Moist Chocolate Cake

I have something to confess, I'm a bit of a chocolate cake snob. I don't really enjoy the "birthday cake" chocolate cake or the chocolate cakes at parties, I usually find them to be a bit to dry and not really special and so I generally skip it altogether. Yet when I try a rich, moist chocolate cake I'm head over heals for it. This recipe is exactly that, with no flour and beaten egg whites this cake is anything but an average dry chocolate cake. It has become my go to chocolate cake recipe! 

Recipe bellow 

Moist Chocolate Cake: 

Recipe from Iris Gilbert 

40x27 cm. (13x9 inches) baking dish 

Ingredients: 

400 grams dark chocolate roughly chopped 

200 grams butter

1/2 cup minus 1 tablespoon milk

10 eggs, separated

1 cup sugar

1 cup plus 1 tablespoon cornstarch

additional whipped cream for topping

Preheat oven to 150 degrees C (300 F) butter baking pan

Melt chocolate and butter in hot water bath or double boiler. Once chocolate is melted turn off heat and add milk. 

Beat the egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar for two minutes. Add cornstarch, mix until blended. Add the chocolate mixture and mix throughly. 

In a separate bowl beat egg whites and 1/2 cup sugar until becomes stable with soft peaks. 

Gently fold egg whites into chocolate mixture. Transfer to baking pan. 

Bake for 45-50 minutes or until soft crumbs come out when checked. 

Cool on baking rack. Best served in room temp. with a dollop of whipped cream. 

Keep in airtight container in fridge.  

Apple Pie

As I've mentioned before apple deserts bring back fond memories, and will always have a special place in my heart. My mom and I are both fans of apple anything, and so it was most appropriate that for her birthday I would make her an apple pie. This was my first attempt at an apple pie with no one around to help me. Thankfully it was a huge success! Not only did it turn out beautifully, but it was really delicious and most importantly it passed my mom's approval! 

Recipe below,

Apple Pie

Recipe from this Israeli cookbook (only in Hebrew)
9 1/2 inch (24 cm.) pie plate

For dough:
280 grams (2 cups) all purpose flour
150 grams salted butter
80 ml. (1/3 cup) cold water

For filling:
1 kilogram. granny smith apples
100 grams (1/2 cup) sugar
100 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
3 1/2 Tbsp. all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

For topping:
A bit of milk or egg for brushing
1 Tbps. sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon

Make the dough:
Add flour and butter in a mixer until crumbly. Add cold water gradually until dough forms into a ball. Cover dough and let rest for an hour in fridge.

Make the filling:
Peel and cut apples to slices of 1/2 cm. Mix apples with both sugars, cinnamon, flour and lemon juice.

Preheat oven to 180 C. (350 F.)

Assemble:
Part the dough in two. Roll one half of dough to a 30 cm. (12 inch) disk, transfer dough to pie dish. Pressing down to the sides of the pie dish (I pierced the dough with a fork a few times to get out air bubble as well). Spread the apple filling evenly in the dish. Roll out the second half of dough into the size of the pie dish, and cover the dish. Use a fork to press down sides. Make a few cuts in the center to let out steam. Brush the top with the milk or egg, mix the sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and spread over pie.

Bake the pie either on the bottom of the oven for 45 minutes or until golden.

Wait until completely cool before slicing. Best served with vanilla ice cream!

Ricotta Sweet Buns

In Israel these sweet buns are simply called yeast pastries, they are like a combination of Challa (Jewish bread) with its soft texture and cake with the touch of sweetness and ricotta filling. I admit I have a minor addiction to yeast pastries, Max knows one of the first things I do when returning to Israel is stop by the nearest bakery to buy a few cheese filled pasteries. I have saved this recipe for a while and finally decided it was time to make it. I can really only say they are amazing, and after making these I decided my search for the perfect sweet bun recipe can end here. The recipe is from one of my favorite bakeries in Tel-Aviv, Dallal Bakery. If you are ever in Tel-Aviv, go to Neve Tzedek my favorite neighborhood in Tel-Aviv and look for this bakery!

See the recipe below...

Ricotta Sweet Buns
Makes 10-11 buns
*Notice dough has rest in the fridge overnight)
(please notice this recipe is in grams, cup measurements in brackets)

For dough:
500 g. (3 1/2 c. + 1 Tbsp.) flour
70 g. (1/3 c. + 1 tsp.) sugar
10 g. (2 tsp.) salt
25 g. (5 tsp.) instant dry yeast
5 large eggs
200 g. (1 c. minus a Tbsp.) butter (at room temp.)

