STELLA'S COOKBOOK
FOOD & ART
Sweet Treats
Shortbread Filled with Dates & Walnuts
Dates are one of the symbolic foods presented on the Sephardic New Year celebratory table. Delectable date-nut-filled shortbread cookies, Menenas, are a Rosh Hashanah favourite in my household - try these moreish treats!
Meringues with Mastic
These elegant, ivory-coloured clouds of meringues are crunchy to bite into but yet soft and chewy inside because of their soft mastic and vanilla flavoured centres.
Milk & Fresh Orange Juice Pudding
This heavenly, delicate milk pudding fragrant with orange blossom water, is layered over a refreshing orange and cornflour base. To elevate this “sutlach” which is Turkish in origin, to the next level I like to pour a rose and raspberry syrup and scatter with crushed pistachios or rose petals.
Candied Pumpkin
Amber, luscious, candied pumpkin steeped in a ginger syrup with crunchy toasted almonds-“Dulce de kalavasa” is a much loved Rhodesli sweet .
Clementine & Almond Cake
Puréed, boiled clementines lend themselves to an indescribably moist, citrus-flavoured, flourless almond cake.
Orange Spanish Sponge Cake
Pan d’Espanya (pan esponjado) is the iconic orange chiffon cake that has been made for generations from the Jews of Spain.
Sesame Studded Biscuits
Most Sephardic households from Rhodes Island have a stash of crunchy pretzel shaped sesame- studded biscuits on hand.
Marzipan Filled Pastries
Gizadas de masapan are marzipan filled baked star-shaped tartlets similar in taste to macaroons. These delicately handcrafted sweet treats are the crown of our Sephardic confection dating back to medieval Spain – a recipe we inherited centuries ago.
Apricot Sweet Paste
Share a cup of Turkish coffee or as we say in Ladino Kahve Turko with a piece of candied apricot. It’s so good yet so easy to make!
Meringues with Mastic & Tropical Fruit
This meringue, chewy with Greek mastic, has a soft pillowy centre. It makes a magnificent, elegant, gluten-free dessert.
Lemon Fondant
In Sephardic homes in Greece and Turkey this glossy white fondant is traditionally served as a symbol of purity at life-cycle events and on the New Year.