Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

What you will need:

For the brownies:

Double my Brownie recipe

For cheesecake filling:

2 8oz packages (brick style) cream cheese, room temperature

½ cup sugar

1 egg

½ tbsp vanilla bean paste (or vanilla extract)

2 tbsp flour

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a 9x13 pan with parchment.

Cheesecake filling- Beat cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Add vanilla and scrape down the sides. Add in flour and egg and beat until smooth.

For brownies- follow directions in brownie recipe for combining ingredients.

Spread ⅔ of the brownie batter into your parchment lined 9x13 pan.

Dollop the cheesecake filling over the brownie and then dollop the remaining brownie batter.

With a knife, swirl the two batters together.

Bake for 25 min or until center is set and doesn't jiggle.

Cool on the counter, and then refrigerate for at least a few hours before slicing.

Enjoy!

No-Churn Ice Cream

I LOVE ice cream! Especially as the weather is warming up, it’s a nice cold treat to cool down with.

Ice cream seems intimidating to make, especially the ones with eggs in it. However, I have found an easy 2 ingredient ice cream based that you can add flavors and mix-ins to and create any ice cream concoction you wish! I may have as much fun with creating new ice cream combinations this summer as I do with my challahs!

What you will need:

Ice cream base

2 cups heavy whipping cream, chilled

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk

Optional: 1 tbsp vanilla bean paste

Chocolate S’mores Ice cream

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Pinch of salt

¼ cup caramel or chocolate chips

½ cup mini marshmallows

Lime Ice Cream with Mixed Berry Swirl

Zest and juice from 1 lime

½ cup homemade {or store bought} mixed berry preserves

Directions:

Whip the cream {and vanilla bean paste} with a mixer on medium-high speed until firm peaks form, about 2 minutes.

Fold about 1 cup of the whipped cream into the sweetened condensed milk with a rubber spatula until combined, then fold the lightened mixture into the whipped cream until well blended.

For chocolate ice cream- Whisk together the condensed milk, cocoa powder, and salt in a large bowl. The mixture will become very thick. Then fold in the whipped cream mixture.

For lime ice cream- whisk together the condensed milk, lime zest, and juice. Then fold in the whipped cream mixture. 

For add ins-

Chocolate s’mores- pour half of the ice cream mixture into your container, and sprinkle with about half of the mix-ins on top and swirl with a knife. Repeat with the remaining half of the ice cream and mix-ins.

Mixed berry swirl- pour half of the ice cream mixture into your container, dollop about half of the preserves on top and swirl with a knife. Repeat with the remaining half of the ice cream and mix-ins.

Pour into a container, or a 9x5x3 loaf pan and freeze until set, about 4-5 hours.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Lemonade Challah

Another week, a new challah recipe!  

As summer is approaching, I love taking advantage of all the fresh fruits! My favorite drink on a hot day is a sweet and tart strawberry lemonade. So, what better way to welcome warm weather than with a strawberry lemonade challah? 

The strands are stuffed with a freeze dried strawberry and lemon filling, then topped with a fresh strawberry and lemon puréed cobbler topping! 

What you will need:

Challah dough recipe

Filling:

I always have dry filling for my babkas on hand in ziploc bags {recipe here} use 8 tbsp of the vanilla pudding powder

½ cup freeze dried strawberries

1 tbsp lemon zest

5-6 tbsp lemon juice

Topping:

3 strawberries, puréed

⅓-½ cup flour

3 tbsp sugar

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp lemon zest

Directions:

Make challah dough according to directions here.

Divide dough into 8 equal parts and then roll each part into a log, long enough to fit a loaf pan. {makes 2 loaf challah}

Make the filling by first adding the freeze dried strawberries to a mini blender or food processor, process until almost a fine dust. In a bowl, add all ingredients and stir until combined.

Gently flatten each log so that it is about 2 inches wide. Add filling to each flattened log. Pinch the edges to seal, and then braid the logs. Place the challah in a greased loaf pan and let the challah rise for 30 minutes.

While the challah is rising, prepare the cobbler topping. Puree the strawberries, then add all ingredients together in a bowl until a thick paste-like consistency is achieved. {may need to adjust the flour amount based on consistency} 

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Once the challah has risen, plop little dollops of the topping all over the top of the challah.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, until the challah is slightly golden.

Once you slice into the challah, you’ll see all the ribbons of strawberry lemon goodness!

And, if you happen to have any leftovers after shabbas, it makes a great Sunday brunch French toast!

