Where are all the Queen Esthers and Mordecais? For almost my entire life every Jewish little girl wanted to be queen Esther on Purim. Here was the once-a-year chance to be the heroine queen who saved her people from annihilation! And also, of course to wear flowy chiffon scarves and skirts and maybe a tiara and a few bracelets and your mother’s best fake-rhinestone necklace.

And the boys always wanted to be Mordecai, who refused to bow to Haman and thus provoked that man’s rage into a fury.

Today a lot of the kids will dress up as ladybugs or Spiderman. Or princesses — hey, don’t they realize that a QUEEN has a higher rank and more jewelry than a princess??

And a lot of other Hallowe’en leftover stuff.

I guess it doesn’t really matter as long as it’s fun. Still, this year is the 100th anniversary of the founding of Hadassah, the worldwide Jewish women’s volunteer organization. Hadassah is named for Queen Esther. So it seems fitting that there should be more Queen Esthers out there celebrating. 

Anyway, our local Hadassah hosts an Afternoon Tea every other Tuesday for cancer patients and their caretakers at Stamford Hospital. I am one of their bakers. I often make quickbreads because they are moist, sweet and easy to eat. Like this Chocolate Bread, which is rich and dark and luscious. It’s a good choice for a Tea, afternoon snack or dessert. To celebrate Purim, Hadassah, Queen Esther or any time at all!

Chocolate Bread

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1-3/4 cups all purpose flour

1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1-1/4 cups sugar

1/3 cup shortening

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-1/4 cups buttermilk

1/2 cup chopped pecans, macadamia nuts, cashews or walnuts, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan. Melt the chocolate and set it aside to cool. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer set at medium, cream the sugar and shortening until well mixed. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat the ingredients until they are well blended and smooth. Add the flour mixture in portions, alternating with the buttermilk. Blend the ingredients thoroughly. Blend in the melted cooled chocolate. Fold in the nuts, if used. Spoon the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Makes one bread

Prunes used to be the laughing stock of fruit. Really. Kids used to snicker at the thought of them because, you know, prunes are supposed to be for old folks who, um, need the fiber.

Well, confession here — I always loved prunes. Plump, moist, sweet prunes. Great snack. And when I was much younger I ate Dannon’s Prune Yogurt at least twice a week. It was made with whole milk and had a thick, pureed, stewed prune layer at the bottom.

But I think I was only one of two people who loved that yogurt (the other was my husband Ed, which is probably why we knew we were going to click romantically from the start). Because Dannon stopped making that flavor yogurt long ago.

Yeah yeah, there are some new prune yogurts out there but they’re not the old full-fat, thick-as-lekvar prune layer yogurt I remember. The only way to get that is to add some prune lekvar to some yogurt (or stew some prunes and puree them yourself).

But some good news has come for people like me who actually like prunes and don’t think they are funny at all. And who eat prunes because we like them and not because we, um, need them.

Here’s an article that speaks to the benefits of prunes. A great snack, it says because prunes are filling, sweet and satisfying and they are also high in antioxidants as well as fiber.

Give some prunes to your kids and see how they react. Don’t tell them prunes are for senior citizens. Snacks this sweet are sure to please children and their parents too.

And if you want to try prunes in recipes, start with this old fashioned dessert. It’s a winner in all respects. Great warm with a little ice cream (but plain is terrific too).

Prune and Apricot Crumb Pie

3 cups mixed dried pitted prunes and dried California apricots

water

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 tablespoon butter

1 9-inch unbaked pie crust

Crumb Crust

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the prunes and apricots in a saucepan. Cover the fruit completely with water and bring the water to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat and simmer the fruit for about 10 minutes or until the fruit is softened. Drain the fruit but reserve the liquid (should be about 1/2 cup; add more if necessary to make 1/2 cup liquid). In a saucepan mix the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add the 1/2 cup reserved liquid. Stir ingredients and cook over low-medium heat for 1-2 minutes or until thickened. Add the cooked fruit, lemon juice and butter. Stir ingredients until the butter has melted. Spoon the fruit mixture into the pie crust. Scatter the crumb crust on top. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden brown. Makes one pie serving 8 people

Crumb Crust:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup sugar

6 tablespoons butter, cut into chunks

Mix the flour and sugar together in a bowl. Work the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry blender or your hands until the mixture is crumbly. 

