BAKED Sunday Mornings: Sunday Night Cake

This cake is called Sunday Night Cake because it is something that you can just throw together for an informal Sunday night gathering.  Nothing fancy and no great hassel.  When I first read the description of the cake and the frosting, I thought it would be like Dorie's Cinnamon Squares, a cinnamon cake with a chocolate frosting.  However, Dorie's cake has a lot more cinnamon punch and a richer chocolate frosting.  This cake is only faintly cinnamon and the flavor of the frosting is a more mild chocolate.  The Baked boys called this frosting a pudding and although I have never made a pudding like this, I can see what they meant.  I don't think I would want to eat it with a spoon, but together with the cake it was really good.  Don't skip the step of putting the frosted cake in the fridge.  My frosting was kind of grainy and strange tasting, but once I put it in the fridge, it was smooth and tasted really good.

I enjoyed this cake, especially in its simplicity.  The cake was tender and moist, with a good, warm flavor with a hint of cinnamon and the frosting balanced it nicely with a hit of chocolate.  My husband (the non-chocolate eater) enjoyed the cake without the frosting too.  One note...I didn't have the right size pan, so I made it in a slightly smaller pan and cooked it a little longer and it was totally fine.

Head over to Baked Sunday Mornings to see what everyone else has done and to get the recipe.  

Update: I have learned that I misread the frosting recipe and I used bittersweet chocolate instead of unsweetened. If worked fine and the frosting was great after a stint in the fridge.

Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies, or, The Return of the Rachel

I know. I am a delinquent. Sarah. feel free to berate me now. Between school, work, and figuring out what exactly I want to do with my life, I have had little time for baking and even less time for blogging. But I apologize for my neglectful ways and will try to do better in the future.

ANYWAY. I actually made these Mexican chocolate chip cookies almost two months ago, for the holiday Sukkot. Sukkot is always one of my favorite holidays-- I love eating outside in the sukkah and even the odd waving the large stick in the air ritual has found a fond place in my heart. This year I moved from sukkah to sukkah (or, since it rained almost the whole time, from house to house) and my job was often to bring dessert. Since I was off from school, I had a little more time than usual and decided to try making some new things (which will hopefully be posted about soon.)

I was excited about these Mexican chocolate chip cookies because I really like the combination of sweet and spicy-- think the old school hard candy fireballs-- and so I was excited to see how these would turn out. While I really liked the flavor, I found that they were a bit dry and crumbly, and became more and more so as the days passed. I think I would make them again, but would add more butter or milk next time to increase moisture. You can find the recipe here.

BAKED Sunday Mornings: New York-Style Crumb Cake

I am quickly dashing off this post as Passover is quickly approaching.  By the time you read this, it will be Passover and that means no bread, pizza, cake, cookies, etc for 8 days.  As a matter of fact, you are not supposed to own these things or even really look at them/interact with them for the entire holiday.  As you can imagine, I could not make this cake on Passover.

However, I made this a few weeks ago and it was a huge hit at the two meetings I brought it to.  Everyone loved the large crumbs and the great ratio of crumbs to cake (it is about one to one).  Apparently this is what makes it a New York-Style crumb cake -- that and the lack of swirl.

I wish I had more time to tell you all the delicious features of this cake, but you should just make it and see for yourself.  When I was making the crumb, I was really unsure about what it would look and taste like, but everything turned out great.  Another hit from the guys at Baked!

Cinnamon Sugar Goodness: The Snickerdoodle Bundt

A while back, you might remember that Mary, the Food Librarian, made 30 bundts in 30 days to celebrate National Bundt Day.  Actually, she has done this twice, so on her blog there are no fewer than 60 bundts (and probably a lot more since she is the queen of bundts).  That means that anytime I want a bundt cake, I just turn to her since she has so many choices.  

I needed something for Shabbat dinner for a good sized group of people, so a bundt cake is always a good choice.  It is fairly easy to make, it feeds a lot of people and it actually tastes better the second day.  I made this Snickerdoodle bundt on New Year's Eve and served it with sparkling apple cider sorbet.  The apple and the cinnamon sugar were a really nice combination.

This cake was so good, I could have just kept eating it and eating it.  The outside had a nice cinnamon sugar crunch, just like a Snickerdoodle cookie and the swirl was so yummy!  It brought a nice sweetness and great flavor to the cake, which was rich and light at the same time.  I made this cake parve (substituted margarine for butter and tofutti sour cream for the regular stuff) and it was still delicious.  I can't even imagine how good it would be made with all dairy ingredients.