For syrup:
100 g. (1/2 c.) sugar
120 ml. (1/2 c.) water

For Filling:
70 g.(3/4 c.) softened butter
450 g.(2 c.) ricotta cheese
90 g.(3/4 c.) powder sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg
1 yolk
2 tsp. cornstarch
80 g. (around 1/2 c.) dried cranberries or chocolate chunks

Make the dough:
Add flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a mixer bowl and beat together. Add eggs one at a time and beat at low speed for 4-5 min. until you get an elastic dough. Add butter gradually and beat on medium speed for about 10 min. until the dough is smooth and shiny. Place dough in a bowl and cover, let rest overnight in fridge.

Once your dough has rested overnight make the syrup:
Bring the water and sugar to a boil, lower the heat and cook for 5 min. Let cool.

Make the filling:
Add butter, ricotta cheese, powder sugar, and vanilla and mix together. Mix in egg and yolk slightly. Add cornstarch and mix until just incorporated.

Prepare baking sheet with baking paper. If you would like your buns to keep their shape bake in a round cake baking pan.

Make the buns:
Roll the dough on a floured counter top into a rectangle of 70 cm. length and 25 cm. width, thickness of 3 mm. Spread the filling evenly on rectangle and sprinkle cranberries or chocolate on top. Gently roll the dough to make one long roll. Cut into 10-11 rolls with a sharp knife. Place buns in baking pan. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let rise for an hour or until double in size.

Preheat oven to 170 C (340 F) degrees.

Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately after taking them out of the oven brush with syrup and let cool before serving them.

Enjoy every minute and crumb!

Chocolate Molten Cakes

Three weeks ago we moved in to our new apartment. We are so amazingly blessed to have this cute little apartment in a great location and with such a great community around us. I am beyond happy to finally have a home to ourselves. A place to relax and of course bake amazing things. So to celebrate our first Saturday at home I made these chocolate molten cakes. I was looking for something chocolaty but easy to make since we still had a lot of unpacking to do. These molten cakes are pretty much made of chocolate bars and some butter, with the perfect soft and pudding-like center. Along with a scoop of ice-cream these make a great Saturday afternoon. See recipe below...

 

Chocolate Molten Cakes

makes 6 medium cakes or 12 small individual cakes

2 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. cocoa
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup cream
5 eggs
3/4 cup sugar (I used 1/4)
2/3 cup flour

Butter the cupcake pans and sprinkle the insides with cocoa, coating completely.

To make the batter, place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl, then top it with butter and cream. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between, until the chocolate is smooth. When chocolate has cooled slightly, stir in eggs, sugar and flour. Pour into prepared cupcake pans. Refrigerate for 1 hour (at least) and up to a couple of days.

Bake at 230 C (450 F) degrees for 10 minutes for regular 12 cupcake pan size and 15-18 for jumbo 6 six cupcakes pan size, just until the outsides and most of the top have set, and the centers are still slightly runny. You can insert the tip of a knife to test. You just want a bit of the very center to be a thick pudding like texture. Let them cool for 5 minutes, then place a sheet pan on top of the muffin pan and invert them.

Serve with whipped cream or ice-cream.

Peanut Butter Cookies

What can be better than chewy soft peanut butter cookie? This is diffidently the cookie I make for comfort. I made these before we left Israel and I wish I could have one right now! It is the taste of home. Max loves peanut butter (I'm sure he is addicted) so these were a huge hit. This recipe is really easy and the cookies are so comforting. I love mine plain and simple but I also make some for Max and my family with dark chocolate chunks and some with white chocolate chunks. All the variations turned out great. I used this recipe from A Cup of Jo. I divided the dough into three and added dark chocolate chunks to one third, white chocolate chunks to one third and the rest I did plain. 

Pumpkin Cheesecake

 Pumpkin cheesecake is the best way to celebrate the beginning of December! The perfect combination between pumpkin pie and cheesecake, makes this a must during the holiday season. Pinterest made me dream about pumpkin desserts with all the amazing recipes, and I really couldn't wait to fill the house with the aromas of cinnamon and nutmeg. Since in Israel pumpkin is used mainly (if not only) for savory dishes and most people don't understand the amazingness of pumpkin pie, my mom and I have a little tradition of making pumpkin pie during this season and enjoying it all to ourselves. This year we decided to make it a little lighter and so we made this cheesecake. 

Here is the recipe: 

Crust:

We made this basic pie crust by Smitten Kitchen.

Filling: 

300 grams of cream cheese

2 c. pureed pumpkin

3 eggs

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 tbsp. cinnamon 

1 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. fresh ground nutmeg 

2 tbsp. flour 

While the pie crust is chilling make filling and heat oven to 175 c.:

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add pumpkin, eggs, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg mixing until smooth. Add flour and vanilla. Beat together until well combined. 

Pour into crust, bake for 1 hour or until tooth pick comes out clean. 

