Frangipane Cheesecake Spirals

Plus: The Four Questions Interview with Susan Spungen (and a bonus blintz recipe from Veg Forward)

May 23, 2023

Hello The Jewish Table readers,

In this week’s newsletter, I have an easy-to-make, supremely delicious recipe for Frangipane Cheesecake Spirals for your Shavuot or springtime tables. And I’m excited to welcome cookbook author and food stylist-extraordinaire, Susan Spungen, to this week’s The Four Questions interview. Susan also graciously shared a recipe for Cheese Blintzes with Sour Cherry Compote from her new book Veg Forward.

Before we get to all that excitement, a quick reminder that The Jewish Table newsletter is supported by paid subscribers. I don’t want to get all “NPR pledge drive” on you. But if you enjoy The Jewish Table and have the means to upgrade to a paid subscription, it really makes a difference. You will receive both recipes and stories (weekly) and gratitude (undying). Thank you!

Okay, about those Frangipane Cheesecake Spirals!

Shavuot is coming up this week, which means it is time to embrace all. the. dairy. foods. If you want a refresher about why this holiday—which celebrates the Israelites receiving the Torah on Mount Sinai—is also the Jewish calendar’s largest dairy fest, check out last year’s newsletter.

From cheese blintzes and dairy noodle kugels, to an obsession with topping everything from latkes to borscht with hefty dollops of sour cream, there are innumerable expressions of dairy love in Ashkenazi cuisine. (There’s also a high prevalence of lactose intolerance amongst Ashkenazi Jews so…that’s awkward).

One of the purest expressions of that love is cheesecake, in all of its creamy, dreamy, dense-as-fudge glory. I enjoy cheesecake in moderation, especially on Shavuot when it often stars on the dessert table. But after a bite or two, all that cream cheese and sour cream masquerading as cake gets a little overwhelming. (Do you feel that way too? Or are you in the gimme-all-the-cheesecake-all-the-time camp?)

Do you know what never gets overwhelming to me? Almond croissants. Like cheesecake they are also decadent, but the contrast of textures (flaky croissant + creamy almond filling) makes them infinitely more eatable.

So for this week’s recipe I created a mashup of the two confections. Almond croissants are typically filled with frangipane, a soft and spreadable cream made from butter, sugar, egg, and almond flour. I swapped the butter with cream cheese, amped up the flavor with vanilla and almond extracts, and folded in cinnamon and lemon zest and WOW. Spread between puff pastry, sliced and formed into spirals, they bake up into crunchy, creamy, slightly tangy, and just sweet-enough pastries that tick all the boxes for Shavuot and, honestly, just for life.

Let me know if you make them. And wishing you a joyful Shavuot and spring!

Frangipane Cheesecake Spirals

Makes about 30 spirals

4 ounces (113 g) cream cheese, softened

1/3 cup (65 g) plus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, divided

3 large eggs, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

1 3/4 cups (155 g) almond flour

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed

Confectioner’s sugar, for dusting

Preheat the oven to 375˚F, and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using a handheld electric mixer,) beat together the cream cheese, 1/3 cup (65 g) granulated sugar, 2 of the eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, and lemon zest at medium speed until smooth. Add the almond flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and salt and beat on low to form a soft, spreadable paste.
Working with one sheet of puff pastry at a time (keep the other one wrapped), roll the dough into a large rectangle (about 9 x 14 inches), trimming any ragged edges. With one of the short sides facing you, spread half of the filling across the bottom lower half of the dough, then fold the other half over the filled side.
Using a sharp knife, cut the pastry into long, 3/4-inch wide strips. Transfer the strips to one of the baking sheets, twisting the ends of each strip in the opposite direction to create a spiral along the length, and exposing some of the filling. Repeat process with the second sheet of puff pastry and the remaining filling and baking sheet.
In a small bowl, stir together the remaining tablespoon of sugar with the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. Beat the remaining egg with a smidge of water and lightly brush the spirals with the egg wash, then sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon-sugar. Bake until puffy and golden, 18 to 22 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Just before serving, lightly dust with confectioner’s sugar.

