A Schmorgisborg of Cookies

Get pumped.

Because from today until the holidays, I will be posting about each of these delicious cookies!

MMMMM I want some just looking at that picture.

And if you didn't know, a "schmorgisborg" is:

"A large quantity of something, with diverse variation, served or otherwise open to people.

Typically refers to a platter of food at a social gathering."

--Complements of Urbandictionary.com.

aka tons of yummy cookies!

Happy Hanukkah!

To round up Hanukkah, I wanted to show you this recipe for a "Jewish" apple cake that my mom made for Rosh Hashanah this year and then I brought into work for a breakfast birthday celebration later! Of course, I used some of the apples that we handpicked!

This is hands-down the moistest cake I've ever eaten - and its delicious! The original recipe calls for slicing the apples, but the cake falls apart when you try to cut into it! Here, I've diced the apples to allow for smoother cutting (and less mess!).

Happy Hanukkah & enjoy!

Apple Cake (from relishmag.com)

6 cups peeled and sliced (or diced) Granny Smith apples (about 3 large)

1 1/2 cups plus 5 tbs granulated sugar

4 tsps cinnamon

3 cups all purpose flour

1 tbs baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup orange juice

2 1/2 tsps vanilla extract

Preheat 350F. Grease and flour a 10-inch Bundt pan.

Combine apple slices with 5 tbs sugar and 4 tsps cinnamon, set aside.

Beat eggs with remaining sugar and brown sugar. Add vegetable oil, orange juice and vanilla, beat well. Gradually blend in all dry ingredients.

Pour 1/3 batter into the pan, top with half the apples. Pour in about half of the remaining batter, top with the rest of the apples. Pour the remaining batter on top of the apples, making sure to cover all the apples.

Bake 55 -60 minutes until golden brown. Cool 10 minutes in pan, turn out of pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Nutritional Information - 1 serving (1/16 of cake): 320 calories, 15g fat, 47 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 190mg sodium.

Carrot Cake Muffins/Cupcakes

Really, these just give me an excuse to eat cream cheese icing first thing in the morning.

And who wouldn't want to do that??

Seriously though, I've served these as muffins (AM) and as cupcakes (Birthday celebration) and they are equally as delicious at any time of the day! I'm thinking that carrot cake in cake form means that it has to be dessert, while in muffin form, you can eat it at anytime. In that case, all my carrot desserts will be in muffin form :)

I prefer my carrot cake without nuts, so I left them out, and added lots of cream cheese frosting, just to cancel out the healthiness of the carrot :) Enjoy!

Carrot Cake Muffins/Cupcakes

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 large eggs, room temp

3/4 c oil (canola or sunflower, vege will work)

1tsp vanilla

1 c sugar

1.5 cups shredded carrots

1/2 c chopped pecans (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 and line a 12 cup muffin tin (or a mini muffin tin) with paper liners

In an electric mixer, whisk together eggs, oil, vanilla, sugar on high for about 5 minutes until it resembles a runny mayonnaise. Stir in flour, baking soda, and cinnamon until combined. Stir in carrots (and pecans).

Divide batter among muffin tins (about 1/2-2/3 full), bake about 18-20 minutes for regular muffins or 8-10 min for mini muffins (inserted toothpick should come out clean). Cool in pan 5 minutes, then take out allow to cool completely. Frost with cream cheese icing!

Cream Cheese Icing

1 package (8oz) softened cream cheese

1/2 c powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla

Cream together until smooth. Try not to eat the whole bowl until you are done frosting the cupcakes/muffins.

Apple Picking Part 1

We've been meaning to go apple picking the past three falls, but somehow always end up missing the season. Growing up in Virginia, my family would drive up to the mountains when the weather turned fall-ish and pick tons of apples. So, as soon as the weather breaks in North Carolina, I look up places to go apple picking and find that everything has already been picked! Luckily, I was early this year, so on a nice, hot Sunday, we drove about an hour away to pick the last few apples off the trees.