There are two slightly tricky parts to this cake.  First, you really want to coat the whole pan well with cooking spray and then with the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Make sure that you get it into all the nooks and crannies so that you get that crust on the outside of the cake.  The second tricky part comes at the end.  When you bake the cake, you cover the top with a cinnamon sugar mixture.  Then, you have to turn the cake over, so the top with the mixture becomes the bottom.  You must, must, must do this over the sink so that you don't end up with cinnamon and sugar all over the kitchen.  Seriously, listen to me on this one.  If you can master both these parts (and neither is hard, so don't worry), you will be rewarded with a bundt of deliciousness.  Next time, I might put chocolate chips in the swirl.  Mmmmmm....

Although I found the recipe on Food Librarian, it actually comes from Dozen Flours.  You can find it here.

Sweet and Sticky Cinnamon Buns

A few weeks ago, for some reason, I was struck by a craving for cinnamon buns. I've never endeavored to make them before, but most of the ones that you can buy on the street and seem delicious aren't kosher, so I had to take matters into my own hands. I did some reading around compared reviews, and settled on these ones from the food network.

These cinnamon buns were super intense-- delicious, but also very rich. As I told somebody who asked me, it's basically butter, sugar, sugar and more butter. I enjoyed them, but I was glad that I made them on the smaller side because otherwise, I would not have been able to finish them. (As it was, I served them at two Shabbat meals, left six of them at my friend's house, and still had more to bring to school.) I also found the dough to be a little too dense and crumbly, so if I made them again, I would probably use more milk and a little less flour. Finally, I found the butter icing to be a little too sweet. I think using a cream cheese glaze would make these a delicious dessert or breakfast-- as long as you're not concerned about your cholesterol.

You can find the recipe here.

MSC October: Snickerdoodle Cupcakes or Yay for Cinnamon

I love cinnamon, so I was super excited to make these snickerdoodle cupcakes.  Katie from Katiecakes picked these cupcakes for October for the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club.  I really liked these cupcakes.  The only issue I had with them is that I had no cake flour, so I had to make a substitution, which made the cupcakes slightly gummy, but they still had good flavor.

I served these cupcakes two different times (I intended to make half the recipe, but forgot when I went to cream the butter).  One time, I used Martha's fluffy white frosting, sprinkled with cinnamon.  I served them on Sukkot and they were a hit with everyone in our very first sukkah.

Then, I put unfrosted cupcakes in the freezer, figuring I would deal with them before the October 15th posting date.  And then, we went to New York for an amazing wedding -- the bride is like our 4th sister -- and when I got back on Monday, I realized it was time for single-mommydom, which is not great for baking.  However, the other day I was finally able to whip up a new frosting.  This time, I decided to make cinnamon, to compliment the cinnamon flavor in the cupcakes. I'm sure there is a recipe out there somewhere, but I just made the fluffy white frosting and tossed in a bunch of cinnamon until it tasted right.  I really liked the way the cinnamon frosting tasted.  I also experimented with piping.  I haven't gotten it exactly right yet, but I'm working on it.

We took the cupcakes to our friends Mike and Kim's house, since they just had a new baby.  We had a yummy (but meat) dinner, so I didn't get to taste the cupcakes, but hopefully everyone there enjoyed them.

You can find the cupcake recipe here, on Martha's website.

Ethnic Flavor: Challah, Again

I'm never satisfied with my challah recipe. Part of the challenge, and fun, of making up your own recipe is that it never feels finished. I think I'm getting closer, though. So in honor of Rosh Hashanah, here is another recipe for you to try. (To make it for this time of year, coil the challah into a circle and bake it in an 8 inch circular tin instead of braiding.) Shabbat shalom and shanah tovah!

For the dough:
2 cups warm water
2 packets yeast
4 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 tbsp. kosher salt
3/4 cup oil
2 tbsp. cinnamon sugar
6-8 cups flour (with potentially more needed, depending on the stickiness of the dough. Flour can be white or whole wheat, but should not be more than 50% whole wheat)

For the glaze:
1 tsp. warm water
1 egg
cinnamon sugar

Let the yeast sit in the water. Once it's dissolved, add the eggs. Mix until the eggs are blended. Add the salt, oil and sugar, and mix. Add about half of the flour. Mix in the cinnamon sugar. Add the rest of the flour. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350. Punch the dough down and knead. Divide it into 6 pieces. Subdivide the challah sections into three sections and braid. Allow the dough to rise again.

Mix the water and the egg. Using a pastry brush, spread it over the challah. Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the challah sounds hollow when knocked.

For The Love of Chocolate and Cinnamon

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I (Rebecca) love the combination of chocolate and cinnamon.  It is one of my favorites, because I like the spicy kick that cinnamon gives the sweet chocolate.  That is why, when I saw this in Dorie's cookbook way back when, I knew I had to make it.  I have made this a few times and it is always a hit with me.  It is soft and delicious, with a good chocolate flavor that is complimented by the cinnamon.  I also like the little snap of chocolate that you get in the swirl.  I don't always get a great swirl, but even when it is not so great, it is still delicious.

