Cookie Brittle

1 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp fine sea salt
2 cups flour
chocolate chips*

Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C)
Line a 10x15 jelly roll pan with baking paper and grease a bit.
Combine all of the ingredients and mix well.
Spread the batter in the pan. (Keep smushing - it will cover the whole bottom of the pan. It's supposed to be pretty thin.)
Bake 20-25 minutes (until golden brown.)
Allow the brittle to cool completely and then break it into pieces.

* I made mine with chocolate chips, almond slivers and chopped craisins. It came out amazing. I now have a batch in the oven with chocolate chips, toasted hazelnuts and chopped craisins. I have plans for a future batch to be a 'pina colada' version with coconut, macademia nuts and pineapple chunks (haven't decided if I'm going to go with canned pineapple or dried pineapple)

Cinnamon chocolate chip cake

I've had this recipe from my mom for many years. For some reason it's something I very rarely make. But judging from the few crumbs that were the only thing to survive through Shabbat, I have a feeling it's going to become a regular here.

When the cake was baked and cooled, the sugar and chocolate on top, together with the golden, crunchy cake was just wonderful.

Now on to the recipe...

2 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used soy milk)
3/4 cup margarine
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

Topping:
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 - 3/4 cup chocolate chips
2 tablespoons melted margarine

Mix together the batter ingredients.
In a separate bowl, mix topping ingredients.
Pour 1/2 of the batter into a greased 8x8 pan. Top with 3/4 of the chocolate chip crumble. Cover with the rest of the batter and finally, the rest of the chocolate chip crumble.
Bake 350 degrees F for 45 minutes.

Tie-dyed cheesecake

Inspired by Beth's posts regarding the tie-dyed cheesecake she and her family experienced on their vacation to Disneyworld in May and their own attempt to recreate this visually trippy and quite tasty treat in August, I had to make my own.

Except I felt it needed the right touch and frankly, Israeli food coloring just wasn't going to cut it. Besides the fact you tend to need a lot of the food coloring to get even a decent pastel going, the local supermarket has at most 3 colors... and when mixed I'd have 6. But I wanted the vibrant colors Beth had in Disney.

Well, I was in luck. My aunt and 2 of her kids would be visiting from Maryland so I called my brother (who lives in MD) and asked him if he'd be kind enough to get me a basic box of Wilton icing colors. He later called me from the supermarket, informed me he was standing at the top of an entire aisle dedicated to food decoration and candy making and whatnot... I resisted the urge to reply "get me one of everything" when he asked if there was anything else I'd like...

Unfortunately I got my dates mixed up and by the time I called my brother, my aunt was already on her way to the airport. But I was in luck. My brother's BIL was coming to Israel at the end of the summer. So he brought it to Israel and SR picked it up in Jerusalem and I had the final ingredients to make tie-dyed cheesecake... in addition to some really cool tubes of icing... which sparkle!



IMO, the actual recipe doesn't really matter, as long as it tastes good, so if you already have a basic cheesecake recipe that works for you, feel free to use it.

I decided to go a bit decadent and use the Philly Northwest Cheesecake Supreme recipe but left out the cherry pie filling and did a few extra steps to make it tie-dyed.

1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
food coloring or icing gels

Combine graham cracker crumbs, 3 tablespoons sugar, and melted butter. Press onto the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan. Bake at 325°F (160°C) for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, combine cream cheese, 1 cup sugar, and flour; mixing at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended. Add 4 eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Blend in sour cream and vanilla; pour into 6 or so smaller bowls to add the food coloring.
After each bowl is blended with the color you want, start pouring into the pan - about 1/3 of each bowl, then repeat the process until all the bowls have been scraped clean with a spatula and added to the pan. Very gently swirl the colors together. Be careful not to over mix.
Bake at 450°F (230°C) for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 250°F (120°C) and continue baking for 1 hour.
Loosen the cake from the rim and cool before removing. Chill.

Cinnamon Buns

Basic Sweet Dough
1/2 cup sugar
2 packages dry yeast
1 1/2 yeapoon salt
6 1/2 - 7 cups flour
1 1/4 cups apple juice
1 cup margarine
3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large mixer bowl, combine sugar, yeast, salt and 2 cups flour. In a 1 quart saucepan, heat apple juice and margarine until warm. (Margarine doesn't have to melt).

Gradually add warm liquid to dry ingredients beating with mixer at low speed. Increase speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and 2 1/2 cups of flour. Beat 2 more minutes. By hand stir in enough additional flour to make a stiff dough, about 2 cups.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured board and knead 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding more flour if necessary.

Place dough in a well oiled bowl and turn to oil the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour until doubled in size. Punch down, turn onto floured board, cover with bowl and allow to rest 15 minutes for easier shaping.

Filling
1/2 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup margarine, melted or oil

Glaze
1 cup confectioner's sugar
4 teaspoons water

Combine brown sugar, walnuts, raisins and cinnamon in a small bowl.

Roll out dough into an 18 x 12 inch rectangle. Brush with melted margarine and sprinkle with sugar mixture. Starting with 18 inch side, roll dough jelly roll fashion, pinch seam to close. With seam side down cut roll crosswise into 18 1 inch wide pieces.

Place on a baking sheet, cover and let rise for about 40 minutes, until double in size.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F and bake for 20 minutes.

Glaze: While the buns are baking whisk together sugar and water to make glaze. Brush tops with glaze after they've cooled for about 10 minutes.