Birthday Cookies

Some people draw, some paint , some sculpt- I decorate cookies. That's about the extent of my artistic capabilities, although I suppose I shouldn't sell myself short. The possibilities are endless and I have seen things that other people have done that are true masterpieces. I just took a look at some pictures of the first cookies I decorated and can proudly say I have definitely improved. Still need lots of practice, but I'm getting the hang of it. The secret is getting the right consistency of the royal icing for the purpose you need- flooding, writing, detailed work- and that can be very tricky. Anyways, here are some cookies I finished today for a first birthday party. Kinda cute if I say so myself!

Mozart Cake

This is the cake I made for my friend's birthday. For this one you've got to take a momentary break from any diet you may be on. It is so rich, that a small piece will do the trick, but even if I say so myself, it is amazingly delicious. The combination of the meringue base and layer, with chocolate creme and then layered with a white chocolate and dark chocolate mousse in between- well what can I say.......

The cake is not hard to make, but does take a long preparation time. Baking the meringue bases, making the mousse , chilling, putting together all the pieces and freezing, but boy is it worth the effort. Recipe follows- it's from a collection of best recipes from a popular Israeli food magazine called "Al HaShulchan" ( On the Table). They call it "Mozart Cake"
Mozart Cake
Ingredients for a 26cm. springform pan

Meringue
4 egg whites

1/2 cup sugar ( 100 gr.)

3/4 +1 tablespoon ( 100 gr.) powdered sugar

3/4 cup ( 70 gr.) ground hazelnuts
3/4 cup ( 70 gr.) ground almonds

Mousses
750 ml. sweet whipping cream

225 grams bitter chocolate, chopped

225 grams white chocolate, chopped

Chocolate Creme

100 grams bitter chocolate, chopped

1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon whipping cream

50 grams butter

Topping

1/2 (120 ml.) whipping cream

150 grams bitter chocolate, chopped

1 1/3 cups (150 grams) hazelnuts or walnuts chopped or sugared hazelnuts, broken into small pieces

Prepare the meringue:

1. Whip egg whites in mixer until just foamy. Slowly add sugar and continue whipping until soft, stable peaks are reached.

2. Fold in the powdered sugar, hazelnuts and almonds.

3. Using the base of a 25 cm. pan, outline the circle of the pan on two separate pieces of parchment paper. Turn the papers over ( so the pencil side is down) and place on a baking sheet.

4. Using a spatula or piping bag, fill in circles of the meringue using the pencils marks as the outer border.

Bake at 110 C. (225F) for 2 hours until the meringue hardens.

Prepare the mousses

1. Heat the whipping cream until just before boiling.

2. Prepare one bowl with the dark chocolate and one bowl with the white chocolate. Pour half of the hot cream over the dark chocolate and the other half over the white chocolate. Mix until smooth cream is formed for each and chill inthe refrigerator at least 4 hours.

Prepare the chocolate cream

1. In a pan, melt all the ingredients for the chocolate cream, mix and cool.

Putting it all together:

1. Place one meringue base in the springform pan and spread the chocolate cream over the top.

2. In a stand mixer, whip the chilled white chocolate mousse. If it hardened too much in the fridge, let it soften for a few minutes at room temperature before whipping.

Spread the white mousses over the cream. Place the second meringue base on top of the white mousse. and press firmly down.
3. Whip the dark chocolate mousse and spread evenly over the top meringue layer.Freeze for ay least 24 hours.
After the freeze:

1. Heat the last bit of whipping cream to almost boiling.

2. Pour the cream over the dark chocolate and stir untilthe chocolate melts.

3. Pour the topping over the frozen cake evenly. Return to the freezer for about 10 minutes, until the topping hardens. At this point you can cover the cake with plastic wrap and leave in the freezer for a few days.

4. To serve, remove from freezer and deforst for 3-4 hours in the fridge. Release the cake from the pan using a hot, wet kitchen towel wrapped around the pan to help it slip out easily.

5. Press the chopped nuts onto the sides of the cake.

6. Cut the cake with a smooth edged knife dipped in boiling water to help cut it smoothly.

After all that work, you want the slice to look great on the plate, not a messy bunch of goop!

Enjoy!

Mother's Day Cookies

Today we are celebrating my friend Bonnie's birthday and since it is also Mother's Day ( in the U.S., not here in Israel , but no matter!) I decided to make a cake and cookies for all the girls on Mom's day. They were so fun to decorate and the possibilities are endless. The cookies are a delicious sugar cookie recipe I use and I play around with adding other flavors such as grated lemon or orange peel, even adding a few drops of different liqueurs to flavor as well. Royal icing added the final touches on top.

