Ravani tis Mamas -- Mom's Ravani

My mom's most sought after desserts by our family and friends are her Ravani and Baklava. My personal favorite, by far, has always been her Ravani. This moist semolina cake sweetened by just the right amount of cinnamon-scented syrup is sublime.

This Ravani was one of the first desserts I made for my husband and it quickly became one of his favorites as well. Some time ago, he even treated his co-workers to some and as such I bake a large pan every couple of months for him to bring to the office. This special Ravani makes an appearance at pretty much every one of our holiday tables, whether made by my mom or myself. It's a simple recipe that yields what I believe to be delicious results.

As tomorrow is Mother's Day I couldn't think of a better time to highlight my mom's Ravani and for this reason I am sending this to Ivy of Kopiaste as she is hosting a Celebrating Mother's Day event. I may be 31 but I still call my mom "Mommy." Always have, always will. So ... Mommy, I wish you a very Happy Mother's Day! I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your hard work and dedication to us girls (there are four of us) and for being such an amazing Giagia to your very lucky grandchildren. We love you ...

Ravani tis Mamas--Mom's Ravani
Makes a 13x9-inch Pan

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

6 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup simigdali psilo (fine semolina)

1 cup flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

For the Syrup:

3 cups water

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon honey (preferably thyme)

2 cinnamon sticks

A couple drops of lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease your pan and set aside. Combine the flour, semolina and baking powder in a small bowl.

In the bowl of an electric mixer combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce mixer speed and add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and begin adding the flour mixture a little at a time until just combined.

Pour into pan and smooth with a rubber spatula. Bake at 425 degrees for about 5 minutes then lower oven to 350 degrees and bake until golden, about 30 minutes.

While the cake bakes, place all the ingredients for the syrup in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer on low until the cake is ready.

Using a ladle, add some of the hot syrup to the hot cake a little at a time until done. Set aside, cool to room temperature and serve.

Seker Pare

For days now I had been trying to get myself into the spirit of the holidays. The house had been decorated for about two weeks but I still hadn't gotten into that Christmas-y swing of things.


But nothing says Christmas for me like the smell of cookies and sweets baking away in the oven. So what better way to get into the Christmas mood than to start baking? By the end of the week, I should have ready our traditional family recipes for koulourakia and kourambiedes but to start things off today I decided to try my hand at a new recipe.


This weekend I found myself devouring an issue of a Greek food magazine called "Gastronomos;" an issue which I perused a number of times before but which really grabbed my attention the other day. I was salivating over many, if not all, of the dishes illustrated on the vibrant pages--it was the December 2006 issue of the magazine so, of course, it was dedicated to holiday cooking and the rich food set out against the rich Christmas color palette really brought out the holiday spirit in me.


One of the issue's articles featured Kaiti Koufonikola, owner of Cafe Avissinia in Athens' Monastiraki, cooking at home for the holidays. Kaiti Koufonikola's cooking, according to the article, combines the distinct cuisines of Constantinople and Northern Greece. I think her simple dishes spoke to me the most as the article so successfully illustrated her passion for cooking traditional, no frills recipes and sharing those heartwarming dishes with a large group of family and friends. I related not only to her style of cooking but to her style of entertaining and giving back to those who surround her through life's simple pleasures.


It is my daughter's "name-day" today--Dec. 15--as it is the feast day of St. Eleftherios and I've decided to prepare some of Kaiti Koufonikola's dishes for our family and friends who will visit us this evening. I'll share the rest with you later this week as I have yet to begin cooking (speaking of which, I really should get back to the task at hand) but today I wanted to share this recipe for Seker Pare which I adapted from Kaiti Koufonikola's recipe I found in the pages of "Gastronomos." Seker Pare are delightful "cookies," if you will, made with fine semolina, baked until golden and then soaked in sweet syrup. I love the texture of desserts that call for semolina (ravani being among my favorites) and plan on adding these simple seker pare to our family's holiday baking repertoire.


P.S. I'd like to send these cookies to Susan of Food Blogga for her Eat Christmas Cookies event. All the entries look absolutely delicious and it's a great way to swap cookie recipes and get into the spirit of the holidays. Have a look here!

Kali Orexi!






Seker Pare
(Adapted from a recipe by Kaiti Koufonikola featured in "Gastronomos")
Makes about 36 pieces


2 sticks butter, room temperature
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 eggs

2 1/2 to 3 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 cup fine semolina

1/3 cup whole blanched almonds

Whisk together 2 1/2 cups of the flour and baking powder in a bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Stir in the semolina and mix until just combined. Add the flour and mix until the dough no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl (use more of the remaining 1/2 cup flour as necessary--I finally used about 2 3/4 cup total).

Heat the oven to 375 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment. Form the dough into balls about the size of a walnut shell and place on the parchment lined cookie sheets. Place a whole almond in the center of each ball, pushing it in so only half the almond is showing.

Bake until light golden. In the meantime, heat 2 cups of water with 2 cups of sugar and bring to a boil. Add a 3-inch piece of lemon peel and two vanilla beans, opened and scraped, and simmer mixture until the seker pare are done.

Once the seker pare are removed from the oven, spoon about half the hot syrup over and allow the cookies to sit for about 5 minutes. Spoon the remaining syrup over the sweets and serve at room temperature.