ABC: Zebra Cookies

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We are back to our monthly ABC choice.  This time it was cookies.  Out of all the desserts out there cookies are not high on my list of likes (not like fruit desserts), unlike Tom and the little man that love them.

Since we been eating cake for the past months, this was a change of pace, and was looking forward to them.  Plus as soon as I said cookies were in the baking list over the weekend, the house erupted in cheers.

Me thinks there was an itsy-bitsy hint in there somewhere…

Once more I wish that this book would have more pictures with it’s recipes, it’s hard to “visualize” the end product and while Flo’s instructions are super detail, sometimes it’s just too much and I get lost in translation with them.

I had to read the steps more than a couple of times before I fully comprehended how to set the dough up in order to have them come out with the perfect zebra stripes.

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ABC: Old-World Braided Coffee Cake

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This was our choice for our monthly Avid’s Baker Club where we are working our way to baking the recipes from Flo Braker book “Baking for all Occasions”.  So far everything that I have made from this book has been a success, remember the Lemon-Scented Pull-Apart Coffee Cake?

Flo mentions that this cake is “reminiscent of recipes from eastern Europe” where apparently they like their yeast-leavened cakes.

Cake you say?

Yeah, I know, it say’s Coffee Cake above. But, you tell me, does that picture above look like a cake to you?

Yeah, I thought you would agree with me.

Because that looks alot like a bread.

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ABC: Evie Lieb's Processor Challah

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I think I may be ready to cross out “conquer anything with yeast” off my kitchen bucket list.

Uh, maybe.

This month’s choice for Avid Baker’s Challenge called to make Challah bread.  I have to note that I love French bread, because I tend to like breads that are super “crusty” and then light and airy inside.  But, Challah is one of my favorite soft breads (the other is brioche) plus I use it all the time to make the best EVER, SUPER DUPPER EASY French Toast Casserole.  It also holds a special place in the Jewish tradition of the three Sabbath and two holiday meals, which begins with two complete loaves of Challah bread being blessed by the head of the household. On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the challah may be rolled into a circular shape (sometimes referred to as a “Turban Challah”), symbolizing the cycle of the year, and baked with raisins in the dough. Sometimes the top is brushed with honey in honor of the “sweet new year.”

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