For those who know, I had a bit too much fun over the holidays. My daughters and I cooked and baked and celebrated the season to the point that I have had to … it’s called ‘dieting.’ Usually, this sort of activity makes me a tad bit grumpy, but I have found ways to amuse myself in exploring some of the recipes for things that I haven’t had time to make myself.
Desserts are wonderful things to research while dieting and I have two that — although similar in appearance — are distinctively different and wonderful in their own ways. The Greek Honey cake is marvelous with a cup of coffee as is the Egyptian Basboosa! Although they are similar in appearance, their construction is different. The Egyptians often use semolina, nuts and rosewater while the Greeks have honey and cinnamon. Both include ample amounts of butter! Isn’t butter the secret of life?
This brings me to the story of how we almost lost ‘butter’ and those foods that I have no interest in ever recreating : Fruitcake and Stollen (German Fruitcake). I am convinced that all the fruitcake that has ever been made is still circulating in the mail systems around the world constantly being received and re-mailed to the unsuspecting! However, fruitcake did have a positive spot in history. I mention this because in Europe until Pope Innocent VII decreed in 1490 what was called ‘the butterbrief”… butter could not be used. It was because of the Saxony Germans who wanted to use butter in their ‘Stollen’ that butter become ‘legal’.
Anyway, I am waiting until I can make a honey cake!
Roger