Rugelach

My mom has cousins living in Israel, and one of them was coming to visit with her hubby and 1 year old. I don't get to see them that often, so I was very excited. Of course, of course, of course I had to bake dessert for the following night that they were coming over for dinner. Something tasty, wonderful flavors, great texture, and comes from the background of Israel. 1 word: R-U-G-E-L-A-C-H. I never made rugelach before this, but I was eager to try.
I found probably the best recipe I could have found, from the fabulous, Ina Garten. The link to the recipe is: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/rugelach-recipe2/index.html

I didn't have the apricot preserves that the recipe called for, so what I did was
1. Quartered up some dried apricots.
2. Put them into the blender with a few very small drops of lemon juice, a splash of orange juice, and however much sugar I needed to sweeten it up.
3. I pureed everything together, adding as much hot water as I needed to thin out the puree.





I really liked the little creation I had made as my replacement for the apricot reserves. It had a nice texture from the apricots which couldn't get completely pureed, and was perfectly sweet. In the future, I will definatlly use this puree again instead of buying a whole jar of apricot preserves, although one day I have to try the preserves to compare the differences. Anyhow, both ways seem delicious.

As far as the assembly of the rugelach went, it was a bit time consuming, but all the steps were very simple.
Start out with rolling one of the 1/4's of the dough into a round cirle. Don't worry about getting the edges straight, because the edges are going to be unseen after you roll them up anyways.

Next spread out your layer of apricot puree (I spread it out with a brush)

Sprinkle on the sugar/nut mixture, and then cut the cirlce into 12 even wedges.


Roll up a wedge at a time, starting from the biggest side of the triangle wedge.


After you've got them all rolled up and on a baking sheet, give them all an egg wash, and then sprinkle on the cinamon sugar mix


These rugelach were one of the best things Iv'e every baked. That surprises me, because I didn't even think I like rugelach. Everytime I bake somthing, I can't help but think of all the things I could have added or shouldn't have. But these, oh these were just about perfect. The only complaint I would have with these, besides being so addictingly good, is how the sugar sprinkled on top of them created a hard chewy crust on the bottom of each, although that complaint was turned into a complament by many of the guests who enjoyed these treats with me, since they liked that sugary crust on the bottem.



We started out with 48 ruhgelach, I mean 45, considering all the ones I managed to sneak into my mouth right when they came out of the oven, at the begining of the night...


And were left with...

Rocky Road Brownies

My friend's birthday was coming up, and of course I had to bake her something. Whenever we go to this certain chocolate store in a shopping center, she always samples their rocky road, and so I knew I had to bake her something with rocky road in it. And what goes better with anything than a nice chocolaty brownie? And so, I went into the kitchen to bake some rocky road brownies.

The good thing about these brownies, is that you can pretty much use any brownie recipe you like. Just be sure not to use an overly fudgy recipe, or else the brownies will be too heavy with everything going on.
Here is a link to a website which gives you a huge variety of brownie recipes to search from, to find one that is the chocolaty consistency and flavor you want: http://browniepower.com/

Halfway through the brownies cooking process, I took them out to put a layer of marshmallows, chocolate chips/chunks, and walnuts.

As far as putting mini marshmallows vs. chunks of big marshmallowa goes, the cut up marshmallows melt all over the top, while the mini marshmallows keep their shape better. To me it didn't matter, but all I had was big marshmallows on hand which i quarted up, so I used those.


I was a big in a rush, because we were havving a mini surprise party for the birthday girl, and I needed to get there on time with the rocky road brownies, so I had to cut them up before they were fully cooled down. The brownie recipe I used was too fudgy so cutting them was a bit of a mess!

No worries though, because my mouth had a good time cleaning up the fallen fudgy pieces of the brownies!

I did however plop them into the fridge for a little bit, to speed up the cooling process, and then somewhat cut them in the best way I could...

Overall, these messy, nutty, marshmellow invested, chocolaty brownies, gave us and the super surprised birthday girl, at her surprise gathering a super duper fun time, filled with giggles, chocolatey lips, and very satisfied tummies!

Vanilla Almond Biscotti

Story of my life: mom always yelling at me because of the slightest mess Iv'e made through baking! So the pieces fell perfectly together when treats ran out, and I wanted to bake something, and my grandma wanted me to come over to her house that following afternoon to bake something for her...:D
My family and I were going on vacation in a couple of days, and my grandma, herself, was going on a cruz in a few weeks, so we decided on baking something delicious, very low on fat, and of course, something that can be kept/stored for a long time. Biscotti!!!

I found the recipe very special, because this had been passed down through friends of my grandmothers generation, but still the ingrediants and directions remained very simple for such a delicious dessert.

