Black Gold Cookies - in honor of the 49ers, the NFC Champs

Black Gold Cookies - made January 19, 2013 from Hugs & Cookies

I'm blogging a little out of order as I had decided on these cookies yesterday, the day before the NFC Championship game.  I adapted them from Hugs & Cookies but added Milky Way Caramels and am re-naming them Black Gold Cookies in honor of the NFC Champs, the San Francisco 49ers.  I've been a 49er fan since the 1982 NFC Championship game, 49ers vs the Cowboys, when Joe Montana threw the winning touchdown to Dwight Clark, aka The Catch.  I've hung in there with the Niners over the years through thick (Montana, Clark, Jerry Rice, Roger Craig, Ronnie Lott, Steve Young, Coach Bill Walsh) and thin....and thin and emaciation (we won't name names for these periods).  We're getting back into "thick" territory again with a trip to the Superbowl in 2 weeks!  So cookies in their honor seem apropos.

Why black gold?  Because that's what chocolate is, of course.  At least to me.  But to make it more color literal, I added the Milky Way Caramels and you can just see liquid gold peeking out from this cookie.  This is a pretty rich cookie - we're talking 5-mile run kind of cookie.  As with most chocolate cookies, I actually prefer these at room temperature when the chocolate has a chance to set.  Try to cover the caramels with the cookie dough as much as feasible so the caramel doesn't leak out too much during baking.  A little peeking out looks pretty, a lot makes for overly chewy caramel once it's baked.  The dough is rather soft but does become more firm as the melted chocolate chips cool in the batter.  You want to scoop these out fairly soon after mixing the dough so it doesn't become too difficult to portion them out into dough balls.

1 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup Milky Way Caramels, chopped
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. Melt the 8 ounces of chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double boiler over hot water until smooth.  Let cool slightly.
3. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla. Set aside. With an electric mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute.  Beat in the sugars. 
4. Mix in the beaten egg/vanilla until incorporated.  Add the melted chocolate and beat until combined.  Add the dry ingredients on slow speed.  Fold in the chocolate chips and Milky Way Caramels.
5. Scoop into dough balls and chill for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies have just begun to set with the centers still appearing very soft.  They will firm up as they cool.
7. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies

Stuffed Peanut Butter Cookies - made January 12, 2012, recipe adapted from Crazy for Crust

One of the blogs I like to follow is Dorothy's Crazy for Crust blog.  Partly because I think she and I share the same taste buds and like a lot of the same sweets.  And partly because she always seems to put yummy stuff on her blog.  And despite my indifference to peanut butter, I like making peanut butter cookies for no other reason than I like using a meat mallet to make the cute little indentations in the cookie rather than using a fork to make the traditional cross hatches. I got the meat mallet idea from my friend Annie the Baker.  Annie was one of my CIA classmates and after culinary school, she did the pastry chef thing for a few years then started her cookie business.  Every time I go to her website, I crave cookies because hers look so good (I dare you not to get hit with the same craving when you look at her chubby cookies in all flavors).  When I came across this recipe from Crazy for Crust, I had to make it with the meat mallet impressions ala Annie the Baker but instead of rolos, I stuffed each cookie with a peanut butter cup.

I was really pleased with how this turned out because the cookies stayed thick and didn't spread too much so I could keep the little indentations, the better to hold sprinkles of sugar before baking.  While I never eat peanut butter cups by themselves, they made a nice addition to the cookie.  You can also stuff it with Rolos like Dorothy did or a piece of Snickers bar or a small handful of chocolate chips and/or peanut butter chips.  The sky's the limit.  Oh, and in case you want to be prepared, January 24 is National Peanut Butter Day.  That's as good an excuse as any to make these cookies.

½ cup softened butter
¾ cup peanut butter 
1 ¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
About 24-30 peanut butter cups, unwrapped

1. Preheat oven to 350° (unless you're freezing the dough first). Line cookie sheets with parchment.
2. Mix butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla with a stand or hand-held mixer until just blended. Add egg and beat until incorporated.
3. Whisk baking soda and flour in a medium bowl. Add to wet ingredients and mix just until blended.
4. Scoop 2 tablespoon sized balls of dough. Place a peanut butter cup in the center of each and roll so that the peanut butter cup is in the center of the dough and does not show. Place 2” apart on baking sheet. Use the pointy side of a meat mallet to make the pattern on each cookie (dip the mallet in granulated sugar to help prevent dough sticking to it).  You can freeze cookies in freezer bags at this point to bake for later.
5. When ready to bake, sprinkle tops lightly with granulated sugar and bake in preheated 350-degree oven about 8-9 minutes just until set. Bottoms will slightly brown and centers may still look a little under baked. Let cool on cookie sheet for about 2 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Coconut Pound Cake

