More Stylish Bloggers

Cher at The Not So Exciting Adventures of a Dabbler has kindly given me a  Stylish Blogger award. Thanks, Cher, I think you rock, too!

Daring Bakers: Joconde Imprime

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

A joconde imprime is a sheet of sponge cake (specifically a joconde sponge cake, which is a sponge cake made with ground almonds) that has been imprinted with a different color of batter. In this recipe, the different color batter is a cookie batter (called decor paste here) that is also used for making wafer thin cookies called tuiles.

Peanut Butter Balls

I posted a dessert platter with toffee bars and peanut butter balls, but there were no recipes! I just posted the toffee bars, and now here are the peanut butter balls. As with the toffee bars, the recipe is as old as the hills, but I do have some tips.

Toffee Bars

I posted a picture of these bar cookies and then I realized that I did not include a recipe.  This is an old recipe that is just about everywhere, but I thought I would post it anyway, along with some tips.

Best Pancakes?

Mississippi Pancakes (pictured below) against Good Enough to Eat Pancakes (pictured above)? Close tie. Mississippi Pancakes are more tender, but the Good Enough to Eat Pancakes taste like the recipe name: “Diner Stack.”  Totally diner-ish pancakes.

I think my family prefers, slightly, the Mississippi Pancakes. I tried using whole milk yogurt instead of milk–very good, but you have to be prepared to add a bit more liquid, and you can cut back on the added oil and butter.

Mississippi

Bubbie Lottie’s Cabbage Soup, Sort of . . .

I was going to make the cabbage soup from Wholesome Harvest, but then my husband reminded me that he craves his grandmother’s soup, which has potatoes in it. So, I kind of veered off course . . .

It doesn’t look so exciting, but my husband scarfed down two huge bowlfuls.

Chickpeas and Vegetable Madras

This is from a vegetarian cookbook that is a cult classic in my extended family–although it is out of print and otherwise seems to have been forgotten. All my siblings and my parents have a copy of Carol Gelles’s Wholesome Harvest. My grandmother (Z”L) loved the soup recipes.

Anyway, I have neglected it of late. My sister was telling me about this soup, Harirah, that she was making, and when I asked where she got the recipe, she said: “Wholesome Harvest!” She also made a sweet potato red lentil soup recently from the book. So, I took a look at the book and made my modified version of the Cabbage Soup (which my husband loves) and a big pot of vegetable stew.

My Favorite Banana Cake

This is the best banana cake. And I have tried a lot of banana cake recipes.  It is even delicious made with all-purpose flour instead of cake flour, Earth’s Best Margarine instead of butter, and soy milk instead of butter.

If you want to take this over the top, add some crumb topping and chocolate chips.

Shabbos Kallah Cookie Platter: Peanut Butter Balls and Toffee Squares

I added to a platter of peanut butter balls and toffee squares a little fondant covered wedding cake.

Parsha Cake: Yitro