prettybaking in Israel

The next day cookies - Alfahores

2008-09-01T17:51:00.006+03:00

At first I though the recipe was one of the downfall recipes but apparently - they do get better the day after.

My daughter is the alfahores lover in the family - I sometimes wonder if the stork that brought her didn't make a stop in Argentina.

The dough seemed a bit dry - but as I said - these are the next day cookies. I am not terribly fond of the baker that gave us this recipe - but that is a different matter and I will give hjer credit for this recipe.

Alfahores - by Karin Goren

200 grams butter, at room temp.

200 grams powdered sugar

3 yolks

1 instant vanilla pudding

200 grams cornflour

200 grams flour

2 tspd. baking powder

1q2 tsp baking soda

Dulche de Leche

Coconut

powdered sugar

Mix the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks till incorporated.

In a seperate bowl sift flkour, cornflour, vanilla pudding, baking soda and baking powder. Add to the butter mixture till well blended.

Chill covered for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 170.

Roll dough and cut with round cookie cutter. Place on parchment paper and bake 10-13 minutes. Cookies should be a light color.

Cool. Sandwich cookies with the dulche de leche.

Roll in coconut and sprinkle with powdered sugar

A Fun Game

2008-08-29T20:36:00.002+03:00

Posted by - http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/uncategorised/the-omnivores-hundred/

I copied and pasted from her blog.....Please leave her a coment. IU can't beleive how little I have tried from this list....And I can't beleive how many of them I have no idea what they are....!!

"Here’s a chance for a little interactivity for all the bloggers out there. Below is a list of 100 things that I think every good omnivore should have tried at least once in their life. The list includes fine food, strange food, everyday food and even some pretty bad food - but a good omnivore should really try it all. Don’t worry if you haven’t, mind you; neither have I, though I’ll be sure to work on it. Don’t worry if you don’t recognise everything in the hundred, either; Wikipedia has the answers.

Here’s what I want you to do:
1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:
1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos Rancheros
4. Steak Tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba Ganoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J Sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - (Pomegranate - YUM!)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Fois Gras
24. Rice and Beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulche de Leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna Cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut - but I didn't like it
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects - well once or twice when a bug flew in my mouth....
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tika masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly Pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S'mores
62. Sweetbreads
63. Kaolin
64. Currywurst
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baiju
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
.85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse - yes. I did. I', sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrry
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

Searching for Rose - A Country in Anguish

2008-08-28T06:48:00.003+03:00

Please put Rose in your prayers!

I know this is a food blog. But sometimes, things happen in this world that make us bow our heads in sorrow and cease to enjoy our daily tasks.
This is a feeling that has hit us lately - and hit us hard.
3 days ago we learned about this adorable child who has been missing for 3 months, and nobody knew. Nobody went to the police. Nobody searched for her till it was too late, though we are hoping and praying that she will be found.
The story begins like a Danielle Steel novel or a bad sope opera - only difference is - this is real life and we are prepared for the worst, though still hoping that a miracle might still happen and Rose will be found alive.

4.5 years old - Rose Ron

Its a complex story -you can find here http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/28/world/middleeast/28rose.html?_r=1&ref=world&oref=slogin

We are a nation that is rude and prickly on the outside - but once tragedy occurs we unite. And for the past few days - Rose is the daughter we regret we were unable to help. She is the angel we are all searching for to give her the love and caring she never had and never knew. Rose is the child we want to beg for forgivness for not being able to protect her from her family.

We are still hoping that she was not killed at the hands of her grandfather and mother. We are still hoping that she is out there, alive waiting for us to enfold her in our loving arms - an anguished nation - waiting for a miracle.
Please, I beg you, add Rose Ron to your prayers!

