and the players with the highest totals of coins could win a prize. This year, I made giant chocolate covered sugar cookies to give as prizes to the top winners! I used a pouch of Betty Crocker Sugar Cookie Mix and prepared it according to the package instructions.
Instead of making individual cookies, I pressed the cookie dough into two well greased small cake pans (6 inch) to make thick “cookie cakes.”
Bake them for about 15 minutes at 375 F and check them. They should be golden around the edges, and a toothpick should come out clean when they are done. If undercooked, continue to bake and check every few minutes, since ovens vary.
Then, I carefully melted chocolate chips (about 3 ounces) in the microwave. Use a defrost setting to avoid scorching chocolate, and microwave in 1 minute intervals. Gently stir until chocolate is smooth. Use a spatula to cover top of cookie with chocolate so it resembles chocolate gelt. When the chocolate has set, wrap the cookie in foil. Then, use a toothpick to draw designs on the foil by pressing very gently so it looks like a coin.
The top players will love winning these giant gelt cookies. Make them special with a bow or other embellishments.
Here it is sliced...yum!
Have ideas for a dreidel tournament or fun stories and ideas to share? Please do!