The only kind of apple that was left was Fuji, and there were only a few trees full of apples, but super-tall Patrick was able to reach the untouched apples at the top, and all I had to do was hold the basket! It took us all of 10 minutes to pick half a bushel, which was about all I could carry.

Then the fun began.... First, we needed to wash them. The farm where we picked them gave us instructions to fill our sink with water and add a little bit of bleach (about 2 tablespoons), and soak the apples for 5 minutes.

Bobbing anyone? Then, I transfered them to a rack and rinsed them off really well to get rid of the bleach.

Unfortunately, they were still dirty, so then it was time to shine each apple. This took for FOREVER, and used up at least 3 wash rags, but most of the ugly dirt spots came off of each apple easily.

Don't they look so pretty in that bowl?

The first thing to make with them was an apple pie. There was a recipe that I had my eyes on for a while, so I decided to try it. I need a few more tries to get the pie perfect, but I can tell you that the crust was delicious! It didn't use butter, but had shortening in it, making it really crisp and flaky.

The Fuji apples were a little tart for the pie, and not sweet enough for me, even though I added much more sugar than the recipe called for. Next time I'll probably use store bought granny smith apples.

I did get to finally use my pie plate that's been staring at me all summer - did you notice that it matches the bowl? I also have a mixing bowl in the same pattern - they are all from a fantasic pottery store called Irvin Pottery in Seward, Alaska.

Stay tuned for more apple recipes!

Happy Halloween!

What better way to celebrate Halloween than to attempt to get all of your favorite Halloween candy in one bite? I couldn't think of one, so I made Halloween Candy Bark!

You can totally mix it up with any candy that you want - I used Reese's Pieces and Reese's Peanut butter cups, Butterfingers, Heath Bars, and Honey Roasted Peanuts - yum!

All you do is melt some bittersweet chocolate (I actually did a mixture of semisweet and bittersweet because that was the chips I had) and spread it in a foil-lined baking sheet to about 1/4 of an inch. While it is still warm, add all the chopped Halloween candy you want! I froze mine before chopping so they stay together easier. To finish, melt some white chocolate* and drizzle over top. Put in the fridge for about 30 minutes to an hour until chilled, then break into pieces and eat!

Be forewarned - this stuff is addicting!

*for readers that will remain un-named & used up 3 bags of chips, here is how to melt white chocolate: Don't put it directly over the heat if doing it on the stovetop - use a double boiler or boil water in a pot and then put your bowl with the chocolate overtop. OR put the chocolate in a microwave and microwave for one minute, stir, then in 15 minute intervals until melted. If you need to drizzle or make it thinner, you can add some shortening, vege oil, or butter.

Chocolate Strawberry Cake

I always love it when I have an excuse to make a whole cake - I can hardly justify the work of making an entire cake when its just the two of us. I made this cake this summer during Patrick's family reunion in Oregon. With two full houses of relatives, there were lots of mouths to eat it!

This is a layered chocolate cake with ganache frosting, strawberry jam, and fresh strawberries. I would have liked it to be circular, as the recipe calls for, but the rental house did not have any 9-inch diameter cake pans! Instead, I used a 9x13 (they didn't even have any 9x9s) and just cut the baked cake in half. It did the trick, and it still tasted great in rectangular form.

The ganache on this makes it super rich and quite messy to frost - especially if you don't have enough time to fully freeze and set the ganache like I did (there were too many outdoor activites to do - biking, hiking, swimming, floating down a freezing cold river.....). But, the drippings go nicely on the extra strawberries :) and you don't even have to wait for it to set!

And before the recipe, here's a beautiful view from the top of the hike that we went on before eating this cake :)

Recipe:

CAKE

2 cups all purpose flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup water

3/4 cup buttermilk

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3 large eggs

Preheat over to 350F and spray two 9 inch diameter pans. Blend flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a large bowl, form a well in the center. In a separate bowl, whisk water, buttermilk, oil and eggs. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry well and whisk to blend. Divide batter between pans and bake for about 30 minutes or until your toothpick comes out clean. Cool in pans.