Around the World in 26 Letters - A Monthly Blog Event

2008-08-25T19:22:00.003+03:00

I would like to host the following blog event that will both be fun and educating...Foreign cuisines are sometimes very easy and we use them on a weekly basis (Pizza, baguettes, houmous) but there are countries that we rarely visit or even know about. i thought it would be fun to explore the worlds cuisines in 26 letters.
Every month we will follow the ABC around the globe. Anyone who would like to choose a country as per the ABC is more than welcome to send me a mail.
The "rules" are as follows:

Send me an email to doritam1 at gmail dot com with the subject: Around the World in 26 letters.
If you have a blog - post your recipe and picture with a link to this event. It would be neat if you added whyt you chose the recipe
Add you name, blog name and blog address.
Send me a picture.
For those without a blog - just send a mail with your name, recipe and picture and I will post it.

All emails should be sent to me by the end of Setember (september 30th) And I will post the event on the first of each month.

So lets travel the world
:-)

Bon Voyage

Soooooooooooooooooooooo - our first letter is of course A...and A is for....Austria

Ding Dong.....But it's not the Doorbell.....

2008-08-20T20:56:00.006+03:00

When I was a kid I loved two things even more than I loved my Malibu Barbie - Ding Dongs and Pop Tarts. Boy do I miss those.

We can mostly get many american foods here, but these are the two that we don't and I wish we did (well, my figure is glad we don't).

So when I saw this recipe at Joe's site - Culinary in the Desert - I just knew they were meant for me....

They are really easy to make - and its funny that we have the marshmallow fluff - but don't have the Ding Dongs (we also don't have miniature marshmallow but that is another sob story).

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Filling (Adapted from Food and Wine)

For the cupcakes:

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour

1/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs, separated and at room temperature

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons water

For the filling

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

3/4 cup Marshmallow Fluff

1 1/2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon cream

For the frosting

1/4 cup cream4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

To prepare the cupcakes

Preheat the oven to 350

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together egg yolks, canola oil, 1/2 cup sugar and water until well combined. Add the dry ingredients and stir by hand just until combined.

In a clean medium bowl, beat egg whites at high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and beat until stiff and glossy. Beat one quarter of the whites into the batter to lighten the mixture. Add remaining whites and gently fold the mixture together until no streaks remain.

Evenly divide the batter between the wells of a 12 cup muffin tin coated with nonstick spray (they will be about one-half full). Bake until the cupcakes spring back when lightly touched in the center, about 13 to 16 minutes. Remove and let the cupcakes cool slightly before turning them out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

To prepare the filling

In a medium bowl, beat together butter, confectioners' sugar, Fluff and 1 1/2 tablespoons of the heavy cream until fluffy. Reserve 1/2 cup of the filling - transfer the rest to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4" plain round tip. Beat remaining 1 teaspoon of cream into the reserved 1/2 cup of filling, cover and reserve.

Gently insert the tip of the pastry bag about 1/2" deep into the bottom of each cupcake - lightly squeeze some of the filling into the cupcake.

To prepare the frosting

In a small saucepan, heat cream until steaming. Remove from the heat, add chocolate and let stand for 5 minutes. Add the butter and stir until smooth. Transfer the frosting to a small bowl and dip the top of each cupcake to thoroughly coat. Spoon the reserved filling into a pastry bag fitted with a very small plain tip and pipe swirls across the center of each cupcake. Refrigerate the cupcakes for 10 minutes to set the frosting.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

http://desertculinary.blogspot.com/2005/05/chocolate-cupcakes-with-cream-filling.html

The best part of these Ding Dongs are that they are probably not half as unhealthy as the Hostess ones are (sorry hostess...)

Easiest Tortilla Bowls

2008-08-19T10:52:00.007+03:00

1 tortilla
1 round pan or bowl - that can be placed in oven
Fit the tortilla in the bowl
Bake at 160C for 10-15 minutes
And fill

A is for Apple....Pie

2008-08-17T05:48:00.006+03:00

And there is nothing more american to me than Apple Pie!! And today is my Michael Phelps day!! Boy was I excited. And boy was I exstatic when the "boys" won!! And even more so when the most anticipated 8th Gold Medal was won by Phelps. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PHELPS!! As I blogged last week - I took a day off and visited the upper Galilee where I received a large amount of wonderful apples by a farmer we met on the road.
Since Granny Smith is not our favorite eating apple - something american had to be done..And as mentioned above - nothing more american than apple pie (well and hamburgers I guess).

