6 minute read
Sharing Special Holiday Recipes:
Celebrating Easter and Passover
Our Community Written by Holly Stupak
Each year followers of Christian faiths close out Lent by attending church services and gathering with friends and family for spring-inspired celebrations. There are many classic Easter traditions you can incorporate this year on April 17th.
Some traditions like visiting the Easter bunny or attending an Easter egg hunt may already be a part of your holiday plans, but perhaps this is the year you’d like to try a new tradition or even a new recipe. However you choose to honor Easter this year, traditions are important because they connect us with our past.
Jennifer Noll with one of her first bunny cakes
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Noll
For Broomall resident Jennifer Noll, making a delicious bunny cake is a tradition she looks forward to every Easter. This Easter tradition began when she was four years old and continues to this day. It started with her Aunt Marie making the cake and continuing to make it every Easter while she and her cousins were growing up. Today, Jennifer and her sister take turns making the cake for dessert for Easter. Her family’s Easter dinner always includes ham, candied sweet potatoes and bunny cake.
Jennifer’s daughter, Lianna Noll and her cousins ready to enjoy a bunny cake
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Noll
Bunny Cake
Red Velvet Cake Ingredients
• 2 eggs • 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup butter • 1 tsp vanilla
• 1½ cups sugar • 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 Tbsp cocoa • 2 cups flour
• 1½ tsp baking soda
• 1 Tbsp vinegar
• 1 oz red food coloring
Directions
Grease and flour 8-inch pans.
Cream shortening, sugar and eggs.
Stir the cocoa and coloring together to make a paste. Add to the creamed mixture.
Mix salt and vanilla in milk. Add alternately with flour.
Mix baking soda with vinegar. STIR IN. DO NOT BEAT AFTER VINEGAR AND SODA HAVE BEEN ADDED.
Bake at 350º for 40 minutes.
Red Velvet Icing Ingredients
• 5 Tbsp flour • 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk • 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup butter
Directions
In a double boiler, mix flour and milk. Boil the mixture until thick then let cool to room temperature.
Beat butter and sugar. Add vanilla. Beat until creamy. Add cooled flour and milk mixture and beat until thick and creamy.
To make cake into a bunny:
Turn one cooled cake layer upside down. Mark the center of cake with toothpick. Measure about 2″ in from two sides of cake lining up the toothpicks. Using the tip of a sharp knife, lightly draw a 2″ wide x 6″ long oval, football-shaped, to make the ears. Cut with a serrated knife. The middle part of the layer will be the “bow tie.” Place whole cake layer in center of large tray. Place ears and bow tie, rounded side up. Frost entire surface and sides of cake, connecting the pieces together with frosting. Sprinkle with coconut. Cut licorice pieces for mouth and whiskers. Cut jelly beans in half for eyes, nose and bow tie.
Serves 8.
Many neighbors in our community are also getting ready to celebrate Passover, which begins on April 15th and ends on April 23rd this year. Also known as Pesach, it commemorates the liberation of the Hebrew slaves from Egypt. On the first two nights of Passover, a special family meal called the seder is held. During Passover, no leavened food (called chametz) is eaten, and on the first two and last two days of Passover, no work is permitted, as these four days are considered sacred. At the seder, foods of symbolic significance are served and prayers and traditional recitations are performed.
Rabbi Janine Jankovitz, who serves as the rabbi at Congregation Beth El Ner Tamid here in Broomall, said Passover is a celebration of new life and new beginnings. “This year’s celebration of Passover will be even more special,” said Rabbi Jankovitz. “For many people, it’s been two years since they were able to have an in-person seder with friends and family. Now that many people can gather safely, this year will be really special.” Typically Congregation Beth El Ner Tamid hosts a community seder dinner on the second night of Passover, but for the past two years, they were held virtually. “
Broomall resident Scott Noye is sharing his special recipe for Passover, Cherry Walnut Mandelbrot. As the owner of Chef Dad’s Table, Scott spends a lot of time in the kitchen, teaching children and young adults how to cook and enjoy delicious food together. Similar to biscotti, mandelbrot is a twice-baked crunchy cookie, and it’s sure to become your go-to Passover treat.
Passover Cherry Walnut Mandelbrot
Passover Cherry Walnut Mandelbrot
Ingredients
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 pinch Kosher Salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 Tbsp potato starch
• 1 1 /3 cup cake meal
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 /3 cup peanut, vegetable or cottonseed oil
• 1½ cup chopped walnuts
• 1 16 oz jar of maraschino cherries, destemmed, drained, rinsed and halved
• Cinnamon and sugar for topping
Directions
Combine sugar, salt, baking powder, potato starch, and cake meal in a bowl. Beat eggs, vanilla, and oil together in another bowl. Add dry ingredients to wet mixture, half at a time. Mix until almost all incorporated. Add in walnuts and cherries. Mix until incorporated. The dough will be sticky.
Cover the dough and let it sit at room temperature for 30 mins. Preheat the oven to 375º for 15 mins. before baking.
Grease cookie sheet. With wet hands, divide dough into 3 parts. Shape each part into a log/loaf. Smooth top and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar. Pat cinnamon and sugar lightly onto loaves.
Bake in a preheated 375º oven for approx. 25 mins.
Cool for 15 mins. then slice into portions. (Scott uses ½- ¾" slices). Lay slices on their side and sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and sugar. Bake for 10-15 mins. more or until golden brown. The longer you bake it, the crisper and drier it will become.
Makes 3½ dozen.
