Ooh, pretty cookies

If I were normal, my ambition would be to make tons of money, go on swanky vacations, drive fancy cars, that kind of thing. But no, I have to have ambitions to perfect decorated cookies. Not to leave well enough alone and bake the 80+ flavors of cookies already on the menu. To decorate sugar cookies. This summer has been a good start, with lots of fondant covered cookies. My friend Faigy came for a visit this summer (had the best time seeing her and spending Shabbat together - can't believe that the long awaited trip has already come and gone!) and she brought me food markers, which have played into the insanity.

This was the first set of cookies this summer - for a 50th birthday of a proud birthday girl. Then someone celebrating a fiftieth anniversary saw them and wanted the same thing, but anniversary subbing for birthday. Since I neglected to photograph the platter, I phonied up another cookie for your enjoyment. Just picture this in the center of a cookie platter, with the same "50" cookie surrounding it. I also provided a Shabbat Chattan platter,a "Mazal tov," need to impress someone platter,

and an assortment to embellish a bar mitzvah oneg Shabbat.

In all honesty, these were phonied up too, as I was pressed for time and didn't photograph the purchased dozen. Then I did platters for another bar mitzvah, to greet the guests as they arrived for Shabbat, and added decor cookies just for a little somethng special. These, by the way, are the real thing.Cool how just a couple of cookies can liven up the whole look, right?! I must give credit to my artist daughter, who designed all of the really cool cookies. Where the talent comes from, who can say, but it remains a mystery to me! Now I just need time to work on my royal icing skills. Someday, I hope, but not too far away!

Hope you liked these little favors!

Dvora

L'Shana Tova U'Metuka

Wishing all of you a happy, healthy, peaceful, prosperous, blessed New Year. My #1 resolution? Blog more often! I have lost my blogging groove, but I will, b'li neder, get it back and get back to it after the chag. It's been a long, hot summer, and I have MANY pictures to share and some decent stories to report. Well, mostly pictures, and I hope I remember enough to caption them. May your holiday be filled with meaningful prayer, thoughtful contemplation, spiritual inspiration, good thoughts for the future, joyous meals, and good company, all in the right time and in the right proportion. Enjoy lots of sweet treats for yom tov! Don't forget to try my grandparents' honey cake. I hope to show you some of what we made this year.

Shana Tova U'mevorachat - K'tiva V'chatima Tova!
Dvora

Making a change

So this post is about a big change. Well, maybe not so big. Maybe it's a little change, but I like it. I have (drumroll, please) changed my challah recipe! I was so proud of developing the recipe, and here I am messing with it, the very act that eventually scared me off of challah baking altogether, back in the 90's. So why mess with it? Laziness. No, seriously, one of the chief issues I had with my recipe was that one egg yolk, because I was not happy with the separating and the subsequent brain-racking to decide what to do with the leftover white. Do I go the easy way out and just toss it? Do I respect the egg and its source and save it for a future recipe? Do I stress over the growing mass of eggwhites building in the freezer and annoying me? I happened upon this recipe by Carine Goren, an Israeli food writer, on her website. It has a very helpful video, with the added bonus of instructions for braiding five strands, but it is in Hebrew, both the video and the text, so if you are not up to it, here I come to save the day.

The other reason that I like this recipe is that it is totally counter-intuitive to any other challah recipe I have ever made. Instead of adding in the water and then adding flour until the dough seems right, you add in all the flour from the outset, and adjust the water to that. The other advantage is that I never have to worry that the amount of flour I am using (1 kilo) is getting close to the no-man's land between taking challah without a bracha and not being required to take at all. It is the water that changes, not the flour. This recipe also appears on the Shimrit website (that is the nifty granulated fresh yeast I mentioned before), but again, also in Hebrew. I am not sure how this would work with regular dry yeast, but since it follows the same basic techniquw as a breadmaker, it logically seems to follow. My only alteration - I have slightly increased the amount of sugar, as the Israeli concept of what a sweet challah is and the American ideal are a little different.

Sweet Challah

1 kilo flour (about 7 cups)

1 package Shimrit yeast (about 5 teaspoons dry yeast, but I have never tried it)

1 package meshaper afiya, optional (the original does not call for it, but I like it - the dough improver I have mentioned before)

3/4 - 1 cup sugar (3/4 is the original amount listed)

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 cup oil

2 eggs

up to 2 cups warm water

egg wash - 1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Empty all the flour into the mixer bowl. Add in yeast and meshaper afiya and stir well to combine. Mix in sugar, salt, oil, and eggs. Add about 1 1/4 cups of the water. Use the dough hook to mix. After a minute or two, check to see if the mixture seems dry. If so, add a little more water (I have never needed more that 1 1/2 cups, but it could be an environmental issue, so your amount needed could vary a lot). Scrape down and continue to mix, kneading the dough for about 10 minutes. You can also do some kneading by hand, if you are so inclined. Put the dough in a greased bowl, turning to cover all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot to rise for 2-3 hours, until doubled. Punch down and shape the loaves, placing onto parchment lined pans. (Carine Goren lightly flours her surface where she makes the "snakes" and flattens each piece before rolling it up, rather that just rolling a ball of dough into a snake. I find it works nicely.) Let rise about an hour, then brush with an egg wash of 1 beaten egg and a tablespoon of water. Bake at 350 for about 1/2 an hour. Cool on a rack, and enjoy!