Very girlie cookies- a shoe, dress and purse.

For the base on each cookie I colored fondant and on some I rolled different textures on the surface.

Attaching the ribbons to the purses for the handles was a bit tricky.

I made the mistake of waiting until the fondant was dry.

I should have stuck the ribbon under the sugar paste when it was still soft.

Live and learn!

Bagged and ready to go!

Wishing Moms everywhere a Happy Mother's Day !

Early Senility

Nothing to joke about , really, but I sometimes question where my head is. I made a huge batch of sugar cookies in the shape of a flag with the intention of decorating them for Israeli Independence Day. I was so proud of myself. I made them in advance and put them securely away in a box to decorate as the day came closer. Yeah- put them away so well that I totally forgot about them! Among my mountains of "stuff" in the kitchen( I try to be organized, really I do!) I found the box of cookies, waiting to be dressed. Of course, Independence Day had passed three days before! Not one to waste- better late than never- so I proceeded to decorate and here are the results. Next time I'll leave those kinds of projects in full view!

Bagels #1

I love bread. I could eat it for every meal and every course of every meal. Even instead of dessert- and that's something! Doesn't do much for my waistline, but that's a whole other issue.

Not only do I love eating bread but I love making it. It's relaxing, satisfying and the smell that fills the house while it's baking is indescribable. I've baked lots of different breads before but have never tried bagels. Bagels, as far as I 'm concerned, need to have a crispish type crust and a chewy, flavorful bread on the inside. After reading Pioneer Woman's post of the bagel-making experience she had with Smitten Kitchen ( wish I had been there), I decided it was time to give it a try. This is attempt # 1 using Peter Reinhardt's recipe recommended by Smitten Kitchen.

The Sponge

The dough

the bagels go into the fridge to rest overnight

Boiling the bagels

Covered in sesame seeds ( yum!)

Final Product

Verdict: Not difficult to make. I'm not sure my sponge rose to the extent it was supposed to. They didn't come out smooth and shiny like a bakery bagel ( or the one's in Smitten Kitchen's pictures!), but I am determined to keep trying and will re-do this recipe again as well as try some others. In any case they were delicious and the crust was crunchy while the inside was chewy. I had fun going through the process ( not a difficult one at all, just takes time- mostly waiting time) and that's important too. By the way, all the bagels were "inhaled" within a very short period of time and the general reaction was "more!"

Chag Atzmaut Sameach! Happy Independence Day!

I've been a bad girl. Haven't posted in quite a while, but there are a few excuses-ok- no excuses. Once a week- that's my goal now- post once a week. I really enjoy doing it. It's just that I get lazy and , I must say, somewhat intimidated. I regularly read other people's blogs (cooking and baking in particular) and there are so many that do such an amazing job. I never considered writing to be one of my strong points but I suppose one does not have to be a Hemingway to write a blog. Photography is also something new to me, in terms of taking food photos at least. I am awed by some of the photos on the various blogs. Ok, on to the subject of this post.

Tomorrow is Yom Ha Atzmaut -Independence Day in Israel. 61 years- such a young country and so much history. Couldn't resist the opportunity to bake a cake with the Israeli flag- simple orange cake with Magnolia Bakery recipe for buttercream. Cookies are in the process of being decorated. Another day or two and you'll see them here.

Chag Sameach- Happy Holiday!

Lesson 1

Last Monday I had the first lesson of the pastry chef course I have so long been waiting for. I loved every minute of it, even though we started at 4 p.m. and finished at 1a.m.! The first few hours were lecture and I took 9 pages of notes(!) - there's going to be a test at the end so I'd better pay attention! Then we spent the rest of the evening practicing what we had learned. We broke into groups of 4 and I must say it takes a bit of getting used to working in a kitchen with 3 other bakers. I am so used to my own way of doing things and so is everybody else! Good lesson in cooperation.

This week the topic was basic mixed cakes. These cakes are based on one of two kinds of fat- oil or butter. The difference will be in the final result. Butter will produce a tighter, more pound cake- type quality and oil will give you a lighter, airier, but less melt-in -your -mouth taste. When using butter, it must be at room temperature, not melted, just soft to the touch. Usually it is creamed with the sugar first- a process called "cremage", to produce an emulsion.

Cakes made with oil have a more liquid batter and do not need to be creamed, just mixed. There are lots of other things we learned about the qualities of leavening and the characteristics of baking powder and baking soda ( a real chemistry lesson!), when each is used and what reaction takes place, but let's leave that for another time ( or not). More important are the pics of what we made and a few of the recipes for anyone interested.


First, we have Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins- great combination!