This cake comes together very easily, as does the frosting.  It also freezes really well.  The last time I made this cake, I cut it, then froze it uncovered.  When it was hard, I wrapped it well and it meant that I could enjoy a piece whenever I wanted it.  It does not take very long to unfreeze and it tastes almost as good as when it is first made.  If you like chocolate and cinnamon, make this cake.  It is simple and good, and that is all you can ask for.  I think this cake would also work ok parve, but I've never tried it.  If you do, let me know!

The recipe is after the jump.

Operation Baking GALS: Cookies to Soldiers

    

Before I lived in Texas, I never really had any connection to the military.  I knew that we were fighting a war, and I theoretically knew that the people fighting it were people's parents, children and siblings, but I never really knew anyone who was actually fighting.  However, I now live in a large military town, and many of the people that I interact with on a daily basis, including a few of the children in my child's class, are either military themselves or someone in their family is.  One of my close friends here (who writes this great blog) has had her emotions yanked all over the place, thinking her husband was being deployed and then learning he wasn't but will be at some point in the future.  This has really brought the need to support the troops home for me.  Whether you agree with the war or not, that is someone's parent, child, friend out there fighting, so we can sit at home and we should all do what we can to make them feel comfortable from afar.

All that is why I decided to join the group Operation Baking GALS.  This great group of people bake for soldiers each month.  You join a team and then everyone sends their goodies on the same day, so that the soldier (and his or her unit) is bombarded with love.  Also, it is win-win because I love to bake, but its not great for me to eat everything I bake, so I feel great about being able to send it away.

I chose to make two different kinds of cookies for my group, whose solider is in Iraq.  The first (the cookies on the left) are some of my favorites, because they combine cinnamon and chocolate.  I have made them numerous times and they have never failed.  The recipe makes 2 9x13 pans, but I always half it without any problems.  Bake them for about 20 minutes.

You can find the recipe here, on the blog Dozen Flours.

The second cookie, the one on the right, is Buttery Jam Cookies from our favorite book, Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours.  The recipe calls for apricot jam, but all I had was black raspberry, which accounts for the interesting purple color of the cookies.  These are very soft and not two sweet and I could really taste the jam.  I also used buttermilk (instead of regular milk) because I had exactly 2 tablespoons left and it just seemed too good to be true.

You can find the recipe here, from when it was chosen as  Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.

I hope by solider enjoys them.  Just my way of showing some support for the troops.  I hope you find your own way to support them as well.

Ethnic Flavor: Adventures in Challah Baking

Ever since I was a kid, I have loved baking challah. My dad and I used to do it before Rosh Hashanah every year, each of us donning our aprons as we mixed, then kneaded, and then shaped the dough into round loaves.


As I've gotten older, my challah baking has become more frequent, and also less structured. I had trouble finding a recipe I liked, so I played around until I came up with my own. Even now, I often don't measure out my ingredients so carefully, instead preferring to dump things in the bowl and see what happens. (That recipe, or a version of it, will be posted at a later date-- keep reading!)


A couple of months ago, I had the pleasure of teaching two of my dear friends, Jon and Gabe, how to bake challah. In addition to the fact that it is funny to watch boys try to braid things, Gabe convinced me to attempt my first foray into whole wheat challah. I admit that I was skeptical because things that are whole wheat often taste so... well... whole wheat-ish. However, he brought the flour, so I had no choice but to try it. And I have to say that with a half and half mixture of white and whole wheat flour, it was very successful, except that it did not rise quite as much as usual. So when I set out to make challah again a few weeks ago, I decided to try it again, this time with cinnamon sugar added as well. Also, as I was baking, I realized I was low on honey, so I added some brown sugar as well, just for fun. Overall, I was very pleased with the results-- a lesson to one and all that sometimes the best things happen when you don't follow the recipe.


Whole Wheat Cinnamon Sugar Challah:
2 packets yeast
2 cups warm water
3 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp kosher salt
4-6 cups whole wheat flour
4-6 cups white flour


Cinnamon Sugar
1 egg
1 tsp water


Mix the yeast and the water and let them sit. Add the eggs and mix well. Add the oil, honey, sugar and salt and stir. Add the flour two cups at a time, alternating between whole wheat and white flour. Add the flour until the dough is elastic but not too sticky.


Set the dough aside and allow it to rise, covered with a towel, for at least 45 minutes. Punch the dough down and separate it into six sections. Divide each of the six sections into three or four even sized pieces. Roll each strip into a long thin snake and then roll it in cinnamon sugar. Braid the pieces together. Repeat until you have used all of the dough.


Allow the dough to rise again, for at least 45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350.


When the challah is ready to go into the oven, pour cinnamon sugar on top of the loaves, and then paint the egg and water mixture on. Allow to bake for 20-25 minutes, or until it sounds hollow when you knock.

