Homemade Lekvar

A few days ago, while looking into my cupboard for something, I found an unopened package of prunes that had reached its "best by" date. Indeed, when I opened it, the prunes were a bit too dry for tasty snacking.

But!

I can’t throw out perfectly good food. Rather than discard, I decided to make my own lekvar (and then use it for all sorts of recipes).

For several mornings I had some lekvar with yogurt (awesome). Just like the old days when Dannon had a perfectly wonderful prune yogurt.

I also made some of our treasured family recipe of butter cookies and used the lekvar for filling the center.

I don't ever have to buy lekvar again.

Here’s the recipe. I added fresh ginger to a portion and cooked it separately. It’s not typical for lekvar but I thought it added a good flavor. I list it as an option, but encourage you to try it too.

I’ll remember this recipe next Purim when I need to fill some homemade hamantashen.

Prune Lekvar

• one pound pitted prunes (about 2 cups)

• mixture or orange juice, apple juice or other fruit juice plus water (enough to cover the prunes)

• 4 slices of peeled fresh ginger (1/4-inch thick)

• pinch of salt

• 5 tablespoons packed brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Place the prunes in a saucepan. Add juice plus water, using enough to cover the fruit and add the ginger and salt. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat, cover the pan and simmer for about 20 minutes or until the prunes are soft. Be sure there is some liquid left in the pan; if not, add a bit more. Stir in the sugar and cook for another 5-6 minutes. Remove from the heat, stir in the lemon juice and puree using a blender hand blender.

Makes 2 cups

Banana Marble Bread

Got some leftover bananas? Maybe a little chocolate (bar/chips/anything)?

Here’s a comforting treat. The swirl of chocolate makes plain old banana bread a bit more festive.

If you’re socially distancing at home like so many of us, this Banana Marble Bread is a tasty way to pass the time, use what you have and add a comforting fragrance to your home.

Banana Marble Bread

• 3 ounces semisweet chocolate

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil

• 2 large eggs

• 3 medium ripe bananas

• 1/4 cup fruit juice, oat milk or other non-dairy milk (or use dairy milk)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9”x5”x3” loaf pan. Melt the chocolate and set it aside to cool. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set it aside. Beat the sugar and vegetable oil with a handheld or electric mixer set at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is well blended. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Mash the bananas and add them to the sugar mixture. Beat thoroughly until the ingredients are well blended. Add the flour mixture and beat for 1-2 minutes to blend the ingredients thoroughly. Stir in the juice and vanilla extract. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Pour the melted chocolate on top and use a knife or spatula to swirl it through the banana batter. Bake for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool the bread in the pan 15 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan and let it cool on a cake rack.

 Makes one bread serving 10-12

Fresh Ginger Cake

When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.

And, when life gives you fresh ginger, you make ginger cake (to go with ginger tea of course).

I’ve been using Instacart to get groceries recently because of the stay-at-home and social distancing Ed and I are following strictly. This delivery service has been excellent and I am incredibly grateful to the men and women who have shopped for us and delivered everything to our front door.

So first, bravo and thank you to them.

There have been some mistakes, none really worth talking about, but one that I found amusing.

I ordered a piece of fresh ginger and my shopper bought a pound!

That’s a lot of ginger.

But okay. I’ll use it.

First of all, I love ginger steeped in near-boiling water for tea. I’ve been drinking a lot of that recently. It’s healthy and a perfect way to stay hydrated too.

And of course, to go with the tea: cake. Like gingerbread. Except I didn’t have enough molasses so I used a mixture of date honey and regular honey. And I used fresh ginger instead of dried.

Perfect. This cake is milder than traditional gingerbread (because of the missing molasses), yet with the familiar heat because fresh ginger has a bit of a bite.

Would have loved some whipped cream, but alas, no cream in the house.

Fresh Ginger Cake

• 3/4 cup butter

• 3/4 cup date syrup (silan) (or use molasses)

• 1/4 cup honey (or use molasses)

• 1/2 cup brown sugar

• 3 cups all-purpose flour·      

• 2-1/2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1/2 tsp. salt

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg

• 1/4 cup grated fresh ginger

• 2 large eggs

• 1/3 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9”x9” cake pan. Place the butter, date syrup, honey and brown sugar in a saucepan and cook, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until the butter has melted. Stir to blend ingredients thoroughly. Set aside to cool. Mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg together. Pour the date liquid mixture over the flour mixture and beat the ingredients to blend them thoroughly. Add the ginger and eggs and beat them in. Pour in the milk and mix until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake for about 40 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes 8-10 servings