The Israel Bakeshop

We pulled it off! Another successful Purim has come and gone, and boy am I exhausted! For weeks and weeks, I baked and baked and baked, and am proud to reveal the fruits of my labor! We have:

• Raspberry Bar


• Lemon Bar


• Vanilla Rugelach


• Cinnamon Roll Cookie


• Black & White Cookie


• Snickerdoodle


• White or Caramel Truffle
  

I had made a few other items, which did not make it in because the boxes were TOO SMALL! All in all they came out super cute and I was pretty pleased with the results, but what truly amazed me where how many talented friends and neighbors we have!

The beautiful arranged packages we got (and got and got-they just kept coming!) filled to the brim were truly incredible and creative-not to forget to mention yum! To boot-every single one of our new neighbors baked something homemade-I have never witnessed anything like it! Babka, biscotti, challah, muffins-you name it, they baked it.

It was also a really nice opportunity to get to meet some of our new neighbors and the girls to meet some of the block kids. Everyone was super friendly and the block was SERIOUSLY happening! Non stop traffic the enitre day-we couldn't even get out of our driveway CRAZINESS!

But it really was a great day-the party at our house was crazy, but super fun. So happy that we finally have a house we can host in!

Can't wait to do it again next year...time to start coming up with next years idea...only 8 months left!


Here's The recipe for the Black & White Cookies I included-so good!



Black and White Cookies

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen


1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), at room temperature

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon lemon extract

2 1/2 cups cake flour

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 cups confectioners’ sugar

1/3 to 1/2 cup water'

3 ounces very bitter or unsweetened chocolate1 teaspoon light corn syrup-I used semisweet

1 to 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa (optional)


1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray, or line with parchment paper.
2. In large mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter. Mix by machine or hand until fluffy. Add eggs, milk and vanilla and lemon extracts, and mix until smooth.
3. In medium bowl, combine cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt. Stir until mixed. Add dry mixture to the wet in batches, stirring well after each addition. Using a soup spoon, place heaping spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until edges begin to brown, 18 to 20 minutes. Cool completely.
4. Boil a cup or so of water in a small pot. Place confectioners’ sugar in large, heat-safe mixing bowl. Gradually stir in enough boiling water to the sugar to make a thick, spreadable mixture. Err on the side of caution because a too-thin frosting is hard to undo. Leave remaing boiling water on the stove.
5. Spread frosting on half of the flat side of each cookie. Once all cookie halves have been frosted, place the bowl of the remaining frosting over the hot water and bring it back to a simmer (creating a double-boiler). Stir in the bitter or unsweetened chocolate until melted, as well as the light corn syrup. At this point, depending on the chocolate you used and your preferences, you might find the chocolate color to be a little lighter than the “black” of a black-and-white cookie. If so, I find that a tablespoon or so of cocoa mixed in darkens the color nicely.
6. Ice the remaining half of the cookies with the chocolate frosting. I find that the chocolate–especially with cocoa in it–is especially prone to getting too dry, so don’t worry about whisking in an extra teaspoon of that hot water from time to smooth it back into a shiny frosting.
7. Let the frosting set. Store in an airtight container.