Meanwhile.... make the ganache!

GANACHE

18 oz chopped bittersweet chocolate

2 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

Bring cream to boil, pour over chocolate in a medium sized bowl. Let stand 1 minute for chocolate to melt, and then stir until smooth. Refrigerate 1 1/4 cup ganache about 1 hour until it is thick enough to spread. Leave the other at room temp to cool - it should still be pourable.

Now its time to assemble...

STRAWBERRY TOPPING

Fresh strawberries

1 jar strawberry jam

Place one cake layer on plate, spread 4 tablespoons jam. Spoon several dollops of the chilled ganache over top, and spread until even. Place second cake layer on top of the first. Spread another 4 tablespoons strawberry jam on top. Pour almost half of the room temp ganache over the cake, spread over top and sides to cover. Freeze the whole cake until the ganache sets (20-30 min). Pour the rest of the ganache over the cake - spread evenly, smooth the edges, and make it pretty. Freeze to set ganache. Add strawberries in whatever pattern your heart desires, refrigerate until two hours before the time to eat, serve at room temp!

Homemade Challah

When I think back to what I enjoy most about the Jewish Holidays, I always remember the good food! Especially on Rosh Hashanah, when its perfectly acceptable to dip everything in honey (and not just when I go to fast food restaurants - fries dipped in honey are so delicious!). However, the BEST thing about the holidays is the challah. Since I can't get Ukrops round challah's down here - and I've never even seen a challah in the Harris Teeter - I decided to make my own this year. I ended up making a total of 4 loaves since the recipe that I found makes two - and they are almost gone!

This bread was actually super easy - it only rises twice, so you can make it in one night. I think that it tastes better the second day.... we've been living off of toasted challah the past two weeks (even Bailey loves it!)! I prefer my challah with raisins in them, which I added right before the knead step. The second time around, I ended up adding honey into the dough, which I thought made the bread tastier and also slightly firmer. I didn't measure, but just squeezed a bunch in there so hopefully I can replicate it next time!

Also, I left off the egg wash both times - once I forgot, the other time I was out of eggs! I didn't miss it - I actually prefer my breads without an egg wash.

Challah - adapted from bonappetit.com

1/2 cup warm water
2 tablespoons dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar

5 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
squeeze honey (optional)
2/3 cup warm water
7 1/2 cups (about) all-purpose flour

1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

Stir together 1/2 cup warm water, yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in a separate bowl. Let yeast mixture stand at room temperature until foamy.

Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, beat 5 eggs until blended. Add oil, salt, 3/4 cup sugar and honey (if you want) and beat until pale yellow and slightly thickened, about 4 minutes. Add 2/3 cup warm water and mix. Add yeast mixture mix. Remove whisk and fit mixer with dough hook.

Add flour 1 cup at a time until dough is smooth, beating well after each addition and making sure you don't add too much flour - you want the dough to not stick to your hands, but not be dry. At this point, the dough was overflowing my bowl, so I split it up into two equal pieces. Then beat dough on medium speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes, adding flour by tablespoonfuls if sticky (Add raisins here). Turn out onto floured surface and knead 2 minutes.

Lightly oil large bowl. Add dough, turning to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap, then with clean kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Divide each dough portion into 3 equal pieces and roll each piece into 9-inch-long rope on a lightly floured surface. Braid 3 ropes together; pinch ends together to seal and fold under to make a nice end. Repeat with remaining dough pieces, forming 2 braids. Place braids on a baking sheet and cover with a towel . Let rise in warm area until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°F. If you want, whisk yolk with 1 tablespoon water to blend and brush dough with egg mixture. Bake 10 minutes at 400, then reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, about 30 minutes. Transfer loaves to rack and cool completely. Eat and enjoy!