Camp Revisited: Coffee Cake

At sleepaway camp when we were kids, one of the standing traditions was the Saturday morning coffee cake. Every week, we knew that there would be a breakfast of hard boiled eggs, orange slices, frosted flakes-- and coffee cake. The cake varied greatly in terms of quality from week to week. Sometimes it was moist with lots of sugary topping; other times, it was kind of burnt and dry with almost no topping at all. Yet somehow, it never seemed to matter. No matter what, we would consume it in mass quantities, going back to kitchen for refill after refill.


Years passed, I stopped going back to camp, and coffee cake (sadly) ceased to make regular appearances in my life. So imagine my joy when I encountered a recipe for coffee cake while leafing through The Kosher Palatte. Anything that claimed to be better than Drake's-- snack cakes having been another feature of my childhood at camp-- was something that I simply had to try.


I had a couple of reservations looking at the recipe. Or really, just one-- the sheer quantity of butter the recipe called for. Meaning, a whole box. Ew. I understand that my sisters have made their peace with using endless amounts of butter, but I am not there yet. However, a few years ago, one of my roommate's friends taught me an excellent trick. You can almost always halve the butter, add skim milk as needed to get to the desired consistency, and it will taste the same. This trick has not failed me yet, and this time was no exception. Also, the recipe says you can make this coffee cake parve, but I find the idea of cooking with that much margarine and non-dairy creamer to be disgusting, so I will not encourage such behavior. You can decide for yourself.


Better-than-Drakes Coffee Cake (Adapted):


Cake:
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups of milk
3 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, melted


Topping:
2 1/2 cups of flour
2 cups of sugar
1/4 cup ground cinnamon
1/2 cup of butter, melted
1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract


Preheat the oven to 350. Grease a 9x13 baking dish and set it aside.


Beat the eggs and milk in a small bowl and put them aside. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir in the butter and the egg mixture, mixing until just combined. Pour batter
into the prepared baking dish.


Combine the dry ingredients for the topping, stirring until well blended. Add the butter, vanilla, and milk. Stir until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle the mixture onto the cake.


Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow it to cool, and enjoy!

The Best Thing I've Ever Baked: Chocolate Cinnamon Bread

About three years ago, I was waiting on line at a Starbucks and I saw that they were giving out recipe cards for various baked goods that they carry.  I picked up one for chocolate cinnamon bread, something that I had never tried but since I love the combination of chocolate and cinnamon, I thought I would give it a try.  It languished in my recipe box until this week when I decided to go for it, and make it.  

And I am SO GLAD I did.  This is one of the best things I have ever made and eaten, hands down.  Usually I send baked goods to my husband's office, but this was too good and I hoarded it all to myself (I froze some for later).  I don't know if it was the moistness of the cake or the crunchy cinnamon/sugar/spice topping, but it was utterly delicious.  Please, please make this cake.  It is super easy and very satisfying, and since it is called "bread" you can eat it for breakfast :).

The only issue is that the recipe makes two loaf pans worth of cake.  I split it in half, but since the recipe calls for five eggs, I had to use half an egg to make just one loaf (although if I had known what it tasted like, I might have made two).  To make half an egg, I cracked it in a glass, beat it a little with a fork and poured half into the batter and threw out the rest.  It worked fine.  Yummy!

Here is the recipe:

Starbucks Chocolate Cinnamon Bread 

Chocolate Batter:

3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature 

3 cups granulated sugar

5 large eggs, at room temperature

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 cups dutch-processed cocoa 

1 TBSP ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup buttermilk

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cocoa-Spice Sugar Crust

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon Dutch-processed cocoa powder

Pinch ground ginger

Pinch ground cloves

1/4 cup decorating or sparkle sugar

Preheat the oven to 350.  Grease two 9x5x3 inch loaf pans and line the bottom of the pans with parchment paper.

Make the chocolate batter:  In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and creamy, about 5 minutes.  Add eggs one at a time, beating until each egg is completely incorporated before adding the next and scraping down the sides of the bowl several times.

Meanwhile in a medium bowl: Sift together the flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, baking powder and baking soda.  In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, water and vanilla.  With mixer on low speed, alternately add the flour mixture and buttermilk mixture to butter, beginning and ending with the flour and beating just until blended.  Divide the batter between the two pans, shake the pans to even the tops and set aside.

Make the Cocoa-Spice Sugar Crust: In another small bowl, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon, cocoa, ginger and cloves.  Sprinkle the surface of both batters with the decorating sugar (I didn't have any, so I just used regular sugar).  Sprinkle with the cocoa sugar mixture, dividing evenly.  Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45-50 minutes.  Let cool completely, run a thin knife around the sides to release the breads and remove from pans.