Why was old-fashioned Date-Nut Bread baked in a round pan?

Yesterday, when I posted about my cousin’s Date-Nut Bread, I mentioned that her mother and mine made this stuff inside a coffee can or other, smaller cans. And then I remembered that even the commercial loaves were cylindrical, so the slices came out round.

Why was that?

When you make Banana Bread or Lemon-Cranberry Bread it’s usually in a loaf pan. I use a bundt pan for a big recipe.

Anyone know why Date-Nut Breads are cylindrical?

Anyway, I also mentioned yesterday that my mother had a great recipe for Date-Nut Bread. I searched my files and — I found it! This bread was sooooooo delicious. She made me sandwiches using this as the bread and a layer of cream cheese in the middle. Oh, do I wish I had some right now.

Although my mother baked Date-Nut Bread in a one-pound coffee can the batter also fits nicely inside a standard 9”x5”x3” loaf pan. It is a terrific snack for anytime, and makes a perfect treat for Tu B’Shevat.

Mom’s Date-Nut Bread

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup golden raisins

1 cup chopped dates

1 cup chopped nuts

2 tablespoons melted butter, margarine or vegetable oil

2 tablespoons Madeira, Port or Sherry wine

1 large egg

1 cup boiling water

cream cheese, optional

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9’x5”x3” loaf pan (or a one-pound coffee can). Sift the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt into a bowl. Add the raisins, dates and nuts and toss the ingredients to coat the fruit with the flour mixture. In another bowl, combine the melted butter, Madeira and egg. Pour the boiling water into the fruit-flour mixture and mix thoroughly. Add the egg mixture and blend it in thoroughly. Spoon the batter into the prepared loaf pan. Bake for about 50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let the bread cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Slice and serve plain or with cream cheese. Makes one loaf

If your mother baked Date-Nut Bread when you were a kid you’re probably over “that certain age.” Not that I’m sure what that age is, but I am at it, for sure and so is my second-cousin Marlene, who lives in Haifa, Israel.

Both our mothers (who were first-cousins) made Date-Nut Bread and it wasn’t a dessert. It was for “just in case company comes.” Or for school lunch sandwiches, 2 slices smeared with a fat layer of cream cheese.

I have no idea why Date-Nut Bread fell out of favor. Just one of those 20th century popular things that came and went like Jello Mold and Beef Wellington.

I never baked one for my children, which is too bad, because after my cousin sent me the recipe and I thought about the sandwiches from the old days, I remembered how delicious those lunches were.

My mother always baked Date-Nut Bread in a coffee can. Marlene uses smaller cans. She baked up a batch for Tu B’Shevat, which falls this year next Wednesday, February 8th. It is customary on this minor Jewish holiday to cook and eat foods that contain one or more of the Seven Species that were abundant in Israel in biblical times. 

Like dates.

Which makes old-fashioned Date-Nut Bread perfect for this holiday. Or anytime really.

Marlene says that her recipe began with one in The Elegant But Easy Cookbook by Marian Fox Burros and Lois Levine. I don’t have a copy of that book, but Marlene has also changed the recipe somewhat. Here it is as she gave it to me, with changes noted in the ingredient list.

I’ll have to scout out my Mom’s recipe and compare it. 

Date-Nut Bread

1 large orange

boiling water

2 tablespoons shortening or melted margarine or vegetable oil

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg, beaten

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped dates (or use one full cup)

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (leave out if using 1 cup chopped dates)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan. Grate the peel of an orange into a bowl. Squeeze the juice from the orange into a measuring cup and add enough boiling water to make one cup. Pour into the bowl with the peel. Stir in the shortening, baking soda, baking powder, salt and sugar and stir until the shortening has melted. Beat in the egg. Add the flour and stir to blend ingredients. Fold in the dates and nuts. Spoon the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. If you use round cans, add batter to the halfway mark and time the bread according to the can size. Makes one loaf

Do women watch the Superbowl?

