Finishin
Tortic
ANNABEL COHEN
Special to the Jewish News
simple
Passover desserts
that don't have
that matzah taste.
'11• 0 4-4.0 ':""e v A
'"'"'"'
Phyllis Tyner holds her Passover specialties.
P
hyllis Tyner of Southfield is a recipe col-
lector. And she's alWays been a good
baker, as Milt, her husband of 57 years,
will attest.
"He loves my baking," said Tyner. "I bake better
than I cook"
When it comes to the challenges of dessert baking
for Passover, Tyner is prepared with tried-and-true
recipes she rarely varies. Her Passover baking bible
isn't some fancy, expensive gourmet tome. Rather,
she raves about simple family recipes from a 1986
edition of a B'nai B'rith cookbook
"I can't take credit for these," she warns. "There's
an earlier edition, but I bought this one from some-
body at B'nai B'rith and use this one a lot," she
said. "I really haven't changed much in the recipes,
because they don't need it."
Like many traditional Passover recipes, Tyner's use
a lot of eggs and nuts. Tyner's repertoire includes
mandelbread, apple cake and apricot pastry
"I make these every Passover and I've given out
the recipes lots of time," she said. "That's how good
they are. I made the recipes when I first got the
book and I've been making them ever since.
"The recipes are great because you don't taste the
matzah meal," she says. "You wouldn't know you
were eatingpesaik cake. It's just delicious. And the
mandelbread tastes like mandelbread you would
make all year round."
Here are Tyner's Passover dessert recipes (with a
few changes from the originals). I've also included a
recipe for a flourless chocolate cake I often make.
After all, chocolate's not prohibited
APRICOT PASTRY
Basically, these are apricot squares — simple and
sweet and great with a cup of coffee. The original
recipe calls for a half cup of nuts, but Tyner doubles
this, remarking, "You can't have too many nuts!"
Crust
1/2 pound softened butter or unsalted margarine
2 large egg yolks
pinch of salt
1 cup sugar
2 cups sifted matzah cake meal
2 t. grated lemon rind
1 t. vanilla
Filling:
1 pound jar apricot preserves (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 325E Spray a 9x13-inch pan
• with nonstick cooking spray.
Make crust: Combine all crust ingredients in a
large bowl and using an electric mixer, mix well.
Spread three-fourths of the mixture over the bottom
of the prepared pan and about 1-inch up the sides
of the pan. Bake, uncovered, for 20 minutes, until
lightly colored. Refrigerate remaining dough.
Make filling: Combine preserves and lemon juice
in a small bowl and mix well. Remove the crust
from the oven and while hot, spread the apricot
mixture over the crust. Sprinkle nuts over the fill-
ing.
Remove remaining dough from the refrigerator
and using your fingers, crumble it over the apricot
filling. Bake another 30-35 minutes until the crust
is golden and the filling is set. Remove from oven
and cool completely before cutting into squares or
bars. Makes 24-30 pieces, depending on how you
cut it.
PASSOVER APPLE CAKE
Like a coffeecake, this cake has umpteen incarna-
tions. It is satisfying and great the next day for
breakfast, if there's any left.
Dough:
6 large eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
2 cups matzah cake meal
2 T. potato starch
4 Granny Smith apples, peeled or unpeeled, cut
into thin wedges (about 6 cups)
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup sugar
2 t. ground cinnamon
Topping:
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
3 T. sugar
1 t. ground cinnamon
Preheat oven to 350F. Combine all dough ingre-
dients in a large bowl and beat until smooth. Spread
half the batter in an ungreased, 9x13-inch baking
dish.
Make filling: Sprinkle the apples with lemon juice
in a large bowl. Mix sugar with cinnamon and add
to the apples. Spread apple filling over the batter
and top with the remaining batter.
Make topping: Combine nuts with sugar and
cinnamon. Sprinkle the topping mixture over the
cake and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour. Cool and cut
into squares. Makes 12 or more servings.
MANDELBRFAD
Tyner likes using all three varieties of nuts for her
mandelbread.
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 t. lemon juice
1 t. salt
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups matzah cake meal
1 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, slivered
almonds, or combination of the
FINISHING TOUCH
on page 98
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3/22
2002
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