I will add pictures to this at a later point, but if you are getting ready for Shabbat now and thought about baking challot, here you are!

Dvora

This one's for you, Shosh

This was a very quiet Shabbos in Casa Cookies. Shana is still in the US, and Dani and Lola spent Shabbos at Saba and Savta's, so it was just me, David, and lucky Ayelet. We really had a nice, low-key time.

Just to make sure the pictures get posted for Shana to see, I am going to rush this post and will fill in details later. I decorated a birthday cake for Avraham, son of our friends Yocheved and Jon, who, I am sad to report, are returning to the States next week after four years of "staying for the year." They will be sorely missed. Yocheved is quite the baker herself, but what with packing and organizing, she did not have time to decorate for the birthday boy.
The colorful decor was her concept, I just made it happen for her. The color is a little off here, as the swirls were really a combination of orange, purple, and teal, but you get the general idea. Happy birthday, Avraham!

Last week's flavors are getting a brief shout-out here as well, as I remembered to photograph a platter, but obviously late in the game (i.e. the glarey plastic wrap gives it away every time).

The flavors were lemon glazed ginger crisps, coffee and cream brownies, chocolate thumbprints, cherry oatmeal crumble bars, and Black Forest Cookies.

This week's flavors get a more advantageous viewing:
Chocolate dipped chocolate chip, snickerdoodle squares (a new flavor), chocolate crinkles, oatmeal fudge bars (also new), and lemon currant cookies (yes, new as well). Maybe next post will include some close-up love for the new flavors. Maybe. I am trying not to write checks that I can't cash...

Have a good week, and an easy fast. May this year be the last for Tisha B'Av as a tzom.

Dvora

Break from blogging

I don't know what my problem has been - it is now a month since my last post. Do I have nothing to say? Maybe. Not to mention all the pictures I have forgotten to take. If a picture is worth a thousand words, I must owe you all many, many paragraphs.

So, in the interim, what has been going on?

The school year wound down and all the chugim ended.
Dani graduated from elementary school and already started junior high.
Shana finished her 11th grade bagruyot and flew off to the States to work in camp.
Ayelet was very bored for the last two weeks of school and is now working, tutoring in math.
Ariella was Mitztayenet HaMachatzit (outstanding student of the semester) for first grade.
Camp started, which means it's nearly over

Now for a little more detail.

We lived through the school zimriya (performance of songs and singalong).
Ariella's class sang and did the standard hand motions, while Dani's class did daglanut, which was repeated at graduation a few days later, but in a much smaller space in which they had barely practiced. Awesome.The kids finished their chugim, which included Ariella's gymnastics performance.
Locally, sixth graders are deemed worldly and advanced, and ready to move on. So we make them spend the first half of sixth grade stressing out, attending open houses, taking entrance exams, enduring interviews, and waiting for acceptance or the feared rejection. Then they make their school decisions, and spend the rest of the year doing nothing. It's good they have all their experience and education under their belts to make the process easier. And then it turns into June, and they graduate, in the most non-American experience there is in this land of casual dress and informal attitudes. That pretty much sums up the evening, which, might I add, was moved indoors because of the intense heat, into a beit midrash WITH NO AIR CONDITIONING! I was impressed that no one passed out.

Dani then began a mandatory Gemara course at his high school in Y-m, which was probably more education than he had the whole year. At least in Gemara. He and three other boys who will be attending there in the fall learned how to navigate public transportation, as well as the more onerous task of buying ice cream, snacks, and drinks at the various establishments just steps away from the school campus.

Shana finished her bagrut tests of eleventh grade, for which she studied feverishly, and the initial results are excellent. We are very proud. Then she jetted off to the US to enjoy mother's helpering in beautiful Lake Como PA. Can't believe we sent her 7000 miles away. Guess she is growing up. She seems to be enjoying the experience.

Ayelet was beyond bored for the last bit of school - can't say I blame her, as no classes were taking place, just preparations for a play she was not in. She was most relieved when the last day rolled around. She enjoyed a couple of weeks of sleeping really late, and now she has started her job and can only sleep moderately late.