Beautiful Granny Smith Apples

A slice of apple pie

This recipe was posted on one of the Israeli forums by a very talented lady named Amira. I did make some minor changes...

Apple Pie - adapted from Amira's recipe

Pie Crust:

2 cups all puprose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

4 Tbs. sugar

pinch salt

150 grams cold butter, cut into small pieces

4-6 Tbs. ice cold water

Process in a food processor and add the water 1 TBS at a time until a ball is formed. DO NOT OVER PROCESS.

Divide into 2 discs and wrap in nylon. Refrigerate at least an hour.

Filling:

5 Granny smithe apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced

1 cup fresh tart cherries

1 TBS fresh lemon juice

3/4 cup sugar

1 TBS all purpose flour

1 tsp. cinnamon

25 grams butter, small pieces

1/2 cup cookie crumbs or bread crumbs

Mix together all ingredients except the butter.

Assembly:

Remove one pie crust disc and roll out to fit 9" pie pan.

Sprinkle bread/cookie crumbs over dough.

Cover with the filling and sprinkle butter over the filling.

Roll out second pie disc and cover. I have these little heart shaped cookie cutters which I used to make my decoration....

Bake about 45 minutes at 180 C.

Serve warm

Isn't the decoration cute?

Rustic Pretzels

2008-08-17T05:45:00.004+03:00

I love preztels. Who doesn't??? So everytime I see a new recipe - I must try it. These I found on what geeks eat blog and they are called "hellboy pretzels" LOL and can be found here:
http://www.whatgeekseat.com/wordpress/recipes/pretzel.pdf What i really liked about the recipe is that it didn't call for that 1 hour proofing of the doufh - so basically you can be pretty spontatneous with the pretzels...
They are easy and they taste even better than store bought.
I did make some adjustments in the recipe which worked better for me.

Hellboy Pretzels
2 cups milk, scalded and then cooled to room temp (I added about 4 TBS. more)
3 teaspoons yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons molasses
2 cups of whole wheat white flour
4 cups of white all-purpose flour (I used 3 cups)
1 tablespoon baking soda
3 quart of water

Put the milk, yeast, salt, molasses, and whole wheat white flour in the bowl of your stand mixer and with the paddle attachment mix on medium until well combined, about 2 minutes. Slowly start adding the white flour to the bowl in ½ cup increments. Make sure you've turned the speed down on the mixer otherwise you'll have an incredible mess of flour all over your kitchen. Continue to add the white flour until the dough clears the sides of the bowls. Stop the mixer and scrape the dough off the paddle attachment and fit the mixer with the dough hook attachment. Test the dough to see if it is too sticky, if so add a bit more flour. Run the mixer on low and let it work the dough for 5 minutes or so. Once the dough is smooth remove it from the bowl and let it rest on the counter for 10 - 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Divide the dough into 10 to 12 portions, depending on how large you want your pretzels to be. Roll each portion into a snake and then form the pretzel shape by holding each end in a hand and bringing them together at the middle, twisting them together and anchoring them the bottom dough (which is actually the middle of the snake).
Place a pot on the stove over a medium-high flame and fill it with 3 quarts of water. Once it's boiling add the baking soda and then submerge each pretzel in the boiling bath for a count of 10. Remove and place the pretzel on a rack and then transfer it to a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle it with kosher salt. Repeat until all the pretzels have had a bath.

Bake them for 10-15 minutes or until they reach an internal temperature of 210°F.

