Bow Tie Cookies

“Big Kichel could have been the name of one of Meyer Lanksy’s enforcers.”

—Journalist Matt Kronsberg on the kichel at Generoso’s Bakery in Brooklyn

Kichlach, Yiddish for cookies, usually describes a range of airy and thin Ashkenazi egg cookies. While they can be sweet, savory, peppery, oniony, or something in between, they all have their origins in the shtetls of Eastern Europe. In these prewar Jewish villages, poppy seed kichel and pepper kich