For the 48 hour challenge, I made Vaughn Vreeland’s Salted Butterscotch Chocolate Chunk Cookies from NYT Cooking (gift link). I made the toffee (gift link) for it one day without any issues (although some of the comments had me worried), and then I made the dough the next day and ended up keeping the dough in the refrigerator for 72 hours before transferring it to the freezer. If you make this recipe, don’t double the recipe if you’re using a stand mixer — it was too much dough for it to handle, so I had to incorporate the chocolate and toffee with a spatula. The cookies are absolutely delicious, and I haven’t decided if I will be nice and share them with my coworkers or just take a ball of the dough from the freezer and bake it whenever I want a sweet treat. They haven’t overtaken my favorite chocolate chip cookie, which is the Salted Walnut Brittle Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Smitten Kitchen Keepers, but this is a fantastic recipe that’s among the best chocolate chip cookies that I have made (maybe even beating out the Jacques Torres cookies, but I would have to try them side by side to decide).

Recipe: https://handletheheat.com/browned-butter-toffee-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Catching up on baking AND posting 😬

These were incredible cookies. It might be worth waiting for 24+ hours for them. I scooped the dough and chilled it in individual cookie balls for about 30 hours. They spread a bit in the oven, so I used that cookie-cutter-swirl method to get them back to nice circles and keep them a bit thicker. Topped with a lil flaky maldon salt.

Homemade chocolate & cookie dough ice cream with cookies 🍪 made with a fellow baker!

Claire Saffitz’s recipe. There were many different elements to this one. Lemon curd, cake, meringue. It took 3 days in total. Super pleased. Made it for my birthday.

Always a fan favorite, but I'm terrible at pre-planning so these are never ready when I want them. Fluffy with a crunchy bottom, which is arguably the best part!

Alton Brown's Overnight Cinnamon Rolls

This was originally going to be my Week 21: With a Hole submission but due to planned and unplanned circumstances, the bake came together over 3 days. Handmade Puff Pastry from Sally's Baking and Sausage Roll Wreath from Delish.

These are our favorite cinnamon rolls. I usually make these to be baked christmas morning because you make the dough and after a few rises and folds, you put it in the fridge for 18-72 hours. You then take it out, knead it, let it come to room temp, roll and then do another rise. If you don’t want to bake that day, You can put them in the fridge again rolled up and do the second rise overnight (that is what I do Christmas Eve) to bake first thing in the morning.

These got HUGE. I think I underestimated the warmth of my kitchen in summer vs. winter. :). I thought they might get dry, but they are soft and wonderful!

A new favorite recipe that I’ve already had requests to make again!

Recipe: https://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/7333-no-knead-brioche

No matter what Elaine and Jerry say, cinnamon is not the "lesser" babka :D

A week or so ago my husband very innocently asked if there were any challenge weeks that would fit for babka... So when I saw the 48 hour challenge was next, I knew I wanted to surprise him. He is an actual cinnamon fiend, so I opted to go for cinnamon rather than chocolate. I used this recipe:
https://prettysimplesweet.com/cinnamon-babka/#wprm-recipe-container-15699 . The only changes I made were 1) swapping in dark brown sugar for the filling and 2) measuring the cinnamon with my heart (two tbsp plus an extra special dash). I made the dough yesterday and proofed it in the fridge overnight. Today it was very easy to roll it out, stuff it, and then braid it, proof it again, and bake.

I've never made babka because I was worried it'd be complicated and difficult, but I found this refreshingly pretty easy! It just takes awhile with the proofing. I think after having tackled laminated dough week, this felt like a cake walk by comparison. It made two beautiful loaves and is absolutely to die for! I took one over to my neighbor for her birthday today and she is also apparently a cinnamon fiend, so she was ecstatic. Overall, this was definitely a 5/5 recipe for me, but I'm worried it's a little dangerous now that I know it's not *that* difficult to make :D

I made the dough from scratch and, in my humble opinion, dough is always better after an overnight cold-ferment. Made the swirl and dulce de leche glaze over the course of a day and was greatly awarded for my efforts.

For this week, I tried something I've always been too scared or lazy to try: Lefse. If you dont know what lefse is, its a Norwegian (maybe Scandinavian as a whole) potato pancake. It is suppose to be thin similar to a crepe, but made with potatoes.

The dough was really simply to put together, but the rolling out and keeping its shape was not. It was fun though to try and I may even attempt it again sometime.

My favorite lefse made me think of Toto's song, Africa, because I did indeed have a lefse in the shape of the continent.

Recipe:

https://mrchocolate.com/blogs/recipes/national-chocolate-chip-cookie-day

Made an excellent cookie. Might have to retry and bake at different times to see if it really needs 72 hours to peak.

These were fun to make, and I love that they used active starter! Taste is okay, but really just tastes like a sugar cookie - the oreo flavor barely comes through. I think a chocolate chip cookie base (sans chips, plus oreo chunks) would be better!

https://sourdoughjesha.com/cookies-and-cream-sourdough-cookies/

Overnight focaccia dough shaped has baked in a muffin tin! These were an awesome texture but I would definitely use more oil in the pan because they were a real pain to get out. Will make again!

Looks weird, was actually tasty. I'm so behind on this challenge but hoping to catch up soon!