Remove from the oven and cool on a rack. Feeds two hungry hell-boys

Viva Italia

2008-08-15T22:34:00.003+03:00
Yes. I know. Everybody is eating chinese these days. Sleeping chinese. Even speaking chinese...
But when you want a quick and easy meal that is both satisfying and tasty...Italy takes the gold medal in my opinion.
Nothing is better than a plate of pasta and a small salad on the side. And of course...we cannot forget the wine. No italian dinner is perfect without the old vino.
A very inmportant tip regarding cooking with wine. Do not ever cook with a wine you wouldn't want to drink. The very Best Pasta Meat Sauce ( just cuz I don't know how to spell bolognes)

1 Onion, chopped
4 -5 garlice cloves, minced
Olive Oil
500 grams minced meat
1 cup dry red wine
1 can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 cup water
1 Tbs. brown sugar
3-4 bay leaves
salt to taste

Saute onion till begins to be transparent. Add the garlic and stir. Add meat and cook till brown. Add 1 cup wine and cook till most of the liwuids are gone.
Add rest of ingrediennts and cook on low heat for an hour.
Serve over your favorite pasta.
Sprinkle with parmesan.

Iron Chef Tomatoes - a Blogging Event

2008-08-14T18:30:00.004+03:00

Joelen, from Jeolens Culinary Adventures http://joelens.blogspot.com/ is hosting a Tomato event. There truely are a favorite vegetable. And they are both tasty and healthy! My "donation" to thius event is our favorite middle eastern salad - Matbouha. This is a Moroccan dish and is the moroccan salsa....It is almost impossible to eat at a middle eastern restaurant and not have it on the table. And it is very easy to prepare. I used Roma tomatoes which are found on occasion and I think they really are the best for this dish.Matbouha
6-8 ripe roma tomatoes, cubed
2 bell peppers, cubed
2 small chile peppers (more if you like it extra hot), sliced
4-5 minced garlic
salt
1 heaping Tbsp. moroccan paprika - this is a paprika that has oil added to it and can be found at middle eastern shops
1 cup vegetable oil

In a pot add tomatoes, bell peppers, garlic and chile peppers - cook until almost all fluids are gone.
Add the salt and paprika. Stir in oil.
Cook for an additional 5 minutes.
Can be served warm or cold.
Many add it to make "shakshouka" - which is a middle eastern egg dish that I don't like....so sorry - no recipe for that...LOL

Wordless Wednesday

2008-08-13T15:33:00.002+03:00

And I think to Myself - What a Wonderful World...

2008-08-12T18:48:00.016+03:00

I took the day off and drove to the Northern part of the Galilee. I am always in awe...and to iimagine this part of the country was undergoing constant bombings only two summers ago.... A holy grave (there are hundreds of them in the area)
A Vineyard

View from Kerem Ben Zimra

Another view from Kerem ben Zimra

An Orchader taking his apples for sale. He was so nice and gave us a big sack of apples just for photographing him.

Starking Apple

Pomegranate - We even bought some pomegranate wine. Enchanting.

Grapes

A beautiful Olive tree

More grapes

By a vineyard

A wine Boutique at Dalton - I highly recommend their wines

Specialty Chocolates

Enjoying the day

Beautiful yellow roses

Good Morning Starshine, the Earth Says Hello...

2008-08-12T07:16:00.003+03:00
These are a wonderful breakfast muffin! So full of good and healthy things. So very moist and suo full of delicious flavors.

The recipe is from Cooking Light
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 packed brown sugar
2 Tbs. untoasted wheat germ
2 Tbsp. wheat bran
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/3 cup pitted chopped dates
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 cup low fat buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup boiling water

Combine flour and next 7 ingredients (through salt) in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk. Stir in oats, dates, raisins, cranberries. Make a well in the middle. Comnine buttermilk, egg and vanilla and add to flour mixture. Stir just until moist. Stir in boiling water and let rest 5 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375F
Spoon batter in muffin cups. Bake for approx. 18-20 minutes
Cool

Reeses to Pieces

2008-08-10T08:30:00.004+03:00

Anything I say will do no justice. These are easy and great. Especially since peaniut butter cups are almost impossible to find in Israel.... The recipe is from here http://www.topsecretrecipes.com/recipedetail.asp?sessionid=&login=yes&id=83&agree=yes

Wanna Nightcap?

