Book of Days Tales

The last Sunday in January is Holocaust Memorial Day in the Netherlands, keeping the celebration near to January 27^th the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. A great many Dutch Jews were keep in hiding from the Nazis by patriots, and during those times the people in hiding shared recipes with their hosts – some becoming quite popular.  Here is Dutch Jewish butter cake.

Ingredients

½ lb butter, room temperature
½ lb flour (about 2 cups)
½ lb sugar (1 cup)
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
grated peel of 1 lemon
½ cup chopped candied ginger (optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350º F/175º C.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl (with your hands, if you wish) until it does not adhere to the sides of the bowl.

Press the dough into an ungreased 8- or 9-inch round glass or ceramic baking pan with straight sides (not a pie plate).

Bake in preheated oven 30 to 40 minutes, until the edge is a little brown; the top should not be brown. Do not overbake. (Bake it less if you want it chewier.)

Let cool in pan about 20 minutes or so, then turn out and cut into individual pieces.