Other Shavuot-friendly recipes from The Jewish Table

The Four Questions Interview: Susan Spungen

Welcome to the latest installment of The Four Questions, The Jewish Table’s semi-regular interview segment featuring Jewish food luminaries. This week I’m excited to be joined by Susan Spungen, a cookbook author and food stylist whose resume includes being a regular contributor to New York Times Cooking (!) the founding food editor of Martha Steward Living Omnimedia (!!), and the culinary consultant on the films Eat Pray Love and Julie & Julia (!!!) She also writes her own wonderful newsletter on Substack called Susanality.

Spungen’s new book Veg Forward, which comes out next week (but is available for preorder now) celebrates the joys of putting seasonal vegetables at the center of the plate. There are, of course, plenty of other vegetable-focused cookbooks, but this one stands out. I honestly can’t remember the last time I looked through a book and thought, “I want to cook THAT now!” about so many of the recipes. Actually, I do remember, lol. It was Claudia Roden’s Mediterranean cookbook. But I truly think Veg Forward’s recipes—Poblano Corn Chowder, Butter Steamed Potatoes, and Roasted Honeynut Squash with Quinoa Crunch— are even *more* enticing.

Susan took some time to talk about her own formative memories with seasonal produce, what it was like to find her voice as a recipe developer, and her Ukrainian grandmother who made the very best kreplach. She also generously shared the recipe for Cheese Blintzes with Sour Cherry Compote from Veg Forward. Check out the recipe below the interview and make them for Shavuot, or a springy brunch.

Can you share a formative “vegetable memory” from your life that set you on the path to vegetable obsession?

I was always pretty passionate about seasonality and fresh produce. I grew up in Philly, and my family would drive down to the Jersey Shore in the summers to stay with my aunt. There were always farm stands along the way selling zucchini and tomatoes. My mother would talk about them so reverently, like “Can you believe these Jersey tomatoes?” And now I still have that same reaction. If I am upstate and we drive by a farm stand selling blueberries or corn, I will screech to a halt. I love getting that just-picked flavor and always want to taste the terroir of wherever I am.

Another memory I have, which came up recently when I was talking to my husband, is this restaurant in Philadelphia called In Season. It is long gone, but when I was an art student in college, I would sometimes go there by myself for lunch. This was very much the Alice Waters era where someone from Philly probably went to Chez Panisse in Berkeley and thought, “I’m going to do that.” I don’t remember anything in specific that I ate there, but it opened my eyes to the concept of embracing seasonal cooking when it was still a fairly new idea.

Has your approach to cooking vegetables changed or evolved over time?

When I worked at Martha, we did these single subject stories about fruits, vegetables, grains, or other ingredients. No one else was doing deep dives like that—learning more about the plants themselves and visiting growers to take beautiful pictures. My job as the food editor was to think about all the things you could do with a mushroom or with rice or with brassicas or alliums. That helped inspire my interest in the beauty of every vegetable as an object to be pondered.

What has changed is that I have been able to get my work to more closely mirror how I cook in my own kitchen. That took a long time. In my first book, which was published in 2005, I am standing on the cover looking like Martha Stewart—which makes sense. My job at Martha was to do things like she would. It took time to find my voice after I went freelance, but I found a lot of freedom in not having to answer to anyone else. Now the brand is me and I have more room to play. My recipe style and my recipes in general are simpler. I tend towards the ”low effort, high impact” approach to cooking.

What surprised you most while working on Veg Forward?

I was surprised by how much I truly love these recipes! This might sound strange, but as a cookbook author sometimes you include recipes in a book for things you don’t actually make at home. Or at least don’t make often. But there isn’t one thing in Veg Forward that I don’t want to cook again and again.

How would you describe your relationship to Jewish food?