2008-08-09T00:26:00.003+03:00
I love prickly pears or what we call Sabres. Sabres is also the nickname for Israelis as we are very prickly on the outside but really sweet and tender on the inside. In other words - don't let our chutzpa fool you. We are all sweet and tender on the inside. Always the first to push you if the line is long but also the first to give you a hand and help you out.
The problem with the fruits itself (after attcking those awful thorns) is that the seeds aren't that great for your digestion. So I just take the fruits and run them through the juicer.
As the summer heat grows warmer I fooled around with some ingredients and came up with my very own Sabres Margarita....

I don't have exact quantities but this is basically what I had:
juice of approx. 12 prickly pears
4 oz. Tequila
3 oz Orange liquer
2 Tbs. sugar
2 ox fresh lemon juice
crushed ice

Run it all through the blender. Taste and add tequila to your liking....

Baking Flatbread on Stones

2008-08-08T08:24:00.005+03:00
The Moroccan flatbread is baked on stones. I really loved the idea and have been planning quite a while to bake this way. I gathered stones, about egg size but kept forgetting them in the car. Then when I did remember I was too lazy since they were pretty heavy (3rd floor - no elevator).
So Finally I did. I washed them really really good. dried them and placed them in the pan.
Something about the stones give the bread a neat texture.

The recipe is called "Faran" or some call it "Farina: (I guess it depends on the moroccan area you are from). I think I should have baked it a bit longer to get a deeper color of brown - but the kids ate it way before it cooled down.
I will probably try it again tonight as it is really easy...

Faran - Moroccan Flat bread
500 grams bread flour
1 to 1 1/2 cups warm water
1 Tbs. rapid yeast
1/2 Tbs salt
1/2 Tbs. sugar
Mix all the dry ingredients together. Add the water and knead till you have a soft flexible dough. Shape into a ball and cover. Let rise till double in bulk.
I have a bread machine so I just let it do all the work - but I never bake with the machine. I hate the texture.
Punch the dough an knead again.
Flatten on a well floured surface and let rise for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven with the pan and stones at maximum temp. - approx. 250C for 30 minutes.
Place bread on the stones and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Let cool.

Wordless Wednesdays

2008-08-06T05:37:00.000+03:00

My Kids....I love them. Need I say more??

Kitchen Tip Tuesday - Honey Mustard Salmon

2008-08-05T17:01:00.005+03:00

For Tammy's Recipes. This a great site. With wonderful recipes and tips - especially for frugal living. Please check out her site on a daily basis.
This recipe is healthy easy and tasty and so full of Omerga 3 and goodness. You can use either pecans or walnuts alone or mix them with homeade bread crumbs.

Honey Mustard Salmon
4 Salmon fillets
Mustard (I used french mustard that was pretty hot, but a milder mustard can be used)
Honey
salt & pepper
1/2 chopped pecans or walnuts
Make sure salmon fillets are skinless (its really easy to peel of the skin when the salmon is still a bit frozen). Brush on the honey and then spread with mustard. Salt & pepper to your liking and then just pat on the nuts.
Bake about 15-20 minutes on medium heat.
Serve with salad and fresh bread.

Mango Salad

2008-08-05T12:49:00.004+03:00

Or in other words....How to Beat the Heat....

Grace, from A Southern Grace blog is hosting a a beat the heat event. The event inludes any dish prepared without using the stove or oven.
This is my "donation" to the event. Its a very satisfying dish which we all love at home. The colors in this salad are breathtaking.
Please visit her blog and the even rules at http://asoutherngrace.blogspot.com/2008/07/beat-heat.html

Mango Sumer Salad

Dressing:

2 tsp. balsamic vinegar

2 tsp. fresh lemon juice

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp freshly grated pepper

3 Tbs. Olive Oil

Salad:

500 grams sliced mango

1 tomato, cubed

1 s,all red onion, sliced thinley

1/3 cup fresh corriander, chopped

Shake dressing ingredients. Pour over salad and serve chilled.

