Posts Tagged ‘baking’

You know that you’re hooked to something when you start dreaming about it at night. Actually my addiction to baking isn’t news at all, but dreaming of a new recipe - now that’s a first! And so it happened that yesterday morning, just before waking up, I was dreaming about a recipe of white chocolate and Irish Cream cookies. The dream wasn’t about me baking them or anything like that - I dreamt the recipe! More fascinating than dreaming about a recipe was the fact that when I woke up I remembered it exactly! So after such an incident - wouldn’t you bake them immediately?

And so I did. The funny thing is that for a long time now I’ve been wanting to invent a new pastry recipe, not just tweaking with existing ones and changing little bits in them. I guess I wasn’t daring enough or didn’t have inspiration at the time, but boy was I happy to have this new recipe at hand to test. I was really tensed during the whole making process, eager to know already if the new recipe is any good, taste-wise.

The results were pretty satisfying. The cookies came out having a great flaky and tender texture. While baking, they filled the room with a great scent of Irish Cream, which is always an added bonus, the white chocolate wasn’t really felt, and the Irish Cream has given the cookies a subtle taste-twist but didn’t take over. I also added a little lemon zest, thinking that the white chocolate taste might be overwhelming, which also added to the flavor and scent of the cookies. I’ll be making these again, no doubt about that, and I’ll definitely be using this recipe for tart and pie bases. It would blend great with chocolate filling, for instance.

You can also pair them with some Dulce de Leche, it’s great!

White chocolate and Irish Cream cookies / Self recipe
Makes about 50 small cookies or one 26cm (10 inch) tart/pie base

Ingredients:
50 gr white chocolate
1 Tbsp milk
260 gr all-purpose flour
40 gr almond powder
150 gr butter, cold and diced
100 gr powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest of half a small-sized lemon
2 Tbsp Irish Cream liqueur (I used Bailey’s)
1 egg, beaten

Directions:
1. Place the white chocolate and the milk in a pot and melt the chocolate, using a medium flame. Let cool for 10 mins.
2. Put the flour, almond powder, butter, powdered sugar, vanilla extract and lemon zest in the bowl of a food processor. Process them together until getting a crumbly mixture (should take about 5-6 pulses).
3. Add the liqueur, the white chocolate and the egg and process in short pulses, just until the dough is formed.
4. Divide the dough into two halves, wrap each one with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.
5. Just before taking the dough out of the fridge, preheat the oven to 347°F (175° Celsius).
6. Take out one of the halves out of the fridge, roll the dough and cut the cookies. An easier way, which doesn’t involve rolling out the dough is simply making litlle balls out of the dough and flatten them slightly using a finger. If the dough gets hard to shape because it warms up and gets sticky, put in the freezer for 5 mins, take out, and continue working with it. Arrange the cookies on a pan, lined with parchment paper. Now take the second half of the dough out of the fridge and do the same thing.
7. Bake for about 15 mins, until golden. Take out of the oven and cool on a rack.
8. Optional: when cooled, dust with powdered sugar.

עוגיות שוקולד לבן ואייריש קרים / מתכון עצמי - מירי רביבו
עבור כ-50 עוגיות קטנות או בסיס אחד לפאי בקוטר 26 ס”מ

רכיבים:
50 גרם שוקולד לבן
1 כף חלב
260 גרם קמח לבן
40 גרם אבקת שקדים
150 גרם חמאה קרה, חתוכה לקוביות
100 גרם אבקת סוכר
1 כפית תמצית וניל
גרידה מחצי לימון קטן
2 כפות ליקר אייריש קרים (אני משתמשת בבייליס)
1 ביצה, טרופה

