Pour yourself a cup of coffee & enjoy an afternoon break with cookies

More cookie recipes. Yes, we need more cookies for this stressful time. I am baking small batches of cookies to enjoy a variety rather than having lots of the same type. Need to start planning ahead for the next flavor now that I have my craving for molasses satisfied.

This recipe can be easily put together in about 20 minutes once the butter is softened. If you have some helpers around the house then even faster.  Enjoy and see you for the next cookie recipe.

Recipe (makes about 20 cookies)

Hope everyone has friends or acquaintances to help provide baking inspiration during quarantine. Luckily, Facebook can enable and help us create new contacts. Nothing like a group bake to add a little excitement to the quarantine routine.


Among my FB friends, the baking challenge chosen was a Polish Chalka. This is a braided egg bread with raisins, if you choose, and is similar to a Jewish challah. The recipe was an inspiration from the Spruce Eats so please check the site for her full recipe, tips and tricks. I missed to bake bread at Easter and this satisfied my craving.

The original recipe produced a large loaf of bread, and with only two people in my home, I decided to reduce the portions. Also, if you don't have a stand mixer handling a large amount of dough by hand is challenging.

The below version is for a smaller bread but should be plenty for 4 - 5 people. I made a few tweaks, especially reducing the sugar.

Recipe
85 grams butter (room temperature)
100 grams sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
170 grams milk
6 grams instant dry yeast
1 egg (room temperature)
415 grams all purpose flour
80 grams raisins (optional)

1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour and yeast.
2. In a saucepan, heat the milk to just boiling then pour into a bowl and cool lightly. Add the butter, sugar, egg and salt and mix thoroughly.
3. Add the milk mixture in 4 - 5 portions to the flour so that it is easier to mix especially if you are it doing by hand. Use a spatula or bench scraper to mix the dough. If you have a stand mixer then you can use it with a dough hook to mix everything.
4. Once thoroughly mixed, put on a flat board and knead the dough until smooth. The dough should be soft and supple. If it feels tough, spray lightly with water and knead until it begins to feel soft. Roll into a ball and let sit under a bowl for about 10 minutes.
5. After the dough rests under the bowl, add the raisins and mix in thoroughly. Roll into a ball and put in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm space.
6. After the rise, divide into 3 equal pieces and shape into 3 logs about 35 cm long.  Braid the logs together and place on a baking sheet. Lightly brush with egg wash.
7. Let rise in a warm place for about 40 minutes. Bake at 190 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes. If the bread starts to brown too quickly then cover with foil until baking is finished.
8. Cool thoroughly before cutting.

My braid was quite tight so was careful to bake thoroughly

Bread with jam is a great breakfast

We are still at home and observing social distancing. Japan has not implemented the drastic lockdown rules as other countries have so we are waiting to see how that develops and in the meantime I am still baking. To compensate for all of the desserts, I bought a steps tracker to check steps and distance during the morning neighborhood walks.

New plates look good with the custard pie

While browsing recipes, the custard pie jumped out at me. I have never made one of these and definitely haven't eaten one for a long time as well. So, why not.

Preparation is only about 15 minutes (add another 20 minutes if you make your own crust). Feel free to use a ready made crust if you really want to keep things simple. I think the custard recipe can be very forgiving if you need to either increase or decrease to fit your pie pan. I saw some recipes that included fresh cream in addition to the milk so depending on what is in your refrigerator feel free to experiment.

Pie Crust Recipe (fits 18 cm pie pan)

100 grams cold butter
1/2 egg
1/4 teaspoon vinegar (such as apple vinegar)
175 grams flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar

Egg white from one egg (use the yolk in the custard below)

6. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and bake for about 10 minutes.


Custard Pie

3 eggs plus the egg yolk from above
2 cups milk
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Nutmeg powder as needed

1. In a large bowl mix the eggs, egg yolk, sugar, salt & vanilla extract with a small whisk until well mixed. Strain this through a sieve which will remove any egg parts which were not mixed.
2. Pour into the warm baked pie shell and sprinkle with nutmeg powder and continue to bake at 180 degrees Celsius for about 30 minutes depending on your oven.

I had extra batter and baked in small milk bottles

Full pie baked and ready to serve

Coffee & Cookies. Life is good.

Starting week four of working from home so having a few snacks around the house is a good thing -- or may be not. After watching the daily news though, gaining a few kilos is the least of the problems for most people right now.

It is the beginning of April and Easter is in another week. I think we will be hunting eggs in our homes or yards with immediate family instead of going to church or having get togethers in restaurants. The only good news is the warmer weather and all of the blossoms are blooming. My neighborhood is an array of colors as the various cherry blossom trees, tulips and other flowers bloom.

This recipe is quite easy, should be about 20 minutes at the most to put together.

Recipe
(makes approximately 20 small cookies)

150 grams all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
100 grams creamy peanut butter
75 grams butter (room temperature)
30 grams granular sugar
30 grams brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda & salt.
2. In another large bowl, soften the butter with a small whisk then add the sugars and mix thoroughly. Next add the egg in portions and continue mix. Add the peanut butter in several portions & mix. Lastly, add the vanilla.
3. Use a spatula and mix in the flour in several portions. While you clean up, let the dough rest in the refrigerator for about 20 - 30 minutes.
4. Use a spoon and divide the dough into about 20 - 25 grams pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and flatten with a fork to make a nice hatch design.
5. Bake at 170 degrees Celsius for about 15 - 18 minutes.