Challah

I love a great loaf of challah, don't you?  The texture, the flavor, the way it makes the best french toast out there.  My daughter loves challah as well and since we've been going through a lot of the store bought I decided it was time to make some at home.  I made homemade challah years ago, for a cooking club gathering, and it's not a difficult bread to make, even with the braiding.  Though, as you can see from the photo, I started strong with the 6 braids and then just kind of gave up by the end, but it still looks nice.  The first time I made challah I used this recipe, which I highly recommend.  From what I can remember, it created three perfectly sweet loaves. I decided to try something else this time, and wanted a more manageable recipe that didn't make so many loaves, so I used this recipe from Melissa Clark, of the NYTimes.  It's a bit of a gourmet challah if you will, with more complex flavors, but perfectly easy to make.  Try your hand at a round loaf, or the braided kind, just watch a good video beforehand.  I recommend this one if you're going to tackle the 6 braid. 

1 package dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup warm water

1/3 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed from 1 big orange)

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

3 eggs

1/4 cup honey

1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, more as needed

In the bowl of a Kitchen Aid mixer, combine yeast, sugar, and 1/2 cup warm water. Let yeast mixture stand at room temperature for about 5 minutes until it starts to look foamy.

Whisk in orange juice, olive oil, 2 eggs, honey, and salt.  Fit mixer with dough hook and begin slowly beating in flour 1 cup at a time to form smooth dough, beating well after each addition. Beat on medium speed until smooth and elastic, but still sticky, about 5 minutes.  Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for about 2 minutes until the dough begins to spring back. Lightly oil large bowl. Add dough, turning to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap, and let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 to 2 hours.  Punch down dough. Cover again with plastic and let rise another hour.  Punch dough down again.  Grease a baking sheet. Turn out dough onto lightly floured work surface. Divide dough into 6 equal portions.  Roll each piece into ropes. Place braided loaf on the baking sheet. Whisk remaining egg, brush dough all over and let rise again until almost doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F.  Brush dough again with egg.  Bake 30-40 minutes until golden and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.

Homemade Fig Newtons

I swear I'm not turning into a hippie mom that doesn't buy anything store bought but instead insists on making everything from scratch.  At least I don't think I am.  And frankly, I never liked the original, but these are killer cookies, my friends.  Just the smell of the filling of dried figs and honey was intoxicating, I was immediately transported to Turkey.  My doctor reminded me the other day how good dried figs are for you...packed with iron, potassium, fiber, and then the idea of fig newtons became stuck in my head.  I knew my daughter would love them as a snack with some cold milk (apparently even my husband loves fig newtons).  Since she's never had the packaged kind I'm pretty sure if she were given one some day she'd say "these taste funny, I like my mom's", at least, I can dream, right?  I was raised a child of two immigrants who themselves were raised on fresh ingredients and homemade food.  They weren't even sent off to school with a cold lunch, but rather, it was delivered to them piping hot at mealtime.  I mean, can you imagine stay at home moms having one more thing to be responsible for?  I'm pretty sure they'd all quit.  So when my mother came to this country she was horrified at the options within grocery stores.  She couldn't believe soups came in cans, and cereals had sugar in them.  She brought us up in a way that would have made Michael Pollen proud.  I had to drizzle fresh honey on Cheerios because my mom didn't like the artificial flavors in Honey Nut Cherrios.  That's not to say that I didn't raid my best friend's pantry for Little Debbie snacks on occasion.  Sorry, mom.  This recipe is adapted from Weelicious, a great site for meal ideas for anyone with a toddler.  It was by far the most simple recipe I found and it worked out perfectly.  You could easily make this more healthy by using your flour of choice.  I used all-purpose but whole wheat would be even better, or spelt.  The cookies taste even better with age as they soften up, which is another element I love about this recipe.     

12 oz dried figs, chopped, with stem removed (I used Greek, Kalamata figs).  You can find dried figs at Whole Foods, or Trader Joes or your local Mediterranean market

pinch of orange zest

1 T honey 

6 T butter, soft

1/3 c sugar

1 egg

1 t vanilla

1 1/2 c flour

Place figs in a medium bowl and cover with boiling water.  Let sit for about 10 minutes.  In a food processor, add about 1 T of soaking liquid.  Drain figs and add to food processor along with honey and orange zest.  Pulse until a nice paste is formed.  With a stand mixer or a bowl with a hand mixer, cream butter and sugar for 2 minutes.  Add egg and vanilla and beat for a few more minutes.  Add flour and mix until a dough forms.  Dump dough out onto parchment paper.  If it is too sticky to work with let chill in fridge for 15 minutes.  I read some reviews for various fig newton recipes that mentioned the dough was difficult to work with.  I did not find this to be the case, but add flour or allow to come to room temperature if it's too sticky or cracks too much.  Roll out dough into a 12 inch by about 8 inch rectangle.  Slice in half, lengthwise, to form two rectangles.  Spoon out fig filling and spread along inner length of each rectangle.  Basically, since each piece of dough is 4 inches wide you want the filling to roughly fill in the inside 2 inches, with an inch border on each side.  The filling isn't the consistency of a jam, but more like a paste, so I really used my fingers and pressed it into the dough.  Fold over each side and press into each other to form the logs.  You'll need to judge the amount of filling with your eyes as if it's too full you may have trouble folding over the dough to form the log.  If the dough cracks simply pinch and pat it back into place.  It's really not rocket science.  You can always save some of the filling to use on bread or crackers.  If entertaining, the fig filling would be a great addition to a cheese platter.  Slice about 10 cookies per log and place on a lined baking sheet.  Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until ever so slightly golden along the edges.  

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

Where have I been?!!  I know, it's been ages since I've posted.  I've been busy!  I've got a toddler now, we've been traveling a lot, and I'm expecting again (hence, the missing muffin that I ate immediately after pulling those out of the oven).  But things are hopefully quieting down now, just in time to start preparing for our newest arrival, but I promise to bring you a recipe from time to time.  I don't often make muffins, and when I've got some overripe bananas lying around I usually make banana bread, but I was in the mood for muffins.....when the muffins at Starbucks start looking good to me, I know I've got a craving.  I wanted to make them a little more healthy for me and the family so I added some oats.  I also altered this recipe by turning my milk into buttermilk and substituting some cake flour for a portion of the all-purpose.  If you don't have cake flour it's no problem, I just figured it might give some lightness to the muffins.  This recipe is one to stick with for a while, not too sweet with a nice banana flavor, hearty with oats yet with a cake-like texture.     

1 c AP flour
1/2 c cake flour
1 c rolled oats
1 egg
1 c mashed banana
1/3 c canola oil
1/2 c sugar
3/4 buttermilk (or regular milk, or add a spoon of vinegar to regular milk and let sit for a few minutes)
1/2 t vanilla
1/2 t salt
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
some spices like cinnamon and nutmeg

Stir all dry ingredients together in one bowl.  In second bowl lightly beat egg and then beat in milk and oil.  Add vanilla and mashed bananas.  Stir in dry mixture until batter forms.  With ice cream scoop pour into a try of 12 lined muffin tins.  Bake at 400 for 18 minutes.