הכנה:
1. ממיסים את השוקולד יחד עם החלב בסיר על להבה בינונית. מצננים כ-10 דקות.
2. מכניסים לקערת מעבד המזון את הקמח, אבקת השקדים, החמאה, אבקת הסוכר, תמצית הוניל וגרידת הלימון. מעבדים עד לקבלת תערובת פירורית (אמור לקחת משהו כמו 5-6 פולסים).
3. מוסיפים את הליקר, השוקולד הלבן המומס והביצה ומעבדים בפולסים קצרים רק עד לקבלת בצק.
4. מחלקים את הבצק לשני חלקים, עוטפים כל אחד מהם בניילון נצמד ומקררים למשך שעה.
5. לפני הוצאת הבצק מהמקרר, מחממים תנור ל - 180 מעלות.
6. מוציאים את אחד מחצאי הבצק, מרדדים אותו וקורצים עוגיות. דרך נוספת לעיצוב עוגיות שלא מערבת רידוד היא לגלגל מהבצק כדורים קטנים ולשטח אותם מעט עם האגודל. אם במהלך עיצוב העוגיות הבצק מתחמם והופך דביק וקשה לעיבוד, מכניסים לפריזר למשך 5 דקות, מוציאים וממשיכים כרגיל. מסדרים את העוגיות על גבי תבנית התנור מרופדת בנייר אפיה. מוציאים את החצי השני של הבצק מהמקרר ועובדים איתו בצורה דומה.
7. אופים כרבע שעה, או עד שהעוגיות מזהיבות. מוציאים ומצננים על רשת.
8. אופציונאלי: לאחר הצינון, ניתן לאבק באבקת סוכר.

Peace in the Middle East… What a dream.. Unfortunately peace is quite far away from us right now, so until it’s reached, I’m going to settle for a piece (of cake, of course)  in the middle yeast

Wednesday evening (that’s when I finished baking the cakes in this post) I was the happiest in quite some time. In a minute I’ll tell you exactly what made me so joyful, but first I want to share with you a new theme on my blog that was born out of this happiness. Those of you who visit here often know that my grandmother was a great cook. Unfortunately all her recipes were lost when she passed away, and nowadays I try to recreate some of the great recipes she was using to make her fabulous dishes. So from time to time, whenever I try to make one of the dishes she once made, I’ll post about it using this sweet logo that Avi designed for me (many thanks, baby!)

and all these posts will be tagged under ”Grandma’s Kitchen” tag.

So about Wednesday evening - the cakes came out of the oven, I waited “patiently” for like 10 minutes (that’s the longest I could bare waiting), and then took a knife and sliced me a piece. I couldn’t believe my mouth! It tasted exactly (or if not, then very very close to that) like me Grandma’s heavenly “Cozonac” - a Romanian yeast cake they make on Holidays. The funny thing is that I didn’t even try to make one! I used an Israeli recipe for yeast cakes, that was recommended by a very talented foodie friend of mine - Sivan, whom I’ve “met” in the various Israeli food networks. I think the secret to the divine taste is simply (and please don’t laugh) the lemon zest. So simple and yet it gives the dough such a great aroma!

Every time I make a recipe that I don’t make that often, I try to experiment with it as much as I can. This time I tried a shape that I’ve never tried before, and various fillings. I tried to shape all of the 4 yeast cakes that the recipe yielded into a Krantz shape (this word origins from the German word for “crown”). You do it by simply rolling the dough to a log after filling it, cutting it vertically in the middle into two halves, leaving them attached in one end, in order to keep it all together. Then you take the two halves and wrap them around each other to form the shape of  a screw. After the shaping, the dough should look like this:

The fillings I used were Nutella spread, which is always my favorite filling for just about any pastry… I used also Halva spread on top of which I scattered chocolate chips - I really loved it, Avi took it to work and even people that don’t like Halva really loved it. It didn’t do the trick on Avi, though, who really dislikes Halva in desserts.

The third filling I used was the traditional filling for the Romanian Cozonac - walnuts, which was a really goood one.

The last filling was dulce de leche. The latter was too liquid for the Krantz shape, and so all the filling drained down to the bottom of the pan… The looks of it were quite unpleasant, but it tasted great!

