Berry Crumb Bars

When I was a little girl my grandmother used to make these little cookie-like bars for dessert which we called "rombiki" or "rhombus" when translated. They were named as such because she always cut them in the shape of diamonds. My mom always called the cookies "tzorti" or "grated" because the crumb topping comes from grating part of the dough over top of the berry preserves. Regardless of their name, I used to absolutely love these cookies and would eat them in great quantities whenever my grandma made them.

Every time my grandma made these cookies, she always used the same platter to serve them, stacking them carefully on top of each other in a beautiful way and then sprinkling them with powdered sugar. A couple of months ago, after my grandfather passed away, we were clearing out his house and found the platter on one of the kitchen shelves. After seeing it I was filled with my childhood memories of my grandmother and decided that I wanted to make her cookies and serve them on the platter, just as she would.

I had actually tried making these cookies once before in the past, a long time ago before I became the culinary lover I am today. My friends and I were working on a school project about Russia and the former Soviet Union and we all thought it would be fun to hand out a treat during our presentation. Seeing as my family is Russian it was agreed that I should provide some sort of recipe and I settled on these cookies. Unfortunately, I had great difficulty with the last step in which part of the dough is grated on top of the preserves to create a crumb topping. I don't recall now what exactly the problem was, just that I could not manage to grate the dough no matter how hard I tried. It refused to create a crumb topping and instead broke into large chunks. As far as I remember, my mom came home later that evening and helped me make a new batch which I brought to school the next day.

This time around the rombiki turned out wonderfully! The crumb topping was exactly like I remembered from my grandmother's cookies and the berry preserve to dough ratio turned out just right. I was so proud of myself for making the cookies as my grandma would have and I served them just like she did, minus the powdered sugar, piled beautifully on the exact same platter. I could tell that it reminded my mom of her mother as well and it made me happy that I could inspire good memories amongst my family with my baking. As I served the rombiki I imagined the pride my grandmother would have had knowing that her granddaughter was trying to keep her memory alive, and hopefully the joy she would have felt as well.

Berry Crumb Bars

• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened and cut into pieces
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 large sized jar of preserves, any flavor

1. In a large bowl beat together the eggs and sugar. Beat in the butter pieces and then vanilla and mix until even and creamy in consistency.
2. In a separate bowl combine the flour and baking powder. 
3. Add the dry mixture to the large bowl in 2-3 batches and work into a uniform dough.
4. Set aside 1/4 of the dough and press the remaining 3/4 onto a 9" x 13" cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Make sure you press firmly down and distribute the dough evenly across the entire sheet.
5. Spoon the preserves over the dough so that the entire sheet is covered but not too thickly. You want the layer to be thin enough that you can still see the dough underneath in a translucent fashion.
6. Grate the remaining dough over top of the layer of preserves. If having difficulty with the grating, add a little more flour to the dough to make it easier to handle and less sticky.
7. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35-40 minutes, or until the crumb topping starts to develop a light golden color.
8. Use the parchment paper to lift the entire thing off of the cookie sheet and onto a cutting board. Allow it to rest for five minutes before proceeding to cut it into 2" wide strips lengthwise and then diagonally across. It is the same technique as used for cutting mazurki, which can be found here. It is best to cut it into individual pieces while it is still hot because, although messy, later when the entire sheet sets it hardens and becomes difficult to cut into.