Category Archives: Baked Goods

Blintz Souffle–Break Fast Food

Posted on September 12, 2013 | Leave a comment

I originally posted this on October 5, 2011. Now that’s a more civilized time to be celebrating the Jewish New Year, but what can I say? It’s here and here we go again. This is probably one of the oldest recipes on my blog. I remember my Mother making it and always loving it. Along with the baked French toast this is a wonderful breakfast and brunch staple. This dish can be assembled ahead of time, kept in the refrigerator and baked right before eating. This is a keeper and a tradition in our house. Always delicious and the ultimate in comfort food. You can buy almost any of the frozen blintzes, homemade ones are great but it doesn’t really make that big of a difference with this recipe. This is super easy with excellent results.

Ingredients:

6 blintzes ( you can use cheese or fruit filled, whichever you like) . Depending on how many people I’m feeding, I usually make 1 fruit and 1 cheese tray. Blintzes can be found frozen in many supermarkets or specialty stores.

2 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 tbsp. unsalted butter or margarine

3/4 cup sour cream (lite is fine)

1 tsp. vanilla

Dash of cinnamon

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter or margarine in saucepan. Spray baking dish with Pam Spray. Mix remaining ingredients in a bowl together. Place frozen blintzes in baking dish. I usually use 9×13 size baking dish but anything close to that will work. You can double the recipe, in which case you’ll obviously need a larger baking dish. You need room for the blintzes to expand a little and for the egg mixture (custard)  to rise around it. Don’t spread it too thin.

Pour the melted butter on top of the frozen blintzes, followed by the sour cream mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30-40 minutes. Let it sit for a few minutes out of the oven before cutting into it.

Happy Healthy Sweet New Year!

Leave a comment

Posted in Baked Goods, Breakfast Food, Dairy, Holiday, Holiday Recipes

Tagged , , , , ,

Baked French Toast — all time best

Posted on September 10, 2013 | 4 comments

DSCN4275

DSCN4288

DSCN4283

DSCN4274

DSCN4270

DSCN4302

DSCN4294I posted this originally back in October 2011 for Yom Kippur break fast. It is truly one of the best French toast recipes I’ve ever made.  I include it every year since my friend Ilene Stern gave it to me. I never have a single piece left. Delicious and decadent, perfect brunch and breakfast food. I almost always include it in my Mother’s Day Brunch as well. Once you’ve made this recipe there is no turning back, your whole family will love it and you’ll have to make it every time.

The only downside is that you must prepare and refrigerate the night before without cooking it, you cannot cook this dish till you’re ready to eat it, the bottom will get hard like a caramel candy would. So cook right before you’re going to serve. Enjoy!

*recipe as is should serve 6- 8 if you have more people make 2 trays!

Ingredients:

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 stick unsalted butter

2 tbsp. corn syrup ( I use Karo Original light corn syrup)

5 eggs (room temperature please)

1 1/2 cups milk ( you can use low-fat, I use Skim Plus)

1 tbsp. vanilla

1 package of sliced cinnamon bread. ( Pepperidge Farm is fine) if you can get thick slices it’s great , but the thin kind will work just double stack them it will be fine) You probably will use 12 slices of bread per tray. You will have 6 stacks of 2 slices each, 12 slices total, or 6 thick slices of cinnamon bread. If you can’t find just cinnamon bread use raisin cinnamon bread it’s easier to find .

Directions:

Melt butter, add brown sugar and corn syrup and combine well. Spray a 9×13 baking dish, Pyrex works well here. Pour butter mixture into baking dish and arrange bread slices flat in the mixture ( you will double stack the thin sliced bread) Unless the bread is 1″thick you will be doubling the standard sliced bread. Squeeze the bread to fit–it should hold 12 slices ( 6 double stacks), 3 on each side of a 9×13 baking dish.

In a blender mix the eggs, milk and vanilla and pour over the bread slices, covering them completely. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The bread will absorb all the liquid by the morning, so if you need to travel with it will be fine.

Uncover and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. Once it’s out of the oven you can dust with powdered sugar, but not necessary. Serve right from the baking dish.

*if you let this sit out too long before serving, the bottom may get hard like a praline candy. It never ever lasts long enough for this to happen at my table.

Look at my original recipe post on October 5 2011. More Break Fast: the all-time best Baked French Toast, I swear.