I grew up thinking that Jewish food mostly wasn’t very good. But I had one grandmother who came from Ukraine, and moved to the United States as a 17-year old. She really cooked Jewish food, and I tasted a lot of great things in her kitchen—blintzes, poppy seed cookies, and beautiful kreplach that floated in her chicken soup. They lived in a small apartment, and the kitchen was the nexus of their home.

I embrace a lot of foods that taste “Jewish” to me—barley, kasha, beets, dill, a good boiled chicken. There are a couple of Jewishly-inspired recipes in Veg Forward, like the blintzes (see below) and a borscht-inspired salad with kasha, beets, and horseradish. Those flavors are in my bones.

Cheese Blintzes with Sour Cherry Compote

Susan: Blintzes are traditional for the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, but they are perfect anytime—for breakfast, brunch, lunch, or even dinner. The word blintz refers to the pancake itself, which is like a sturdy French crepe, but slightly thicker and more eggy. The cheese filling has a lemony tang. For the compote that’s served over top, sour cherries are delicious. (They’re in season for about a minute in the Northeast.) Unlike sweet cherries, which are larger and fleshier, sour cherries are tart and juicy. Every year, I pit and freeze as many as I have time to do, freezing them in a single layer on a sheet pan, and storing them in zip-top bags to use later. If you can’t get them, berries are the next best choice.

Makes 8 blintzes

For the pancakes:

3 large eggs

1 cup/128 g all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

3/4 cup whole milk

1/4 cup cold water

Butter for cooking the blintzes

For the compote:

1 tablespoon cornstarch

3 tablespoons cold water

2 cups fresh or frozen pitted sour cherries

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the Filling:

2 cups ricotta, preferably fresh

1/2 cup whipped cream cheese

1 large egg yolk

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

Zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Butter for browning the blintzes

Confectioners’ sugar (optional)

To make the blintzes: Whisk together eggs, flour, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl until smooth. Combine milk and water and slowly whisk in until smooth (or you can do this in a blender). The batter can sit in the refrigerator for up to 1 day.
Slowly heat a medium nonstick skillet or crepe pan over medium heat. Add a small knob (about 1/2 teaspoon) of butter and swirl it around to coat the pan. Add a ladleful (about 1/4 cup) of batter to the pan, tilting the pan to coat completely. If you add too much batter, tilt the excess batter back into the bowl. You want just enough to coat the pan and not more.
Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on the first side, until the blintz looks dry in the center and is browning around the edges. Carefully flip and cook on the other side for about 1 minute. If the blintz seems fragile, cook it a little longer.
Slide the blintz onto a dinner plate. Repeat the process, adding a bit of butter to the pan each time until all the batter is used, stacking the blintzes directly on top of one another. At this point the blintzes can be wrapped and refrigerated for a day or two. Let the blintzes warm up at room temperature for a bit or for 20 seconds in the micro- wave to help them separate more easily.
To make the compote: Combine the cornstarch with water in a small dish. Stir together the cornstarch mixture, cherries, sugar, and lemon juice in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally, until the cherries release their juices and the mixture thickens, about 5 minutes. Keep warm.
To make the filling: Combine the ricotta, cream cheese, egg yolk, sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a small bowl. Mix thoroughly with a spoon.
Lay a blintz on a work surface with the browner side up. Spoon 2 to 3 tablespoons of the filling in the center and roll up like a burrito, folding the lower half of the pancake over the filling, folding in the sides, and rolling up to enclose the filling in a neat package. If you don’t want to cook the blintzes right away, store them on a plate seam side down in the refrigerator for up to 1 day.
Melt 1 teaspoon butter in a large skillet over medium heat and add 4 blintzes to the pan, seam side down. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes on each side until golden brown. Wipe out the pan, add another teaspoon butter, and repeat.
Serve with some of the cherry compote spooned over top and dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.

This recipe is reprinted, with permission, from Veg Forward: Super-Delicious Recipes That Put Produce at the Center of Your Plate) by Susan Spungen (Harper Collins, 2023)