Granny Polly's Blechkoechen...at last !

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’ # 15   ‘ Granny Polly’s Blechkoechen ’

           ‘Granny Polly’s Blechkoechen’  

Imagine her!  …Mid-1960s, already an ample-figured ‘elderly lady’  with a shock of snow-white soft curls , and ‘MuizenbergBeach-tanned‘  olive skin, with highly fashionable purple-tinted cat-eye specs!

I used to think that she and Sylvia “S“   –around-the-corner, were  so! smart …Sylvia’s   similarly, were blue-tinted! Well such are the impressions of a plump six-year-old…totally in awe of Granny Polly’s  Blechkoechen!

Uncle Maxie’s mom…that’s right!- ‘Auntie Angela’s(of abundently-cloved stewed apples fame) mother-in-law ;  yes!

I’d only ever sampled Blechkoechen ‘ a la Granny Polly ’ ….and such wonderful memory is still clearer than  a wind-free Muizenberg day.

I still see that Sunday afternoon tea party in Yarmouth Rd:  Tea-and- Blechkoechen, served in her paved front garden…somehow  there  seemed lots of people there…I think it must’ve been a birthday…or perhaps just ‘ a Sunday-afternoon-tea’ ?

She baked hers in a square tin…always with a crusty topping of “Post Toasties”..now, whom of you know what those are?

.....actually theyr’e the same as Kelloggs Cornflakes!

Mmmmmmmm…my mouth is a-b-s-l-u-t-e-l-y watering as I imagine the glorious taste of her blechkoechen!!!! – And oh! …That glorious aroma of cinnamon and sugar wafting now-a-days through my kitchen as I bake this at a moment’s whim……ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

 And so to recipes…

 ‘ Granny Polly’s Blechkoechen ’…    

Granny Polly's Blechkoechen

Just to translate for you: I surmise that this comes from “bastardised“ Yiddish - evolved by Jewish immigrants in South Africa over decades. The “blech’ is a tin…and “koechen”…well we can all guess from German , is ‘cake’.

Easy…oh-so-easy! ...but use standard measures…flat measures!...correct measures!

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups flour

3 teaspoons baking powder

3 jumbo eggs

1 cup white sugar

1 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla essence

A pinch of salt (for me that’s about just less than 1/8 teaspoon)

150g butter (3/4 cup) ( - can substitute margarine, but it tends to be much more dry)

Grated rind of ½ lemon  ( OR  ½ teaspoon Almond essence)

Generous amount of cinnamon for sprinkling

Topping:

½ cup oats  (Granny Polly used a cup of crushed Corn Flakes – also a nice option!)

½ cup of soft dark brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar (optional)

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon flour

1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons leftover batter from the cake mixture

Method:

Always prepare your “mise en place” (pronounced “ miz ɑ̃ plas “)- it’s a French phrase                                             - literally means:  "putting in place" -  ….I suppose it’s the ‘pre-preparation’

Place all you utensils you will use,  bowls and ingredients laid out on that kitchen counter, in the order listed in the recipe…it makes baking sohhh much easier!..

And something to note :    

NEVER  break an egg directly into any mixture…just incase it is rotten!..

ALWAYS   do so one at a time, into a small dish, then into the larger mixing bowl to join it’s mates ready to mix !

1)      Pre-heat oven to 165 degrees C

2)      Line the base of a 23cm round springform tin with foil

3)      Clip into place and grease-and-flour the cake tin

4)      Sift flour salt and baking powder into a bowl – set it aside

5)      In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar well

6)      Beat in 1 egg at  time, till mixture is light-and-fluffy

7)      Add the vanilla and lemon rind(or almond ess.)

8)      Add the flour mix -  alternating with milk, mixing on medium speed, ending with flour

9)      With a spatula, put ½ of the batter into the cake tin

10) Sprinkle generously with cinnamon

11) Carefully put the rest of the batter on top of this, smooth the top gently, making a slight indentation in the middle. (remember to keep back 2 tablespoons batter in the mixing bowl!)

Method forTopping:

Using electric mixer, on a low speed, into the same mixing bowl, soften the butter and flour with the 2 tablespoons batter that is left in that bowl, add all the other ingredients, and mix delicately till forms crumbs….you don’t want it to be a thick ball!

Lightly, with your fingers, crumble this mixture into the tin, on top of the unbaked batter!

* Bake at 165 degrees C  for 1 hour

….until the middle of the top is firm

…it might  need a further 7 to 10 minutes!

*** Leave to cool completely before removing it from the tin.   

This is a dry ‘tea cake’!  ….wellll, actually one calls this a “coffee cake” …with absolutely NO hint of coffee at all…I suppose it was what would accompany this?..who knows! Yum!!!!!

……..BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB…….

A slice of blissful Blechkoechen

Blechkoechen - The crumbs...

‘COOKINGWITHMAVIS’.....