Red, White & Blue Ricotta Cake

I found this on a YouTube video, in metric measures. It incorporates much of what I like in baked goods: not too sweet, fruit added -- in this case, cranberry and blueberry, an uncommon combo -- and lemon zest. I suspected the large amount of ricotta plus the yogurt or sour cream would give it the taste of a Danish, and yum. I was right!

Bake one larger, flatter cake in a spring form, and one smaller. A bundt pan would be fine, too. The picture is the mini-cake I baked for Eyal and Nadav. When I come to take care of Noa, I make sure there's a treat for the boys when they get home from school. You can't see the blueberries, which are the lower layer.

2 eggs

1/2 c sugar

Lemon zest to taste

1/2 c natural yogurt or sour cream

1/3 c neutral oil

1 1/2 c flour (can be half whole wheat)

1/2 t. salt

Scant T baking powder - seems like a lot, but it came out fine

1//4 c. cranberries, currants, or raspberries

 

Topping: 

1 c. ricotta - 8 oz

1 t. vanilla 

1/4 c sugar 

1 egg

1 T coconut

1/2 c blueberries, dusted with flour or cornstarch

Optional- Powdered sugar when you serve it.

 

350 / 35 min.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, and lemon zest. 

Add and whisk the yogurt, oil, flour(s) and baking powder.

Pour it in the greased baking pans, and drop the red berries on top. No need to mix, as they sink.

Mix the topping ingredients, except the blueberries. Place dollops of the ricotta mixture on the surface. Add the blueberries across the top.

Bake about 30-40 minutes until golden brown and the ricotta topping is solid. Dust with powdered sugar when you serve it.

This is a nice breakfast cake. Not very desserty.

 

Eyal particularly loves this cake. He inhales it!

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l8IiRxkr8Y

Persimmon Picking & Pulping + Persimmon Bread

Micah spotted persimmon trees on the trail to the Gesher Tsar Meod, and in 2023 Jo, Micah, and I picked a bunch. Then he found an even bigger tree and I went with Jennifer Paget and we picked a half a pot full.

In 2025, on a day Micah spent doing chores and exploring in fall, he counted 17 persimmon-bearing trees along the trails! And, he brought home a huge collection, and learned that they continue to ripen, called climacteric fruits.

Today, I stopped by Fredi Cooper's house, which she is moving out of shortly, and she gave me a beautiful Nordic Ware loaf pan, with a pumpkin vine pattern. It would be perfect for baking a persimmon bread! Can't wait to try it.

in 2023, I purchased a vintage Foley Food Mill on Ebay and it worked wonderfully, though it's slow. Eventually you collect pulp, which you can eat as a kind of cross between jam and sauce. It's a beautiful color. The dark flecks in it are completely edible.

We baked three loaves with this recipe. It's dark and moist. Nice with cream cheese. You can use pumpkin pie spice in lieu of the cinnamon/nutmeg/cloves.

This recipe is from Feast Magazine, doubled.

2 1/2 c (175g) flour (1/2 each whole wheat and white is fine)
1 t baking soda (all the recipes I have found use baking soda, not baking powder. Apparently it reacts with the fruit.)
1 t  salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 t ground cloves
1 1/3 cup  sugar
4 eggs
2 t vanilla 
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
2 c (260g) persimmon pulp

Preheat oven to 350˚F and spray pans. 

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves in a medium bowl; set aside. 

In a larger bowl, beat sugar, eggs and vanilla together until combined and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. With mixer running, stream in melted butter; continue to beat until incorporated, scraping sides of bowl down with a spatula as needed. Fold in persimmon pulp and mix until incorporated. 

Fold flour mixture into butter mixture just until combined, then fold in persimmon pulp until incorporated and no streaks remain. Divide between your pans.

Bake on middle rack of oven for 45 to 50 minutes, rotating pan after 20 minutes of baking. Bread is done when a wooden skewer comes out clean or with a few crumbs. Set on wire rack to cool completely.

In 2025, I used Fredi's loaf pan and two pumpkin layers. Nordic Ware calls it the Great Pumpkin pan. They came out of the pan very easily. So pretty.

