It's Nice To Be Recognized

I don't consider myself a writer at all. I started this blog as a way to keep a record of my hobby as a baker and an amateur cookie/cake decorator. Through this blog I have met many talented, kind and wonderful people, who I can only hope to meet in person some day.
The other day I was very surprised to get an email from Teri at The Freshman Cook  telling me she had given me an award- The Versatile Blogger- on her blog.

 How fun is that? Just to know that someone else besides my family and close friends are reading this is really amazing.

The award works like this:

• Thank the person who awarded you by linking back to their post
• Pass the award on to 15 other new or newly discovered blogs
• List 7 interesting things about yourself 

OK- here are 7 things about myself- how interesting they are is another story but  here goes:

1. I was born and brought up in Syracuse , N.Y.

2. I was a theater major in college( thought I was going to be the next Barbra Streisand- uh,right!).

3. I ended up graduating with a degree in Exceptional Education ( suppose that's not too far off!).

4. I have lived in Israel for the past 33 years (how time flies!).

5. I have three gorgeous grown daughters and one beautiful granddaughter who is the light of my life.

6. I am divorced ( after 19 years of marriage) and remarried 10 years ago to a wonderful man.

7. I hate hot, humid weather ( so why does she live in Israel, they ask?!).

I am passing the award on to the following blogs that are more than likely not new- just new to ME!

1.Annie's Eats
2.Dessarts
3.Culinary in the Desert
4. BraveTart
5.The Royal Cook
6. Not So Humble Pie ( this is not new to me , but I love her blog so much, I just had to include it!)
7. The Little Kitchen
8. Bakingdom
9. How Sweet It Is
10.Sweet Tooth Desserts
11. The Partiologist
12. Crazy for Crust
13.My Little Bakery
14.The Kitchen Adventures
15.Baked Perfection


Give them all a visit and hope you visit me again soon!

Playing Around

I've had a box full of frozen cookies for the past few months now and I figured it was about time I used them before they became inedible. It was a perfect opportunity to practice some techniques and ideas I've had on my "to do" list ( which is so long- I'll never be able to complete it in this lifetime!) I love using Pinterest for collecting ideas and saving my own creations. These flower cookies are on my "Cookie Inspirations" board. To be honest, my cookies were originally from Thanksgiving cutters- a leaf and a Pilgrim's hat, so I decided to look for other uses since waiting for next Thanksgiving was out of the question!

The Pilgrim's hat was turned upside down and and the leaf- well I just improvised. The garden of flowers (on the leaf) was inspired by a picture from Cake Girl's Cakes on Cake Central.com. The bouquet was inspired by The Hungry Hippopotamus.( Both originals far surpass anything I did but it was fun working on them).

Thinking out of the box is something one needs to learn and exercise. So many of the outstanding cookie decorators can do this with seeming ease. That's what make their work so amazing. I have tried in the past and still find it hard, but this time I was determined to come up something for the acorn cookie. After a lot of twisting and turning and moving it around, I finally had my ah!ha! moment( remember, we're talking about a COOKIE here!) The top looked like a beret( to me) and then I came up with the idea of the Frenchman wearing a red beret. It was almost too simple since I just piped on the red beret and sketched the face in with edible food markers. Sorta cute I think! The last two are just designs I came up with playing around with whatever colors I had. I'm pretty pleased with the way they came out too.

They all ended up being thrown away (I know, I know- terrible) but they really weren't fresh anymore and I didn't feel right about letting anyone eat them. Next time they will be for consumption only!

Join the Blog Hop!

I love this idea of the blog hop by Milk and Cuddles( if you haven't seen her blog then you should definitely visit!) It's easy to jump from blog to blog and find lots of great ideas. GIve it a try!

Chocolate Cheesecake

 I love cheesecake! Almost any kind of cheesecake (I go crazy at the Cheesecake Factory- forget the meals, just give me cheesecake). I've made many different kinds and recipes of cheesecakes ( I have a cookbook that is JUST cheesecake recipes!) There are unlimited versions and preferences when it comes to cheesecake. With crust, without, with topping, without, cream cheese, mascarpone, with sour cream , without sour cream and so on and so forth. 

If I had to pick a favorite, it would probably be the trusted New York cheesecake, but even with that, there are varying recipes and approaches. In my travels through cheesecake making, I find that the amount of butter used to make a graham cracker or cookie crust is always too much. It comes out so "butter" heavy and seeps out the sides of the spring form pan. Through the years I've cut down drastically on the amount of butter a recipe calls for in the crust. You really just need enough to hold the crumbs together- and that will do the trick.

