Category: Cakes

Chocolate Bread Pudding

I’m a total sucker for bread pudding. And not just because it’s an excuse to use up leftover bread (which would normally be a good enough reason!). It’s because it’s got that rich comfort food quality that warms you up inside with each and every bite. Spoon after spoon, flavor after flavor, bread pudding is simply, delicious.

Usually, I whip up a batch of chocolate cinnamon bread pudding with chocolate chips. It’s really good, I have to admit. But when I made a variation of this recipe in culinary school last week, I was just wowed by the melted chocolately goodness. Instead of just throwing in chocolate chips, the custard is heated and poured over the chocolate, creating a rich chocolate sauce. The sauce is then poured over the bread so that every morsel is soaked in chocolate batter. Every bite is pure chocolate bliss.

Oh, and there’s rum too. Do I even need to elaborate?

With Pesach a mere 2 weeks away, it’s time to pull all that leftover challah out from the back of your freezer and bake up this awesome treat. You’ll love it so much, you’ll be stashing challah just so that you can make again!

Happy Cleaning!

1 year ago: Bubby’s challah kugel
2 years ago: perfect pareve french toast

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Baklava Hamantaschen


“Good, better, best; never let it rest till your good is better and your better is best.” 

Have you ever heard that quote before? Well I don’t know who came up with it, but it should be my motto. Ever since I can remember, I’ve been trying to outdo myself. It’s like I’m in competition with me. And the funny thing is, I’m not even a competitive person. I couldn’t care less what the next person is doing. I just want to outdo ME.

Nothing brings this out more than Purim. I spend an entire year thinking about what kind of crazy, amazing. blow-your-mind kind of idea I can come up that will outdo what I’ve done the year before. Since last year’s sushi hamantaschen were such a huge hit, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. It had to be a twist on a classic, a creative reversal of the expected, and it had to resemble hamantaschen. Not an easy feat, I tell you!

I surfed pinterest for inspiration, flipped through cookbooks for ideas and wracked my brain until I hit the finger-‘lickin jackpot. BAKLAVA HAMANTASCHEN – oh. em. gee.

To really capture the spirit of the story of Purim (set in Persia in the year 3392), I turned to a classic Persian recipe: baklava. Traditional Persian baklava uses a combination of chopped almonds and pistachios spiced with cardamom and a rose water syrup. Since I really wanted to turn things upside down (VeNahafoch Hu, right?), I switched up the rose water for apricot jam syrup (a’ la classic hamantaschen) and cut my baklava into true hamantasch shapes. The result is a decadent sweet and adorable treat that will be the talk of your Purim seudah!

Now if you’re the type who doesn’t mess with tradition, you may go ahead and prepare your baklava a’ la classique, rose-water syrup and all. Just make sure to cut them into hamantasch shapes, to really capture the Purim spirit.

Now tell me, how on earth will I outdo myself next year?!


1 year ago: sushi hamantaschen (onigiri)
2 years ago: savory puff pastry hamantaschen

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Mexican Hot Chocolate Brownies

This may come as a surprise to some of you, but when it comes to throwing a party, I’m usually a last minute kind of person. And you know why? Because when I first think about all the food I have to make, all the people I have to invite, and all the cleaning up I’ll have to do, I just figure it’s not worth all the work. But then I start to feel guilty. And slowly but surely that Jewish guilt just ebbs its way in and at the last minute I scramble for menu ideas, put together a guest list and a couple of hours later we’re all having a good time.

I can usually put together a party menu in a jiffy but when it comes to baked goods, I’m all too guilty of passing up Duncan Hines as my own. I’m never one for store-bought mixes, and all those other one-bowl cake concoctions are not up my alley. But Duncan Hines brownies are the exception. And we all know I’m not the only one! How many more of you out there have thrown in a batch of Duncan Hines brownies at the last second and then took the credit when your guests couldn’t get enough. They’re just THAT good.

Well let me tell you something, dear readers. They can be even better! Adding some cinnamon and nibby dark chocolate gives the brownies a serious Mexican hot chocolate taste that is so decadent and dreamy. Adding the extra ingredients won’t even make you feel guilty about passing them off as your own!

So, if you’re last minute with your New Year’s Eve party (as I am in posting this recipe!), then give these brownies a try. And if you don’t want to say you made them, just say they’re BIB’S recipe!


1 year ago: fire roasted tomato rice stoup
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Banana Oat Muffins

There’s something about the stormy weather that just makes you want to stay inside and bake. So while my kids cozied up to warm mugs of hot cocoa, I decided to make use of my overripe bananas. It seems like every time I buy a bunch, they always seem to ripen faster than we can eat them. Usually, I just put them in the freezer to use for smoothies, but with Hurricane Sandy about to make an entrance, I just feel like nesting. And just in case any of my Brooklyn neighbors decide to brave the Frankenstorm for Halloween treats, I’ll have something to give them (although they’d probably rather some kit kats!)

Talking about storms, I have to be honest with you all. Lately, I’ve been cooking up some storms of my own. With the busy month of holidays behind us, I took a little break, but now I’m back to hosting big Shabbat meals again. I’ve been making lots of new delicious recipes, but I haven’t been able to find the time to photograph anything! Especially with Fridays getting shorter, and my menu’s growing more adventurous, it’s been difficult to document my foodie experiments. I still make an effort to post my weekly menu’s on my facebook page, and I’m happy to share recipes whenever I get a request. So if you don’t already follow BIB on facebook, feel free to join in on the fun.

In the meantime, stay safe and bake up a batch of these delicious muffins before your electricity goes out! The oats add a wonderful texture to the muffins and unlike most banana bread recipes, these are not too sweet, so they are perfect drizzled with some honey, alongside a cup of steaming hot coffee.


1 year ago: roasted eggplants with Israeli salad

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Apple & Honey Tart


You’ll never believe how easy this beautiful tart is to make. It only requires 4 ingredients, and the dough isn’t even homemade!  The secret to this scrumptious dessert is puff pastry. I’m a huge fan of puff pastry because as most of you already know, I don’t like to bake, and it comes already prepared in the freezer section of every supermarket. I’ve been known to sneak puff pastry into just about any recipe that calls for a dough, even rugelach and hamantaschen!


Truth be told, I can’t take all the credit for this simple, elegant and delicious dessert. Last year, my wonderful sister-in-laws decided to treat me out to a fun evening at the Kosher Culinary Institute for my birthday. It was a special “date night” class, so my husband joined me in preparing a gourmet meal together with a few other couples. We really enjoyed the evening and I’m sorry to say that I don’t remember exactly what was on the menu. What I do remember is making spaetzle from scratch, whipping up cherry clafoutis for dessert, and what was a mere afterthought of the chef – a version of this apple tart.

For other sweet puff pastry ideas, check out Dina’s apple turnovers or my sweet potato bourekas on kosherstreet.

 

 

1 year ago: honey cake with caramelized apples

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