You have an email. I got some.

This is a link to a story in today's Baltimore Sun, and I have been thinking about these pastries for a looong time. First let me post the recipe.. Galaktoboureko Serves 16 This recipe for galaktoboureko squares comes from Nora Kefalas, who says any leftovers should be refrigerated uncovered to maintain crispness. Syrup may be made ahead and stored in a refrigerator for up to three weeks. Galaktoboureko also can be made into baked rolls of custard-filled phyllo dough. Custard: 4 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 6 cups milk 2 tablespoons unsalted sweet butter 1 1/2 cups sugar 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract rind of 1/2 lemon 1 cup semolina or farina Syrup: 1 tablespoon squeezed lemon juice 1 cup water 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 whole cinnamon stick Dough: 1 pound phyllo dough 1 1/2 cups melted butter-flavored Crisco for brushing phyllo cinnamon to sprinkle on top honey (optional) For the custard: In a small bowl, beat the eggs with vanilla extract and set aside. Then, in a pot, add milk, butter and sugar, using a wire whisk. Stir and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium and add lemon extract and lemon rind. While continuing to stir with whisk, slowly add farina. Continue to cook and stir until mixture thickens (about 3 to 5 minutes). Remove from stove and mix in the beaten eggs. Let cool for about 10 minutes. To make syrup: Place all ingredients in a pot, bring to a boil and let cook for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and remove cinnamon stick. Spread half the phyllo sheets on the bottom of an 11-inch-by-15-inch pan, leaving some hanging over the edges. Coat each sheet with melted Crisco. Then pour the custard in the pan, fold over the sheets and continue to coat with Crisco and layer the remaining sheets. Make several slits on top layer -- not cutting to the bottom. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes and then, with a ladle, pour syrup on top. Sprinkle with cinnamon. (If your custard is warm, your syrup must be cold.) Cut into squares and serve warm or cold. If desired, you may also drizzle honey on top. Per serving (square version): 515 calories, 8 grams protein, 25 grams fat, 6 grams saturated fat, 65 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram fiber, 64 milligrams cholesterol, 200 milligrams sodium Then here are the notes as to how the women prepare the bits and pieces in advance. A good idea if you ever want to get a bunch of people doing this together. It usually takes about 10 women to prepare the hundreds of cigar\-shaped galaktoboureko rolls for the festival. Weeks before the event, Kefalas and others meet at the church in the morning and make the custard, which takes more than two hours. "The church is what brought everybody together," Kefalas said. "We're all like a family down there. It's like home." On the stove, the mixture of milk, butter and sugar needs plenty of stirring to keep it from burning. Demonstrating in her kitchen, Kefalas makes it seem effortless. Then come the lemon extract, rind and farina, followed by the beaten eggs and vanilla, added slowly. The lemon helps cut back the smell of the eggs she'll mix in later (she always thought her mother and grandmother made it too eggy). This is the easy part. When the large batch of custard is finished, a second group of women arrives to roll up the filling in phyllo dough. They butter the thin, flaky dough sheets with a brush, spread them out, pour a line of custard in the middle, roll it all into neat little cylinders and freeze them. The syrup, made of lemon juice, water, sugar and cinnamon, is readied closer to festival weekend because it doesn't keep as long, she said. In the morning of each festival day, the women will bake the rolls, drizzle on the syrup and sprinkle some cinnamon on top. Each roll costs $1.50 and comes in a small wrapper.

I really like the baking mix recipe from SACO Buttermilk Blend -- in any supermarket, w/ address on the tub -- which uses shortening. I'm not into oil instead of shortening, but I avoid hydrogenated oils & substitute butter -- you can see I'm far from pure. But my reason for adding NO fat to my SACO baking mix per se is that I want to add fat differently in different circumstances: for pancakes -- so my last-cooked pancake will be as fluffy as my first -- I emulsify w/ the egg yolks my softened fat (bacon drippings or butter), then I combine that mixture + the combined milk & lightly beaten egg whites to the dry ingredients; but for biscuits I cut chilled butter into the flour mixture before adding liquids. If nothing else, I hope this introduces you &/or others to SACO.

I'm not keen on cooked apple, but I don't mind baked apple occasionally, served with lashings of warm custard. I do mine just with brown sugar and butter on top. I make a shallow cut all around the centre of the apple, too - this stops it from bursting out of its skin. If you do it Linda's way, you can use cardamom powder instead of cinnamon for a flavour change. Below are some variations on the theme: Baked Apples 6 large tart apples 25g butter 1/2 cup raisins, dates or fresh berries (optional) 6 tablespoons brown sugar Peel and core apples, leaving them whole. Butter a shallow dish and pour in enough water to cover the bottom. Mix sugar and butter to a paste with a wooden spoon, stuff apples with the mixture, and spread remainder over the top of each apple. Cover and bake in a moderate oven 20 minutes, then remove cover, baste with the syrup in dish, and continue cooking gently till apples are tender. Serve with custard. Baked Apples with Cranberries 1 orange 2 cups cranberries 3/4 cup orange juice 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed 2 tablespoons butter, melted 4 large apples 4 cinnamon sticks Remove zest from orange. Mince half the zest, leave the other half in strips. Mix cranberries, orange juice, brown sugar and butter. Divide this mixture in half. Stir minced zest into one half. From the stem end of each of apple, slice off 1cm to form a cap. Remove stem from each cap, and cut an opening large enough for a cinnamon stick. Core each apple with a melon baller. Place apples in a small baking pan and stuff each with a portion of the cranberry mixture containing the zest. Replace cap on each apple, with a cinnamon stick through the old stem opening. Pour remaining cranberry mixture around apples, stirring in remaining zest strips. Bake at 180°C until apples are tender, about 45 minutes. Transfer apples to serving plates, pour cranberry mixture from baking pan into a saucepan and simmer over medium heat until reduced to a thin syrup, 7-10 minutes. Spoon some of the thickened cranberry mixture around each apple. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream if desired. Tea Baked Apples 1 cup water 4 green tea bags 4 large baking apples, cored 1/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional) 2 tablespoons sultanas or raisins (optional) 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 4 teaspoons butter Preheat oven to 180°C. In a saucepan, bring water to the boil, then remove from heat. Add teabags and brew 1 1/2 minutes, dunking occasionally. Remove teabags. Peelthe top one-third of apples. In a 20cm square baking dish, arrange apples, peeled end up. In small bowl, combine brown sugar, walnuts, raisins and cinnamon. Evenly spoon the mixture into the centre of apples, then evenly top with butter. Pour tea over and around apples. Bake, uncovered, basting occasionally, for 1 hour or until apples are tender.