Well I can’t speak for all women of course but yes, I do. And so does my sister-in-law Eileen. Ed and I go to her and my brother Jeff’s house on Superbowl Sunday and the four of us yell at the TV and eat a lot of things we don’t ordinarily eat, just like a lot of other people across the country.

I once hosted a Superbowl day at our house and invited several friends and some family. A few of the women were sort of disappointed that I hadn’t scheduled an alternative activity for when the men were watching the game. 

Is this the usual? I have loved watching football ever since I went to a Big 10 college and even though my alma mater, Northwestern, was usually the worst team in the league, it was still great fun on a Saturday afternoon to go to a game and cheer the team on.

Anyway, I don’t have to worry anymore about who watches the game or not since I am the guest now. But if you are having people over for Superbowl, or really any other time, and you need a good dip, try this one. Men and women will both enjoy it and it’s perfect with chips, crackers or crudites.

Chutney Cheese Dip

3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

1/2 cup finely grated sharp cheddar cheese

1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese

1 tablespoon butter at room temperature

1/4 cup chopped mango chutney

1/4 cup ground nuts such as almonds

1/2 teaspoon curry powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

dairy sour cream, plain yogurt or milk if needed

Mix the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, blue cheese, butter, chutney, nuts, curry powder and cayenne pepper by hand or in a food processor. Blend thoroughly until the ingredients are a uniform color. For a creamier dip blend in some sour cream, yogurt or milk. Use as a dip with chips or crudites. Makes about 1-1/2 cups

What to do with leftover bananas?

I’ve become an expert at that. Because I love to buy bananas. I love how they look, especially when they are light yellow with green tips so I know they are firm inside and perfectly sweet. I never buy any that are dark yellow or that have brown freckles.

I used to love to eat bananas too. Plain or with sour cream or yogurt. And especially, in Banana Cream Pie, which I can only fantasize about now.

Because I became allergic to bananas.

How is it possible to be allergic to bananas?

I don’t know but I am.

So now I can only buy them, and gaze upon them longingly and hope that my husband Ed will eat them, which he does, but never as many as I buy. There are always leftovers.

I now have more recipes for Banana Bread than anyone and I am working on some for Banana Muffins.

If you have leftover bananas, try this recipe. It makes a good snack, or dessert (maybe add ice cream or fudge sauce). 

Banana-Coconut Bread

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup butter 

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup orange or ginger marmalade or apricot jam

3 large very ripe bananas

3 large eggs, beaten

1 cup packaged coconut

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bundt pan (about 8 cups). Mix the flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until well blended. Add the marmalade and bananas and blend them in thoroughly. Beat in the eggs. Add the flour mixture and blend it in thoroughly. Fold in the coconut. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove the pan from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Makes one bread serving 12-16

Franks-in-blankets are probably the favorite hors d’oeuvre of all time. Just watch next time you serve them or you’re at a party and a tray-ful of them comes around.

See those crowds swarming the server? Really, anyone in an outer circle or more than 10 feet away doesn’t stand a chance.

People make snarky remarks about franks-in-blankets and elitists say they don’t eat them (but take a closer look at the mouth crumbs they try to wipe off when caught polishing one off).

Yep, no matter what anyone says, these are #1.

So next Sunday when I have some cousins over for the afternoon, I’ll serve them. I could make my own, but the frozen kind is so good and so familiar that I will probably take the easy way out. 

Instead I will heat up these Scallion Cakes. Another winning recipe I learned from Florence Lin at the China Institute many years ago. I made them today. 

Of course I nibbled a few. The rest will freeze well in a plastic bag and I’ll get them hot for serving in a preheated 400 degree oven for 5-6 minutes (turn once). These are salty, crispy and yummy. Try some!