Coconut Pound Cake - made January 12, 2013 from Dramatic Pancake

Still on a mission to use up some milk plus I love coconut so this was a perfect recipe to try out, especially since the picture was so tempting on Dramatic Pancake's blog (love that name).  This cake was really, really good.  I'm partial to coconut so it already had the halo effect to start with and it didn't disappoint.  It's a good butter cake with the added chewiness of the coconut.  While the cake is good as a standalone, don't skip the glaze and the coconut sprinkled on top as that adds to the overall taste and texture of the cake.

The only tricky thing is to make sure you don't underbake it - says the Queen of Underbaking.  The high butter content ensures its moistness and it's hard to overbake this cake.  The original directions say to bake it for an hour but I ended up baking mine for 1 hour 20 minutes.  Unheard of, right?  But at an hour, while the toothpick looked deceptively clean, I noticed it did have a wet sheen to it.  It didn't have raw batter on it but I know when I've taken cakes out before at that stage, they've been underbaked.  So I left it in until the cake was firm to the touch and the toothpick met a little more resistance when I poked it into the cake.  And even then, I didn't achieve the fluffy-looking texture Dramatic Pancake did - mine was still a pound-cake butter-moist texture.  So perhaps I could've baked it longer but it was good enough for me.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2 cups sugar
5 eggs (at room temperature)
1 cup whole (or low-fat) milk
1 teaspoon coconut extract (I used vanilla extract)
3½ oz Angel Flake sweetened, shredded coconut

Glaze
2 tbsp unsweetened coconut milk (or regular milk)
1/2 teaspoon coconut extract (I used vanilla extract)
1/2 – 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and lightly flour a 9- or 10-inch tube pan. This cake is delicate so I wouldn’t recommend using a bundt pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, use an electric mixer (on medium speed) to cream the butter and sugar until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add in eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Stir in the milk, coconut (or vanilla) extract and shredded coconut. Finally, add the flour, baking powder and salt mixture, and stir to combine. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until golden brown, about 1 hour.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the glaze. Whisk together the coconut milk (or milk), coconut (or vanilla) extract and confectioner’s sugar until smooth, adding more sugar as needed to thicken the glaze (or more milk if you want to thin it out).
5. Cool cake in pan for 5-10 minutes before removing. Drizzle with glaze while cake is still warm.

Fat and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Fat and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough January 11, 2013 from Stay at Home Foodie

I don't really do New Year's Resolutions anymore but if I did one, it should probably be that I have to make all the recipes I've pinned on pinterest before I add anymore to my  recipe pin boards.  My "Baking Recipes I Need to Try" board has 161 pins on it (after I deleted some in an effort to bring myself under control).  The board with real food recipes has 72 pins.  To be fair, the "Pinned Recipes I've Already Made" board has 92 pins on it so I really have been chipping away at it.  Still, I'm losing (or winning?) the battle of pinning more than I can bake or cook.  But it's good to have goals and I think mine will be to work through my pin board before the end of the year.  Really.

In heading towards that goal, I'm trying out this chocolate chip cookie recipe - the only time I like "fat" in any title.  I'm all about the chubby.....in cookies.  Plus, you guessed it, I have dinner plans with my friend Todd again so I have to trot out a chocolate chip cookie recipe in his honor.  Assuming we actually follow through with dinner this time.  If not, don't worry, Todd, I have more chocolate chip cookie recipes to try out beyond this one.  But you're going to miss out on a good cookie with this one if we don't meet.  I love how it stayed thick and chunky yet was chewy, rather than cakey.  The recipe called for melting the butter so I took it a further step and browned the butter before using it in the dough.  I really liked the flavor and how the texture turned out.  Then again, there aren't many chocolate chip cookies I don't like.

