Every New Year, Greeks from the Orthodox religion have a unique way of celebrating. A tradition is to cut the New Year’s bread, which we call “the vasilopita”. This bread is special to us around this time because it gathers our families together to officially welcome the New Year. It is also special because baked in this bread is a coin, preferably a loonie (one dollar). The way we break it down is the family gets together around the table and the person who made the bread gets to cut it. The bread is cut into triangular pieces which are assigned to each family member from oldest to youngest. Once you are given your piece, you start looking to see if you have the coin in your piece of bread. The significance of the coin is that whoever ends up having it…will have good luck for the year. I decided to talk about “the vasilopita” because on December 14th, 2009, my grandfather, whom I was very close to, passed away, and when the New Year came around, I ended up getting the coin. It was a very special moment for me because I felt that he had willed it on me, sort of telling me that even if he’s gone that he is still with me.
Recipe
Ingredients
– 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
– 1 cup sugar
– 3 extra large eggs
– grated rind of 2 large oranges
– grated rind of 2 large lemons
– ½ tsp crushed/powdered sour cherry pits
– 2 tsp crushed/powdered gum mastic
– 4 cups flour
– 2 tsp baking powder
– ½ tsp salt
– ½ cup milk
– 1 egg yolk, blended with 1 tbsp milk
– sesame seeds
– blanched almonds
– a clean coin (a loonie will do nicely), wrapped in silver or gold foil
Procedure
- Preheat the oven to 350°degrees. Thickly butter a 10 inch round spring form pan.
- In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the sugar and beat until the mixture is light. Beat in the eggs, one a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the orange and lemon rinds, and the crushed/powdered sour cherry pits and gum mastic.
- In a separate bowl, sift together three cups of the flour, baking powder, and salt.
- With the mixer on low speed, gradually beat in the dry mixture alternately with the milk. The batter will be very thick. Using a wooden spoon, gradually blend in the remaining flour, beating well until completely smooth.
- Spread the batter into the pan, press the coin into the dough until it is completely covered (don't let anyone see where you place it!), and then smooth the top. Brush the top evenly with the egg and milk mixture and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Gently press the blanched almonds into the top to make a cross and spell out the date of the new year.
- Bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown (if it browns too quickly, cover the top with aluminum foil). Cool in the pan for 15 minutes before removing from spring form and thoroughly cool before slicing.
Photo source: http://www.ohfs.org/newsletter/2001_first_quarter.html