Enjoy!

Coffee Cake Challah

Happy almost weekend!

One of my favorite cakes is coffee cake, and strangely I really like the Pesach Manischewitz coffee cake mix {I can eat almost an entire cake in a sitting.} 

So, while being challah deprived on Pesach, eating straight out of the coffee cake tin I had this idea! It’s sort of a mashup between a cinnamon bun {since I fill the strands with the streusel} and coffee cake! Yumm!!

What you will need: 

Challah Dough recipe

Swap sugar for-

1 tbsp sugar

⅓ cup honey or maple syrup

Use 2 eggs instead of 1

Add in-

1 tbsp vanilla

2 tsp salt 1 tbsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

Additionally, can sub water for milk or almond milk for a richer dough

Streusel Filling:

5 tbsp oil

1 tbsp cinnamon

¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ cup brown sugar

⅓ cup flour

Streusel Topping:

Separate half off the filling from above and add ⅓-½ cup flour for a drier streusel crumb

Directions:

Make challah dough according to directions here, add in vanilla with the eggs, then add in the cinnamon and nutmeg along with the flour. 

Divide dough into 8 equal parts and then roll each part into a log, long enough to fit a loaf pan. {makes 2 loaf challah}

Make the streusel filling in a bowl by adding all ingredients and stirring until combined.

Separate half of the streusel filling into a separate bowl, and add flour gradually until it turns into a drier streusel crumb.

Gently flatten each log so that it is about 2 inches wide. Add a shmear of the streusel filling to each flattened log. Pinch the edges to seal, and then braid the logs. Place the challah in a greased loaf pan and let the challah rise 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Brush with an egg wash and top with the streusel topping.

Bake for 40 minutes, turning the tray halfway through so it bakes evenly.

Enjoy!

Gelt Together Cookies

Chanukah is one of my favorite holidays! I usually make some ugly Chanukah sweater iced sugar cookies, but this year I’m all about easy recipes! 

I purchased a bunch of bags of gelt from Trader Joe’s, and figured I can ‘decorate’ thick sugar cookies rolled in blue sugar with a gelt. I’ve seen similar ideas with Hershey kisses or nuts, so why not gelt? The combo works perfectly together. Make them for your Chanukah gelt together and they will be a showstopper! {see what I did there with geLt?!}

What you will need:

Sugar cookie dough (my easy recipe here)

I swapped butter for oil 1:1 here and worked perfectly

Sanding sugar or sprinkles

Gelt

Directions:

Follow directions here through chilling the dough. 

Once the dough has chilled, preheat the oven to 350°. 

Form 1” balls of dough using a small cookie scoop or eyeballing. The dough should yield approximately 24 cookies. 

Flatten the balls slightly to form a disc.

Roll the edges in blue sanding sugar, or sprinkles, or whatever your heart desires!

Bake for 10 minutes. While the cookies are baking, unwrap your gelt. 

When the 10 minutes are up, quickly press a gelt in the center of each cookie before it sets. Then return to the oven for another 2 minutes. 

My son helped me with this stage, just had to remind him the tray was hot and left the oven mitt on it so he didn’t get burned. 

Allow the cookies and chocolate to cool completely before handling. 

Enjoy!

Cherry Crumble Challah

This challah is stuffed with homemade fruit preserves that are both sweet and tart. I used stone fruit in my preserves, which I think are quintessential summer fruits! The preserves swirl through the center of the challah and are topped with a crunchy oat crumble. 

What you will need:

Challah dough {recipe here}

Filling

Homemade fruit preserves {recipe here} or store bought works as well

Topping

½ cup brown sugar

½ cup old fashioned oats

½ cup all purpose flour

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ cup canola oil or margarine/butter

Directions: 

Prepare challah dough according to directions. 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. 

Divide dough into 4 equal parts and then roll each part into a log, long enough to fit a loaf pan.

Gently flatten each log so that it is about 2 inches wide. Spoon about 1 tbsp preserves down the center of each log. Pinch the edges to seal, and then braid the logs.

Place the challah in a greased loaf pan and let the challah rise covered with a towel 30 minutes. 

While the challah is rising, prepare the crumble topping. Combine all dry topping ingredients in a bowl. Use a pastry cutter or 2 forks to mash cold margarine/butter into the oats mixture until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. If using oil, just stir in. 

Once the challah has risen, spread the crumble topping over the challah. Pat the topping gently until even.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the challah is cooked through.

Enjoy!