It is a well-known custom that Jews enjoy dairy foods on the first day of Shavuos, the Festival of Weeks, which begins at sundown tomorrow night.
The holidays commemorates the giving of the Torah on Mount Sinai, but for many it lacks the excitement and drama of Passover, Sukkos, Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur. However, the love of dairy in my family always made us look forward to Shavuos.
Blintzes; dairy keegel; bagels, cream cheese and lox; and creamed herring are among the traditional foods we would eat at Shavuos. The focus on dairy also allowed us to enjoy dairy bakery — a rarity, as most bakery had to be parve to be able to be enjoyed as the dessert after an evening meat meal.
Two of the recipes for dairy gebacks I remember from my childhood are 1) for something called "Danish pastry" — which is not the puff pastry that is traditionally called Danish pastry in the United States, but rather a style of rugelach; and 2) pecan tassels, which are like miniature pecan pies made in mini muffin tins with a dairy dough. The former recipe goes back to something in traditional Jewish baking; the latter recipe does not.
Alas, time constraints prevent the enjoyment of either of these cookies this year. But Saturday night and Sunday will see plenty of dairy delights on the table.