Scallion Cakes

3 cups all-purpose flour, approximately

1 cup boiling water

1/3 cup cold water

vegetable oil

kosher salt (about 1 tablespoon)

3-5 scallions, chopped

Place the flour in the bowl of an electric mixer (or food processor). Add the boiling water and mix at medium speed (or process) until a rough dough has formed. Pour in the cold water and mix until a dough forms. Knead (or process) for 3-4 minutes (or until a smooth dough has formed). If the dough is too sticky add some more flour. The dough should be soft and very slightly sticky. Cut the dough into 6 parts. Roll each piece on a floured surface into a circle about 10-inches in diameter. Brush each circle with vegetable oil. Sprinkle with equal amounts of chopped scallion. Roll the dough tightly into a snake. Form the rolled snake into a coil. Press down on the coil. Roll the coil on the floured surface into a circle about 1/8-inch thick (some scallions may pop through the dough). Repeat with all the circles. Keep the circles separated with foil or waxed paper. Heat a small amount of vegetable over medium heat in a saute pan large enough to hold the circles. Cover the pan and cook the circles one at a time for about 2 minutes per side or until browned and crispy. Remove the cover and cook for another minute or so if necessary. Add more vegetable oil as necessary. Drain on paper towels and cut each circle into 8 wedges. Serve plain or with hot chili oil and/or vinegar. Makes 48 pieces

I’ve been in a blueberry mood lately. It’s a summer thing and not just because blueberries are the juiciest, sweetest and tastiest in the summer but also because they remind me of some good old things in the good old days.

Like my parents’ blueberry bush. My Dad planted that bush and every day, year after year, from about May through August, when my Dad came home from work he would go out to the garden and watch the berries grow from tiny green pebbles to goldenish-greenish little nuggets to rich, navy blue rounds that looked as if they were about to burst open. It made him so happy to see those berries thrive, as if he were watching his children.

It was only the one bush though so there weren’t that many berries. When our harvest came in we would eat them within the hour, usually with sour cream and a sprinkle of sugar.

Oh yum, I could eat a bowl of that now.

Even the best store or market bought berries don’t have that just picked taste of the ones from a bush in your own garden. But I don’t have a blueberry bush, so summer market blueberries are the best I can do. I eat them now with yogurt (non-fat Greek style) because sour cream has too much fat.

And no sugar. Because, well, you know.

How the mighty have fallen.

I usually buy boxes and boxes of berries when the price is right, and I make a pie or three to freeze. 

But the price isn’t pie-buying yet. I only bought 2 boxes this week. I made some soup with some (see my post for the recipe) and this tea bread, which I made for the Tea for cancer patients and their caregivers that our local Hadassah holds every two weeks. 

It is fabulously moist and has a distinct but gentle flavor of orange. It makes a terrific snack with tea or coffee.

Orange Blueberry Tea Bread

5 tablespoons butter or margarine

3/4 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon finely grated orange peel

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup orange juice

1 cup fresh blueberries

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan (or 8-1/2”x4-1/2”x2-1/2”) and set aside. In the bowl of a mixer set at medium speed, beat the butter and sugar together for 1-2 minutes or until well combined. Add the eggs and orange peel and beat them in thoroughly. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture in thirds, alternating with the milk and orange juice and beat ingredients to blend them thoroughly. Fold in the blueberries. Spoon the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 50-60 minutes (depending on the size of the pan) or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes then invert onto a cake rack to cool completely. Makes one bread

Why do I buy bananas! I can’t eat them (allergic) and my husband Ed sometimes eats them, but not regularly enough to warrant my buying a bunch whenever I shop. 

But I do buy them.

I love the smell of bananas and must confess that I get a vicarious thrill when I see people enjoying them. I also like the smell of banana bread and banana cake baking in the oven, so I frequently make one or the other to give away. If it’s a new recipe I’ll take a taste (and spit).

Here’s the latest one. It has a crust that I usually use over a fruit cobbler but here it adds a good, sweet, crunchy top for the soft cake beneath. 

Banana Crunch Cake

Crust:

1/2 cup butter

1-1/2 cups quick oats

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Melt the butter and set it aside. In a bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Mix ingredients. Pour in the melted butter. Mix until the dry ingredients are thoroughly coated with the butter. Set aside. 
Cake:

1-2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

3 mashed bananas

1/4 cup buttermilk, plain yogurt or dairy sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the crust and set it aside. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together in a small bowl. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until creamy and well blended. Add the eggs and bananas and beat the ingredients for another 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Add the flour mixture alternating with the buttermilk and blend in ingredients thoroughly. Stir in the vanilla extract. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Cover the top evenly with the crust mixture. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Makes 12-18 servings