Yeast cake / Adapted from my friend’s (Sivan) recipe
Makes 4 english cake molds (30 X 10 cm each)

For the dough:
1 kg all-purpose flour
50 gr fresh yeast (or 20 gr dry yeast)
150 gr sugar (if you don’t prepare the sugar syrup use 170 gr)
200 gr butter, softened but not melted
10 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
zest of one medium sized lemon
150 ml lukewarm water
150 ml lukewarm milk (30 secs in the microwave will do it)

For the glaze:
1 egg, beaten

For the sugar syrup:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Put all the flour in the mixer bowl. Make a starter dough out of the yeast, 1 tsp of the sugar and 1/4 cup of the water. Leave to ferment for a few mins. Place the starter in the mixer’s bowl along with the flour and cover it with flour.
2. In a separate bowl mix sugar and eggs and add them to the flour. Add to the flour the rest of the ingredients, except for the water and milk. Start kneading the dough and add the water and milk through the kneading process. Continue kneading until a soft and non-sticky dough forms (I do it for 10 mins total). Cover the bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size.
3. Divide the dough into 4 parts, roll out each one of them and fill with the chosen filling (Nutella, Halva spread, Dulce de leche, the suggested walnuts filling or any other filling you can come up with). Roll the dough to a log after filling it, cutting it vertically in the middle into two halves, leaving them attached in one end, in order to keep it all together. Take the two halves and wrap them around each other to form the shape of a screw (as demonstrated in the picture above). Let rise until doubled in size.
4. Brush with the beaten egg, and bake in an oven preheated to 356°F (180° Celsius) for 35 mins, until golden-brown.
5. In the mean time prepare the sugar syrup: cook the sugar and milk on a medium flame until boiling point is reached. Cook for 5 more mins and take off the flame. After taking the cakes out of the oven, cool them for 5 mins, and brush them with the sugar syrup.

For the walnuts filling (sufficient for 2 cakes):
300 gr walnuts, coarsely chopped
3 egg whites
200 ml (yes, ml) powdered sugar

Directions:
Beat the egg whites, gradually adding them the sugar, for 3-4 mins, until soft peaks form. Fold in the walnuts and spread the mixtures onto the cakes.

עוגת שמרים / עיבוד קל למתכון של סיוי מפורום מתכונים של תפוז
חומרים ל-4 עוגות בתבנית אינגליש קייק (בגודל 30X10 כל אחת)

לבצק:
קילו קמח
50 גר’ שמרים טריים (או 20 גרם שמרים יבשים)
150 גרם סוכר (אם לא מורחים בסוף סירופ סוכר צריך קצת יותר, הבצק עצמו לא היה מתוק מספיק, בפעם הבאה אנסה עם 170 גרם)
200 גרם חמאה או מרגרינה רכה - לא מומסת
10 כפות שמן
1/2 כפית מלח
4 ביצים בטמפרטורת החדר
2 כפיות תמצית וניל
גרידה מלימון בינוני אחד
150 מ”ל מים חמימים
150 מ”ל חלב חמים (30 שניות במיקרו יעשו את העבודה)

לציפוי:
1 ביצה, טרופה

לסירופ סוכר:
1/2 כוס סוכר
1/2 כוס חלב
1 כפית תמצית וניל

הכנה:
1. בקערת המיקסר שמים את כל הקמח, מכינים ראש עיסה מהשמרים כפית מהסוכר ורבע כוס מהמים מניחים לתסיסה של כמה דקות. עושים גומה בקמח ומוסיפים את ראש העיסה, מכסים בקמח.
2. מערבבים בקערה נפרדת סוכר וביצים, ומוסיפים לקמח ובנוסף גם את החמאה, המלח, השמן תמצית הוניל והגרידה. מתחילים ללוש תוך כדי הוספת המים והחלב לפי ספיגה עד ליצירת בצק רק ולא דביק, מכסים ומתפיחים עד שהבצק מכפיל את נפחו.
3.מחלקים ל-4 כדורים ומרדדים כל כדור - מורחים בנוטלה, שוקולד השחר, ממרח חלבה, ריבת חלב וכיד הדימיון, מגלגלים לרולדת וחורצים לכל האורך ומבריגים את שני החלקים שנוצרו למעין צורת בורג. מניחים בתבניות ומתפיחים עד כמעט הכפלת הנפח.
4. מורחים בביצה ואופים ב-180 מעלות כ-35 דקות או עד שמשחים.
5. בנתיים מכינים סירופ סוכר - מרתיחים על האש וכשהעוגות יוצאות מהתנורף מצננים למשך 5 דקות ולאחר מכן מורחים אותן בסירופ בנדיבות בעזרת מברשת.

