Hamantaschen

a double batch of these, made just over 3 dozen

2 sticks salted butter, softened (if unsalted add a little salt)
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 c sugar
1 t vanilla
2 eggs
zest of one Meyer lemon
~3 c flour, plus a bit more for dusting
a few T each of fillings: eg orange marmalade, TJ's blackberry jam, Nutella

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. Beat in the sugar, vanilla, eggs, and zest. Beat in enough flour to make a soft cookie dough. Split in half, wrap each half in plastic wrap, squish into a disc, and stick in the fridge for a couple hours.

Point of interest before you take the dough out of the fridge: there's a fine line between too little flour and the dough sticking to the surface, and too much flour and the corners not sticking together well when you pinch them. To further complicate matters, the location of that fine line depends on how warm the dough is, so what works for one round may not work for the next. I ended up in each of the three regimes at different points (too much flour, too little, and just right) and it was never catastrophic--I still made cookies, and while they may have looked different they tasted exactly the same.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly flour a surface and take the first dough portion out of the fridge. Lightly dust each side of the disc in the flour, lightly flour the rolling pin, and roll out until it's 1/4" thick or maybe a bit thinner. Cut into 3"-diameter circles and put the scraps back on the piece of plastic wrap. Place a teaspoon of filling in the center of each circle, and pinch tightly in three places to make a triangle. Lift each cookie off the surface (which may involve a bit of scraping if you're in the too-little-flour regime) and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the other portion of dough, mushing the scraps with the first round's scraps and putting the scrap ball (wrapped in plastic) back in the fridge while you fill and pinch the second round. Repeat with the scraps round. Stick in the oven and bake until just barely browning--I wasn't keeping track of the time but the 20 minute recommendation on the link sounds about right. Cool a little bit, and serve to a purim dinner party after challah and shakshuka (scaled up, of course).

Non-sourdough challah

1 c warm water
2 t yeast
1/2 c applesauce
1/2 c olive oil
1/2 c honey
3 eggs + 1 yolk
2 c semolina
4+2 c bread flour
1 T salt

Mix yeast and wet ingredients in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, combine semolina, 4 c flour, and salt. Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients. Stir well, adding 3 doses of 1/2 c flour when it looks like it needs it. Put the last 1/2 c flour on a surface, turn out the dough onto the flour, and knead until the flour is absorbed. The surface of the dough will be tacky and stick to anything it touches for more than a moment, but will develop a nice sheen if you keep it moving. Place the dough in a large spray-greased bowl and let rise until doubled.

Braid, let rise, brush with egg, and bake as for other challahs. This time I actually baked them at 375F without adding extra humidity to the oven, and that works just fine too.

Almost-vegan cauliflower, mushroom, and kale alfredo

Would be vegan with vegan pasta and vegan pesto, which mine weren't. I was also thinking of, instead of serving with pasta, mixing the veggies and sauce with garbanzos and farro and baking like so; maybe next time.

sauce:
1 c cashews
1 cube broth in 1 c hot water
3 slices baguette
2 t pesto
pepper

olive oil
1 shallot, sliced
several criminis, sliced
1/2 head cauliflower, chopped into florets
1/2 bunch kale, chopped smallish
pasta of choice (in this case, mushroom ravioli)

Start the cashews soaking in the broth. Saute the shallot in the oil, add the veggies, and cook until the cauliflower is done. Meanwhile, cook the pasta and make the sauce by grinding the bread in the food processor, then grinding in the cashews, pesto, and pepper, then slowly adding the broth until your desired consistency is reached (it was nice and thick with 1 c broth). Stir the sauce into the veggies, then stir in the pasta.

Braided banana bread danish

based on this, after Evan requested banana bread for passing his qual(!) and Sarah O recommended the original version

EDIT: amounts in parentheses are what I used when I made it again two days later. This is the amount of chocolate and nuts with the higher amounts:

dough:
3/4 c warm water
1 T yeast
1 t sugar
1/2 c flour
1 stick butter
2 overripe bananas (3)
2 eggs
1/2 c greek yogurt (1/3 c, but only because that's all there was)
1/4 c brown sugar
2 t salt
2 t vanilla
zest of 2 tiny Meyer lemons (2 t lemon marmalade)
1 t cinnamon (2 t, plus 1/2 t allspice)
1 c wheat flour
4.5 c white flour (5 c)

Combine the first four ingredients in the kitchenaid bowl. Let sit while you mash the bananas with a potato masher and soften the butter. Mash the butter, eggs, and yogurt into the bananas until everything is as smooth as it's going to get. Add the banana-dairy mixture to the sponge, add everything else except the flours, and stir with the kitchenaid until combined. Add the flours a cup at a time, stirring with the dough hook for several minutes, until something elastic like a dough but extremely soft like a batter forms. Transfer to a greased bowl, cover with plastic, and let rise until doubled. (If after an hour it's not even thinking about rising, stick it in the oven with a pan of boiling water.)

filling:
2/3 c, i.e., 5 oz cream cheese
1/4 c white sugar
1/4 c greek yogurt
1/4 c white flour
2 t lemon juice from 1-2 Meyer lemons
1 t amaretto
1/3 c walnut halves (2/3 c)
1/3 c chocolate chips (2/3 c or even more)

Stir together everything except the chocolate and nuts until fairly smooth. Let sit on the counter to soften while the dough rises. Chop together the walnuts and chocolate chips.