I like this cheesecake because it's easy, quick and not overly, sickeningly sweet- it's even got a touch of sourness ( is that a word?) to it. I've changed the original recipe and used my new discovery (I know, I'm probably way behind and this stuff has been around for ages , but I just found it.) Those little individually packaged caramel cookies you get on the plane? They are amazing and I always want more than the one or two they give you. I finally found them here in Israel (I even found a spread like peanut butter or Nutella , from the same company that makes the cookies- oh what joy!!!!)and decided to use them for the cheesecake crust. WOW!! That's all I can say- what a great flavor it adds to the cake. 

This recipe is from Carine Goren's new book- Sweet Secrets 2 . I've adapted it slightly , but the basic recipe is the same. Definitely worth a try!
Recipe coming soon!

Angry Birds Cake

Just finished this cake for an Angry Birds fan. Chocolate cake with butter cream frosting and  4 little fondant black angry birds for the corners. It was my first time making any kind of 3 D figures - I'm ok with the results but I have a LOT to learn. It's fun though! The facial features were made with royal icing pieces that I made on parchment paper, let dry and then transferred to the cake.

Sambousek

Sambousek are mini pies filled with either meat, hummus or cheese. The origin is Middle Eastern and there are endless versions of these delicious little hand held pies. The recipes for the dough and fillings vary according to the country or group of people who make them. These are great to make and freeze, then all you have to do is take them out and reheat. I suggest reheating in the oven, but a very quick zap in the micro will do just fine. My husband likes taking one out for a quick ( and filling) breakfast each morning on his way to work.

The recipe I used is for a  pastry type dough with a cheese filling. You can play around with the fillings

(I did- I used basically what I had in the house, which was not exactly what the recipe called for, ,but  it worked out just fine). I had some leftover filling so I added some chopped olives and made another batch of dough for that. Mushrooms, mashed seasoned potatoes and a meat mixture are also a wonderful option for the filling. This recipe is adapted from the book "The Best of Micky Shemo", a wonderfully talented Israeli pastry chef.

before baking

yum!

after baking

 Here's the recipe: adapted from the original
( 25-30 sambousek)

Dough:
500 grams ( 3 1/2 cups +1 tbsp.) flour
200 grams softened butter ( 1 cup)
1/2 tsp. salt
10 grams baking powder
180 ml. (3/4 cup) water 
80 ml. ( 1/3 cup) canola oil


Filling:
250 grams feta cheese, finely grated
250 grams no fat soft cream cheese
1 egg+ 1 egg yolk (I just used one egg)
I also added a few gratings of fresh Parmesan cheese

Topping:
 1 slightly beaten egg
 sesame seeds

How to:

1. Make the filling: 

    Mix all the ingredients to a smooth texture. Refrigerate.

2. Make the dough:

    Using the flat beater in a standing mixer, mix the flour, butter, salt, and baking powder to a crumbly    consistency. Add the oil and water and mix until the dough is smooth and uniform.

3.  Wrap the dough in nylon wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour (I found it had to be refrigerated for longer to achieve the proper consistency for rolling.)

4. Preheat oven to  170 C ( 340 F)

5.  Form and bake:

     Divide the dough into 25 -30 balls and cover with a kitchen towel to prevent from drying out. Roll out each ball into a circle about 1/2 cm . thick. Place a heaping teaspoon of  filling in the center and fold over in half. Secure the  edges by pinching and folding or rolling( sort of a braided look as you can see in the pictures). Mine didn't come out perfect but they held just fine.

Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush with egg and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

 6. Bake for 20 minutes until browned. (I found they needed more time , but that depends on your oven- just keep an eye on them)

7. Cool thoroughly and store in a  tightly closed container ( not in the fridge) only on the day of baking.

They can be frozen for up to a month. To serve, heat for a few minutes in a 170C oven.  

Enjoy!

  

Cookie Chanukiya( menorah)

I got the idea of making a cookie chanukiya after seeing some 3 dimensional cookie creations on the web. The base is one big rectangle cookie, circle bases for the candles ( one group being higher than the rest , since that candle is called the "shamash" , or helper candle- it is the one you use to light all the other candles each night) and , of course candle cookies. It really didn't come out as I had envisioned it, but for a first try , it isn't that bad. At least I got the feel for it and now I know what I will do differently next time.

Getting back into the swing of cookie decorating , so hope to be posting more soon.

Happy Chanukah and Merry Christmas to all!

Honey Cinnamon Mousse Bavaria

This was a first try for a fairly involved and interesting tasting dessert. I didn't follow the recipe exactly and I probably should have. The taste was light, not too sweet and a nice change from the typical honey cake for Rosh Hashana. I like to play around with recipes, but I would go back to the original next time.

1st Birthday Cookies

she loves penguins!

candy for the birthday girl

Ronny

balloons for Ronny

and baby elephants, too

already a year old!

baby animals