Peanut Butter Cookies

1 Cup Softened Butter or ghee
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Large Eggs
2 Tsp Vanilla
1 Cup Peanut Butter
3 Cups Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt

Cream butter and sugars until smooth. Add in eggs and vanilla. Mix until smooth. Add in peanut butter.. again until smooth.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Slowly mix into creamy mixture until fully combined and smooth. Should be a smooth sticky batter. Cover air tight and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 180° C. Roll cold dough into balls and press with a fork if you want the cross hatching on top.

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Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until slightly browned on the edges. The middle may look under cooked, but that’s what is going to give a nice soft cookie later.

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Cheese Crackers

Cheese Crackers .. like Cheez-Its but cheesy and buttery instead of oily and chemically.

1/3 Cup Grated Cheddar Cheese (extra sharp is best)
1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese
1/4 Cup Warmed Butter
1 Tsp Kosher Salt
1 Cup Flour
3 Tbsp Ice Cold Water

Thoroughly mix cheeses, butter, and salt. Gradually mix in flour until mixture is crumbly. Add 1 Tbsp of water at a time mixing thoroughly between each spoonful until mixture is a firm dough. Press into a disk like you would a pie crust, then wrap in plastic and set in the fridge for an hour or so.

After dough is set, cut into two pieces then roll each piece onto baking paper until very thin. Divide the rolled dough with a pizza cutter or knife.

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Bake at 200° C for about 15 minutes or until fully cooked and golden. Even what may appear to be slightly more done than it should be will turn out awesome and crunchy. Experiment.. you’ll see.

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Coffee Brownies

1 C Flour
1/4 C Cocoa Powder
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Salt

1/2 C Semisweet Chocolate
1/2 C (120ml) Butter
1/2 C Coffee

4 Eggs
2/3 C Sugar
2/3 C Brown Sugar
2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2-1 C Semisweet Chocolate Chips

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

Melt chocolate in a double boiler or a bowl in boiling water. Separately melt butter and cook until slightly burnt golden brown, then mix into melted chocolate. Mix in coffee.

Beat together eggs, sugar, and vanilla until thickened, then mix in chocolate mixture. Stir wet and dry mixtures together then fold in chocolate chips.

Bake at 180 C° for 35-30 minutes until center is set and edges are firm.
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Baked Corn Dogs

Homemade baked corn dogs! Yum! These take a while but the results are fantastic.

1 1/2 Cups Flour
1 1/2 Cups Corn Flour
1 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
6 Tbsp Butter
1 Tbsp Mustard (optional)
3/4 Cup Milk
1/3 Cup Honey
12 Hotdogs
Cheese (optional)
6 Kebab Skewers halfed

Whisk together dry goods. Cut butter and mustard into dry goods with fork until its fine and crumbly like pastry dough. Fork in honey again until crumbly. Thoroughly stir in milk and let stand for a few minutes to absorb.

Roll out dough on lightly floured baking paper to about 1/2 cm thick. With a knife, divide into twelve even rectangles slightly longer than a hotdog and about 3 times wider.

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Wrap and form dough rectangle around hotdog. Skewer with half a kebab stick. Optionally add cheese inside before wrapping over hotdog. Place on baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes @200C

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The finished corndogs!

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On the plate ready to eat! Yum!

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Persimmon Bread

I grew up with a persimmon tree in my families back yard, but never really liked them. After trying the persimmons in Israel, I was hooked. It’s persimmon season now so I decided to try my hand at making persimmon bread. I compiled my own recipe from others I found online. Here is what I used.

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 Cups Wheat Flour
  • 1 1/2 Cups Sugar
  • 3/4 Teaspoon Salt
  • 1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
  • 1 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cloves
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg (I wanted this but didn’t have any. And alas, it was shabbat)
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Ground Allspice (I wanted this but didn’t have any. And alas, it was shabbat)

Wet Ingredients

  • 1 Cup Persimmon Puree
  • 1/2 Cup Butter
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/3 Cup Rum (Others said cognac, burbon, or whiskey which may lend better to the flavor, but I only had rum on hand)

Extras

  • 1 Cup Chopped Walnuts (pecans also sound good)
  • 1/2 Cup Raisins
  • 1/2 Cup Cranberries (dates also sound good)

Let the butter sit out until soft, then cream in eggs and rum. After mixture is really smooth, mix in persimmon. Combine dry ingredients, then slowly mix into creamed wet mixture until smooth. Mix in nuts and berries. Distribute into baking pan(s) and bake for 1 hour at 350℉. With our crazy Israeli convection oven, I did ~1 Hour at 90℃.

All in all it turned out pretty good. I think next time I’d like to have a more spiced flavor so I’ll make sure to have the nutmeg and allspice. This also would probably go really good with an only slightly sweetened cream cheese frosting.

 

Oven Apple Pancakes

3 Apples – Thinly Sliced
4 Eggs
3/4 Cup Flour
3/4 Cup Milk
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Vanilla
1 Tsp Cinnamon
2 TBsp Butter

Saute apples, sugar, and cinnamon in a sauce pan with butter until slightly soft. Combine eggs, milk, vanilla, and flour until smooth. Add apple mixture to baking pan, then pour in batter mixture to cover. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes or until its risen and golden brown.
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