The custom of eating dairy foods, such as blintzes and cheesecake, during Shavuot is explained using the JECEI lens of drash/interpretation. Answering the question, “why?”, rabbis have given two reasons: (1) because after receiving the Torah at Mt. Sinai, the people did not want to spend a lot of time preparing a meat meal which involves slaughtering the animal, koshering the meat, etc. ; (2) because Torah is like milk and honey. (from the First Jewish Catalog)
In honor of Shavuot, here is a yummy dairy recipe!
Serves 8
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
6 eggs, separated
1 pound cream cheese
1 pound sour cream
1 cup sugar
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons flour
Preheat oven to 300. Grease the sides of a 9-inch springform pan.
Melt the butter and combine with the graham cracker crumbs. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the pan. Save some crumbs.
Combine the egg yolks, cream cheese, sour cream, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and flour. Beat very well until light and fluffy.
Beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into cream cheese mixture. Pour the batter into the pan and sprinkle with the remaining graham cracker crumbs.
Bake 1 hour. Turn off oven and leave cake in the oven 1 additional hour. Then leave the oven door ajar 30 minutes more.
From The Jewish Holiday Kitchen by Joan Nathan. Copyright 1988 by Joan Nathan. Reprinted with permission from Schocken Books.