4 Comments

Posted in Baked Goods, bread, breads/cakes, breakfast, Breakfast Food, Dairy, Eggs, Holiday, Holiday Recipes

Tagged , , , , ,

Grandma Sally’s Mandel Bread

Posted on September 6, 2013 | 3 comments

photo (2) photo (4) photo (5) photo (6) photo (8) photo (9) photo (11) photo (12) photo (13)Now Grandma Sally was not my Grandma but she was my friend Joy’s Grandma. Joy is a friend of mine and has been such a great supporter of Cooking with Candi. I know what a good cook she is and she sent me this recipe and was kind enough to share her family’s secret to an awesome mandel bread. She sent it to me a while back and I haven’t been able to test it out until now. I highly recommend this delicious treat for anytime but why not for the New Year? Thanks again Joy for all your support, it is so appreciated and of course to Grandma Sally for this delicious recipe. Perfect for Break Fast during Yom Kippur.

You can make 2 different mandel breads, one with nuts and one with chocolate or just mix them together . If you use them together use a little less nuts and a little less chocolate. If you like you can add the raisins as well . Use whatever you prefer. I used both chocolate and nuts.

If you love biscotti this is almost identical. There are so very many ways to make Mandel Bread but this one  was really worth the effort. Give it a try and let me know what you think. I think Joy gave me this recipe last year and I promised myself I would make it for this Rosh Hashana .  I did make a few tweeks to the actual baking but the ingredients and most of the recipe stayed the same as Grandma Sally’s . I love to dunk these crunchy cookies in tea or coffee. Yum!

P.S. woke up to these sitting in my kitchen and did a little dunking during breakfast with my morning coffee! They are hard to resist.

Ingredients:

2 heaping tablespoons of Crisco vegetable shortening

3/4 cup of sugar

3 eggs–always room temperature for baking unless otherwise stated

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

2/3 cup of chopped walnuts* optional

2/3 cup of chocolate bits , chocolate chips are fine here , if using alone without nuts you may want a little more . You can always use raisins as well. Whatever you like will work. Raisins and Nuts are great.

For topping:

2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon, mix together for a cinnamon/sugar mixture.  Set aside.

Directions:

Cream together the shortening and sugar to mix well and add 3 eggs one at a time and continue beating in electric mixer, add in the vanilla on low speed until creamy. Then add in the dry ingredients, the flour and the baking powder and mix on low speed until just incorporated. ( don’t overmix)  Then stir in chocolate, nuts, and or raisins to the mixture. I took out dough and refrigerated it over night, you don’t have to but I recommend refrigerating dough for at least 1-2 hours. ( I find dough is easier to handle and holds together better) I had a time constraint and that’s why I did overnight, but just do till it gets cold at least.)

To bake cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat liners which I swear by ( awesome). Shape the dough into 2 or 3 logs about 2 inches wide ( see photos) making sure logs aren’t too close together because they will spread. So 2″ from edges from each other and 2″ from the edges. I used 2 baking sheets for 3 logs, you can just use 1 for 2 longer ones. If dough is super sticky , dust your hands with a little flour.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. Now lower the oven to 250 degrees. Let the baked logs cool down for about 15 minutes, then slice them diagonally about every 3/4 inch ( see picture) Flip the cookies on their sides back on baking sheet. Sprinkle 1/2 of the cinnamon-sugar mixture over top of cookies with a spoon. Flip the cookies over and repeat with the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place the cookies back in the oven ( be certain you turned temp. down to 250 degrees) I cooked for about 45 minutes ,you can cook anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour till they were golden and crisp. Let the cookies cool down, then store in an airtight container.

*cookies will get crunchier as they cool

3 Comments

Posted in Baked Goods, cookies

Tagged , ,

Applesauce and Raisin Cake – an Homage to the Bundt Queen

Posted on September 4, 2013 | Leave a comment

If you’re looking for another cake to make for the holidays this one can work out perfectly for you. It is not so much a holiday cake but would be perfect for the Jewish New Year with the applesauce and raisins it fits in just perfectly. So if you’re still looking for something to make for Rosh Hashana or even for Break Fast next week here you go. Bundt Cakes almost never fail and always please. Enjoy and again Happy New Year from my kitchen to yours.