Put a bunch of flour on a surface. Pour the dough onto the flour and gently press and fold over a few times. Cut in half and set one half aside (on a little bed of flour). Press the first half into a rectangle and transfer to a piece of parchment paper. Roll out into a large rectangle, cut strips as described, spread with half the filling and sprinkle with half the chocolate and nuts, and fold over the strips as described. Gently transfer the loaf + parchment to a baking sheet. Repeat with the other half. I had some extra filling, so I dolloped a little bit onto each of the leftover corners and pinched them up into little pockets. Cover and let rise for an hour or a bit less until nice and plump.

topping:
1 egg
2 t water
turbinado (or the largest-grain sugar you have)

Preheat the oven to 375F while the dough is rising. Beat together the egg and water, and brush on the loaves. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 27 min, switching racks halfway through. Carefully transfer to cooling racks.

Roasted veggies and polenta

1 large shallot, thinly sliced
~10 heirloom cherry tomatoes
3 small portabellos, thickly sliced
handful chard, chopped
1 red pepper, sliced
2.5 T olive oil
1 T balsamic vinegar
drizzle Worchestershire sauce
salt and pepper
4 c water
1 c polenta
1/4 c grated manchego

Preheat oven to 400F. Combine veggies, oil, vinegar, and seasonings in a baking dish and stir to coat. Roast for about half an hour. Meanwhile, cook the polenta in the water, stirring continuously so it doesn't stick, and stirring in the cheese near the end; the polenta and veggies should be done at the same time.

Makloubeh

oil and salt at various points
1 large eggplant
2 onions
4 c water
1 head garlic
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
generous pinch saffron
generous grating of pepper
1/2 t cardamom
1/2 t allspice
1 head cauliflower
2 small potatoes
2 c long-grain white rice, uncooked

Prep the eggplant: peel it and cut into small cubes. Toss with salt, put in a colander, cover with a plate weighed down with a can of something, and let drain for a while (I left it for 2 hr but less is just fine). Rinse off the salt and let dry.

Prep the onion: cut into slices or thin wedges, and caramelize in a bit of oil over medium-low heat for 45 min.

Prep the stock: peel and crush the cloves of garlic (but don't chop). Simmer the garlic, cinnamon, bay leaf, saffron, pepper, cardamom, allspice, and 3/4 t salt in the water for an hour or more.

Prep the veggies: cut cauliflower into florets and potatoes into half-moons. Heat 1/4 c oil in a large pan and separately fry the potatoes, eggplant, and cauliflower until lightly browned but not yet cooked through, transferring to a plate (or just to the pot, see below) when done and adding more oil as necessary.

Prep the whole thing: grease the bottom and sides a large pot (I used earth balance). Line the bottom with potato, then layer on the eggplant, then onion, then cauliflower, then the garlic from the stock, then the rice. Discard the bay leaf and cinnamon stick from the stock, and adjust the salt and pepper if needed. Pour the hot stock over the pot and add extra boiling water if needed to cover the rice plus a cm or so. Put the lid on the pot and simmer for 30-40 min until the water is absorbed, then turn off the burner and let sit covered for another 10-15 min. Carefully invert onto a large enough serving dish (which for me had to be a baking sheet) and serve.

White chocolate and ginger cinnamon rolls

Because Lindsay said so.

dough:
1/2 c skim milk powder
1 c water
2 T butter
1/3 c dark corn syrup
1 egg
3 c white flour (plus more for dusting)
1/2 c wheat flour
2 t yeast
1 t cardamom
1 t salt

Microwave together milk powder, water, 2 T butter, and corn syrup until the butter is melted (2 x 40 sec, stirring in between and afterward). Stir in the egg. Put the dry ingredients in the kitchenaid, add the wet ingredients, and stir/knead with the dough hook until everything is well incorporated. (As I often find with the kitchenaid, this involved a fair bit of scraping down of sides, making the kitchenaid seem not entirely worth it.) Dump some more flour on a surface (I used 1/2 c more) and knead by hand until the extra flour is mostly incorporated. Put in a spray-greased bowl and let rise until doubled.

filling:
6 T butter, softened
a few handfuls brown sugar (sorry didn't measure)
1 T cinnamon
10 cubes crystallized ginger, minced

Brush some butter in two 8-9" glass pans, and sprinkle with some brown sugar--this will make tasty caramelly bottoms to the rolls. Roll out the dough on a barely floured surface until ~10" wide, maybe half a cm thick, and as long as it gets. Brush with the rest of the butter, cover with brown sugar, and sprinkle on the cinnamon and ginger. Roll one long side toward the other, cut into 1" slices, and place in the prepared pans. Cover the pans tightly with greased plastic wrap or greased plastic bags and stick in the fridge overnight.

glaze:
1/4 c white chocolate chips
1/4 c milk
3/4 c (12 T) powdered sugar

In the morning, get the rolls out of the fridge as soon as you can get yourself up, then go back to bed for a bit. When you're a bit more ready to be up, preheat the oven to 375F. Bake for 23 min, switching racks halfway through. Meanwhile, make the glaze by microwaving the chips and milk for 30 sec, stirring until smooth, then stirring in powdered sugar a couple tablespoons at a time. Let the cinnamon rolls cool, then drizzle with glaze and enjoy! Not too bad for a Friday morning. Also, take pictures with my new smartphone :)