Frozen Ganache Shortbread Bars

I'm sorry the pictures for this dessert aren't better, but this was Shabbat dessert and I couldn't photograph on Shabbat. I was asked to bring dessert for Friday night dinner and thankfully, it didn't take much research to decide on these cookies. This recipe is another one I'm keeping under wraps but use any shortbread base and your favorite ganache to simulate your own version of these fudgy and deliciously cold bars. They were a hit for me and they will be for you, any way you choose to make them. I might try my hand at flavoring the ganache with extract or liqueur and sprucing up the shortbread base to match. The possibilities are endless but all I know is that a cold, chocolate dessert on a hot August day is just the ticket.

Neo-Neopolitan Pizza

During the nine days, there really isn't much to eat besides lots of dairy and carbs. (This week is a vegetarian's dream!) I still stay away from pasta so that wasn't an option. So, I decided to make pizza. Normally, I stay away from that to, but as my food choices are limited and I haven't had a slice of it in ages, I decided to go ahead and make some dough. I've made pizza plenty of times before and posted about it, too but this time I decided to go with a different recipe. I made Peter Reinhart's Neo-Neopolitan Pizza from his latest, Artisan Breads Every Day. What I loved about this recipe is that it makes enough dough for five pizzas and that you can freeze what you don't use right after mixing! I divided the dough into five portions, froze four in individual baggies and threw them in the freezer, leaving the fifth portion to ferment overnight. The next day, I made the sauce recipe that he provided and froze what I didn't use into individual portions. I felt so mommy-like with all this planning ahead! The dough comes together so easily in the mixer, and besides for a stretch and fold, doesn't require much. After it had risen overnight, (and when I was ready for dinner) I stretched the dough out onto a baking sheet and topped with sauce and cheese. I needed to bake the pizza for much longer than I did because I got no color on the sides and bottom, even though it was perfectly cooked. I think I'll bake directly on the stone next time. All in all, it was a delicious pizza and I'm really glad to have more pizza nights in the near future. This pizza is headed to Yeastspotting! Hope everyone has a meaningful fast!
UPDATE: I just made another pizza, baked directly on the baking stone. It made all of the difference. The flavor really comes out of the crust and it is just so delicious. Homemade pizza has never tasted this good. Lesson learned- always use the baking stone. 

Plum Hazelnut Frangipane Tart

This is the dessert that I made for Shabbat last weekend- a hazelnut frangipane tart topped with fresh plums. I love the way it turned out. The filling so clearly tasted of hazelnuts while not being too sweet. This is one recipe I'm keeping secret, but here are the pictures anyway. Til next time....

Irish Dairy Bread

Sunday and Monday were days mostly spent at the base. I've been pretty good at packing food to take with me so that I don't starve in the blistering heat. I finished up the last of the rye rolls on Sunday and was wondering what I could make for the next day that would be fast and easy. Turns out, they didn't let me go until six thirty so making a yeasted bread was out of the question. But then, inspiration hit! Why not make soda bread? All I'd have to do was pick up buttermilk from the supermarket (there's one right next to the CBS!) and voila, in very little time, I'd have bread. Seeing as it's the nine days and all, I might as well take advantage of making dairy bread, right? Right. Anyway, as soon as I walked through the door, I turned on the oven and proceeded to look for a recipe. Almost every recipe for soda bread calls for whole wheat flour which I didn't have around. I did find a recipe for Irish Dairy Bread in the Baker's Companion and that's what I made, but I couldn't help throwing in a tablespoon of caraway seeds. :) Making this bread is much like making scones, but with a much shorter ingredient list. Eating this bread reminded me how much I love buttermilk in things. The slight tang of it is really, really good. The craggy exterior of this bread belies its smooth interior crumb, speckled with caraway seeds. Feel free to leave them out, if you want. This bread is good plain, or eaten with savory goods, such as egg or tuna salad. I'm really glad I tried this type of bread; it's another thing to cross off my baking bucket list.

Brown Sugar Squares

This past Shabbat, I tagged along with a friend for dinner in Nachlaot, the quaint and charming neighborhood right behind the shuk area. I made these plans Thursday night and so when I was asked to make dessert, I felt extremely pressured- no time to research! Thankfully, I found a good choice (more on that later) and went to sleep secure. Come Friday, with dessert already I made, I wondered if people would be allergic to nuts or dislike fruit. So I decided to make something else. Literally on a whim, I pulled out Paula Deen's dessert cookbook and flipped through it. In the cookies and bars sections, I stumbled on what looked like the world's  EASIEST recipe and get this, had no oil or butter in it. Now, I was skeptical. A Paula Deen recipe with no fat in it?! Impossible! I looked for the recipe and found that people had successfully made this recipe. So I did, too. The recipe comes together with no more than whisk and a bowl and yields a very thin, chewy, almost candly-like brown sugar square. I don't even think they qualify as a cookie. I added some chocolate chips instead of the nuts to jazz them up a little. They aren't gonna win you any beauty contests, but for flavor (and ease of preparation) these can't be beat.