Beth Henspberger's Challah

Undoubtedly, one of the highlights of my week is baking Challot for Shabbat. It's my once a week opportunity to knead dough and it makes me so happy. As you already know, from my previous challah posts, I've been trying out new recipes as much as I can. This weekend was no different. This week's challah recipe comes from Beth Henspberger's The Bread Bible. While this is an egg challah, it's certainly not sweet. It is perfect with egg salad, as we have at home, or with chumous or any other dip. The texture is really great, as well. The dough kneaded really well and rose nicely overnight in the fridge. As you can tell, the breads braided beautifully and turned out really prettyily. If only my dad could see them now! I upped the salt from two teaspoons to a full tablespoon, and it could still stand more. (My niece was so cute- she kept asking for salt on her challah, and then kept licking it off.) Sometimes it throws me off that an egg challah isnt sweet so I think adding sesame or poppy seeds if you have them would really help pull this challah to the more savory side. Surprisingly, I thought this challah was better the next day, in terms of both flavor and texture. I'm sending this over to Yeastspotting. 

Date and Nut Sticks

Oftentimes, the key to trying out a recipe I never would have otherwise is having around an ingredient I'm not longer interested in eating. Instead of throwing it away (waste? gasp!), I stick it into a baked good of some sort. Such was the case with some dates I had laying around. Don't misunderstand me. I love dates. They're soft and sweet and delicious. But.. I'd had these around for awhile and I just didn't think I'd end up eating them. So, I began the date recipe research. Now, before I begin, let me remind you that the last time I made something with dates, the very yummy date bars, I got made fun of and still get made fun of until this day. Something about date bars must remind people of prunes, which people must associate with old people, because the jibes I got about the date bars still won't end. Some haters just don't understand how I made them or why. But I maintain that they were delicious! I mean, dates and oat crumble- what could be better? It was with this trepidation that I made these Date and Nut Sticks from Carole Walter's Great Cookies. Dates and nuts? I put a sign on them warning all possible tasters about what lay within them. And you know what? To my great surprise, these unassuming cookies were hits! Everyone thought they were delicious. Perhaps because they are encased by a sweet, vanilla-ey cookie, I dont know. But even my roommate who is the top date bar mocker was one over by them. I'm gloating about that small victory just writing about it now. And so, my friends, the date has been redeemed. Make them. Just dont dredge them in the powdered sugar like the original recipe asks for. They're better without.

Chocolate Thumbprints

I made these simple little Chocolate Thumbprints for Shabbat last week after my chocolate madeleines failed. A nice alternative to their jammy counterparts, these bite sized cookies are cute and really easy to make. I made half a recipe which yielded about two dozen cookies. What's great about this recipe is that the cookie dough flattens into a nice round cookie instead of spreading all over the cookie sheet as per my previous thumbprint failure experiment. Should you decide that you must have the jam, just swap any flavor out for the chocolate filling. No harm done.

Friendship Sourdough Coffee Cake

For a very long time, I've had my eye on the Friendship Sourdough Coffee Cake recipe from Marcy Goldman's A Passion for Baking. Last night I decided it was time to whip out the sourdough starter and put it to good use. As it is, I'm always looking for alternative ways to use my starter so I dont know why it took me so long. I took out my neglected starter and fed him the night before. There must be some strong yeasts in there because he was ready to use right away. I gave him a bit extra "food" yesterday so that by the time I got home I could bake right away. I always wonder what the starter actually contributes in terms of flavor but all I can say is that the collective response to this cake was YUM. I get nervous that the sourdough flavor would come through, but I need not have worried. Here are my notes on the recipe. I used walnuts instead of graham cracker crumbs in the topping and would make 1 1/2 times of the recipe because I thought it was a bit scant. As for the cake itself, I cut back the margarine to 3/4 cup, the brown sugar to just one cup and omitted the apple/pumpkin pie spice. Regardless of the changes, the cake turned out moist and dense, but definitely nowhere near dry. I was disappointed to see that the topping sunk into the cake so next time I would bake the cake without the topping until the cake sets on top and then add the topping. Because the crumble sunk and wasnt so evident, I decided to throw together a glaze which I think was a nice touch that elevated it a tad. I'm sending this over to Yeastspotting this week!

White Spice Pound Cake

The above picture of cake is the only picture available of the final product, a. because despite my liberal greasing of the pan, it stuck and b. because my girls (who were visiting from last year) pounced on it before I had a chance to coax it out of the pan. I made the cake just because I felt like baking (and because I had egg whites in the fridge that I didn't want to waste), not intending it for anyone specific. But then, in my girls walked.... and the cake was theirs. Small as it was, it disappeared kinda fast. I had to grab it away at some point just to have a picture for this post. I guess that's a good thing. This lightly spiced pound cake comes from the Cake Bible and is easily made in the way of all Rose's cakes. One of my girls told me it tasted like Thanksgiving. I'm guessing that's a good thing. The cocoa powder and the cinnamon and cloves lent this cake a slightly muddy color, which I wasnt thrilled about, although it could have been the pan also. Because of the color, I was convinced the cake couldnt possibly be good. But they insisted it was. The proof was in the crumbs in the pan. The two changes I made were to swap vanilla for the brandy that I dont have and to use all purpose flour for the cake flour. I'm pretty sure no one missed them.