Recipe for Banana-Chocolate Chip Muffins

makes about 10-12 muffins depending on the size of your muffin pans

220 grams flour
120 grams sugar
3 grams baking powder
3 grams baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs ( room temperature)
200 ml. milk
70 grams yogurt
100 grams melted butter
20 grams corn syrup
2 well-ripened bananas cut in cubes and lightly mashed ( still leave some chunks in there)
150 grams chocolate chips

Streusel Topping

50 grams flour
50 grams cold butter
50 grams brown sugar
dash of cinnamon


1. Preheat oven to 180 C. ( 350 F)

2. Prepare the streusel topping- In a food processor, process all ingredients to a large crumb stage. Chill .

3. In a large mixing bowl combine all the dry ingredients for the muffins- flour, baking soda and powder,salt and chocolate chips.

4. Melt butter and corn syrup together in a small pot.

5. In a separate bowl combine eggs with sugar and mix until well combined. Add milk, yogurt and the butter-corn syrup mix.

6. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and add the liquid ingredients. Mix only until combined.

7. Add the mashed bananas and lightly mix in.

8. Pour mixture into muffins tins. Bake 10 minutes, then remove and sprinkle streusel topping on top. Return to oven for another 8-10 minutes until a toothpick comes out with damp crumbs- not dry.

Genoise cake

Carrot Cake( lower ) and Marble Pound Cake

Lemoncella Pound Cake

Basic Pound Cake

English cake or kugelhof or ring pan ,greased and floured

preheat oven to 180 C( 350F)

200 grams butter at room temperature

200 grams sugar

200 grams eggs (3-4)

200 grams self-rising flour

200 grams buttermilk

1 tsp. vanilla

Upgrades

Marble cake- 150 grams bitter chocolate

Halva and Honey cake- 3 tablespoons tehina paste , same amount of honey and 30 grams chocolate chips

Lemoncella cake- 80 ml. lemon juice ( reduce the quantity of buttermilk accordingly), zest of 2 lemons + syrup for moistening the cake ( 100 ml. water, juice of one lemon , 60 grams sugar, 1-2 tablespoons lemoncella liqueur)

1. Cream butter and sugar for 5 minutes. Add eggs one at a time and mix for an additional 3 minutes.

2. Add alternately the buttermilk and the flour- beginning and ending with the flour. Continue mixing just until the mix is all incorporated then a quick 5 sec pulse on high.

3. At this pint you can add any of the ingredients for the upgrades.

4. Pour into greased and floured pan ( either English cake, kugelhoff , ring) and bake at 180C ( 350F) for 40 minutes.

5. When the cake is ready, take out of oven and rest in pan for 10 minutes. Turn over and cool on a rack.

Procrastination

Procrastination is my middle name. I learned this word at a very young age and understood that no matter what I did, I always seemed to put things off until tomorrow, the last minute (when it came to homework or projects I had to do for school!) or just pushed them "sometime in the future". It's not a great quality to have ,but there are aspects of procrastination that work for me- I do my best work under pressure, I become highly motivated when the deadline approaches and that "ahhhhhh" of satisfaction is so sweet when I finally complete my task.

This all leads to the point of my posting new posts. Its not that I don't like to do it, or even that I have a deadline, cause I don't. Just that I need get that "umph" or sudden urge to do it NOW!

Anyhoo, I love learning new things, especially, of course when it comes to baking. I took an evening course this week on "Boutique Cookies". It was an entire evening ( 5-10p.m.) of learning and making beautiful, sort of fancy type cookies. I had a great time, got some delicious recipes and ideas- here are some pics of the evening's work.

Pistachio, Orange, Vanilla Cookies- so pretty !

Rolling the "Chocolate-Nougat Filled Cigars"

Ready for Presentation

"Diamond Cookies" - coffee version

The rolled out dough base for "Dried Fruit and Toffee Fingers"

Spreading the topping ( these are simply unbelievable!)

Piping the bases for "Passion Fruit Macarons"

It's all in the presentation!

The course is run by a local chef and pastry chef by the name of Oren Giron. He is a great teacher, nice person and has so much knowledge to pass on. He offers a professional pastry chef's course, which I have been dying to enroll in, but was a bit afraid to make the commitment ( 13 weeks, although it is only once a week but from 5-midnight and possibly beyond if needed). There goes that procrastination sneaking in again. For some reason , the conditions were right last Monday night so I went ahead and took the leap- I start this Monday and hope to pass on some of the things I learn as well as recipes and pics. Keep posted for coming episodes!