למילוי אגוזים (מספיק ל - 2 רולדות):
300 גרם אגוזי מלך קצוצים גס
3 חלבונים
כוס של 200 מ”ל אבקת סוכר

הכנה:
מקציפים את חלבון הביצה לקצף יציב אך לא נוקשה, מוסיפים בהדרגה את אבקת הסוכר תוך כדי הקצפה. מקפלים פנימה את האגוזים ומורחים את התערובת מעל העוגות.

Even before I’ve started this blog (not so many days ago ), I’ve been wanting to participate in a blog event. I just didn’t know in which one.
And then I’ve read that February 5th 2008 is declared to be this year’s Nutella day by Sara from Ms. Adventures in Italy and Michelle from Bleeding Espresso, and I’ve also read that they are hosting a blog event for this occasion. What a perfect first blog event for me, as a former Nutella addict! (Wanna know how much of an addict? When I was  a kid, once in a few months, my mom would manage to get her hands on a jar of Nutella, and she would happily bring it home to me. I, on my part, would take the jar, kiss her thankfully, and go get myself a teaspoon. Then I would find a comfortable spot that would host my little (or not so little?) behind until I could see the bottom of the jar of this wonderful hazelnut spread. Oh yes, and I would enjoy every bite of it too!).

For this year’s Nutella day I’ve decided to make a recipe that I’ve made several times before, and was a great success every time. These are great Nutella filled roll-shaped cookies, they are made from a very flaky dough, and they melt in your mouth with every bite you take.
The source of this recipe is my favorite Israeli pastry-chef, named Carine Goren. She’s young, has a great character and a smiling face you’d be always happy to watch on cooking shows, but more importantly - every recipe of hers always has a most tasty outcome.

Nutella filled rolled cookies / recipe by Carine Goren
Makes about 50 cookies

Ingredients:
3 1/2 cups (500 gr) all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
3/4 cup (100 gr) powdered sugar
250 gr cold butter, diced
2/3 cup (160 ml) milk
1 1/2 cups Nutella spread

Directions:
1. In food processor process together the flour, baking powder, powdered sugar and butter in short pulses, until you get a flaky mixture.
2. Add the milk and continue processing using short pulses, just until the dough is formed.
3. Heat the oven to 340°F (170° celsius).
4. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts. Roll out each one of them to a rectangle 1/2 cm (1/5 inch) thick.
5. Spread the Nutella (if the spread is too thick, heat it up in the microwave for 10-15 seconds) on each one of the 3 dough parts, roll each part into a log. Place the logs (the “clean”, stitchless side up) on a big baking pan (I use the oven’s baking pan) with a piece of parchment paper on it.
6. Using a knife, mark slots on each log, a gap of 2 cm (0.8 inch) separates between each slot. This step makes cutting the cookies after baking very easy.
7. Bake for 25-30 mins, until golden.
8. Cool for 30 mins. Using the slots we’ve marked, slice the cookies. Powder them with powdered sugar and keep in a sealed jar at room temperature.

עוגיות מגולגלות ממולאות נוטלה / קרין גורן

רכיבים:
3 1/2 כוסות קמח (500 גרם)
1 כף אבקת אפייה
3/4 כוס אבקת סוכר (100 גרם)
250 גרם חמאה קרה, חתוכה לקוביות
2/3 כוס חלב (160 מ”ל)
1 1/2 כוסות ממרח שאוהבים (נוטלה, ממרח תמרים, ריבת חלב, ממרח חלבה, ריבה ועוד)

מכינים את הבצק:
1. במעבד מזון עם להב מתכת מעבדים קמח, אבקת אפייה, אבקת סוכר וקוביות חמאה לתערובת פירורית. מוסיפים חלב ומעבדים בלחיצות קצרות (פולסים) רק עד קבלת בצק אחיד.

