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      • Irish soda bread
      • KLÄSSE
      • Traditional Newfoundland Jiggs Dinner
      • Great Aunt Frances' Brownies
      • Galette Blanche
      • Witches' brew tea
      • Samhain pumpkin bread
      • Fry Bake
      • Cinnamon Buns
      • Mom's pizza dough
      • Calf's tongue
      • Nan's Turkey Stuffing
      • Banana muffins
      • Grandma Webster's Tomato Soup
      • Pyrohi
      • Jiaozi - Chinese dumpling
      • Great Grandma Frances' Chocolate Cake
    • eCookbook - Vol 2 >
      • Captivating Cat Cake
      • Grandma's Chocolate Layer Cake
      • British Trifle
      • Grandma's Famous Chocolate Cake
      • Nanny's Matzo Ball Soup
      • Vegan ginger cookies
      • Yorkshire Pudding
      • Clare Family Sourdough
      • Generations Soup
      • Patricia's Pepperoni Pizza
      • Cherry Cake
      • Swedlove Cookies
      • Grandpa Chicken and Rice
      • A Not-So-Traditional Somali Recipe
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Keksik

By Natalia Hauderowicz
      Stepping through the doorway, you realize the reek of cod and sauerkraut has fled the air. With the obligatory 12 dishes of fish required at a Polish Christmas dinner, a new scent seemed astonishing. A wave of warmth, comfort, and pastry greets you at the door, inviting you to enter. With a smile growing on your face, you turn the corner to the kitchen: eyes switching from the dried fruits scattered all over the counter, to the kitchen scale placed in one square of open space, to the hand mixer sitting next to the egg shells, and finally, to the oven. You see your 75-year-old grandmother pop up from beneath the counter, dressed in her "D
on't Fuck With The Cook" apron, who’s meaning she doesn’t understand.
“Keksik?” you ask, practically beaming.
She smiles and nods her head, then quickly turns back to work. Your face lights up, you can feel the nostalgic aromas turning into flavours in your mouth: a batter not too dry, yet not too dense, unsweetened but balanced by sugary fruits, and a dish cooked once a year -- just in time for Christmas.

       The first recipe of this cake came from my great grandmother, Zosia. Although written in the 1940s, the original recipe sits neatly filed in a book to this day. The charcoal handwriting has grown dim, but the memories attached remain lustrous. During the 1940s, the Holocaust was at its worst for Polish citizens. During these times, Zosia and her family had been forced to leave Poland. Through living in Czechoslovakia, Ukraine, and Germany, no matter how unpredictable life had been, Keksik was a constant each year. To me, this cake does not only represent Christmas, but how my family stays true to its traditions -- no matter the conditions and circumstances -- and that even through the darkest of times, something as simple as a cake is never left behind. 
You will need:
  • 250g flour
  • 250g sugar
  • 5 eggs (separated)
  • 250g butter (softened)
  • 250g dried fruit and nuts of your choice
  • 1 tsp baking powder
      *all ingredients at room temperature*
Directions:
  1. Set the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
  2. Prepare ingredients, measured with a kitchen scale. 
  3. Combine the butter and sugar, mix until the mixture is fluffy.
  4. Add the egg yolks to the butter/sugar mixture.
  5. Beat the egg whites until they have stiff peaks.
  6. Slowly add the flower to the egg yolk/butter/sugar mixture, while mixing.
  7. Once all the flour has been mixed into the batter, slowly fold in the egg whites, being careful to not over mix.
  8. Finally, add the dried fruits and nuts to the batter.
  9. Prepare the inside of a 9x5” pan with parchment paper.
  10. Add the batter to the pan.
  11. Put the cake in the oven, let it bake for 55 minutes.
  12. Remove cake from the oven and poke with a toothpick. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. If not, put the cake back in the oven 5 minutes at a time, checking as you go.
  13. Once fully baked, take the cake out of the oven and let it cool.
  14. Slice into 1 inch slices and serve!

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