Thank You, Merv!

Some of you know exactly what kind of deliciousness I have pictured here!!  Yes!  It's Zwieback drizzled with just enough homemade jam!  This post will take me forever to write as I am having to stop every sentence and take another mouthful of bready goodness!  And no, these are not gluten free, so I will be eating every last crumb even if it creates excessive curves for my cruise!

Growing up in a large extended family of German heritage, we often gathered for large holiday meals.  My Grandma was usually seen with an apron on in the kitchen or outside in the garden (though I learned later that she didn't care for gardening anything other than flowers!).  Of all the different traditional foods that filled the kitchen, one of the "given" items that was often very fresh was her Zwieback!  I remember watching Grandma as she would knead and punch the dough with fervor and when it was ready, she would effortlessly pick out the perfect handful of dough, twist off the ball on top only to put it back on  and give it all a thumb-prick to stick!  Oh, the smell of freshly baked rolls was mouthwatering.  Then to pull off the top ball and fill the depression left in the bigger roll with her homemade jam was simple perfection.  And you know, everything at Grandma's tastes better - even spinach with cheese sauce, but that's another story.

Just recently, I observed my college roommate advertising these deliciously buttery rolls on her facebook page, and I had to ask her if she would ship them to me!  As you can see, I have the best roommate ever!  I also have to state that as different as we have always been, I love her like a sister and wish we could hang out more!  Especially with these mad baking skills (did I mention how different we are?)!  Someday I'll have to share more about this fabulous friend of mine, but until then, Thank you, Merv!