Main trick is using a lot of Bakers Joy spray, which is flour and oil already combined.

 

Claudia Roden's Yogurt Cake

A 7" cake. It puffs and settles.

Here is Claudia Roden's Yogurt Cake. It's the same idea except adding yogurt gives it more heft. Eyal and Nadav love it! They call it yogurt muffins, for mysterious reasons. Note it has flour. Probably you could sub almond flour if you wanted to do this on Pesach, or make it gluten free. It's much lighter than cheese cake, but similar.

4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature - put the yolks in the larger bowl

½ cup granulated sugar
3 T [try doubling this for a denser cake] all-purpose flour (can be whole wheat)
1 ⅔ cups whole-milk Greek yogurt, or strain regular yogurt in a coffee filter for an hour or two.
1 lemon, zested and juiced

Optional: 1/2 c blueberries
Pinch of salt (optional), cinnamon to taste

Heat oven to 350 degrees and butter an 8- or 9-inch springform pan, or two smaller (A 7" and 5" works well).

• Using an electric hand mixer, beat egg whites until they're stiff peaks
• Using the same mixer, combine yolks and sugar (no need to wash beaters after the egg white). Beat on medium-high until the mixture is very pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. 
• Mix in flour, yogurt, lemon zest and juice, and salt until fully incorporated.
• Gently fold half of the egg whites into the yolk-yogurt mixture until only a few streaks remain. 
• Fold in the remaining whites, scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl, until the batter is evenly mixed, light and smooth.
• If you add blueberries, add a little flower to coat them. Take about 2/3 of the blueberries and mix in the batter. Save the rest for the top.
• Scrape the batter into prepared pan(s) and smooth into an even layer. Set the balance of the berries on top of the cake/s. These will not sink.
• Bake until the top is speckled with golden brown and puffed, 35 to 55 minutes. ( This burns if you don't watch it! You can cover with tin foil if it's browning too fast.
• Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cake cool before cutting. Serve warm or cold.

Cranberry Bars

Bars are faster than cookies, and I like that you can cut them in various sizes. These are from a cookbook I picked up for $1 at the Seattle Public Library, Favorite Recipes from Quilters. The book is from 1992; lots of recipes call for margarine or shortening. But a good recipe is a good recipe. These were good. I anticipate having lots of other berries in Chestertown from Micah's garden. These are a little simpler than the crumble recipe. Contributor is Irma H. Schoen.

Note there is no baking powder - this makes a dense bar.

I learned that a 9" x 13" pan is equivalent to a quarter sheet pan, meaning you can bake these in the Breville.

1 stick softened butter (if it's winter and the butter doesn't soften, grate it ahead and let it sit)
1.5 c sugar (if you use a different berry, you could cut back on sugar)
1.5 flour (half whole-wheat works fine)
2 eggs
1 c. chopped nuts - best if done by hand
1.5 c whole cranberries (a half bag)

salt, cinnamon to taste

Grease a quarter sheet pan well.

Cream the butter and sugar.

Add the flours, eggs, salt and cinnamon and mix. It's very stiff. You can use a wooden utensil and then your hands.

Add the cranberries and chopped nuts.

Spread out in the pan, wetting hands to fill in all the spaces.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. Don't overbake or they're hard to cut.

Cool and cut. Recipe says 8x8. 

Madjula's Sweet Potato Chocolate Mousse

This is from a Indian cooking website, Manjula's Kitchen, I started watching during the Pandemic when I was cooking a lot and up for learning more about Indian techniques. Though this recipe is thoroughly Southern California American. I found home cooking videos were good company. Eyal and Nadav are very down with this dessert! I have made it for them many times, and keep trying different ingredients.

1 large sweet potato, boiled
½ cup coconut milk full fat, chilled - 

    or a 4 oz can of evaporated milk

    or 4 oz (or so) of sweetened condensed milk. THEN ELIMINATE THE SUGAR.

    or 1/3 c. powdered milk + water or milk. Amount is flexible. 1/3 to 1/2 c does it.
4 Tbsp cacao powder
4 Tbsp sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp cinnamon powder

Peel sweet potato. In a bowl, add cocoa, sugar, coconut milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Use an immersion blender until smooth - it makes the pudding creamier than a potato masher.
Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

Serving Suggestions from Madjula
When it is fully blended, scoop the Pudding into the individual serving bowls and refrigerate for an hour. Remove the Pudding from the refrigerator after it has chilled. Serve the Pudding with your choice of topping. I like to garnish with sliced almonds. You may top with fresh fruit, or seeds. Also, chocolate pudding tastes great as a dip or spread.

Irish Soda Bread / Bundt

This is 2 c. of flour, in a cast iron pan

This recipe is from a book I picked up from a Little Free Library, The Cast Iron Skillet Cookbook by Sharon Kramis. I have modified it for a 10" skillet, using 2 cups of flour.

1 egg

1 c. buttermilk

2 c mixed flour (can include wheat germ, flax seed, etc)

1/2 t. baking soda 

1 t  baking powder 

4 oz butter, softened 

1/2 c raisins 

9/7, 2022 - New Yonim at ECP

1/4 c sugar

Pinch salt

Heat oven at 350.

Olive oil or butter a 10" cast iron skillet. 

In large bowl, mix flours, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, currants, and salt. To break up any lumps, I now use a small sieve instead of a sifter. Add soft butter and work it in.

In a smaller bowl, whisk eggs and buttermilk. Make a well in the flour, adding the butter (cut it into small pieces in winter when room temperature butter is colder) and the buttermilk/egg. Stir with a spoon until it comes together, incorporating the flour from the periphery.

Knead right in the bowl (really not much different than stirring) until it's a shaggy dough that holds together. It's quite sticky.

Place the dough in the skillet and spread into the pan. Score a large X, going the full depth, and separating the sections if possible. (This allows the baking to reach the center.) Take a knife and tap each quadrant to let the fairies out. (I saw that on YouTube!)

Bake about 32-35 minutes, covering with tin foil if it browns too quickly (the norm if you bake in the Breville). Test with a toothpick. 

Grandmother Kramis's Irish Soda Bread (3 cup recipe) from the cookbook

Grease/Flour a bundt pan (baker's spray) - my adaptation

1½ c. regular flour
1½ c. whole wheat flour (my change to the recipe) - a small portion can be wheat germ and flax seed
¾ t. baking soda
1½ t. baking powder
⅜ c. sugar (you could decrease this)
⅜ c. currants or ¾ c. raisins
Pinch salt
6 oz unsalted butter, melted 
2 eggs
1½ c. buttermilk (powdered works OK)

In large bowl, mix flours, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, currants, and salt. To break up any lumps, I now use a small sieve instead of a sifter.

In a smaller bowl, whisk eggs and buttermilk. Make a well in the flour, adding the butter and the buttermilk/egg. Stir with a spoon until it comes together, incorporating the flour from the periphery.

Knead right in the bowl (really not much different than stirring) until it's a shaggy dough that holds together. It's quite sticky.

Place the dough in the bundt pan. 

Bake about 32-35 minutes, covering with tin foil if it browns too quickly Test with a toothpick. 

Yum!

Here is an old version from the NYTimes that was posted on the Coronobake FB Group. It has no sugar or butter but more raisins:

Diane Casteel

2 C all purpose flour

1 1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1 t caraway seeds

1/2 C raisins

1 C buttermilk

Sift dry ingredients together. Add the rest. Knead on floured board for 5 min [or in the bowl]. Shape into rounded loaf. Cut an "X" in the top of the loaf, half an inch deep. Place on greased baking sheet. Preheat oven to 375°. After placing baking sheet with loaf in the oven, turn the oven down to 350°. Bake 45-50 minutes. Enjoy!

 

Pasta Grannies Lemon Pudding

 I love watching Pasta Grannies, a YouTube channel produced by a British food ethnographer, Vicky Bennison, who interviews elder cooks all over Italy to learn their regional specialties.

I never make anything from their brief vignettes but this lemon pudding really spoke to me, and it's delicious. Low sugar - basically eggs and lemon. Double it for this quartet of pictures - baked for Passover 2022 in Chestertown.

3 eggs, separated in bowls you can beat in 

2 to 3 T sugar

1 lemon

option: add 1/2 cup of berries. I tried blueberries and it worked.

Boil the lemon until it is soft, and puree in a food processor. Let it cool. (Since you mix it with the egg yolks, if it's hot it will cook the yolks.)

Spray an 8" springform or souffle pan. The grannies also sugar the pan.

Beat the egg yolks and sugar, and mix in the puréed lemon.

Beat the whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold the whites into the yolks until the batter is uniform in color. Add berries if you like.

Bake at around 365 for a half hour or so in the Breville. Cover with foil if the top browns too fast.

It puffs up and deflates, making a nice concave holder for fresh berries. The nonnas serve it with whipped cream. Not my thing.

(The boiled citrus is like the clementine cake, but this is very light, hence more like a pudding.)

This would be fun to make on Pesach - refreshing, not too hard, and even parve/ gluten free.

Check out Claudia Roden's yogurt cake, which is the same basic idea with the addition of, you guessed it, yogurt. You can also add blueberries.

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One Bowl Blueberry, Strawberry Rhubarb, or Cranberry Crumble Bars

I saw these online and had a real craving for them - I knew they would be similar to the datebars of my youth, but way easier. It's a quick recipe and perfect when blueberries are abundant.   In 2022 when we gathered in Chestertown for Thanksgiving, Zach and Becca brought several quarts of CSA cranberries that people had failed to pick up, or left behind. We experimented making Cranberry Crumble bars (fun to say!) and they were such a hit I made a second batch. Super easy, and so pretty.

You make the same dough for the bottom layer as the streusel topping - super easy. I cut the sugar, as my first version seemed sweeter than needed.

Crust and Crumble Topping
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, melted (microwave on low power, in a big bowl that you then use to mix the dough). For vegans, use parve margarine.
1 c flour (half WW, half regular, as I always do)
3/4 c old-fashioned whole-rolled oats
1/4 c granulated sugar
1/4 c light brown sugar, packed

salt to taste

Blueberry (or Cranberry) Layer
1 pint washed blueberries or 12 oz. cranberries (1 1/2 c)
1/3 c granulated sugar
For blueberries: 2 T lemon juice (1 lemon's worth) - omit for cranberries
2 t cornstarch

• Preheat oven to 350. 
• Line an 8 or 9-inch square pan with a parchment paper sling.
• Altrnatively, to make individual tarts (as I just did during COVID), spray a silicone muffin tin. I made 12. You could make 16, just use 2 trays and leave 8 empty. It's a little more work but a dozen big wows! Wait until cooled to remove, by popping them out from the bottom of the tray.
• In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter.
• Add the flour, oats, sugars, optional salt, and stir to combine. Mixture will be dry and sandy with some larger, well-formed crumble pieces.
• Set aside 1 heaping cup mixture for the top crumble layer.
• Transfer remaining mixture to prepared pan, and using wet fingers, pack the mixture to create an even, smooth, flat crust; set aside.
• In the large mixing bowl (same one!), add blueberries, lemon juice (not for cranberries!), sugar, and cornstarch, stirring to combine. If sugar hasn’t dissolved fully that’s okay because it liquifies while baking.
• Evenly distribute blueberry mixture over the crust.
• Sprinkle with the reserved heaping 1 cup crumble topping mixture. squeezing the mixture to shape bigger crumble pieces.
• Bake for about 45 minutes (in the Breville), or until edges are set and center has just set. Crumble topping should appear set and very pale golden. 
• Place pan on a wire rack and allow bars to cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. If you try to slice bars before they’ve cooled completely, they’ll be extremely messy and could fall apart. 
• To cut when cooled, pull out with the sling onto a flat cutting board. Cut 4 x 5 or even 5 x 5 with a pizza cutting wheel or sharp, wet knife. These are messy-ish, so small bite-size bars are great.

another scrumptious, spring version: Strawberry Rhubarb

Same recipe, but a pint of strawberries and about two stalks of rhubarb, both finely chopped. Include sugar. It is DELICIOUS. Very distinct flavor profile.