3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 1/4 cups flour
2 cups chocolate chips

1. In a medium size bowl, combine salt, baking soda and flour. Set aside.
2. In a stand mixer, combine melted butter and sugars. Beat well.
3. Add vanilla, egg and egg yolk. Mix well.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients, being sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix until well combined.
5. Add chocolate chips and mix until just combined.
6. Using a ice cream scoop, scoop out cookie dough balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You don't need to worry about spacing... just squeeze them all on.
7. Refrigerate for AT LEAST 1 hour.
8. After the cookie dough balls are cold, prepare them for baking.
9. Take each cookie dough ball and using both hands pull it apart until it separates in half.
10. Rotate your hands so that the broken sides are facing up.
11. Mash the two halves together.
12. Place on the baking sheet 2-3 inches away from any other ready-to-bake cookie dough ball.
13. Bake at 450 degrees for 4 minutes.
14. Reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for 10 minutes more, or until just golden around the edges and still pale {although cooked} in the center.

Rich Marble Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze

Rich Marble Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze - made January 9, 2013 from Chocolatier magazine, October 2006 edition

This is another recipe I've had for years that I've never made before but filed away in case I ever needed to use up milk one day.  The day came so I finally made this.  It's a standard marble bundt cake and it came out pretty well.  The cake is moist and has the hearty denseness of a typical pound cake without being overly heavy.  The glaze in the original Chocolatier recipe was a ganache (heavy cream, chocolate and a little vanilla) but I don't care for ganache so I made up my own glaze.  It sets well so you don't have  to worry about sticky frosting.  Use the best quality cocoa you have for both the cake and the glaze as that's what determines the chocolate flavor.  I used my regular standby of Pernigotti cocoa from Williams Sonoma for that dark cocoa taste.

I ate a thin slice for the taste test piece and brought the rest into work.  I'm temporarily in a new office building while my old floor gets renovated.  On my old floor, I could put a cake like this out and it'd gradually get eaten throughout the day but there might be a few pieces left by the end of the day.  In my new office building, there are either a lot more people on my floor or a lot more people with a sweet tooth.  I put this out in the communal kitchen when I got into the office at 8 am and an hour later, I was pleasantly surprised to find there were only 4 pieces left. Glaze marble pound cake - apparently it was what's for breakfast.

Marble pound cake

3 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

2 ½ cups granulated sugar, divided

½ cup natural (not Dutch-processed) cocoa powder

6 tablespoons water

1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla

5 large eggs

½ cup whole milk

Chocolate glaze

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa, sifted

1 cup confectioners' sugar

2-3 tablespoons of milk, adjust based on desired consistency

1.     Make cake; Position rack in center of oven and preheat oven to 325 F.  Grease inside of a 10” Bundt pan.  Dust pan with flour.

2.     Sift together flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl.  Set aside.

3.     In a medium bowl, whisk together ½ cup sugar, cocoa powder, and water until smooth; set aside.

4.     In bowl of electric mixer, using paddle attachment, beat butter at medium speed until very creamy, about 2 minutes.  Gradually beat in remaining 2 cups sugar.  Increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is well blended and light, about 4 minutes.  At medium speed, beat in vanilla, then beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.  At low speed, add dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with milk in two additions and mixing just until blended.

5.     Add 3 cups of batter to cocoa mixture and stir until blended.  Spoon one-third of remaining plain batter into prepared pan and smooth into an even layer.  Spoon one-third of chocolate batter over plain batter and smooth into an even layer.  Spoon over another third of plain batter, then another third of chocolate batter, smoothing both layers.  Repeat with remaining batters, ending with chocolate batter.

6.     Bake cake for 60 to 70 minutes, until cake tester inserted into center comes out clean.  Cool cake in pan on wire rack for 15 minutes.

7.     Invert cake onto rack and cool completely.

8.     Make glaze: Whisk cocoa and confectioners' sugar.  Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking smooth, until desired consistency.  Pour over lukewarm or cooled cake.

Double Chocolate Bread Pudding

Double Chocolate Bread Pudding - made January 6, 2013 from Food Network (Sunny Anderson's recipe)

So that one challah recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day had three lives from one batch.  Two loaves of challah, some beignets and, with the remainder of the two baked loaves, this Double Chocolate Bread Pudding.  I first saw this dish on Sunny Anderson's show on Food Network.  Despite being a baking hobbyist, I don't watch Food Network as much as most people think I do.  I watch Cupcake Wars religiously but don't really follow any other show on there.  What I do watch is usually whatever's on when I'm working out at home.  Depending on when I'm working out, more often than not, the only shows that seem to be on are Chopped and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.  But on a fluke, I caught Sunny's show and she was making this bread pudding.