cookingwithcandi's avatarCooking with Candi

I always call my friend Susan the Queen of the Bundt Cake. It certainly seems to be her calling, as she is always coming up with new and delicious Bundt Cakes for all of us to try. I just hope I do her justice in trying to duplicate it. She made this cake for everyone on New Years, and I have been wanting to try it ever since.  I had to change one of the ingredients because I bought chunky applesauce instead of plain applesauce. Of course, if you’re so inclined you can make your own applesauce (I wasn’t so inclined today!).  The original recipe hails from The Silver Palate, and I have to say this is one cookbook you don’t want to be without. There are so very many wonderful recipes in it. Our kids are on their way out to Colorado so I woke up early, had all the ingredients ready, and had someone…

View original post 434 more words

Leave a comment

Posted in Baked Goods, Cake, Holiday, Holiday Recipes

Tagged , , ,

Don’t Let the Apples Go Bad Cake

Posted on September 1, 2013 | Leave a comment

Here is a perfect apple cake for the holidays and for any time. I originally baked it just because it looked so delicious and I had a bunch of apples about to go bad. Then I realized how perfect it would be for Rosh Hashana. I highly recommend trying this one and it’s really not too difficult at all. No electric mixer, no butter just a tube pan! Enjoy!

cookingwithcandi's avatarCooking with Candi

Apples are the kind of fruit we eat all year round. They are always in the fridge and if they don’t get eaten, I  feel guilty that they’re just sitting there and going to go bad.  I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen and decided since we were leaving for Colorado and I was not ditching perfectly good apples, I would make it and freeze it for when we come back.  (The cake would freeze well…the apples, not so much.) You’ll need a tube pan. You don’t need an electric mixer, so it’s pretty easy on the special equipment. Use those leftover apples–dont’ let them go bad. No butter in this recipe, lots of sugar though.  My house smelled divine.

I also love this recipe for the Jewish Holidays which are just around the corner…..just saying. I’m not ready to start posting for the Holidays yet but this makes a lovely dessert.

View original post 311 more words

Leave a comment

Posted in Baked Goods, Cake, Holiday, Holiday Recipes

Tagged , ,

Sweet Like Honey Cake for the Jewish New Year

Posted on August 31, 2013 | Leave a comment

photo (2)photo (3)CookingwithCandi.comI really can’t believe that it’s just going to be Labor Day and we have to say good-bye to summer and hello to Rosh Hashana! Super early this year. I am adding a few additions to my usual menu and I will list my usual recipes so that if you’d like you can look them up on my site. Here is one of the new recipes for a sweet Honey Cake containing no honey!  This cake can be made ahead of time and frozen. This recipe is  for 2 loaves, so if you only want to make 1 just divide in half. I figure I’m making it , why not make 2 and have the second one on hand. This is also a vegan cake. Honey Cake is a traditional cake served on the Jewish New Year.

I just finished baking this sweet like honey cake and I got one regular sized loaf and 1 mini loaf so I don’t think this will yield 2 full size loaves unless you only fill loaf pan 1/2 way.

*original recipe from Epicurious

Ingredients: 2 loaves

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry or spelt flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice

1 cup pure maple syrup or dark agave nectar, or 1/2 maple  and 1/2 dark agave

1 cup applesauce

1/2 cup safflower oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup dark or golden raisins

1/4 cup sliced almonds

Directions:

preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Prep 2 loaf pans by greasing or spraying the pans, if you’d like you can line the bottoms with parchment paper. I find spraying the pans is sufficient. You can also lightly oil the sides of pans if not using spray.

Combine the first 6 dry ingredients in a mixing bowl, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves or allspice.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir together until the wet and dry ingredients are thoroughly combined, then add in the raisins.

Divide the batter between the two prepared loaf pans. Sprinkle the almonds over the tops of the loaves.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until a knife or cake tester inserted into the center of a loaf comes out clean. Don’t over bake. I baked for about 42 minutes, it was finished at that point. So be sure to check on it after 40 minutes.

Allow the cakes to cool completely. Use a knife to go around the sides of the loaves to loosen, if necessary and carefully remove the loaves from the pans by tipping them into your hand, then set on a platter.

Cut into slices and serve.

Happy New Year!

