The One & Only Challah Recipe

I can't believe I haven't posted this challah recipe yet, especially since I make it every week! There is no recipe that can compare to this challah - its simply the best. It originally was given to my mother by a friend about 10 years ago. Then a couple of years back I took over the bread making :) I love experimenting with the challah, by adding different kinds of flour (whole wheat, bread flour and my favorite - rye flour). There is a lot of room for creativity, but the essence remains. The smell of the challah baking is incredible!

Brown Sugar Cornmeal Muffins

wow I have not posted in a while, but thankfully I have a good one for you. There is nothing better than a recipe that takes 10 minutes to put together, and tastes amazing. These muffins are so yummy! Even my sister, who is extremely picky, has admitted they are good. The recipe is from foodista.com and apparently it has Won a third place ribbon in the New Mexico State Fair in the cornbread muffins category (I would have loved to taste first and second winners mmmm...). It has a hint of cornbread taste but its very much its own thing - The brown sugar took care of that. I really like the crunchy topping for the muffins, because its work well with the soft bottom. The muffins are best eaten the day they were baked. I highly recommend this recipe!

Chocolate Overdose Cake

I think I have found the perfect chocolate cake. It is that good. Now prepare yourself for this overdose. The cake starts with a brownie layer as the base, the middle is delicious chocolate mousse, over that a chocolate cake layer. But that's not all, the cake is topped with a rich chocolate ganache. Have you gone to chocolate heaven yet? Just writing this makes me wish I had some cake left!

Mini Maple Muffins

These little cuties were a real crowd-pleaser. I loved the combination of the oats and maple together, it gave the muffins a nice texture. The recipe originally is for normal sized muffins, but sometimes you just need to down-size. They were perfect for people who didn't want a lot of dessert and you didn't feel guilty if you had two or three (I mean they are small, so it like having one, isn't it??). The recipe is from There Is No Place Like Home. The only change I made was leaving out the maple in the glaze, but that's up to you. Don't forget to use real maple syrup!

Lemon Frosted Lemon Cake

After the success of the lemon bars, I decided lemon can't be too bad and looked for another lemon dessert. This cake was great, it had a very nice light texture(which is best after a big meal) and just the right amount of lemon flavor. The recipe is also from joyofbaking.com. The cake was very easy to make, with really nice results. If you like lemon, this recipe is highly recommended! I did however double the frosting, because it didn't seem like enough to cover the whole cake. 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

when I saw this recipe all I could think was "this recipe was created for ME!". I love cookie dough, and I also love cupcakes, so why not combine the two? the recipe went straight to my to-do list. It took me a couple of weeks to get to it, but finally I made them, and WOW. Making the cupcakes was quite the little project, but a very rewarding project. I thought they were delicious, and extremely cute with the tiny chocolate cookies on top. I love the cookie dough filling! If you are thinking that eating raw egg is not the best idea, do not worry it is egg-less. The only changes I made was I didn't use brown sugar (didn't have) and I didn't put any chocolate chips in the cake batter. The recipe I saw on annies-eats.com, a great blog!

Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

From Joy of Baking: Katharine Hepburn Brownies are named after the famous actor. The story goes that gossip columnist Liz Smith got the recipe from the actress to publish in her column. That was about 25 years ago and  since then these brownies have only grown in popularity. This brownie recipe appears in countless cookbooks and with good reason. They are delicious. While the top crust is dry and cracked, underneath they are sweet, moist, and chewy, with a pleasing chocolate flavor. You can eat them warm, at room temperature, or even cold. 

When I saw the recipe I thought it would cool to make a famous actress's brownies. The recipe is very easy - you only use one bowl (not a lot of dirty dishes!!). I did however completely under bake them. It was weird because my toothpick I inserted came out clean... In the end it was not such a big deal, because I refrigerated them until they were easy to cut. They were still very good and extremely fudgy (under baking helps with that!). Nobody complained, I mean, an under baked brownie is still a brownie.