Best served after it has been refrigerated for at least 4 hours and with a spoonful of whipped cream on top

Seven Recipes to Try this Holiday Season

Oh how I miss that feeling of the holiday season! Every year since I left Canada this season is the one I miss the most. Holiday decoration, recipes and ideas are everywhere on the web and I want to be part of it all. I always try to bring a little of the holidays to Israel, although they do not celebrate them here. We have plenty of Jewish holidays, but Thanksgiving and Christmas will always hold a special part of my heart. We usually have a small Christmas dinner with friends and we put up a small Christmas tree in our home. One of my favorite part of the holidays is going over to friends and of course all the delicious candy and cookies. So I rounded up seven recipes that would be great to try this holiday season.

Above, Chocolate Covered Sea Salt Caramels. 

Butter Cookie Sandwiches with Chesnut Cream

Coconut Caramel Corn

Pumpkin Woopie Pies with Maple Cream Cheese Filling

London Fog Shortbread

Pumpkin Spice Biscotti

Nutella Cream Puffs

Brown Butter Dark Chocolate Cookies

As I already mentioned, I love brown butter and anything that is baked with it - especially if there is dark chocolate involved. My favorite cookies are these brown butter coconut dark chocolate cookies. I didn't have coconut at home so I decided to try a different recipe and am I ever glad I did!

What makes these cookies great - other than the brown butter of course - is their chewy and soft center along with the toasted pecans and of course the sea salt. I just love the combination of dark chocolate with a little sea salt, amazing!!

I used this recipe from Joy the Baker, I didn't have molasses so I just left it out and I used less granulated sugar (1/4 cup) since I prefer my cookies to be not super sweet. I also added white chocolate chunks to the request of my husband who loves white chocolate and pretty much begged me to add it. I personally prefer dark chocolate but the combination of the two turned out great.

Apple Crisp

One of my fondest childhood memories is my 8^th birthday when my mom took me out for dinner (just the two of us) and I got to choose my favorite dessert – the most perfect apple crisp with vanilla ice cream. Before we went to the restaurant my mom told me that we are going to the place with the best apple crisp in town, and so of course I had been dreaming about it all day long. Their apple crisp did not disappoint and I can still remember the amazing combination between the crispy topping, soft apples, cinnamon and brown sugar.

At home my mom made apple crisp quite often, and since I was her baking helper I took part in baking many of these delicious desserts, but I had never attempted to make it by myself until now. I used this recipe from A Cup of Jo. It really is the best apple crisp I have ever tasted, even better than the one from my childhood memory.

The addition of brown sugar (which I absolutely love in sweets) and the vanilla bean makes this apple crisp unique and oh so delicious. I didn't have bourbon, so I guess I will just have to make it again as soon as I get some.

Images by Monique from Ambitious Kitchen, via A Cup of Jo

Cinnamon Rolls

There is something about cinnamon rolls that feels cozy and warm. The smell in the air, the delicious combination between baking dough, gooey caramel and cinnamon always brings back great memories of wintry afternoons spent with good friends or family.

This recipe is from a wonderful friend from Canada, with whom I have spent many such afternoons enjoying these wonderful rolls. These rolls are great for a cold day (or any kind of day actually) in the afternoon with a cup of coffee or for breakfast the next morning.

The most delicious part of these rolls is the gooey caramel bottom! 

Here's the recipe:

Makes 11-12 rolls (depends how you cut them)
In a 9x13 inch pan

Ingredients:

For the rolls-
1/4 c. warm water
1 Tbsp. instant yeast
1 Tbsp. white sugar
3/4 c. lukewarm sour cream
2 Tbsp. white sugar
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. table salt
1 large egg
3 Tbsp. soft butter
3 c. all-purpose flour

Filling:
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 Tbsp. cinnamon

Caramel sauce:
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. cold butter
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1/3 c. cream
Dash of salt
Walnuts if desired (or any other kind of nut)

For the caramel sauce:
Put all sauce ingredients in small saucepan (leaving the nuts out), turn to medium heat and stir constantly. Bring to boil while stirring, let boil for 3 minutes until the mixture forms into caramel sauce. Take off heat, add nuts if desired.

For the rolls:

In a medium mixing bowl dissolve yeast and 1 Tbsp. white sugar in 1/4 c. warm water. Let rise for 10 minutes; add the sour cream, remaining white sugar, baking soda, salt, egg, 2 Tbsp. soft butter and flour. Mix thoroughly until dough becomes a ball-like shape. Turn dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for two minutes. Roll out into rectangular shape, spread remaining soft butter on dough. Mix brown sugar and cinnamon (for filling) together and sprinkle over dough. Roll up dough tightly into a pinwheel and pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 rolls using a sharp knife..

Pour caramel sauce into pan, spread sauce so it covers the whole bottom of the pan. Place rolls in cake pan. Let rise for 1 hour. 

Turn the oven on to 190 degrees Celsius, bake for approximately 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool for 5 minutes and then turn upside down on a tray making sure to get all the caramel sauce out.