Water Challah: Maggie Glezer’s Lithuanian Challah

My husband wanted a less sweet and much chewier challah than the ABin5 challah, so I made a batch of Lithuanian Challah from Maggie Glezer’s book A Blessing of Bread.

Despite being a water challah (i.e., no eggs in the dough), the crumb was not pure white, but more of a creamy color. I realize that in the below picture, the crumb does look white, but–trust me–it was not as white as the crumb of bakery water challah. Of course, that could be related to the bakery using different flour or longer mixing times or more powerful mixing equipment.

Daring Bakers: Gingerbread

  

The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book (Beatrice Ojakangas) as the challenge recipes. 

As you can see, I made a Chanukah house . . . 

Princess Cupcakes

Today is National Cupcake Day! (apparently)

I made these quite some time ago, and was too busy to post about them. This was what I originally was going to do as my cake decorating demo for the shul sisterhood brunch. But, it was deemed a bit too complicated given my short time slot, and I went with cake stenciling instead.

ABin5 Challah, Part II: Almost Famous’s Poppy Seed Onion Rolls

Way back when, I used to frequent an Upper West Side kosher spot called Famous’s Dairy Restaurant. The waitress would bring out baskets of warm poppy seed onion rolls that were fantastic. The onions were carmelized, even burnt, on the outside, and translucent on the inside. They were perfect plain, but what roll isn’t better with a little butter?

The dough was definitely egg-enriched, like challah.

Recreating these rolls was the perfect use for the remaining pound of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day challah dough.

Caramelized Apple Slices

This is half a recipe. To be precise, I made the first half of Jacques Pepin’s Skillet Apple Charlotte. (update: this link doesn’t work, so go here to Food & Wine.)

Laurie Colwin and Karen Edwards’s Chocolate Cake

When making or even when contemplating making chocolate cake, I always think of Laurie Colwin’s observation about how everyone is “searching for the one true chocolate cake.”

Chanukah Mac & Cheese

So, do you see how the Cheez-It Scrabble crackers spell out Happy Chanukah and Chag Sameach on my macaroni and cheese casserole? Please notice because absolutely nobody else did. They just dove in and devoured it.

ABin5 Challah and Sticky Buns

I made the challah recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The master dough for challah can also be used to make sticky buns, and I made a half recipe of that in a loaf pan. 

Pumpkin Spice Mandelbread Thins with Pumpkin Seeds and Cranberries

Here is a new version of Almondina-like biscotti (for a version with apricots, craisins, pistachios, and almonds, see here). This version is flavored with pumpkin pie spices (nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and cinnamon).

I used powdered egg white powder to make these, so I did not have leftover egg yolks. But, if I did, I would so want to make the recipe from the November Bon Appetit for Spiced Brandy Semifreddo with Cranberries. The recipe says that this frozen white chocolate mousse, flavored with rum, brandy, and nutmeg, should be served with a crisp cookie or biscotti. Perfect!