When the school year did finally end for everyone, we were very proud of the kids - they all did beautifully on their report cards. Ariella was even awarded Outstanding Student of the Semester - Kol Hakavod Ariella! And that just about sums up life - next up, baking, with far fewer visual aids...


I celebrated my birthday, won't tell you the number, but it will be the last one ever that starts with 3 (unless I live to 300, but that doesn't really appeal). Shana and Ayelet made me a beautiful and delicious cake.
I also made a birthday cake for a neighbor who is celebrating her daughter's 21st and her 50th - they are both buttercream enthusiasts, so I made sure to load it on.I tried a few new flavors: a whiskey-spiked blondie with chocolate and pecans, oatmeal fudge bars (a fudgy filling with an oatmeal base and crumb topping), and gooey raisin bars (ma have mentioned those before - shortbread with a gooey topping, kind of like a pecan pie, but with raisins). All were well-received, and will someday be photographed.
These platters, which I somehow remembered to photograph, were for a barbeque. They included thin mint sandwiches, lemon wedges, molasses cream sandwiches, chocolate dipped chocoalte chip cookies, and Mexican brownies. Here they are individually, to pad this post a little more...When I manage to upload and other pictures I may photograph, I will post again!

Dvora

Another milestone

Several weeks ago, Ariella received her first Chumash. This momentous event was accompanied by a tiyul to the Old City and a program in the Cardo. We visited the Kever of David HaMelech, the four Sephardi Batei Knesset that are linked together, and the Churva shul (although we only stood outside). Here are a few prize pictures.

Ariella and her friends Ravid and Ayelet

Outside Kever David

In the Beit Knesset Eliyahu HaNavi

Outside the Churva

With the new ChumashThe kids were immediately able to open up and start learning, first individually and then as a group - how cool!With Saba and SavtaAt the KotelHope you enjoyed our nachas!

Dvora

Wordy-ish Motzaei Shabbat

Blogging takes time. I get all kinds of annoyed when the blogs I frequent don't update as often as I would like, but let's face it - we all have lives, and while they may be interesting to write about, the truth is that the more interesting the life, the less time to post. So this will be another ridiculous entry with some pics and little else. Call it the unacceptably verbose version of "Wordless Wednesday."

First, the continuation of Ayelet's birthday festivities:

1. birthday cake - chocolate "buttermilk" cake, chocolate fudge filling, vanilla frosting, design courtesy of Shana, who has since vowed to refrain from bow making in the future2. decorated sugar cookiesThose cookies were a result of an anniversary order for the 28th anniversary of friends of ours, ordered by their son, also a friend of ours and Dano's surrogate big brother.This is the platter they received, which had oatmeal peanut butter sandwiches, cappucino-cinnamon squares, chocolate caramel cookies bars, and sacher torte sandwiches. And here is the full selection of the decorated cookies:I had a lot of fun making them - hope they catch on!This was the regular platter from that Shabbat - all the aforementioned flavors plus ginger crinkles.

Next up, cookies that were part of a dessert bar at the sheva brachot that a friend made. The flavors were peanut butter bites, orange-cranberry-white chocolate cookies, thin mint sandwiches, and a new flavor, chocolate dipped pecan shortbread bars.

Here the new flavor gets its close-up:Next, Shalom Zachar cupcakes, along with a platter for the same celebration.Here is Shana's artsier pic of the same cupcakes
And the platter:Yes, Arica, this was from you - chocolate caramel sandwiches, lemon drop sandwiches, Mexican brownies, cherry chocolate chip cookies, and linzer cookies.

This was a collection of most of this week's flavors - this assortment was for a book debut party

Orange-cranberry-white chocolate cookies, chewy cherry oatmeal cookies, cinnamon squares, pecan pie thumbprints, apple crumble squares, chocolate dipped chocolate chip cookies, and lemon rosemary shortbread. (The other flavor, chocolate raspberry truffle brownies, is not pictured.)

Finally, a birthday cake for the tenth birthday of the sister of a bat mitzvah, whose yom huledet happened to fall out on the day of her sister's party. Yellow cake, chocolate filling, white vanilla frosting, and lots of fondant flowers, in line with the garden theme of the bat mitzvah, which BTW was beautiful. (Passaic people, it was Elana S.'s bat mitzvah, from the old country - her video had a shot of Dani in Morah Melissa's class and lot of girls from the grade - so cute and nostalgic!) Kol hakavod to Shana, who made all of the flowers and the number ten on the front of the cake, as well as critical design decisions. She is becoming an indispensible help!And that's all for now - hope you enjoyed the pix. I will not make any ridiculous pledges about posting more often, because honestly....

Shavua tov,

Dvora