Pumpkin Challah.

So I have been really wanting to bake a challah from scratch for quite some time and I finally did it. Since it's Sukkot I wanted to make something festive and came across a Pumpkin Challah recipe on Tori Avey's blog. that I could not resist. And oh my god. It is life changing. This challah is seriously amazing. We made french toast with it twice and it's the best french toast I have ever had. It's seriously HEAVENLY. I feel like I have to share it. A quick note this recipe makes two huge challahs so make sure you have plenty of people to share it with or cut the recipe in half to make a single challah. But I kind of never want to run out of it. I made it this week and am already thinking about when I can make it again. 

Ingredients:

• 2 packets of active dry yeast
• 1 cup luke warm water - divided into two half cups
• 3 tbsp white sugar
• 1 egg 
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tbsp canola oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp all spice 
• 1/4 tsp ginger 
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups pumpkin puree
• 7-9 cups baking flour

plus for egg wash:

• 2 egg yolks
• 1 tbsp water 

You'll also need:

• large mixing bowl
• whisk
• 2 cookie sheets
• parchment paper
• aluminum foil
• pastry brush

First pour 1/2 cup of the warm water into a large mixing bowl and add the 2 packets of yeast and 1 tbsp of sugar. Stir it well to dissolve. Wait 10 minutes. It should look a bit foamy and a little thicker. 

Add the other 1/2 cup of warm water to the bowl with the sugar, egg, egg yolks, honey, canola oil, salt and spice. I used a hand mixer to blend it all well. After that's mixed in add the pumpkin puree - I again, used my hand mixer to blend it well. It should be a thick liquid. 

Next you are going to add the flour. This part can get VERY messy. I measured out 8 cups of flour and had it ready to go in another big mixing bowl, but I ended up needing 9 cups. You will need to use your hands to mix - so I recommend measuring out 9-10 cups of flour before hand so you don't have to clean your hands and measure out more flour in the middle. 

Add the flour by the cupful. I started mixing with a wooden spoon until it was too thick and then mixed with my hands - and Wren loved helping during this part. 

Keep mixing and kneading the dough until it's smooth and not sticky. Keep adding the flour cup by cup until it feels 'right'. 

Once you're done kneading the dough place a saucepan full of water on the stove to boil. Meanwhile remove the dough from your mixing bowl. Clean and dry the bowl. Grease the bowl with canola oil. Put the dough back in the greased bowl and flip it over so both sides are moistened by the oil. Cover the bowl with a clean damp towel. Please the bowl on the middle rack of you oven and place the saucepan of boiling water on the rack below the bowl of dough. The pan of water will create an ideal environment for the dough to rise. Let the dough rise for 1 hour. 

Take the dough out and punch it a few times to eliminate air pockets. Cover with towel and place back in the oven with pan of water to rise for 1 hour more. 

Now your dough is ready to braid. Divide it into two equal portions. If you plan to bless your challah you can find the blessing here. 

You can find braiding tutorials complete with pictures here. 

I did my first one as a 6 strand braid, which I definitely recommend. Being 31 weeks pregnant and it was now like 9 pm, I got tired and lazy for the second and did a 3 braid for the second challah. I also did not bother to follow the tutorial and braided it like I would my hair. It still tasted great but visually was not as appealing. So I would definitely follow the tutorials in the link above. 

After your challahs are braided - beat the egg wash - 2 egg yolks and 1 tbsp of water. 

Place challahs on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Using your pastry brush cover both challahs evenly with egg wash. 

Let the braided challahs rise for another 45 minutes. You'll know the dough is ready to bake when you press your finger into the dough and the indent stays.

Preheat oven to 350. 

I baked both challahs at the same time. 

Bake for 20 minutes. Then turn the challahs and switch racks so they bake evenly. Then bake for another 20 minutes. So its 40 min total baking time. Keep an eye on the challah for the last 20 minutes. It may be browning faster than its baking. Once you feel like it is browned to your liking, take the tray out and cover the challah with tin foil. Then place it back in the oven to finish baking. 