Make double like I did here!!

Jane Brody Bran Pretzel Rolls

I baked these when you were little. They aren't exactly no-knead, but you knead the dough in the bowl so they're a bit easier than many yeast doughs.

They have both whole-grain cereal and whole wheat, making them very fiber rich.

Jane Brody is still, in 2021, at age 80 a NYTimes Science/Healthy columnist, so she has been a guide my whole adult life. In the 80s she had a PBS cooking show I watched occasionally, and I have two of her cookbooks. They aren't fancy, but the recipes are good and things you'd really make, with healthy ingredients.

These are prettier with an egg wash glaze and sesame seeds. I baked them during the 2020 CoronaQuarantine, when I was craving yeasty rolls.

I just baked some for Eyal and Nadav's first days at the ECP.
They are satisfying and just a little sweet - what I enjoy for breakfast.

Four addenda:

1) No need to refrigerate the dough. Today, with a room temperature of 66 or so, I rolled the pretzels out after the first rise with room temperature dough, much easier. I shaped them and left the tins out for about 3-4 hours at room temperature and they were fine. Eyal, Nadav and I egg-washed and sprinkled them.

2) If you do refrigerate the dough, let it come to room temperature before rolling out. The cold dough is very hard to work with.

Roll it into an oblong, and cut it into 24 long lengths. This saves a lot of time!

3) To make the pretzel shape, curve 12" strands and curve them, crossing each other, and attach. Take the two endsand press both end into the edge. A fancier version: twist before attaching.

The thinner and longer you roll the dough, the more defined the pretzel shape is.

4) Egg wash before the rise. Rewash and sprinkle with sesame seeds for a prettier roll.

After the 2 hour rising. 

Lactation Bars

Gifts for Asia and Donya, 2021.

These make enough for a half-sheet pan. If you're using a 1/4 sheet, either bake it in two shifts, or bake a half recipe.

A 1/4 sheet pan is enough to fill a jar.

Most lactation bars feature Brewers yeast, flax seed, oats, and other nutritious ingredients like wheat germ. I modified this by baking the dough in the Breville in a 1/4 sheet pan, which works well.

It's easy to slice into even portions. They're a nice gift to a new mama!

It makes about 5 dozen bars or cookies. 

Recipe By:kfwarden

2 T flax seed meal
¼ cup water
1 c butter, softened
1 c white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1½ t pure vanilla extract
2 c all-purpose flour (can be half whole wheat)
¼ cup brewers' yeast
1 T wheat germ
1 t baking soda
½ t salt
½ t cream of tartar
2 ½ cups old-fashioned oats
1 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Mix flaxseed with water in small bowl and let soak for 5 minutes.

Beat butter, white sugar, and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl until creamy.

Add eggs and vanilla extract; beat to incorporate. Stir flax seed mixture into the butter mixture.

Mix flour, brewer's yeast, wheat germ, baking soda, salt, and cream of tartar in a separate bowl; add to butter mixture and stir until just combined. Fold oats and chocolate chips into the dough.

Press half the dough into the greased 1/4 sheet pan, using wet hands to spread the dough evenly. (Or bake the whole batch in a large jelly roll tin.)

Bake until lightly browned, about 15 minutes. Cool and slice. Repeat.

Presentation is important if you're baking these as a gift. I was pleased to find glass jars which are perfect and something, of course, that can be reused.

1. 
   
2. RVED © 2019 Allrecipes.com

Mustachados - Walnut Macaroons

These lasted about 5 minutes - 2021

Mustachados are Sephardic cookies from Gloria Greene's original cookbook, The Jewish Holiday Kitchen. It was a gift from Judy Herzig-Marx and I used it a lot, and still go back to look for ideas. It's less complicated/pretentious than Joan Nathan and some of the other more recent Jewish cookbooks.

These are similar to Italian "Ugly but Good" cookies, which are hazelnut. These are not vegan, since they have an egg, but they are gluten free. I don't generally bake cookies but these are good, chewy, not-too-sweet cookies that pass the Passover test: I would enjoy them if it WEREN'T Passover.

