challah and raspberry cream cheese cookies

I have had so much fun playing with the sourdough starter that Beth Anne shared with me. Today was a day with tons of laundry, which means a day to stay home and bake! I played around with three different recipes today and ended up making sourdough pancakes, two loaves of challah and one batch of cookies. Here are the recipes for the challah and cookies....

challah

1 c. sourdough starter

1 1/2 c. warm water

2 t. yeast

1 T. sugar

1 small pkg instant vanilla pudding

1 t. salt

5 c. flour

1/3 c. melted butter

Combine starter, water, yeast, sugar and dry pudding mix. Add flour and knead for 8 min. Knead in salt for 2 minutes. Oil or butter large bowl and rub the oil/butter over the dough. Place in bowl and cover. Let rise for 2-3 hours or until doubled in size.

Place dough on floured surface and cut into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a 12 inch strip. Place all three strips side by side and beginning in the middle braid the three strips toward the ends. Tuck the ends under and place braid on greased baking sheet. Let rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake 30-40 minutes or until golden brown and hollow sounding when you tap on it.

Remove from oven and brush melted butter over entire loaf. Cool and cut diagonal slices.

Raspberry Cream Cheese Cookies

2 sticks butter, softened

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 c. sugar

1 t. vanilla extract

2 c. flour

1-2 T. milk

1/4 c. raspberry jam

1/4 c. sugar, set aside to roll dough in

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and cream cheese until well blended. Add sugar and vanilla. Stir in flour until very coarse crumbs. Add milk 1 T. at a time until dough sticks together. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar. Place balls on greased cookie sheet and press thumb or finger into dough to make a well. Spoon small amount of raspberry jam into each well. Bake 12-15 min or until lightly browned.