From Dill to Dracula

Bună băieți. De mult timp, nici un chat!

Hey guys. Long time, no chat!

I know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged. I could say life got in the way (it did), or I haven’t been cooking Romanian foods as often (I haven’t), but really I just didn’t prioritize blogging as much as I should have. I know my blogging schedule was lax to begin with (every/other Monday), but it became really lax, more like every/other half year.

So sorry. I hope to make From Dill to Dracula more of a priority in my life, because this food—and this country—really do fill me with happiness, joy, and warmth, and I still want to share these feelings and recipes with the world.

Guys… I’m back!

This past weekend, my little—but not so little—sister came to visit this past weekend. I like her more and more as we get older. Here we are out for drinks one evening:

Good people 🙂

And she brought with her the request to make this recipe during her visit. As kids, we affectionately called it Noodlies (pronounced: nude-lees), though I can tell you with great confidence that this is not the authentic name, no matter how fun it is to say. Noodlies. Noo-oo-d-lee-ee-ss.

C’mon, you know what I’m talking about.

Placinta cu mere (pronounced plah-chin-tah coo m-air) translates to pie with apple, but this dessert falls more in the cake family than one would expect from a traditional pie. I figured for my first real post and first recipe, it made sense to feature the Romanian equivalent of a food that screams America. Let’s face it, we love pie here in the good ol’ US of A, but we’re obviously not the only ones, and even though this is different, the Romanian’s have perfected the ability to get those same bright and warm flavors packaged neatly in a three-layered cake—cake, then apple, and more cake.

Now, to be honest, I’m not a big traditional cake fan. Usually, the cake itself is meh and I could do without frosting. That’s what makes this version of cake pie so appealing to me. It doesn’t need frosting, the apple is sweet enough, though I suppose you could always improvise with a glaze. And because there is a layer of apple smooshed between two layers of cake, it keeps the cake from being too dry or flavorless. Really, the pieces of this puzzle come together in perfect harmony, in a way that’ll keep you from missing your traditional apple pie. It reminds me of grandma’s house—she was always the one to make this for me—and who doesn’t like grandma’s house?

Just in time for Fourth of July celebrations, this cake pie is easy to transport, withstands the heat well, and can be cut into bite-sized squares, so you can have more than one with less guilt 😉

↓ Recipe below ↓

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Placinta cu Mere {Romanian “Apple Pie” Cake}