The Fruits of Summer

2008-08-04T21:00:00.003+03:00
The summer is definately my favorite season. Even though it gets terribly hot and humid there is nothing I dislike about it. So many fruits and vegetables. I wish summer would never end.
Two years ago I advised my favorite friend in the world to grow passion fruit in his garden. Since then I am forever thankful as I recive those wonderful wrinkly fruits on an almost daily basis. I take out the pulp and either eat it then and there or I just freeze it.
Today I decided that something must be done. I must bake a passion fruit cake....So I did...:-)

I also have a large bag of pitted cherries that I really had no idea what to do with. So I threw them in too....
The outcome was almost a perfect cake. Why almost?? The cherries kind of sunk to the bottom and ruined the look of the cake in my opinion....
But the taste - is perfection. And I only messed up one bowl and a whisk!!
My Passion Fruit Cherry Cake

2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
5-6 passion fruit, pulp only
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 - 2 cups pitted cherries

Just mix all the ingredients except the cherries till incorporated. Stir in the cherries.
Oil and flour an english cake pan.
Bake at 160C for about 35 minutes.

A Bountyful of Coconut

2008-08-01T17:09:00.008+03:00

For all coconut lovers "Bounty" chocolate bar is by no means a stranger. I admit, I am not a big fan of coconut. Its not that I dislike it - but I would rather go with the Snockres community of the world.

Picture taken from chocoblog
Open Bounty bar/ chocoblog

But my daughter is a fan. This summer vacation she has been very busy at various scouts activities. I hardly see her. This week she was off to camp. Tomorrow she will receive her counsler badge. And I am proud of her.

So...Knowing how much she love bounty bars, and eyeing this resipe by a very creative and talented forum friend "sjarjer" (pronounced garger") I sent myself to the local market to purchase coconut milk - a condiment I never hold at home and to be honest - never even used.
The recipe is quite easy. Not messy and only one pan was needed (and washed twice). And to be honest....after tasting one, I think I will move myself from the snickers camp to the bounty camp.

Sjarjer's Bounty Squares

Coconut Filling:
1 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/3 cup water
1/3 tsp. vanilla
1 can coconut milk
20-250 gr. dessicated coconut

Ganache
250 ml. cream
300 grams bittersweet chocolate
1 tsp. coffee granules

In a medium pan - bring water, salt and sugar to boil. Continue boiling till the mixture thickens but does not turn golden (about 15 minutes). Meanwhile warm the coconut milk and add to the sugar mixture with the vanilla. Continue boiling till mixture thickens again. Add the coconut and mix, approx. 7 minutes, till the coconut seems dry.

Pour into a 9x13 pan. Cool at room temperature overnight. Then freeze for at least 2 hours.
In a medium pan melt chocolate and coffee with the cream until incorporated. Pour over frozen coconut. Keep refrigerated.

Wordless Wednesday

2008-07-30T18:04:00.003+03:00

A lonesome fisherman and his net

My Camera - It's back!!

2008-07-29T21:42:00.003+03:00

And I have so many things now that I want to bake and cook and post....I just wish the weather would cool off a bit.
But I did make bagels tonight.
I found this recipe on a wonderful blog http://happyveganface.blogspot.com/2008/05/bagels.html which has great stuff!!
The recipe is here: http://happyveganface.blogspot.com/2008/05/bagels.html
Next time I will add sunflower seeds and/ or flax seeds.
They are easy and very very good. Gotta get out the lox and cream cheese....

I like the idea of Wordless Wednesdays....

2008-07-23T17:56:00.005+03:00

So I'll take a shot at it (from older pics taken...)

I really miss my camera

2008-07-23T14:32:00.001+03:00
I feel like every food I prepare is a total waste of time if I can't take a picture of it.
I called the shop and hopefully I will have it by next week.
So far you have "missed out" on mexican food night, pasta evening and to be honest - nothing else. It is just way too hot to be in the kitchen. Hot and Humid. That is what the summers are like in Israel. Thank God I live near the beach!
But I am preparing a "to-do" list.....