Category Archives: Recipe

A cake from Israel

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We visited Israel in 2005. We had wonderful time there meeting with relatives, eating a lot of tasty food and enjoying historical landmarks. One of the highlights of our food tasting was a cake made by Alex’s great aunt Musya. She gave me a recipe, but, unfortunately, it was lost during our frequent moving from one place to another.

Recently, I was browsing old photo albums and found the recipe. So, 10 years later, I baked this cake in memory of Musya, who sadly passed on several years ago, and in memory of the great time we had visiting her and her family in Israel.

Raisin and walnut cake

Raisin and walnut cake

Raisin and walnut cake

Raisin and walnut cake

Ingredients:
1 cup of sugar
1 cup of raisins
1 cup of walnuts
1 cup of flour
3 tablespoon of butter (melted)
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda

Preparation
Preheat oven to 200 C or about 390 F. Grease 8X8 pan with cold butter or oil spray or line with parchment paper.

Beat sugar and butter together until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. (It was not in the recipe but I like to add vanilla extract or a tablespoon of rum to add some additional flavor.) Combine soda and flour together in a separate bowl. Stir into wet mixture. Add raisins and walnuts.

Pour the batter into baking pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean (about 30-40 min).

Blueberry Cheesecake

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I have to say that I’m not a big fan of cheesecakes in general. They are too rich for my taste. However, recently I faced a challenge that made me create this recipe. Three women in my family have diabetes and cannot eat most of the desserts. The ones they can eat come from stores and, to be honest, taste mediocre. I wanted to treat my family with a dessert that can be enjoyed by everyone and at the same time be sugar free. I went with cheesecake because it can be done without flour in it. Of course this recipe is not guilt free, there is plenty of fat in it, so moderation is advised.

Ingredients:

  • 2 packages of cream cheese (softened)
  • 1 8oz package of Mascarpone cheese
  • Stevia extract or stevia powder equivalent of 1 cup of sugar plus 2 tbsp
  • 1 1/2 cup of almond meal (I use one from Trader Joe’s)
  • 1/3 cup butter melted
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup of fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 325 F (300 F if using a dark nonstick springform pan). Line your 9 inch springform pan with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl mix together almond meal with butter and stevia (equivalent of 2 tbsp of sugar). Press the mixture onto the bottom of the springform pan.

In a large bowl mix together cream cheese, Mascarpone cheese, vanilla and stevia (equivalent of 1 cup of sugar). With a mixer on the lowest speed beat the mixture adding eggs (one at a time) until just blended. Pour the mixture over crust.

Bake for about 50 min, until center is almost set. Let cool and refrigerate for about 3-4 hours.

Wash and dry blueberries. Add them on the top of the cake. I used store bought glaze to make blueberries stick together and on the top of the cheesecake.

blueberry cheesecake