You can make sure it's done by turning it over and tapping the bottom of the loaf, it should make a hollow sound. 

Let the challah cool and enjoy!

I also recommend making Tori's Cinnamon Honey Butter to go with it. This challah is amazing toasted with a little of the cinnamon honey butter on top. I also used the cinnamon honey butter to make french toast with this challah. It's life changing I promise. 

EAT and ENJOY!

Peanut Butter Chip Cookies.

 Ever since I ate an amazing peanut butter cookie at Alcove I have been obsessed with trying to recreate it at home. I've finally done it. These are such delicious, soft, sweet cookies. They are really easy to make and don't take much time either.

Here is the recipe:

3/4 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

16oz of peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350°F

Cream butter and sugars.

Mix in eggs and vanilla.

Combine flour, salt and baking soda. 

Add dry ingredients to the batter and mix well.

Stir in peanut butter chips. 

Scoop onto an ungreased cookie sheet with a teaspoon. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes.

ENJOY!

Nutella Brownie Balls.

If you follow my blog, you know I have made cake balls before. But I was wanting some super chocolaty Nutella ones when it dawned on me to make them with brownies instead of cake and Nutella in lieu of frosting. I improvised the recipe and they turned out amazing, much better than cake balls if you ask me. The sea salt is the key - it just brings out the sweetness so much more. 

Ingredients:

-Brownies (either from scratch or a box - I used Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate Brownies)

-Molding Dark Chocolate

-Nutella

-Coco Powder

-Sea Salt

It took me a few hours to make and yields around 24 Brownie Balls.

Step 1: 

Bake the brownies and let them cool completely. I cut mine into pieces so it would cool faster.

Step 2: 

Crumble brownies into the smallest pieces you can. They don't crumble as easy as cake does, so do your best to break it up.

Step 3: 

Mix in Nutella. I ended up adding around 4-5 Tablespoons. My brownies were really moist and didn't need a ton of Nutella mixed in. 

Step 4: 

Mix Nutella into crumbled Brownie with your hands until it is well combined.

Step 5: 

Roll into 1" balls. 

Step 6: 

Melt molding chocolate in a double boiler or two pots like I did. Make sure you stir the chocolate periodically. This helps it the chocolate on the bottom from burning and keeps the chocolate smooth.

Step 7: 

Once the chocolate is smooth and creamy, dip each ball in with a spoon and roll it to get an even coating. Place on cookie sheet/plate to cool.

Step 8: 

While the chocolate coating is still hot on each ball, sprinkle coco powder and sea salt on top. I did this one by one after I dipped each ball before the chocolate cooled. That way the coco and salt stay on and dry into the chocolate.

Step 9: 

Refrigerate for at least an hour. Make sure you take them out about at least an hour before you want to eat them, so the chocolate coating softens just a little. 

Step 10: 

Eat, Enjoy and Be Merry! 

Gluten-Free Mini Chocolate Cherry Cupcakes.

I made these delicious cupcakes for a small Oscar Party last weekend. They were so tasty I thought I would share the recipe. I used Ghirardelli chocolate chips, and the chocolate taste is heavenly. I swear they are better than cupcakes made with flour. This is definitely going to be my new go to cupcake recipe.

I found the recipe here. However, I had major problems with the frosting recipe. I ended up using A LOT more powdered sugar than it called for. I also had to make a second batch of the frosting. Here is the way I made them.

Ingredients:

• 24 maraschino cherries
• 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (1 cup) I recommend using Ghirardelli 
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• ¼ cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder plus more for garnish
• 1 ½ tablespoons maraschino cherry liquid
• 1/8 teaspoon kosher or fine sea salt
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered sugar  - I may have even used a little more. 

STEP 1: 

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

 STEP 2: 

Cut the cherries in half and dab them dry. 

STEP 3:

Melt chocolate chips and butter in a double boiler if you have one. I used one bigger pot filled with boiling water and had the smaller pan with chocolate and butter resting inside. Stir until it's well mixed and glossy. 

STEP 4: 

While you let the chocolate/butter mixture cool a little, line the pan with 24 mini cupcake cups. 