-3 cups A.P. white flour
-2 cups sugar
-4 eggs
-1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
-1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
-2 tsp. vanilla extract
-1/4 cup nuts such as walnuts or hazelnuts, alightly roasted/toasted (optional)
-1 cup almonds , slightly toasted/roasted
-1 cup almond powder

Directions:
Sift and then mix all the dry igrdediants into one large bowl together. Mix in the eggs. Mix in everything else and let it all mix until everythings combined into a dough. Form the dough into 2 even sized loaves and bake in the oven at


After the loaves cook in the over for about, take them out and slice them at an angle and place them on one of their flat sides into the oven for about another, flip them one more time, and let them bake for about another or until the edges start browning.


For the second biscotti loaf, we wanted to make the biscotti smaller, so we cut the load in half




The original recipe actually called for 2 cups of almonds, but since my grandmother had almond powder on hand, we added a cup less of almonds and a cup of almond powder instead.

The almond powder gave the biscotti a much stronger almond flavor then the whole almonds did, so I would add the almond powder into the dough the next time I bake these again. I you don't have any almond powder on hand, you can make i yourself by just tossing some almonds into the food prosseser, until they become as powdery an you want. Just be sure to use cold almonds, so that they don't turn into almond paste in the prosesser. If you don't feel like doing this, you can always add a few teaspoons of almond extract into the dough to give it a strong almond flavor.

Be sure to allow the cookies to cool completely before serving, in order for them to become as hard and crispy as possible. They store well and keep their crunchy texture in the freezer.

Peanut Butter-Banana Stuffed French Toast

I was watching an episode of "The Best Thing Iv'e Ever Tasted," a show on Food Network and the main subject for that episode was 'breakfast.' The best thing Chef Bobby Flay had eaten for breakfast was "Stuffed French Toast." While he was explaining were they serve it at, I was too lost in the words of the french toast being stuffed with peanut butter and bananas to pay attention. So of course, the following morning, I was eager to make some Peanut Butter-Banana Stuffed French Toast (PBBSFT)! Just as I was about to grab the bananas, I realized I didn't have any bananas! Me, with a sad face, was stuck eating cereal that morning, instead of my hot 'PBBSFT.' However, the next morning after that, after I was sure to buy bananas, I was able to make my stuffed french toast.

I made a plain peanut butter-banana sandwhich on whole-wheat bread


After I had closed the sandwhich, I soaked it into a mixture of 2 eggs, 1/8 cup of milk, salt, vanilla and:


I let it soak for about 45 seconds on each side


Cooked it on a buttered pan until the it was nice and crisp on both sides:


Then sliced it in half, dusted some powdered sugar and cinamon on top...


...drizzled some maple syrup on top, and ate it with a glass of orange juice...

..and experienced a little taste of heaven for breakfast :)

Chocolate Nutella Cake

As much as my brother enjoys what I bake, he's been complaining about how often I do, and how he never does. He is pretty young, but my grandma, my aunt, and I all love baking, so maybe it just runs in the family. He wanted to bake a chocolate cake with his own made up recipe, and I decided on helping him. He made a list of the basic ingredients he knew to put in the cake, and I added a few extras. The measurments were figured out along as we made up the cakes recipe, but overall, the texture and flavor of the cake was pretty good.

Chocolate Nutella Cake
-3 eggs
-1/4 cup dark brown sugar
-1/4 cup white sugar
-1/2 cup oil
-1 tsp. coffee
-1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
-1/4 cup milk
-1 1/4 cup white AP flour
-1/2 tsp. salt
-2 tsp. baking powder
-1 tsp. cocoa powder
-1 tsp. Orange Juice (optional)
-1/3 cup chocolate chips
-1/3 cup chopped hazelnuts (I didn't have any on hand ): )
-1/4 cup AP flour
-1/4 cup-1/2 cup nutella (based on how fudgy you want your cake)
-Melted Chocolate and Sprinkles to decorate (optional)

Directions:
1. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, sugars, and oil.
2. Add in the coffee and vanilla and beat until all combined. Add 1/4 cup of nutella, or 1/2 cup for a fudgier cake
3. In a seperate bowl, sift togther the flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder all together.
4. Alternate mixing in the sifted flour mixture with the milk and orange juice into the egg mixture, until it's all combined together
5. Toss the chocolate chips and hazelnuts in the extra 1/4 cup of flour (to prevent the chocolate chips/nuts from sinking into the bottom of the cake), until each chocolate chip/hazelnut is evenly coated with flour. Pour the flour coated chocolate chips and hazelnuts into the batter and mix in.
6.Pour the batter into a greased pan and bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.