Unlike a lot of Pesadik recipes, this doesn't require beating egg whites, so you don't need a hand mixer or egg whip.


1 large egg (does not need to be separated!)
1.5 cups (about 6 oz) ground walnuts.
      Food processor is fine, or you can buy them at Passover already ground.
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. cinnamon

pinch of salt

Optional: chocolate for dipping

Shula - 3rd grade, 2024

Grease one large or two small cookie sheets very well. It makes about 20-24.

Heat oven to 325.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg with a fork. Add the other ingredients to form a thick paste.

These spread. Wet your hands and shape into scant teaspoon sized balls, about 3/4", flattening into domes.

Bake for 20 minutes or so until the edges have browned.

Pry under them with a spatula to cool. You can stick two together when they are just removed, they way they are served in Istanbul.

Using the induction setting of 1, leave the chocolate in a frying pan for 5-10 minutes and it will melt. Dip away. (In Philly, at 1 it says MELTING.)

Jane Brody's Best Bran Muffins

Jane Brody's cookbook was my favorite for many years. I make these once or twice a year. It's a double batch. Lately I have been baking half in muffin tins and the other half* in a not quite quarter-sheet that fits in the Breville. Way easier - instead of muffins, squares.

3 C shredded *bran cereal (e.g. All-Bran, 100% Bran, etc.)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 C raisins
1 C boiling water
2 eggs, lightly beaten
2 C buttermilk
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
4 t sugar
2 1/2 t baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. In a large bowl, combine the cereal, oil, and raisins, and pour the boiling water over them. Set the mixture aside to cool slightly.

2. In a small bowl, combine the eggs, buttermilk, and molasses. Add this to the partly cooled cereal mixture. 

3. In another small bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the cereal mixture, stirring just enough to moisten the dry ingredients. Cover the batter with plastic wrap, wax paper, or a damp towel, and let it stand for at least 15 minutes, preferably for 1 hour. 

4. Preheat the oven to 400. Grease *24 muffin portions, and divide the batter among them filling each cup about three-fourths full. 

Bake the muffins for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the muffins from the oven, and, when they are slightly cooled, turn them in the tins and tip them to cool.

Jane Brody's *All Bran crust for blueberry pie uses the same ingredient.

Cranberry (or Blueberry) Cornbread

This is a new favorite! I've lost track of where I found it. It's always good to have buttermilk recipes, since it's a handy ingredient to have but hard to use up.

Baking it in a flat sheet pan that fits the Breville makes for a very quick bake and a lot of crust.

In muffin tins, it makes 18. I used silicon muffin pans, and the muffins don't look quite the same -- the tops don't round, and they don't brown quite the same, but they're cute!

1 stick butter, softened (7 T. works, but 8 is yummier)
1/3 c. sugar
2 eggs
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. cornmeal
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 to 1.5 c. buttermilk (I just baked it and accidentally used just 1 c. and it was fine)
1 c. cranberries, halved.  This is easiest to do with a small knife.

• In a bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 
• Add eggs; mix well. 
• Combine the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt
• Alternately add with the buttermilk. 
• Fold in cranberries.
• Transfer to a greased small rectangular pan. Bake at 375° until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, ~ 20 minutes in the Breville. 

Another version: 12 oz of blueberries (one and half pints) and some grated lemon zest. It's denser than blueberries muffins, very satisfying.

Baked in the round Lodge cast iron.

Oatmeal Scones

Frosted with icing and grated lemon zest

These have great flavor and texture. Makes about 2 dozen small scones.

Found the recipe online but it's so modified, it isn't the same recipe by now.






Preheat oven to 375°

1 ¾ c. flour (one cup white, ¾ whole wheat is a good mix)

1 ½ t baking powder

¾ t. baking soda

½ t. salt

⅓ c. sugar
-------------------------------------------------
¾ c. butter (1.5 sticks), cold, cut into bits

1⅓ c. old fashioned oats

½ c. currants, dried cranberries, chopped prunes or raisins

½ c. buttermilk or regular milk

1 large egg, lightly beaten

confectioners sugar + water drops


Combine first 5 ingredients by hand in a medium-large bowl.