She made it look easy so I pulled the recipe off the website and have been hanging onto it until I had bread I wanted to use up (challah experiment - check) and it was on a workout day for the calorie burn (5-mile run before baking this - check).

I only made a half recipe because I didn't want that much bread pudding (I wasn't going to run from West Coast to East Coast for the calorie burn after all) and I didn't have enough bread for a full batch anyway.  Instead of croissants and cinnamon raisin bread, I used the challah.  I listed Sunny's original recipe below but you can probably use any bread you wish.  Bread pudding is generally very forgiving.  Sometimes it's hard to tell when bread pudding is done especially chocolate since you can't always go by how brown it is (chocolate is brown to start with!) but for this one, it was easy because the bread pudding puffed out beautifully and you can tell the custard had cooked.  It was pretty good and I liked the added cinnamon flavor.  If you're not using cinnamon raisin bread, you could probably even increase the cinnamon by 1/2 to 1 teaspoon.

1 loaf cinnamon-raisin bread, cut into 1-inch squares
6 croissants, cut into 1-inch chunks
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
6 eggs
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 to 6 scrapes of fresh nutmeg, on a rasp
1 1/2 quarts milk
1 1/2 cups chocolate syrup (I used Trader Joe's Midnight Moo)
1/2 teaspoon salt

Special equipment: 3 1/2-quart oval baking dish

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Prepare the bottom and sides of the baking dish with the butter. In a large bowl, add the bread and croissant chunks along with the chocolate chips sprinkled over the top. Toss gently and pour into the prepared dish making sure all the chocolate chips don't settle on the bottom.
3. In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, milk, chocolate syrup, and salt.
4. Pour the chocolate custard over the bread and chocolate in the dish and press the bread down into the custard to soak it up. Allow to rest for 10 minutes. Then press down a bit again.
5. Bake uncovered until the edges are golden brown and the center springs back a bit when touched, 45 to 50 minutes. Allow it to cool and settle for about 30 minutes and then make pretty squares, or just dig in right away. 

Chocolate Chip & Caramel-Filled "Beignets"

Chocolate Chip & Caramel-Filled "Beignets" - made January 5, 2013, challah dough from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

 

Here's a good use of scraps of challah dough if you've made the Artisan Bread recipe and don't use it all for challah.  Roll out the dough, cut out with cookie cutters, put a scoop of nutella or a few chocolate chips and a dollop of caramel in the center, cover with another piece of dough, seal the two pieces completely (no filling should leak through), let rest at room temperature for 20 minutes then fry in hot oil until golden brown.  This is the actual recipe in the Artisan Bread book for beignets.  I've never had a real beignet (but I will shortly and I think they're supposed to be square, not round) so I don't know how it compares to the real thing.  I consider this more like a stuffed donut hole.  It puffed up and had a mind of its own in the hot oil; some even turned themselves and some refused to cooperate when I turned them and just flipped back onto their original side on their own.  Once you conquer the frying, these are best eaten warm so I'd advise only frying what you can eat right away.

Salmon with Browned Butter Lime Sauce

Pan-Seared Honey-Glazed Salmon with Browned Butter Lime Sauce - made January 5, 2013 from Cooking Classy

Back in the days when "cooking" to me (not to be confused with baking, you understand) meant frying or baking something that didn't have sugar in it, I ate very plainly.  I wasn't fussy about adding spices or flavor to food because I was (am) a very plain eater with bland taste buds.  And if it didn't have sugar in it and didn't come out of my oven on a cookie sheet or from a cake pan, I wasn't overly concerned with how plain-tasting it was.  Not that I didn't enjoy good, well-cooked, well-flavored food. I did.  Just not if I had to make it.

I've come a somewhat medium-length way since then and while my taste buds still have a narrow range, I've learned to experiment a bit with flavors I do enjoy.  Browned butter is one of them.  I've only ever used it in baking but this recipe for salmon piqued my interest.  And while I may not care for honey in most baked goods (too sweet), I often don't mind it in savory dishes - go figure.

Although the recipe title and the original recipe calls for pan-searing or pan frying the salmon, I actually ended up coating the fillets in flour, drizzling with honey then baking them in a foil-lined baking pan at 350 degrees until they were done (about 20-25 minutes).   The sauce was easy to make once you brown the butter - just throw the sauce ingredients in a blender and blend away.