STEP 5: 

Whisk together chocolate/butter mixture, eggs, sugar, salt, cocoa powder and cherry liquid. 

STEP 6:

Spoon the batter half way into each cup, place a cherry half in each cup and spoon more batter on top of it. Almost fill the cups.

STEP 7:

Bake for 20 minutes. Stick a toothpick in - when the toothpick comes out clean, they are done.

STEP 8:

Beat heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla. If frosting is still watery add more powered sugar until it is your desired thickness. I also ended up whipping out my hand held beater to get it as thick as I could.

STEP 9: 

After cupcakes have cooled, top with whipped cream frosting using a frosting bag. Sprinkle with cocoa powder and top with a cherry. Since I made mine for an Oscar Party, I added some edible gold stars to make them a little more festive.

STEP 10:

Enjoy!

Winter Spice Cookies.

I wanted to make some festive holiday-ish cookies, but I wanted ginger and Daniel wanted molasses so I decided we could have both. And thus the the Winter Spice Cookie was born!

And they are yummy!  They pair great with coffee, tea, cider or whiskey! Just to name a few...

 INGREDIENTS:

• 3 CUPS All-Purpose Flour
• 1 TEASPOON Baking Soda
• 2 TEASPOONS Ground Ginger
• 1 & 1/4 TEASPOON Ground Cinnamon
• 1/4 TEASPOON Ground Cloves
• 1/4 TEASPOON Ground Nutmeg
• 1/4 TEASPOON Salt
• 3/4 CUP Butter - room temperature 
• 3/4 CUP Brown Sugar
• 1/3 CUP Molasses
• 1 Egg
• 2 TEASPOONS Vanilla Extract
• 1/3 CUP Sugar (for rolling)

STEP 1:

In a large bowl mix the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and salt.

Set aside for later.

STEP 2:

In a separate bowl/mixer (I used my Kitchen Aid) cream the butter for about a minute.

Add the brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy.

Add molasses, egg and vanilla extract.

Mix well.

Be sure to scrape down the sides if needed.

STEP 3:

Slowly mix in the dry ingredients, little by little.

Do not over mix.

STEP 4:

Cover dough with foil and refrigerate for 2 hours.

STEP 5:

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

STEP 6:

Roll dough into 1 inch balls.

STEP 7:

Roll balls in sugar until they are nicely coated.

STEP 8:

Place balls 2 inches apart on baking sheet.

STEP 9:

Bake for 8-10 minutes

DO NOT OVER-BAKE!!!

They will be puffy and soft.

STEP 10:

Let them cool for 1-2 minutes on cookie sheet before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

STEP 11:

Enjoy!

All Hallow's Eve.

Happy Halloween to all! I have lots to share on this bewitching holiday. First, I had to post 

"Spirits of the Dead" by Edgar Allan Poe, it's just short and so perfect for today where the veil between the living and the dead is supposedly lifted and the dead return to walk the Earth. Second if you are making any cocktails or drinks today be sure to add a drop or two of black food coloring(see above image). You can also make black ice cubes(the bigger the better) which as they melt make a smoky effect that will eventually turn the whole drink black. Lastly I have some recipes to share at the bottom. 

Spirits of the Dead

by

Edgar Allan Poe

(published 1829)

Thy soul shall find itself alone
'Mid dark thoughts of the grey tomb-stone --
Not one, of all the crowd, to pry
Into thine hour of secrecy:
Be silent in that solitude
    Which is not loneliness -- for then
The spirits of the dead who stood
    In life before thee are again
In death around thee -- and their will
Shall then overshadow thee: be still.

For the night -- tho' clear -- shall frown --
And the stars shall look not down,
From their high thrones in the Heaven,
With light like Hope to mortals given --
But their red orbs, without beam,
To thy weariness shall seem
As a burning and a fever
Which would cling to thee for ever :

Now are thoughts thou shalt not banish --
Now are visions ne'er to vanish --
From thy spirit shall they pass
No more -- like dew-drop from the grass:

The breeze -- the breath of God -- is still --
And the mist upon the hill
Shadowy -- shadowy -- yet unbroken,
Is a symbol and a token --
How it hangs upon the trees,
A mystery of mysteries! --

Shrunken Heads in Cider

This is a great recipe I found on Martha Stewart for turning apples into creepy heads. It has become a Halloween tradition in our house. As for the actual cider, this year I went rogue. 