Baby Cookies

A Baby Bouquet of Cookies

I love decorating cookies. I don't have any artistic talents like drawing, painting or sculpting. Decorating cookies is my version of being an artist. Most of my ideas are variations on pictures I've seen on the Internet( there is an amazing world of cookie decorating out there) and slowly but surely I am developing my own style.

I shown my wares at work and people are now making requests for gift bouquets for baby showers, birthdays etc. It's fun to do and a little extra money on the side to buy more supplies.
This time I was asked for a bouquet of cookies for a newborn baby girl. Ah, how I love pink!

Just out of the oven


my kitchen is a disaster area when I decorate!

I really should be more organized and neat- but what would be the fun in that?!

bottles, rattles and onesies

baby buggies and balloons

the bouquet

I made 10 cookies- 2 baby buggies, 2 balloons, 2 rattles, 2 bottles and 2 onesies. ( I love decorating those!)



I have tried umpteen roll out cookie recipes, and finally decided on the one that works best for me. This one is from the book Cookie Craft by Valerie Peterson and Janice Fryer.


I have added the measures in weight as well since I bake by weight , instead of volume.
Rolled Sugar Cookies
Cookie Craft
Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour (420 g)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup ( 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened (200 g)
1 cup sugar (200 g)
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla or 1 tsp. vanilla plus zest of 1 lemon ( I have also tried orange zest and other extracts for a variety of flavors)

1. Whisk the flour and salt in a bowl and put aside.
2. In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla ( or any extract you are using) and the zest , if you are using and mix until well blended.
3. On low speed, add the flour mixture until the two are blended, but do not overwork the dough.
4. Divide the dough into 2-3 sections . At this point I like to roll each piece out between two sheets of parchment paper and then chill. It saves a step and makes life easier.
5. Preheat oven to 350 F ( 180C).
6. Use cookie cutters to make the desired shapes and bake in middle rack 12-16 minutes or just until the edges start becoming a golden color.
7. Cool the cookies on a rack before icing or decorating.
I use both royal icing and fondant for my decorations- it just depends on my mood and what effect I want on the cookies. On these cookies I used a combination of both.


Until the next bouquet..........

Hamantashen

Tomorrow is the Jewish holiday of Purim. "Pur" in Hebrew, means "lots" or "lottery". The holiday celebrates the bravery of Queen Esther and how she saved the Jewish people from the evil Haman (an advisor to the king) in Persia in the city of Shushan. He decided to do away with the Jews and drew "lots" to decide which day would be their doomsday. Queen Esther found out about his plan and basically ratted on him to the king(who up until that time didn't even know she was Jewish). Long, complicated story, but in short, she saved the day. The date that was originally chosen for the Jews to be destrpyed , now became a day of celebration. It is a joyful, fun holiday , especially for children, who dress in costumes and parade around the city . The story of Queen Esther is read in synagogues throughout the world. It is a tradition that every time the name of Haman is mentioned, children and adults alike, shake noisemakers in the air, yell and shout, so as to drown out his evil name.

What is left of the evil Haman today is actually something very sweet and yummy. In Yiddish they are called "hamentashen" and in Hebrew , "ozney Haman" ( which is sort of strange since the translation for that is Haman's ears(!)and the three cornered cookies resemble his hat!)

So today, I made ozney haman with my 3rd, 4th and 5th graders. I made the dough at home and brought it to school since the class wasn't long enough to make and chill the dough.

I brought in rolling pins and round cookie cutters and had stations around the room so that everyone would be occupied while the others were making their cookies. Fillings were varied and ranged from strawberry and raspberry jam, to halva or date filling. The kids had a great time and the dough was delicious. I got the recipe from Carine Goren, an Israeli pastry chef, and it really is a winner. Below is the recipe I printed out for my students to take home and try with their families. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did today in class! Happy Purim- Hag Purim Sameach!

Ozney Haman for Purim

( Carine Goren)
Preheat oven to 180 C (350 F)
Ingredients:

200 grams cold butter cut into cubes
2 cups (300 grams) flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1/4- 1/3 cup of milk
Filling:
Prepared poppy seed filling, chocolate spread, jam, date spread or any other filling you like.

How to make them:

1. In a food processor, mix all ingredients except milk until it becomes crumb-like.
2. Slowly add a bit of milk and mix until the dough forms a ball. If the mixture seems dry, add a bit more milk but be careful not to add too much. You don’t want wet dough.
3. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
4. Roll out the dough between two sheets of parchment paper and cut circles with a glass or cookie cutter.
5. Place a teaspoon of filling in the middle and pinch closed to form a triangle.
6. Place on parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake at 180 C. (350 F) for 12-15 minutes. The edges should be a golden color but the cookies should not turn brown.
7. Cool and ENJOY!