Peanut Butter Pancakes

Conventional chunky peanut butter works best in this recipe; the natural-style peanut butter (ground peanuts and oil) is difficult to stir into a liquid batter. Serve these with the Strawberry-Lemon Syrup, the Raspberry-Honey Coulis, or any kind of jam.

Yield: 5 servings (serving size: 2 pancakes)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups fat-free milk
1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1 tablespoon roasted peanut oil or vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, lightly beaten

Directions
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Combine milk and remaining ingredients; add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth.

Spoon about 1/4 cup batter onto a hot nonstick griddle or a large nonstick skillet. Turn pancakes when tops are covered with bubbles and edges look cooked.

{recipe and image via myrecipes.com}

Carrot-Cake Cookies

Before being filled, the cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to three days. The filling can be made ahead and chilled for up to five days.

Prep: 30 minutes
Total: 1 hour 15 minutes
Makes 18

Ingredients
FOR THE FILLING:
2 ounces bar cream cheese, room temperature
2 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

FOR THE COOKIES:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats
3/4 cup packed, finely grated, peeled carrots
1/3 cup dried currants

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Make filling: With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese and butter until smooth. Add sugar and lemon juice; beat until combined. Cover; chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make cookies: In a large bowl, whisk together butter, sugars, and egg yolk. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ginger, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; stir until combined. Mix in oats, carrots, and currants.

Drop dough by level tablespoons, 2 inches apart, onto prepared baking sheets. Flatten with the palm of your hand. Bake until edges are crisp, rotating baking sheets halfway through, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Turn half the cookies over, bottom side up; dollop each with about 1 teaspoon chilled cream-cheese filling. Top with remaining cookies, pressing gently to spread filling to edges. Serve immediately.

{recipe and image via Martha Stewart}

Challah

Ingredients
3/4 cup warm water (about 110-115 degrees (F))
1 package active dry yeast
1 tbl. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tbl. oil
1 egg
1 egg yolk
3 cups flour
2 tbl. water

Directions
Mix warm water, yeast, sugar, oil, salt, egg and 2 cups of flour in a large mixing bowl. and beat well with a wooden spoon.

Add a little flour to your hands and a flat surface and knead for about 5 minutes, adding flour as necessary. The dough should be smooth.

Place the dough into a greased bowl and turn it over. Cover and place in a warm place to rise.
When the dough has doubled in size, press it down and cut into 4 sections.

*Here is where I stopped following the original recipe and switched to the weaving round challah tutorial on chabad.org*

Take your risen dough strands and roll them out gently as long as possible. Do this with four pieces of dough until they are all about the same length. Lay the pieces out in front of you, tic-tac-toe style.

Each strand should be placed in opposite directions; one side is over/under, the next row is then under/over. There should now be 2 sets of 2 strands each coming out from the four sides of the woven middle, one under and one over in each set.

From each set, pick up the one that was "under" and pull it over its partner, thereby placing each of these "unders" over their corresponding partner, in a clockwise rotation. Practically speaking, this means that the left piece of each set will be placed over the right piece of each set.

When this rotation is done, work in the opposite direction, clockwise. What was formerly the right piece, will now go over the left piece in the counter clockwise direction; the pieces are not yet next to each other as they are still apart from the first rotation; pull them close to each other and bring the right piece, i.e. the one you did not touch in the first rotation, over the left piece of the neighboring strand.

After this second rotation is done, do a third one, now going back in the other direction. Do one more opposite rotation if you have enough dough left.

To finish, pinch each set of two ends together firmly, then bring all four sets together towards the center.

Now comes the really fun part: carefully flip over your challah and look! You now have a beautiful, woven, round challah.

Leave to rise on a large baking tray that has been lined with parchment baking paper. Cover the challahs loosely with disposable plastic tablecloths while rising. After 20 minutes of rising, turn on your oven to preheat at 400 F/200 C, as most ovens take 20 minutes to reach full temperature.

After the full 40 minutes of rising time, glaze your challah with egg glaze and place them directly into the hot oven, for optimum baking results. Bake for 35-40 minutes until the top and bottom are golden.

{recipe via Jewish Recipe Trader and weaving tutorial via Chabad}

Artichoke Gratinata

Ingredients
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 pound frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup Marsala wine
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup plain bread crumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan

Directions
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Warm the olive oil in a heavy bottom skillet over medium-high heat. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute. Add the artichoke hearts, parsley, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes and cook until the artichoke hearts are starting to brown at the edges, about 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth and wine and simmer for 3 minutes. Transfer the artichoke mixture to a 2-quart baking dish.

Melt the butter in the same skillet used to cook the artichokes. In a small bowl mix the melted butter with the bread crumbs. Stir in the Parmesan and top the artichokes with the bread crumbs. Bake until the top is golden, about 10 minutes.

{recipe and image via Food Network}

German Cheddar and Beer Fondue

Ingredients
1 sack, 10 ounces, 2 1/2 cups, shredded sharp Cheddar, available on dairy aisle
1/4 to 1/3 pound, 4 to 6 ounces, Gruyere, shredded
1 rounded tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 cup German lager beer
2 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
A few drops hot sauce
A few drops Worcestershire sauce

For Serving:
1 1/2 pounds cubed or thick sliced and browned wursts: knock, brat or brot,
1 package mini party franks (recommended: Boars Head)
1 head cauliflower, separated into florets
1 small jar mini Gherkin pickles, drained
1 small jar pickled onions, available on vegetable aisle
1 small, round loaf rye, pumpernickel or sour dough bread, cubed

Directions
Combine cheeses in a bowl with flour. Add beer to a small pot and bring up to a bubble over medium heat. Reduce the heat to simmer and add cheese in handfuls. Stir constantly, melting the cheese in batches. Stir in a figure-eight pattern with wooden spoon. When the cheese has been incorporated fully, stir in the mustard, hot sauce and Worcestershire sauce. Transfer fondue to warm fondue pot.

In a large skillet, bring 2-inches of water to a boil and blanch the cauliflower for 2 to 3 minutes, drain and arrange around the fondue pot.

In the same pan, bring the cooking water back to a boil and add the mini franks and sliced wursts. Cook, uncovered until all the liquid has evaporated. Add 1 tablespoon butter to the pan to crisp the casings. Pile wursts and dogs near fondue. Complete the dipping selections with dishes of pickles, onions and cubed bread.

{recipe and image via Food Network}

Chocolate Fondue

Ingredients
6 tablespoons heavy cream
7 ounces premium semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 pound cake, cut into bite-size pieces
Assorted fresh fruit, strawberries, sliced banana, pineapple chunks, orange segments and sliced pears

Directions
Bring cream to a simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Add chocolate; whisk until melted. Remove from heat. Pour fondue into a bowl; place bowl on a platter. Ring platter with pound cake and fruit. Serve fondue with skewers.

*I wanted a sweeter version so I added a little vanilla extract and powdered sugar to taste*

{recipe via Food Network and image via}

Lemony Tortellini with Peas and Prosciutto

Prep: 10 minutes
Total: 20 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 1/2 pounds frozen cheese tortellini
1 package (10 ounces) frozen peas
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 ounces thinly sliced prosciutto, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest, plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook tortellini until al dente. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water. Add peas to pot; drain pasta mixture, and set aside.

In the same pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat; add prosciutto and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently, until browned, 2 to 4 minutes.

Add pasta mixture, pasta water, 1 tablespoon oil, and lemon zest and juice; toss to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

{recipe and image via Martha Stewart}