To add a little something extra to the cake, once its cooled down, take it out of the pan and melt about 1/3 cup of chocolate. With a wisk or a fork, drizzle it over the cake, however way you like, and then top it of with some sprinkles while the chocolate is still melted.

If I would have thought of this earlier (and was up for the extra calories ;p), I probably would have sliced the cake down the middle and spread on a layer of nutella and chopped up hazelnuts onto the bottem half, and then closed it with the upper half of the cake!

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Covered Banana with Nuts

A few weeks ago, half a banana was eaten, and the other half layed unappealingly lonely on the counter for the rest of the afternoon. So what's a girl who's never eaten a chocolate covered banana before supposed to do? That's right, I went to the cupboard and grabbed a handful of chocolate chips to melt, to smear onto that banana! I do love bananas with a drizzle of peanut butter on them, and I do loveee peanut butter with chocolate, so i think we already know what happened next...;)

After I inserted a stick into the banana I smeared an even layer of peanut butter all around it

After the peanut butter on the banana hardened up for about 15 minutes in the freezer, it made spreading a layer of melted chocolate onto the banana a lot easier

Which then dove its way into a pile of nutss...

I only had almonds on hand so I chopped them up and they still added a great nutty crunch
(I only coated half the banana in nuts, and placed the nutty side down on the tray so that none of the chocolate touched/stuck onto it)

Once the whole things done and coated in whatever toppings you like, plop it into the freezer and put it into the refridgerater for 30-45 minutes before you want to eat it

Lots and Lots of Different Cupcakesss!

Through out last year, I baked plenty, but didn't think of making a blog at that time, so I rarely photograghed my food. I was looking through old pictures and was fortunate enough to find a picture of something I had baked for a friend's birthday. We had a memory of craving cupcakes after passing a sprinkles cupcake and crumbs cupcake shop and so of course I went with cupcakes! She's one of my closest friends, so I decided on making her a variety of cupcakes with flavors she picked out.
I don't remeber the basic cupcake recipe I used, but the flavors added are simple enough to add to any cupcake recipe you like
The picture quality itself isn't that great and each cupcake was only photographed once so I didn't have much variety to choose from for the best looking pictures of each. The little papers stuck onto each cupcake have the flavor and frosting types of each cupcake written on them, though its sort of blurry

Cupcake #1
Flavor: Vanilla Cupcake with Nutella Swirl
Frosting: Vanilla Buttercream mixed with Nutella
Topping: Small Chocolate Chunks and Tuxedo Chocolate Covered Strawberry


Cupcake #2
Flavor: Chocolate Cupcake with Reese's Peanut Butter Cup chunks
Frosting: Peanut Butter Frosting
Topping: Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Crumbles

(the link to this recipe is originally from http://icecreambeforedinner.blogspot.com/2008/07/chocolate-peanut-butter-cup-cupcakes.html, an amazing and absolutely deliciousss blog!)

Cupcake #3
Flavor: Cinamon Sugar with Pecans and Walnuts
Frosting: Cinamon Cream Cheese Frosting
Topping: Pecans and Walnuts and and a Small Sprinkle of Cinammon


Cupcake #4
Flavor: Chocolate Cupcake with Chocolate Covered Caramel Chunks
Frosting: Vanilla Buttercream with Nutella Swirls
Topping: Chocolate Coated Caramel Chunks and Chocolate Covered Strawberry with White Chocolate Stripes


I packaged all 4 cupcakes up in a plastic container and took it to school the following morning to surprise my friend and make her birthday nutrition/lunch at school a little more satisfying ;)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies (C.C.C.B.)

Two of my friends birthdays were recently on the same day. We all met up togther for lunch with some other friends, and of course, you've got to have dessert on your birthday! One birthday girl is a big fan of brownies and the other of chocolate chip cookies, and I had spotted a recipe which layered chocolate chip cookie dough onto brownie batter on http://anotheronebitesthecrustblog.com/, an amazing blog that has all my favorite ingulgences in low-fat versions! So of course, I found a great brownie recipe as well as a chocolate chip cookie dough recipe to pile onto each other for the perfect birthday treat.

The brownie recipe I got was from, probably favorite food network star, Ina Garten, and I also halfened the recipe since I needed only a thin layer. The recipe given for her "Outrageous Brownies" is:
-1 pound unsalted butter
-1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided
-6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
-6 extra-large eggs
-3 tablespoons instant coffee powder
-2 tablespoons real vanilla extract
-2 1/4 cups sugar
-1 1/4 cups flour, divided- 1 cup for batter and 1/4 cup in the chips and nuts
-1 tablespoon baking powder
-1 teaspoon kosher salt
-3 cups diced walnut pieces

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 18 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.
2. Melt together the butter, 1 pound chocolate chips, and bitter chocolate on top of a double boiler. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.
3. Stir together 1 cup of the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and chocolate chips with 1/4 cup flour to coat. Then add to the chocolate batter.
4. Pour into prepared pan. **I kept some exra brownie batter (a few tablespoons) to drizzle on top of the cookie batter going on top*
5. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Halfway through the baking, rap the pan against the oven shelf to allow air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Do not overbake! Cool thoroughly, refrigerate well and cut into squares.