ממלאים, מרכיבים ואופים:
2. מחממים תנור ל - 170 מעלות
3. מחלקים את הבצק ל-3 חלקים שווים. מרדדים כל חלק על נייר אפיה מקומח קלות, למלבן בעובי 1/2 ס”מ.
4. מורחים במלית הרצויה, מגלגלים לרולדה ומעבירים לתבנית מרופדת בנייר אפייה (כשהתפר כלפי מטה). חוזרים על הפעולה עם יתרת הבצק והמלית.
5. מסמנים חריצים במרווחים של 2 ס”מ על הרולדות (להקל על חיתוך העוגיות לאחר האפיה) ואופים 25-30 דקות, עד להזהבה.
6. מצננים ופורסים לעוגיות. מקשטים באבקת סוכר ומגישים. שומרים בכלי אטום בטמפ’ החדר.

The title of this post combines two things that are very close to my heart - nuts, obviously, and Scrat, that wonderfully cute squirrel from Ice Age (”Gone Nutty” is the name of a short film that Scrat is starring in, as usual chasing his beloved acorn). In fact Avi and I love Scrat so much, that he appeared on our wedding invitation!

The front cover of our wedding invitation, designed by Avi.
The text says: “A love so pure hasn’t been witnessed since Ice Age ”

The pie before entering the oven

And back to the nuts - well, I totally fell in love with them as a kid, when my grandma first made a cake that I cannot even remember its looks, but its taste and texture are still vivid in my mouth! It had a crispy base, a half-soft-half-firm nutty filling and a grilled top made of cripsy dough. One of my definite favorites of all her cakes. So naturally, when I  first discovered the nowadays version of that cake - Pecan Pies - it almost automatically became my absolute favorite dessert.

One thing that isn’t very clear to me is why on earth it took me so long to bake one of my own. Had I known I had such a great recipe just waiting to be made, I swear i would have baked it earlier! The recipe is by one of the best Israeli pastry-chefs named Roni Venezia.

Pecan Pie / Roni Venezia, with minor changes I’ve made
Makes one 26cm (10-inch) pie

Ingredients:
For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
175 gr cold butter, diced
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp ice water

For the filling:
3 Tbsp (45 gr) butter, diced
1 1/3 cups light corn syrup
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
3 egg yolks
1 Tbsp Frangelico liqueur (hazelnuts liqueur, I didn’t have it so I used Amareto, you can also use Brandy)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 (150 gr) pecan nuts, chopped
2 cups (200 gr) pecan nuts halves (I used only 110 gr)

For the glaze (my addition, since I like the pecans glossy):
2 Tbsp apricot jam
2 Tbsp very hot water

Prepare the dough:
1. Process flour, sugar and butter in food processor.
Process using short pulses, just until a crumbly mixture is formed.
2. Add the egg yolk and the cold water. Continue processing in pulses just until the dough is formed.
3. Wrap the dough with plastic, and refrigerate for an hour.
4. Take the dough out of the refrigerator,  place it onto a lightly floured work surface, and scatter a little flour over the top (I always place the dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap - I found out that it’s the easiest way for me to roll out crispy dough), roll it out and line the pie pan with it. Heat the oven to 340°F (170° celsius).  Freeze the pan with the dough in it for 10 mins.
5. Partially blind bake the crust, until its color becomes light golden.
6. Let cool in the pan on a rack before filling.

Prepare the filling:
1. Melt the butter In a small pot.
2. Move the melted butter into a bowl, and add to it the corn syrup, the sugar, the egg, the yolks, the liqueur and the vanilla extract. Whisk it until well blended.
3. Add the chopped nuts to the mixture and blend well.
4. Place the pie pan on a larger ban (the oven’s pan, for instance) and pour the mixture over the dough. Arrange the nuts halves neatly upon the mixture (if you want to arrange them in circles - arrange them starting with the outer circle).
5. Bake the pie for 40-50 mins, or until the center is softly set.
6. Let the pie rest for 15 mins. Then mix the apricot jam with the hot water and gently spread the mixture on top of the pie. This will get your pecans to look shiny and beautiful!
7. Let the pie rest for at least 30 mins total before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