I ate this on a bed of salad greens with the sauce drizzled on top as the "dressing".  Unfortunately I think I would've been better off sopping up the sauce with rice or pasta instead.  I don't normally like dressing because I don't like the greasy mouthfeel on my salad greens.  Well, guess what butter is?  Yes, grease.  Albeit the grease of choice when it comes to baking.  But not necessarily on a mixture of arugula, radicchio, baby spinach and other leafy greens.  So ultimately this didn't turn out as well as I had hoped.  I think it would've been better thickened more like a roux to add some creaminess. I still like browned butter but I think I'll stick with baking with it instead.

P.S. For anyone still sticking to any New Year's resolutions to eat healthier, leave off the sauce and just have baked salmon drizzled with honey atop salad greens (skip the fatty dressings) and this'll still keep you on track.

4 (6 oz) salmon fillets, rested at room temperature 20 minutes
8 tsp flour, divided
2 Tbsp honey, divided
zest of 1 - 2 limes (I like it with a generous amount so in my opinion 2)
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Browned Butter Lime Sauce
6 Tbsp salted butter, diced
3 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Working in batches of two salmon fillets at a time (or using two skillets, because you don't want to overcrowd the salmon when cooking it on the stove-top so it cooks more evenly), place salmon fillets on a cutting board or plate and sprinkle 1 tsp flour over each side of the salmon fillets and spread flour to evenly coat. Evenly drizzle 3/4 tsp honey over each side of the flour coated salmon fillets. 

Pan frying option:
Drizzle 1 Tbsp olive oil into a 10 inch non-stick skillet, swirl pan to evenly coat bottom and heat over medium heat. Once oil it hot, carefully place salmon ) in pan and cook over medium heat, 3-5 minutes per side until salmon has cooked through and bottom has nicely browned.

Baking option:
You can also bake them in you'd rather at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until done.  Broil them for a couple of minutes at the end if you want them to have a little color.

Plate salmon immediately, drizzle each fillet with 1 1/2 - 2 Tbsp Browned Butter Lime Sauce and sprinkle with lime zest. Serve warm.

Browned Butter Lime Sauce

Place butter in a small (light colored) saucepan. Cook over medium heat, swirling pan occasionally, until butter is fragrant and has turned a tan shade. Remove from heat and add browned butter along with lime juice, garlic, salt and pepper to a blender. Blend on low speed for 30 seconds to 1 minute until well blended. Pour sauce into a small glass dish (note: whisk butter mixture with a fork before pouring onto salmon as it will separate, rewarm if needed).

Vanilla Pudding Snickerdoodle Cookies

Vanilla Pudding Snickerdoodles - made dough January 1, 2013, recipe adapted from Something Swanky

My sweet tooth seems to be returning.  (Let's not kid ourselves, it was never lurking too far away.)  But I did have impetus to bake cookies since I was meeting my cousin Christine and her son, Vanilla King, for dinner last week.  One of Vanilla King's favorite cookies is Snickerdoodles.  He doesn't like chocolate but he likes white chocolate (we just call them vanilla chips - shhh, it's all in the perception).  So I decided to go with a combo of the two.  I didn't have the white chocolate instant pudding mix that Something Swanky's original recipe called for so I went with plain vanilla pudding mix since I already had it in hand.

The rest of the recipe is like a traditional chocolate chip cookie.  But the key difference is not only the pudding mix addition but also the teaspoon of cinnamon.  I loved this cookie.  When you eat it warm (give it at least 10 minutes out of the oven to cool slightly), the edges are crunchy and the middle is moist and light.  The cinnamon gives it a really nice flavor as does the cinnamon sugar coating.  At room temperature, it's almost even better,  The cookie is chewy and moist.  Definitely a good choice for Vanilla King.

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3.4 oz. package white chocolate instant pudding mix (I used vanilla pudding mix)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white chocolate chips
1 teaspoon cinnamon

For coating
1/3 cup cinnamon sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350º (unless you're going to freeze the dough first). Prepare baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
2. In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars.
3. Add eggs first, and mix in, then add remaining ingredients, except the cinnamon sugar. Mix well.
4. Scoop out with a cookie scooper (about 3 tablespoons worth) and roll the dough ball in the cinnamon sugar, coating completely.
5. Place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
6. Bake for approximately 10 minutes, until slightly golden and just set in the middle. Do not overbake. Let cool on baking sheet.

