Greenstein's Bakery - BB - Frozen Pecan Tart

ב''ה

Fresh quality ingredients and following instructions make this a really stellar dessert.

Mis en place:

Lulu was with me for moral support.

Mixing the pate sucree

I kneaded this using a plastic surgical glove.

Rolled between parchments. Clear wrap is so fussy.

I think I did this right. Seemed to work...

Folded inward before the first toast. I could only find an 11 inch pan so I upped the ingredients about 20%

The toaster shot. Now the rice is 'dairy'. Casadeas anyone?

Did I miss the instruction to place the tin on the pre-bake?

There was concern that the Karo's flavor would not be complex enough. I added some molasses. Can't complain.

I weighed all my ingredients. Argh! What have you done to me Rose?

I toasted the pecans.

Have not tasted frozen yet. I'm not sure it will last that long.

You know its good when it falls apart on you. :)

'Est Gezunt' - 'Eat to your health!"

Greenstein's Bakery - BB - Coffee Crisps

ב''ה

These are, without a doubt, one of the most delightful cookies I've ever had. 

A fantastic, light texture with a full coffee-nuanced, buttery-smack-in-the-face. That said, next time I will probably cut down the sugar and put a bit more espresso powder in the dry ingredients, rather than on top (which just seemed to give a bitter flavor).

Mis en place:

I like these new super fine sugar containers. :)

Moral support. Everybody helped this time.

'The Caboose' mixing the dry ingredients.

I could imagine that this basic mixture could be a foundation for many other flavors other than coffee, (as long as it is added as a dry ingredient?).

Omi-girl helped 'smoosh em' for the toaster.

You can see the fragile texture of the 'shmooshed' batch. Mine did not spread too thin. I wonder if it has to do with the type of butter used and how it spreads when heated?

Then we tried a drop-cookie type batch...

...which turned out looking like normal cookies but lost a bit of the delicate texture.

My study with some of my, um, 'Bibles' (להבדיל).

On Chanukah it is customary to eat 'Sufganiot' - donuts and other foods fried in oil.

כ וּמִנְחָתָם--סֹלֶת, בְּלוּלָה בַשָּׁמֶן

'And their flour offerings -- mixed with oil...'

Numbers 28:20

And of course the Jelly ones...

'...נר ה' נשמת אדם'

'The candle of the the divine is the soul of man.'

Proverbs 20:27

Greenstein's Bakery - BB - Ischler

ב''ה

I could not get Dr. Suess out mind while doing this. We kept calling it the 'The Once-ler'.

Mis en place.

The 'Ez Man' was with me for moral support.

I used ground almonds. 

Even with the egg etc this was still difficult to roll out. With more liquid/butter or other fat I think it would be easier to roll. I assume that the lack thereof makes it more flakey? Don't know.

Planes, trains, airplanes birdies, ice cream... :)

The toaster shot.

Baked. The cookies on their own had a lovely almond flavor and a nice soft texture.

 ’וַיֹּצֵא פֶרַח וַיָּצֵץ צִיץ, וַיִּגְמֹל שְׁקֵדִים...’ – "...Out came a bud that flowered and produced almonds."

Numbers 17:23

I used apricot preserves...

...and strained it. Next time, if I use preserves, I'll try raspberry.

I think I skimped on the chocolate a bit and ended up with a lot left over and a less pronounced chocolate flavor in the cookie.

Not all the cookies were evenly rolled but they were perfectly delicious. I'll have to try and use Rose's method of rolling evenly in the future.

For better or worse, the almond flavored cookies together with the preserves had a flavor that reminded me of a peanut-butter and Jelly sandwich. Perhaps, if I toned-up the chocolate and used the lekvar instead of the preserves, it would not have had that effect.

Greenstein's Bakery - English Fruit Cake

ב''ה

This fruit cake was very good. Its really an apple-cake with some dried fruit thrown in.

Mis en place. Someone wanted the apple... (and took a bite...)

'Omi Girl' was with me for moral support (despite the apple incident.)

Dried apples, prunes, apricots and medjul dates.

Some step or other...

I added some rum to the hot water when soaking the dried. 

The apple-cake part of the deal.

O.K. Here is my one complaint. The flour got in the nooks and crannies of the fruit and nuts and stayed there, even after baking. Thus, there were tiny flour pockets in the cake around some of the gemstones underneath the earth. It did not really affect the taste, however. Was there a reason to add these to the dry ingredients? If they were added to the wet ingredients it would probably not have happened.

The batter or some such.

 I could not bring myself to put rum on this perfectly decent cake.

 כַּאֲשֶׁר יִמָּצֵא הַתִּירוֹשׁ בָּאֶשְׁכּוֹל, וְאָמַר אַל-תַּשְׁחִיתֵהוּ, כִּי בְרָכָה בּוֹ

'...as you find the grape on its vine, and say, don't ruin it for it (already) great...'

Isiah 65:8

'The Mims' made a lovely pumpkin swirl cheesecake. When I asked her where she got the recipe, she said, "the internet." I'll have to send a thank you note to Al Gore.