Lemon Cream Pie

For my sister's Shabbat sheva brachot, (way back in August, when I was in New York!) I put myself in charge of making dessert. I went a bit crazy, makings two different types of truffles, two different types of biscotti and two different types of frozen pies. (Having just received a copy of Icebox Pies, it was clear they would be of the cold variety. Also helped break the heat!!) The first pie to catch my eye was none other than the Lemon Cream Pie, also the first pie recipe in the book. The idea is a familiar one, whipped cream folded into homemade lemon curd and poured into a graham cracker crust. Yum. I don't know anyone who can resist the delightful tang of lemon curd especially when mellowed by cream. Even my father, who is one picky dessert eater, stealthily went back for seconds. I used store bought graham cracker crust because that's what I had on hand, but I encourage you to make your own, it is so much better that way. As far as the lemon curd goes, it is quite easy but since it is made with whole eggs, you'll have a lot of straining to do to get all the cooked egg white out. Don't be lazy, strain as many times as you can. It makes all the difference.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Delight

Not too long ago, my vegetarian roommate hosted a dairy meal and she asked me to make dessert. I happily obliged and took the opportunity to make a dairy dessert. Thumbing through one of my latest additions, A Taste of Home Church Supper Desserts, I came across a recipe that seemed yummy and would feed a crowd. The recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookie Delight had a layer of cookie, a cheesecake layer, a chocolate pudding layer and was topped with whipped cream. Real decadence. Many of the recipes in the book use convenience products but as a compromise, I made my own cookie dough and used real whipping cream, so feel free to do the same. As you can see in the above photo, the guests of the lunch only managed to eat one row of the cake. What to do? I brought it into my soldiers the next day and they quickly demolished it. That's what soldiers are for. ;) I really like this cookbook because it is filled with down-home, crowd pleasing desserts that are tried and true winners. This is the second recipe I made and they were both winners. I am posting the recipe as written in the book, but as mentioned, feel free to substitute for the packaged products.

Tomato Onion Pepper Foccacias

I made these breads to break my fast on Tisha B'av quite a while ago and am only getting around to posting now. This recipe is slighty adapted from a recipe from A Passion for Baking. The original calls for tomatoes, olives and onions but I swapped out the olives for peppers, a favorite of mine, especially when roasted. These foccacias are quite easy and fast to throw together and last quite a while. What I couldn't eat at the break fast I took for my flight home. Delicious.

Yogurt Tahini Cake

This cake was a runaway hit. Who would have thought that the humble blend of yogurt, tahini and silan (date honey) would turn into something so magical? I myself was a bit skeptical about this cake, but one bite of it changed my mind. My Israeli taste testers also really liked this. Truth be told, there's nothing not to like about this moist, whole grain cake. Baked in my favorite type of pan to form a tea cake, this cake would be perfect  as a breakfast or served with tea or coffee. If you want to bring a bit more glory to this cake, serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and you've elevated it to a first rate, exotic, dessert. I used half whole wheat flour and half regular, but you can just as easily substitute self-rising flour and eliminate the baking powder.

Banana Blueberry Quickbread

These last three weeks, my trip to America for my sister's wedding, have been a real vacation from everything in my life, including, sadly, blogging. Now that I'm back, I'm determined to catch you up on all of the things I baked, before I flew and while I was in America. This won't be easy, as I'm going back to base tomorrow to welcome a whole new group of soldiers and some hard work, but stick with me and you won't be disappointed. On to the matter at hand. Every trip to America includes ordering some baking books on Amazon and every return to Israel includes bringing most of them back. I love to scour the bargain books and usually order the ones available there. The Sweeter Side of Amy's Bread has been on my wish list for ages and when I saw it on the bargain books list, I didn't hesitate to buy it. I mentally made a note of some recipes to try when I got it, but it was only when there were some blueberries and overripe bananas laying around my parent's house that I put it to use. The bread is pretty simple to put together and includes a nice amount of oats. I love the idea of the added blueberries and later bought strawberries to next time but never got around to it. I also chose to sprinkle the top of the loaves with demerara sugar for added crunch. I tasted a bit of this bread and was pleased to taste a bread with nice banana flavor and that wasn't overly sweet at all. Some might say it's not sweet enough, but I thought it was just perfect. This recipe makes two loaves, but I halved it to suit what I had on hand. Feel free to do the same.