^^^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^^^
If your making C.C.C.B.'s preheat the oven to anywere from 325-350F. Also don't put the brownie batter into the oven without putting on the layer of chocolate chip cookie dough over it first (recipe below)

For the layer of chocolate chip cookies I tried to find a recipe that had the longest cooking period possible to match up with the full half an hour of the brownies cooking time. This recipe I found only had to be baked for 15-17 and can be found on http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Big-Fat-Chewy-Chocolate-Chip-Cookie/Detail.aspx. To this recipe, I didn't add the extra egg yolk listed in the ingredients.

I actually made this batter before I made the brownie batter, and just let it 'chill' (haha get it..i know, it's not that funny) in the fridge while it was waiting. After I had the brownie batter poured into the pan, I poured the chocolate-chip cookie dough batter on top of the first layer


I then spread it out, and while spreading, I sort of dug into the brownie batter to get streaks of both batters mixed into each other


And with the extra brownie batter, I drizzled lines across the pan with it, which I then swirled in even rows


And just in case you think your kitchen is the only one that got messy while baking the batters..


Anyways, when putting the C.C.C.B.'s into the oven, i used the temperature of about 340 F, which was in the middle of both recipes cooking times, and I baked them for about 25 minutes total. The result is a more fudgy brownie with a chewy chooclate chip cookie on top, which tasted amazing with vanilla icecream! I also put the extras into the fridge which gave them such a nice chewy and rich texture.
Milk, meet your new best friend...

Chocolate Chip Banana-Nut Muffins with Crumble Topping

Once again I had overripe bananas on hand, and decided to use my favorite banana bread recipe which has been previously posted at http://browniescookiespieohmy.blogspot.com/2009/07/banana-breadcake-with-chocolate-chips.html

This time I changed the recipe up a bit, aside from my basic changes I used in the past.
First of all I made the banana bread into muffins instead.

I also changed the recipe up to make the muffins more low-fat.

I used 1 cup of whole-wheat flour and then remaining 1/2 white flour.

I replaced half the butter with applesauce which suprisingly didn't change the texture of the muffins much
Finally, just for the sake of experimenting with textures, I put half the amount of milk listed (low-fat) and for the remaining 1/8 cup of milk, I added 1/8 cp of greek yogurt mixed with plain yogurt (all non-fat), which didn't make a dramatic change in texture, but was a smich noticable.

I couldn't squeeze in all the batter into all the muffin tins, so with the extra batter I mixed up the extra chocolate chips and nuts I had chopped up to get added into the batter, with brown sugar, flour, and some applesauce and flour and the smallest pinch of baking soda. The thick topping got crumbled onto each of the muffins.

Brown Sugar Scones w. Lemon/Vanilla Drizzle

I have pials of recipes just sitting in a binder which Iv'e never tested out. Last week, when pastries ran out in the kitchen, I decided to seek into my binder of recipes I had printed out, and make one. I barely make scones, and the ones I make are with plain white flour and sugar, so a recipe for brown sugar scones, really caught my eye. I originally found the amazing recipe on http://veganvisitor.wordpress.com/ which providedes the very recipe on http://veganvisitor.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/brown-sugar-scones/.

The recipe is all vegan, but I made a couple of changes when I baked mine:
- Instead of 2 cups all-prupose flour and 1/2 cup whole-wheat flour I put in 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 1 cup orf whole-wheat flour
- I didn't have any vegetable shortening on hand, as well as any shortening, so I replaced the shortening with butter
- I didn't have soy milk either, but regular works just fine
- I threw in some blueberries, dried cranberries, oats, chocolate chips, and some chopped up almonds and walnuts

I knew the flavor of coffee would go great with these scones, but wasn't quite sure how to incorporate it into the scones. I decided to press little stripes of coffee onto the scones with a brush, which gave the scones a unique look to them. I also sprinkled oats onto the scones with oats in order to tell the difference.


After they were baked, I felt like they could use a little bit more flavor and I wanted to add more to the apperence of the scones. To contrast the flavor of the blueberries I wanted a lemony flavor and some vanilla as well. And so, I mixed up some lemon juice and vanilla juice with powdered sugar, until it became a nice thick drizzling consistency, and then swirled some on top of each of the scones after they had cooled.

The Glaze hardened nicely after about a half hour and tasted delicious on the scones