In terms of food, one of our favorite Jewish holidays is just around the corner: Shavuot. We love the indulgence in all things dairy, with decadent cheesecake at the apex. We’ve dedicated more than one post in the past to the Shavuot classic and thought it was time we revisited our past attempts.
- Ode to a cheesecake started off our quest: Here you’ll find a classic New York cheesecake from the source itself — Junior’s in Brooklyn. We opted for a crustless version, assuaging our guilt by swapping out carbs for calorific cream cheese.
- After the indulgence of 24 oz of full fat cream cheese, we decided to try out a slighlty less fattening version, a Sicilian cheesecake using a mix of ricotta and cream cheese, though truth be told we ended up substituting mascarpone for ricotta, so while we retained the Italian element, the low fat element was less present.
- Finally, after several years of cheesecake, we decided that perhaps it was time to move on and experiment with a new set of ingredients. We still kept dairy at the core, but with condensed milk instead of cream cheese taking center stage. For our Key Lime Pie we tried out a crust made not from graham crackers, but from gingersnaps. Together with the tartness of fresh lime juice and zest, the zing of ginger perfectly complemented the sweetness and creaminess of the chilled condensed milk.
You may be noticing a recurrent theme, which is that all of our Shavuot recipes are desserts. We noticed that proclivity too, so last year tested out an onion lovers’ pizza, courtesy of kosher cooking guru Jamie Geller. With all those onions, however, even this “savory” recipe had a touch of sweetness!
What type of cheesecake will you be preparing this Shavuot? Or are you one hunt for something different? Our Shavuot edition (out today), features a recipe for a raspberry flan, so like our key lime pie, dairy but not cheese-based.
Happy cooking and Chag Sameach!
