Sundried Tomato Bread

Finishing up the army has left a gaping hole in both my heart and my schedule, making it possible to just be for a little while before I find a job. It also means that I get to tie up some loose ends here and there and one of those things is this blog. This website has seen nothing but neglect and sporadic posting this past year and a half and I hope that that will change somewhat now that I'm no longer a soldier. (How it hurts to write those words!!!!) In any case, let's talk about bread. One of my favorite things to eat these days is sundried tomatoes. I used to hate them but now consume them with a passion and have taken to putting them in everything. I've long wanted to bake them into a bread and a while ago, I did just that. I chose a white bread recipe from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads and took it from there. This recipe started as the Feather Bread but I swapped out the 1/3 cup of butter or shortening with the sundried tomato oil and kneaded in some chopped sundried tomatoes. Yum. At first, the dough resisted the tomatoes, but some stubborn kneading solved that problem. I formed these into two long loaves and slashed them before baking. I might have also
baked them on the pizza stone cause why not? but it's not necessary. The breads came out fragrant and delicious and exactly how I'd imagined them to be. Now, if I could just get my hands on some more sundried tomatoes...

Banana Cream Pie

It's been quite a while since I've been asked to make dessert for a meal but that's what I was given to make for today's Shabbat lunch. Usually, my dessert brainstorming takes a ridiculous amount of my time but this time it was quick and painless! Banana cream pie! I had a couple of bananas laying around on my counter and I had serendipitously picked up a couple of pie crusts earlier Thursday after my frolic in the snow (yes, we got snow!) so I was all set for pie. Loyal readers of this blog will know I have a weakness for pie making and that I jump at the chance to make a cream pie (something about witnessing pastry cream thicken just does it for me!) so it was time for this classic to have its due. Finding a recipe proved to be a bigger challenge. Every book I own has a recipe for this pie but none were usable until I opened up the KAF Baker's Companion and settled on their version. It pretty  much doesn't get simpler than this and using store bought crust makes this even faster work. I made the filling the night before so it would have time to set properly and then topped with whipped cream at my leisure Friday morning. I chose to layer the bottom with banana instead of folding them into the pastry cream as some other recipes advise. It's up to you, either way you'll have a winning pie on your hands, just as this was.

Chocolate Cookie Fudge

Try explaining to a bunch of Israelis what fudge is. Instead, I just let them belive that the chocolate-oreo confection that I presented them with was really fudgy brownies. Got no complaints from them :) This simple, three ingredient recipe comes from the A Taste of Home, Church Supper Desserts cookbook, which, I think I've already mentioned, is my go to book for easy but reliably delicious desserts. Consisting simply of chocolate, sweetened condensed milk and chopped oreos, you can not go wrong here at all and you can customize with add-ins, especially as the holiday season is approaching. Try crushed peppermint candies, more chocolate, graham crackers, white chocolate chips.. Go wild!

Blond Butterscotch Toffee Brownies

Back in the summer, I hit up Walmart and brought back some mini chocolates for a friend. Well, that friend never claimed them so I figured I'd bring them to my soldiers. They'd never say no to American chocolates. But then I had a better idea... Bake with them! I brought back Butterfingers, Crunch Bars and Heath bars and decided that the Heath candies would be the best candidate for a bar cookie. I found a simple recipe in A Taste of Home's Church Supper Desserts book and quickly threw them together. Humble and unassuming as they are, these were the first to run off the plate when I brought them to my soldiers. These come together really quickly with just a bowl and a whisk. Next time you have chocolate bars just hanging around, you'll know just what to do!

Dutch Apple Pie

Things have been nuts here. I've been opening course after course which has left me no time, and now that the situation is precarious and less than ideal, posting hasn't happened, although I've really wanted to. Two courses ago, I baked a ton for my soldiers and this pie was the favorite. It was devoured in minutes. I've since made it again, a rare phenomenon, and it was a hit. This recipe comes from A Taste of Home Church Supper Desserts and I must say, that book doesnt disappoint. It's my go to for soldier-friendly recipes that are sure to please. Sure, there are plenty of recipes that call for convenience products but nothing that some homemade replacements cant fix. The recipe is pretty simple. You make one streusel like crust recipe, press most of it into a pie plate. In goes the filling and then the rest of the crust serves as its topping. The filling also is made interestingly. You boil water, sugar and cornstarch and when it's thickened add some chopped apples, some cinnamon and some vanilla. Bake and voila! A perfect fall dessert. It doesnt hurt to serve a la mode, either. Just saying.