Seventeen years into practicing law and four years after opening his own law firm, Rob Finkelstein (K’89) decided to pursue a long-time dream and enrolled in culinary school for pastry arts. After graduating the nine-month program of five-hour classes three nights per week, Rob recently started a recipe blog, Cinnamon Shtick, to share recipes and baking techniques. The name Cinnamon Shtick is a culmination of Rob’s obsession with cinnamon and love for Jewish inspired treats. When Rob wanted a creative, fun logo for his blog, he naturally turned to Yavneh alum Ed Shems (K’85).
Rob launched his blog as a hobby just a few weeks before the pandemic hit. Once the shutdown started, Rob kept baking and posting. Realizing that this hobby could be a side business, he invested in a food photography course. Then, in November, while working on improving his food photography skills in the hopes of partnering with food related brands and products, a protein powder company, Isopure, hired him to create a Hanukkah inspired cookie recipe made with their protein powder. (Rob has a non-protein powder version of his Peanut Butter Gelt Cookies on his blog as well.)
Rob’s blog already offers recipes for challah, whole wheat challah, sourdough challah, several bagel options, a continuously growing list of innovative babkas, kichel, mandel bread, and several hamantaschen flavors. That’s in addition to a host of other bread, cookie, ice cream and pie recipes!
To keep up with Rob’s latest recipes and baking tips, follow him on Instagram and Facebook and sign up directly at www.cinnamonshtick.com for his email alerts.