את המתכון בעברית של פאי הפקאן הנפלא הזה ניתן למצוא באתר על השולחן

Wherever there’s chocolate - count me in. Apparently even before I was born, I was a sucker for chocolate, and if you want proof - ask my mom. Sweets in general, and chocolate in particular, have never been her favorite foods, but when she was pregnant with me, she started eating a whole chocolate bar a day. This tasty ritual of hers lasted for 9 months, and stopped the day she gave birth to me. So much for children not being already born with character
So ever since I’ve been a great fan of chocolate, in all shapes and flavors. Even now, whenever I’m looking for an interesting recipe to prepare, those that contain chocolate appeal to me most.
And so it happened, that on our way to our honeymoon, Avi (my husband) and I bought an issue of “Bon Appetit” to read during the flight. As we were browsing through it, these wonderful looking cookies cought our eye, and we marked them ‘to immediately make when coming home’. As it often happens, the ‘immediately’ has been postponed to 2 months after we got back, when one Friday afternoon the cookies popped right back into Avi’s mind, and he asked me when I would bake them. ‘Now, of course!’ was my answer, and I got right ahead.
The outcome was simply delicious! These are very rich textured cookies, with a great chocolate flavor! I’d be definitely making these again, and again, and…well, you know, again :)

Premium Double Chocolate Cookies / Ghirardelli chocolate factory 
Makes: 24 cookies

Ingredients:
12 ounces (340 gr) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
11 1/2 ounces (325 gr) Bittersweet Chocolate
6 Tbsps (85 gr) unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup (110 gr) chopped walnuts

Directions:
1. In double boiler over hot water, melt bittersweet chocolate chips and butter.
2. In large bowl with electric mixer or whisk, beat eggs and sugar until thick; stir into chocolate mixture.
3. In small bowl, stir together flour and baking powder; stir into chocolate mixture. Gently mix in semi-sweet chocolate chips and walnuts.
4. Using a sheet of plastic wrap, form dough into two logs, each 2 inches in diameter and about 12 inches long. As dough will be quite soft, use plastic wrape to hold dough in log shape. Wrap tightly; refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm. (Dough may be frozen; thaw in refrigerator before proceeding with recipe.)
5. Heat oven to 375°F (190° celsius). Unwrap dough; with sharp knife, cut into 3/4-inch slices. Place slices 1 1/2 inches apart on greased or parchment-lined cookie sheet.
6. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until shiny crust forms on top but interior is still soft. Cool on baking sheet; store in airtight tin up to 1 week.

עוגיות Premium Double Chocolate / מתכון מבית היוצר של שוקולד Ghirardelli

רכיבים:
325 גרם שוקולד מריר
85 גרם חמאה
3 ביצים
1 כוס סוכר
1/3 כוס קמח
1/2 כפית אבקת אפיה
340 גרם שוקולד צ’יפס
110 גרם אגוזי מלך קצוצים גס (אני השתמשתי בפקאן טבעי)

אופן ההכנה:
1. ממיסים חמאה ושוקלד צ’יפס מעל ביין-מארי.
2. מקציפים ביצים וסוכר במיקסר עד שמתקבל קצף יציב. מקפלים את הקצף שנוצר לתוך תערובת השוקולד והחמאה.
3. בקערה קטנה לערבב קמח ואבקת אפיה. להוסיף את תערובת הקמח לתערובת השוקולד ולערבב רק עד לקבלת תערובת אחידה.
4. מערבבים פנימה בעדינות את השוקולד צ’יפס והאגוזים עד שנטמעים באופן אחיד.
5. יוצרים מהבצק שני גלילים מאורכים, עוטפים בניילון נצמד ומעבירים למקרר לשעה לפחות, או עד להתמצקות שתאפשר לנו חיתוך קל בעזרת סכין של העוגיות.
6. כרבע שעה לפני הכנסת העוגיות לתנור מחממים תנור ל - 190 מעלות.
7. לחתוך פרוסות מן הגליל בעובי הרצוי של העוגיות, ולסדר באופן מרווח על גבי תבנית מרופדת בנייר אפיה.
8. לאפות 12-14 דקות, או עד שעל גבי שטח הפנים העליון של העוגיות נוצר קרום מבריק, אך פנים העוגיות עדיין רך.