Leave a comment

Posted in Baked Goods, dessert, Holiday, Holiday Recipes, vegan, vegetarian

Tagged , , ,

Palisades Peach Muffins

Posted on August 17, 2013 | 3 comments

All these amazing fresh peaches from Palisades, Colorado and I am going to use them in something yummy , comforting and delicious. Part of life out here in Colorado is all the time outdoors with lots of biking and hiking. I don’t worry so much about all the calories and I have to say  with all the exercise I do out here I do indulge a wee bit more than I normally would. These muffins aren’t cloyingly sweet although I did sprinkle some turbinado sugar on top, which do add a bit of sweetness but not too much. The muffins themselves are really moist due to the buttermilk, and by all means you can use regular milk. I had low-fat buttermilk in the house and wanted to use it. These muffins would also be just delicious with blackberries, raspberries or blueberries. Who could resist these peaches though . It’s peach time for sure.

This recipe as is made 16 rather large muffins and all you need is a large bowl and a muffin tin. I didn’t use my electric mixer , this one you can do by hand.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour , I like King Arthur unbleached .  I love their products.

1 teaspoon salt (regular table salt)

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups dark brown sugar packed lightly

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 eggs ( room temperature please)

3/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 cups buttermilk,  I used low-fat buttermilk but feel free to use regular milk

4 nice size peaches ( use organic because we are keeping the skin on) if you’re using berries you will need about 3 cups. Dice the peaches into small pieces but not too too small.

Granulated sugar for sprinkling on top, I used raw turbinado sugar . You can use either.photo (2) photo (3) photo (4) photo (5) photo (6)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Combine flour, salt, baking powder, brown sugar , allspice, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large bowl. Then fold in the wet ingredients and mix with a spoon gently. I use muffin cups and spray the whole muffin tin with cups. I really heaped the batter into the cups, they were very full. Sprinkle with turbinado sugar or just regular granulated sugar.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes, I would check on them after 25 minutes. I cooked for a full 1/2 hour.

Enjoy!

3 Comments

Posted in Baked Goods, breakfast, Breakfast Food, dessert, fruit, muffins

Tagged , ,

Blueberry Banana Loaf Bread

Posted on July 24, 2013 | 2 comments

photo (3)photo (4)photo (2)photoI have the rotten bananas and this time of year I always have lots and lots of blueberries in the house. I was in the mood for a Bluebery Banana Bread cooked in a loaf pan that would be awesome for breakfast and late afternoon with an ice coffee. This came out looking a little brown and I was worried but once I cut into it, it was moist and sweet but not too sweet, really just the perfect combo of fruits. I used a whole pint of blueberries, and 2 mashed bananas. I actually had the bananas in the freezer , I had frozen them after they went bad last time. I removed bananas from freezer and they were very liquidy so I let them sit in the colander for a bit while I prepped the rest of the cake. They were perfectly fine though, and I highly recommend freezing bananas that have gone bad and you aren’t quite ready to bake with them yet. They’ll stay a while in freezer. I try to put 2 bananas in each baggie so I know how many are in there when I do go to bake.
In any event this bread came out great. I ate it for breakfast 3 days running. Did I add how really easy this was?

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon fine salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 large eggs, beaten

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 ripe bananas, peeled and mashed to yield about 3/4 cup of mashed banana

1 pint blueberries ( rinsed and dried)

*chopped walnuts, pecans etc. – I added pecan pieces to the batter for crunch

Directions:

you’ll need a loaf pan 9x5x3 . I spray with baking spray and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another bowl beat the sugar, oil , eggs and vanilla until blended. Stir in the bananas and then fold in the blueberries and nuts if you’re adding them.  Add the dry ingredients and just stir until blended. Try not to crush the blueberries and don’t over mix, just till blended is good.

Pour the batter into the prepped loaf pan. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean from center of the loaf. I baked for an hour. Cool for a while then remove the loaf from the pan and cool completely .