Challah

Challah - made January 1, 2013 from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

2nd loaf made from refrigerated dough - had a higher oven spring

I love bread.  Even more than sugar.  There's just something about a slice of homemade bread, still warm from the oven and slathered with melting butter that makes me forget I want to keep fitting into my clothes.  And out of all the breads out there, challah, a traditional Jewish bread. enriched with eggs, butter and honey, is one of my favorites (and I don't even like honey).  Challah is similar in taste and texture to versions of Filipino ensaimada, except without the butter and sugar on top that ensaimada has.  Challah is also typically made in braided loaves while ensaimada is coiled rolls.  Still, regardless of the comparison or non-comparison, my love for good challah knows no bounds.

But much as I love bread, I don't make it that often because of the time and effort involved.  When I do make it, it's on a rare Saturday when I have time to make the dough, knead it, let it rise, punch it down, let it rise again, shape it, rise, bake, yada yada.  In other words, when I have nothing to do all day....which almost never happens. And I still don't knead the dough properly enough half the time.  I'm so afraid of overworking the gluten that I don't work it enough.  Plus, there's that whole I want to keep fitting into my clothes thing.

Baked from newly-made, unchilled dough - spread out more

Nevertheless, I broke my self-imposed ban of not buying any new cookbooks by buying this book, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  A friend on my online fitness board had recommended it awhile back and someone posted a pic of their challah made from this book on pinterest.  Hello, did someone say challah?  So I bought it on impulse because amazon prime membership and two-day shipping are dangerous elements to combine with no willpower.

But one taste of this bread and I forgave myself.  As the book claims, it's really easy to make - you literally put all the ingredients in the bowl, mix it with a dough hook on the Kitchenaid, let it sit for a couple of hours then use it.  I like to think I braided the challah correctly but the dough was pretty soft (a must for this method of bread making) so when it rose, the braids blended into each other somewhat so the distinctive braids weren't quite so distinctive.  The authors say if that happens, try increasing the flour a bit more next time.  Still, I loved the taste.  I'm not a fan of honey but you can't really taste it in this bread other than as a slight sweetener.  I don't like hard crusts on my bread and this one was a bit soft yet a little crunchy when it was warm.  I think I ate two pieces before my mind was fully aware of what I was doing.  My taste buds had taken over all conscious thought processes.

If you like homemade bread but don't like the big time investment it normally takes, try out this recipe (the challah also serves well as good sandwich bread) and try out this book.  I've only made this one recipe so far but I think it's worth the entire book.  It does make more than enough dough for a couple of good-sized loaves.  I made 2 loaves on two different days and still have some leftover that I think I'll use the rest to make beignets - stay tuned.

Warm with butter - fantastic

1 ¾ cups lukewarm water

1 ½ tablespoons granulated yeast (2 packets)

1 ½ tablespoons Kosher salt

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

½ cup honey

½ cup unsalted butter, melted

7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water)

1.     Mixing and storing the dough: mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl or a lidded (not airtight) food container.

2.     Mix in the flour without kneading using a spoon, a 14-cup capacity food processor with dough attachment or a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook.  If mixing by hand, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour.

3.     Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

4.     The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold.  Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 5 days.  Beyond 5 days, freeze in 1-pound portions in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks.  Defrost frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator before using.  Then allow the usual rest and rise time.

5.     On baking day, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit-size) piece.  Dust the piece with more flour and quick shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go.

6.     Divide the ball into thirds, using a dough scraper or knife.  Roll the balls between your hands (or on a board), stretching to form ech into a long, thin rope.  If the dough resists shaping, let it rest for 5 minutes and try again.  Braid the ropes, starting from the center and working to one end.  Turn the loaf over, rotate it and braid from the center out to the remaining end.  This produces a loaf with a more uniform thickness than when braided from end to end.

7.     Allow the braid to rest and rise on the prepared cookie sheet for 1 hour and 20 minutes (or just 40 minutes if you’re using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).

8.     Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 350°F.  If you’re not using a stone in the oven, 5 minutes is adequate.  Brush the loaf with egg wash.

9.     Bake near the center of the oven for about 25 minutes.  Smaller or larger loaves will require adjustments in baking time.  The challah is done when golden brown, and the braids near the center of the loaf offer resistance to pressure.