Chicas and Cheesecake

Back in the US my primary memory of Shavuot is my mom's cheesecake she makes every year. Her recipe is actually quite similar to the German variety made with a yogurty dairy product called quark, (something that after nine months I still can't fully explain), but I still have a soft spot for good ol' American style cheesecake.

Let's back up for a second though, Shavuot is the Jewish holiday where we received the 10 commandments and it also the harvest festival. The tradition goes that before the Jews received the Torah they did not know the rules for kosher food and couldn't properly prepare a meat meal. That's where the cheesecake comes in. To celebrate this holiday we eat dairy to commemorate the first kosher meal in Judaism which happened to be a dairy meal!

In that spirit, along with Chaya the rebbetzin at Chabad on Campus I decided to have a cheesecake bake-off! Monday night before Shavuot we paired into "teams" to bake! We made peanut butter chocolate, pumpkin, lemon bar, oreo cookie, and mocha cheesecakes!

Noemi and I tackled the double layered peanut butter chocolate cake. Not to brag but I definitely think it was up to Cheesecake Factory par. The recipe for the cheesecake me and Noemi made was from The Girl Who Ate Everything.

It was great to get together talk about Shavuot, bake and snack while we waited for the cakes too cool. Some of us were expert cheesecakes makers, and for others (Brianna and Dora I'm looking at you) it was their first time baking!

In the end we couldn't wait and had to taste test the lemon cheesecake which was a total game changer in terms of how I think about cheesecake (thanks to Hannah and Allie).

The rest of the cakes we saved for Shavuot and ate them on Tuesday night with Chabad on Campus and Wednesday at Bambinim when we celebrated Shavuot with parents and their young children. We had a great garden party filled with food and fun.

Thanks to all the lovely ladies who came to bake with us and made Shavuot extra special!

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