2 Comments

Posted in Baked Goods, bread, breads/cakes, breakfast, Breakfast Food, Cake

Tagged , ,

Buttermilk Bundt Cake with Fresh Cherries and Lime Glaze

Posted on July 7, 2013 | 1 comment

Happy Fourth of July! Woke up this morning and wanted to bake something new to bring to our friend’s house this evening. Fresh cherries and a new cherry pitter so let’s bake a cake that we can incorporate these beautiful fresh cherries into. I also added buttermilk but you can use regular milk, I had the buttermilk in the house and I just thought it would be perfectly fine to use in this recipe and it was. I found this recipe awhile back and have made some changes to the original. This is cherry season and they are just amazing but if you can’t find fresh cherries you can always use frozen and they’re already pitted as an extra added bonus. DSCN0318DSCN0326DSCN0321photoWhat I actually did to make the pitting easier was to freeze the fresh cherries for a few hours, usually they will work well right out of fridge but it was even easier to pit them while they were a little bit frozen. It’s always a little scary when you offer to bake something for someone and it’s the first time you’ve actually baked it yourself. This was delicious. Pretty light and very tasty, and a beautiful presentation . We had a wonderful night with our friends and a very Happy Fourth of July.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup lime juice

3/4 cup buttermilk or regular milk ( I actually take milk out of fridge so it’s not very cold )

1/2 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs ( room temperature please)

2 cups sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cherries , pitted and cut into quarters ( fresh or frozen) I sprinkle a little flour over the cherries. (app. 1/2 a tablespoon of flour)

Glaze:

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

Zest of one lime

3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice

*if glaze is too thick add a little water, up to 1 tablespoon will probably do the trick, glaze did get a little thick so I did add tablespoon of water to thin out, use a whisk or a fork to get it going. You need to be able to spoon over cake so not too thick.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a standard bundt pan or just spray with Pam Baking Spray.

Combine lime juice and buttermilk in a small bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the oil, eggs and sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla extract, the baking soda and the baking powder. Beat well to combine. Turn the mixer to low and add half the flour , then add the juice and milk , then the remaining flour, beat until just combined.

Pour about 3/4 of the batter into the prepared bundt pan. Sprinkle the chopped cherries over the batter. Pour the remaining batter over the cherries, covering them completely.

Place the cake in the preheated oven on center rack and bake at 350 degrees for 40 – 45 minutes. I actually cooked for 43 minutes, using a cake tester that came out clean.

Remove cake from oven and allow to completely cool before glazing.

Combine all glaze ingredients until smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the cooled cake.

1 Comment

Posted in Baked Goods, Cake

Tagged ,

Lemon Poppy Poundcake

Posted on June 23, 2013 | Leave a comment
Lemon poppy seed loaf and Valentines Day brownies in July

Lemon poppy seed loaf and Valentines Day brownies in July

DSCN0216DSCN0227DSCN0228DSCN0230DSCN0232Back to baking again and anything containing lemons has me interested. This pound cake contains olive oil and buttermilk and lemons and poppy seeds. Nothing and I mean nothing is as easy to bake as a loaf style cake. I am thinking that this would make a good bundt cake as well. Baking at altitude is always a challenge for me because I hate to change quantities of liquids etc.  I just keep recipe as is and pray for the best, it usually works out just fine. You gotta love a cake recipe that doesn’t require anything but a bowl and a whisk, no electronics on this one!

This time I baked my cake, and when it was completely cooled down I wrapped it and froze it . When I will want to use it I will defrost , bring to room temperature and then do the glaze. It’s great when I know I need a dessert and it’s already baked and in the freezer ready to go. I would serve this pound cake with some beautiful berries alongside.

I got this recipe from the NY Times food section , I love the Wednesday Dining Section I try and never miss it.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

zest of 2 lemons ( I prefer large lemons)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons plus 4 teaspoons lemon juice ( the 2 lemons you zested should do it) you may need an extra lemon for extra 4 teaspoons of lemon juice for glaze.

3 large eggs ( room temperature for baking is best )

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar (for glaze)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour an 8 ” loaf pan. Or you can spray with Pam ( for baking I use Pam Baking Spray)

In a bowl, combine lemon zest and sugar and rub with your fingers until it resembles wet sand. Whisk in buttermilk, 3 tablespoons lemon juice and the eggs.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Whisk dry ingredients into the batter, then whisk in the oil and poppy seeds.

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake until a cake tester emerges clean, app. 1 hour. Let cool in pan until warm to the touch, then turn out onto a baking rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. Turn cake right side up.

Glaze:

Whisk together remaining 4 teaspoons lemon juice and the confectioner’s sugar. Use a pastry brush to spread glaze evenly over the top and sides of cake. Cool completely before slicing.

Leave a comment

Posted in Baked Goods, breads/cakes, Cake, dessert

Tagged , , , , ,