Babos Receptai (Part 1)

"Babos Receptai" means "Grandma's Recipes." My paternal Grandmother, Tatjana, copied her favorite recipes into a Mead composition notebook. Most of those recipes are ones she used for entertaining; her everyday cooking was not remarkable. There were, however, two "noncompany" items for which Tatjana jotted the "prescription" (as we sometimes call "recipes") into the notebook. Both were sweets Tatjana regularly baked for the family.

The first treat was "Babos Pyragas," or "Grandma's Cake." Whether this was really Tatjana's own recipe, we don't know. Tatjana often called something "her" recipe if she considered it one of her signature dishes. Babos Pyragas resembles a large jam crostata. Tatjana prepared a cookie-like dough. She patted two-thirds of the dough into a rimmed cookie sheet. She covered the surface of the dough with strawberry jam. Tatjana then rolled the remaining portion and cut out leaf shapes out of the dough. She placed the shapes on top of the jam at curved angles so the leaves looked like fronds bending in the wind. Tatjana usually overbaked this treat because the strawberry jam would have burnt, chewy specks in the corner pieces.

Here's the notebook page for the recipe. Tatjana was a messy cook; most of her recipe pages are smattered with batter, just like this one. Tatjana must have dictated this recipe because the ingredients appear in my Mom's handwriting. (I don't remember anyone making the "Šarlotka" recipe that appears on the same page in blue ink):

Here's how I wrote up the recipe:

Babos Pyragas

4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 to 4 tablespoons sour cream (recipe called for 2 heaping tablespoons)
2 tablespoons grain alcohol 
1-1/2 cups strawberry jam

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and adjust the oven rack to the center position.Butter a 15-by-10-inch rimmed cookie sheet ("jelly roll pan"). Sift the flour and set aside.

Use an electric mixer to cream the butter with the sugar for about 5 minutes, or until the mixture is very light in color. Add the vanilla extract and grain alcohol. Stir in enough sour cream to make a soft dough. Using a spatula, fold in the flour, mixing only until the flour disappears.

Gather the dough into a ball. Divide the dough into thirds. Wrap one third is plastic wrap and refrigerate. Press the remaining two-thirds of the dough evenly into the prepared pan. The dough should be about one-third inch thick.

Spread the strawberry jam over the dough. Roll the remaining, chilled dough on a well floured surface until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Using a sharp knife or pastry wheel, cut out decorative leaf shapes. Arrange these over the jam in bent shapes.

Bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until lightly browned. Cool before slicing into about 36 wedges.

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What was the second treat Tatjana often baked for us? It was a Banana Cake. The recipe appeared in the 1956 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cook Book. Tatjana baked the cake in a 10-inch tube pan (she called that pan her "Babka Form"). Tatjana also overbaked this cake; I remember the smell of the slightly burnt crumbs.

Here's how Tatjana copied the recipe for the Banana Cake. The recipe on the lower half of the page is for a Poppy Seed Torte: