Happy Jewish New Year 2011

 L'Shana Tova means Happy New Year. We say this for Rosh Hashana. This year, the torch has been passed by my mother for me to make the challah. This is her recipe and it is delicious. I am not partial or anything. LOL..  

                                                   

Normally, you will see a challah that is a braided loaf but for Rosh Hashanah we wrap it upon it self and twist the dough before it is cooked. This year, I used honey and an egg wash to finish the bread and it gives me a bit of sweet. 

Each batch of dough can make two loaves. I have in the past made  more than  two loaves out of one batch of dough. 

I also made an apple and pomegranate crisp. I had to double the recipe because there are so many in my family. I have 4 sisters, plus their husbands and kids and my parents, and friends.. I think there were 20 of us total to dinner. 

Anyhow, I chose pomegranates because of the Jewish symbolism. There are 613 seeds in each  pomegranate and there are 613 commandments.

Apples are, of course, in season this time of year. I decided to choose both sweet and tart apples to compliment the  taste of the pomegranate. 

 

Seeding the pomegranate isn't easy. You have to first cut it open and then, under water, break it open to pull the seeds away from the flesh. Only the seeds of a pomegranate are edible. The flesh will float to the top and the seeds will sink to the bottom of the bowl of water. 

The crunch of the coating was perfect. 

                                                          

It was easy to scoop out and was delicious. The sweetness of the apple and the pomegranate were perfectly complimentary.  

This was delicious. The crust was homemade!
Flour, Sugar.. and oats....
Glued together with butter.  

                                    

For Mature Eyes Only.. Katie's Bachelorette Pary

 I got asked to make "inappropriate" cupcakes for Katie's Bachelorette Party. I decided to make vanilla cupcakes and fill them with Peanut M & M's. Now some had nuts..

The peanut M&M's sunk to the bottom. 

A muffin size cupcake for the huge Penis sucker. I made vanilla
cupcakes with homemade butter cream frosting. 

Giant cupcake for a GIANT PENIS.. sucker that is.. 

Juicy Lucy turns 1..

 Jack O'Brien has a little sister. When he started talking, he couldn't say Lucy..instead, he called her Juicy. It has stuck and her new nickname is Juicy. I didn't make her first birthday cake so there are no pictures of it here. I did want to show all the fun we had that day.                

          

Lucy's first baby. It was unwrapped and instantly
she hugged it and made nice.

These are Jack's toes. I am not sure pink is his color

Lucy trying to walk in her first pair of high heals. 

When she was born, one of her aunts bought
her first pair of high heals.

Daddy and Jack watching Lucy open her presents. 

Uncle Chris and Dad .. just lovely

We'll never forget..

Although I have posted two other blog entries discussing celebratory times, We will NEVER forget what happened 09/11. I will be thinking of all of those that have lost loved ones.

Here comes the Bride.. and that is Katie

Katie is getting married and I made her shower cake again. I made a cake about a month ago for her first shower and I was asked to make another cake. Purple is Katie's favorite color. I chose a lavender.

 Katie deserved a present for her shower cake. There were about 20 people at the shower and this is a 9x9 cake. I made a yellow cake with bittersweet chocolate ganache filling and my butter cream frosting. The ribbon detail is marshmallow fondant and the roses are made from frosting.

 The last bit of cake was saved for the groom, John. It was yummy.  A few guests went back for a second slice.

I scream You scream.. we ALL scream for Ice Cream!

So, Chris turned another year older and asked for my famous ice cream cake.. Well, it is famous, only after my mom told me how to make it.

Ingredients:
Ice Cream sandwiches
Microwavable fudge
Cool Whip
nuts (optional)

How to:
Line a 9x9 square pan with ice cream sandwiches (cut if necessary to fit)
Do not microwave the fudge (you'll have ice cream soup)
Pour, squeeze or what ever you need to do to get the fudge out of the can, jar or tube over the ice cream bars. Smooth the fudge over the bars.
spoon the cool whip over the fudge as evenly as possible.
Add nuts if you choose.

 cover and freeze. 

 People will try and guess what is in it.. and always guess wrong!

It is best to freeze overnight 

John, Katie, Chris, Maria and Patrick all celebrating Chris's birthday. We had Mexican food and topped it off with ice cream cake. 

Labor Day 2011

We spent Labor Day 2011 with our friends, Patrick and Maria. I, of course, offered to bake. I finally decided on cupcakes and two different kinds at that.

One cupcake was a vanilla cupcake with a Reese's peanut butter cup in the center and my Ah-Maze-Ing peanut butter frosting and the other was a vanilla cupcake with chocolate ganache frosting.

 My Reese's peanut butter cup cupcake was similar to the Tagalong cupcakes I made in March. This time I baked a peanut butter cup in the center of my cupcake. This was a hit at the party.

The frosting was a HIT! peanut butter, powdered sugar and honey (a few other ingredients to.. but who cares about those?). Yum Yum!

 My other cupcake was covered in a mexican chocolate ganache frosting. This recipe was similar to the ganache filling I made for Andrea's 9th birthday party cake. I tweaked a few thing! First, I heated up the heavy cream with cinnamon and let it seep for five minutes. This time I left the chocolate with a few more chunks in it. I also used chocolate that was more bittersweet than what I used before. Who knew that there was different levels of bittersweetness. Acutally, what I learned was that there varying levels of cocoa and that is what creates the sweet, bittersweet or dark chocolate.

Andrea turns 9

We let Andrea turn one year older.  I can't believe it.. she is 9 years old. I have tried to make sure she stayed only 8 years older.. but darn it another birthday came again.. What is amazing is that next  year she will be the..duh duh duh.. (music was played here)... double digits.. 10 years old..

This blog isn't about my fear of her turning another year.. rather.. about the sweet tooth we have. I decided to make her a "pool" cake as she became a little fish this summer. She lived in the pool all summer long and cried when it rained or if we didn't have time. A "pool" cake was the most appropriate.

This is a yellow cake with butter cream frosting and a chocolate ganache filling. We had 12 swimmers in our pool and they were honey flavored teddy grahams wearing bathing suits and sunglasses. I forgot to add the diving board (made of graham crackers)

Chris said it was the best filling he ever had. My mom too! She said it was just enough to make the cake better than what it was. I took one Ghiradelli semi sweet chocolate bar and cut it into pieces and then ran it through the food processor to make sure it was small enough chunks. Then I put one cup of heavy cream on the stove and waited until it came to a soft boil and poured it over the chocolate. I let it sit for 15 minutes and then covered and put it in the fridge. It needs to be super cold. It is best to leave it over night but at least 6 hours will do.  After refrigeration, beat with a hand mixer until creamy.  This is only good for a filling and not good for frosting.

Over all, Andrea loved her birthday party with the family and loved her cake.. 9th birthday.. SUCCESS