Add butter and mix by hand until it resembles coarse meal.

Add oats, currants, buttermilk, and egg until dough just sticks together. Knead in the bowl until it holds together. Doesn't take long but your hands get very messy!

Flatten into a large circle on a smooth surface like a flexible mat.

Cut into sixths. Then cut each sixth into 4 triangles. Try to make them approximately the same size.

Arrange on a sprayed cookie tin. They will fit on one sheet. They don't rise or spread much. Bake about 18 minutes or until lightly browned. (It's hard to see since the dough is already brown.)

When they're cool, you can ice them. In a small bowl, pour confectioners sugar. Add a scant amount of water and keep eye dropping it in until you can spread it. If you put in too much water it is too thin to spread.

Zwetchgenkuchen

 The recipe that I've been using is here, but this year we had a whole thread on Facebook and some rabbi friends put up their families' versions. The cake is based on Italian Prune Plums. Their season is short and coincides, magically, with Tishri. When I see the plums out at Weavers Way, it's equivalent to a shofar blast. I find apple cakes visually dull and not especially scrumptious. This cake is pretty!
What word is more fun to say than Zwetschgenkuchen, really?  The recipe, it turns out, was in the NYTimes and became super popular. Though it doesn't make the point that baking them is a Yekkeh Rosh Hashanah tradition.

• Rabbi Sharon Stiefel Here's my mother's family recipe for Plum Cake. 

  September 17 at 11:16pm · Unlike · 1
• Her family from Rhineland/Westphalia called it Plaumkuchen. My father's family from southern Germany called it Zwetschgenkuchen. She writes in the cookbook Yesterday's Mavens, Today's Foodies that she reduced the fat content in the 'Muerbeteig' pastry.
• 
  
• 5 tablespoon sugar, divided 
• 2 tsp baking powder, 
• 3/4 c. margarine or butter
• 1 large egg 
• 3 lbs ripe Italian plums, pitted and quartered lengthwise
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
• Preheat oven to 375. Spray an 11 x 16 jelly roll pan with cooking spray. 
• In a food processor process the flour, 2 tbls of the sugar, and baking powder for 10 seconds. 
• Cut in the margarine or butter and process until finely crumbled. 
• Add the egg and process until the mixture forms a ball around the blade. 
• Press the dough evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Arrange the plums, cut side up and slightly overlapping, in 6 lengthwise rows on top of the dough. 
• Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the crust is golden and the plums begin to juice. Mix the remaining 3 tbls of the sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle the top of the cake with this mixture while the cake is still warm. The cake is delicious even without whipping cream.

Version 2, from Rabbi Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus (Ben's mom)

• September 17 at 8:43am · Like · Remove Preview
• 

  Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus My recipe comes from my mother's family in southern Germany, on a hand-written index card. I've never used cinnamon, and our special touch is that the plums soak in a little brandy before they go onto the dough. Here it is: 
• PLUM KUCHEN Family recipe from Ellen Weinberg Dreyfus
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  1. Cut almost 4 pounds of prune plums in half, and place in large bowl, and sprinkle with sugar (half a cup? - enough so they're "sugared".) [I always wear disposable gloves when I’m cutting & pitting the plums so my fingers don’t turn purple.]
  2. Add 2 Tbsp. brandy to the plums and let sit.
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  3. Mix together 2 cups flour & 2 tsp. baking powder. Set aside.
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  4. With mixer, blend 1 stick softened butter (or margarine to make it pareve) with 3/4 cup sugar, 2 eggs, then add flour mixture.
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  5. Spread dough on greased jelly-roll pan (a cookie sheet with sides). It will be very sticky and hard to spread, but use the heel of your hand & fingertips to spread it evenly over the entire pan.
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  6. Place plum halves, open-side up, on dough.
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  7. Mix together (some of) the juice left from the plums with chopped nuts (I use walnuts, but you could try others) and breadcrumbs, until it's a consistency that you can crumble over the top of the plums.
  8. Bake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes. Cool, then cut into squares. Yum.