My cider recipe is 

2 bottles Martinelli's, 

16 oz Jack Daniel and then sprinkle in 

4 good shakes of cinnamon, 

add a dash of ginger, 

a half dash nutmeg and 

a pinch of clove. 

Add in the heads(apples) and you're all set. 

Pour it over black ice for an extra creepy effect. 

But it's also amazing hot as well. In fact last night we got into a debate over whether it's better hot or cold. We remain a house divided.

Graveyard Brownies

For these spooky treats I followed another Martha Stewart recipe for Rocky Road brownie bites with a few alterations. I made them in regular size cupcake tins, instead of mini size so I could put Milano cookies in like tombstones. Only let them cool for like five minutes so they are still soft when you put the cookies in. I didn't add any nuts, just mini chocolate chips and marshmallows. I should have written out stuff on the tombstones but I ran out of time. 

Happy Halloween!!!!

Pumpkin, Spice & Everything Nice Pancakes.

I have been pumpkin obsessed lately. I bought a few cans and have just been trying to put it into everything I can. I decided pancakes would be a good vehicle for my pumpkin fix. Oh my, am I glad I did. These pancakes are pretty much the best ones I've ever eaten in my life. They are crazy good. And quite filling. They come out darker in color than regular pancakes with cinnamon sprinkled through. They look almost as good as they taste. There's layers of my favorite autumn spices in every bite. Pour on some maple syrup and it's heaven in your mouth.  

 They're perfect for a lazy Sunday. They pair nicely with cozy socks, a soft flannel and a Netflix binge session.

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup milk ( I use non-fat)

6 tablespoons pumpkin

1 large egg

2 tablespoons soft butter

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon of clove

1. Whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl mix pumpkin, butter and egg. 
3. Mix the dry ingredients into the west ingredients.
4. Grease a frying pan and cook 'em up. 1/4 cup of batter needs about 3 minutes per side on medium heat. 

I tend to add an extra dash of cinnamon and an extra little pinch of salt. I think it slightly enhances the flavors of the other spices.

Enjoy!

Cookie Monster Pie.

I love baking. It makes me feel like a mad scientist and then I get to eat something delicious afterward. My favorite is chocolate chip cookies. It was my friend Kenzie's birthday recently and I wanted to make them for her but she has a gluten allergy. My mom had turned me on to Chocolate-Covered Katie, a blog focused on making sweet things as healthily as possible. It was there I stumbled onto the recipe for Deep Dish Cookie Pie. It's one monster, gluten-free, chocolate chip cookie of heaven. You can click on the link and follow how Katie did it or follow my tweaks here:

• 2 cans white beans or garbanzos (drained and rinsed)- I used garbanzo beans
• 1 cup quick oats (or certified-gf quick oats)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3 tbsp oil (canola, veg, or coconut) - I used veg oil
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt - I added a little extra pinch
• 1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar - I added an extra 1/2 cup - 2 cups total
• 1 cup chocolate chips - I added an extra handful
• I added two dashes of cinnamon

Rinse and drain the beans.

The recipe recommends using a food processor to mix everything together, but I don't have one, so I mixed everything together except the chocolate chips and beans using a beater, you could also do this with a fork or whisk.

I used my potato masher to turn the beans into paste, that way they would mix with the other ingredients easier.

Then I alternated using my beater and a hand blender to mix in the bean paste. And then used the beater to mix in the chocolate chips. I suggest you taste the dough at this time and make any alterations to the flavor.

Pour dough into an oiled pan, I used a 9" one.

Bake it for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees. 

Eat and be merry! It feels heavy from the beans and oats and you feel like you are eating a massive cookie but at only a fraction of the calories...and it's vegan!

Enjoy!