I am a German housewife living in America with my husband and three children. Loving good food makes cooking for me the evil necessary to get there. So, I tend to keep things simple in every aspect.
I needed a simple cake fast for a kids birthday party (we have way to many at this time of the year) and after realizing that I am out of flour I did a hazelnut cake that never fails. The recipe is an adoption from "Minnchen Haselnusstorte". I reduced the sugar and eggs which is hard to believe and increased the hazelnut content. It is still a very very moist cake and you can add at least two layers without being a great pastry chef. For the layers you can use any kind of frosting you like. Easy ones would be whip cream or jam (raspberry is my personal favorite).
what you need: 400 g grounded hazelnuts 150 g turbine sugar 10 eggs 100g dark chocolate for frosting as desired raspberry jam some parchment paper
what you do:
separate the eggs
beat the egg whites until they are stiff
mix in a large bowl the rest of the ingredients
add the stiff egg white rather carefully, do not over mix, so the cake stays fluffy.
grease a baking pan
pour the batter in
bake for 30-40 minutes at 380 Fahrenheit
let it cool down
cut the cake lengthwise in 1-2 layers
add the desired creme or jam
warm up the chocolate in a hot water bath or microwave
place some parchment paper under the sides of the cake, to keep the plate clean and cover cake with chocolate
Today was one of those really unfriendly days that was calling for some comfort food. It was banana pancake day!!! When I was little we lived for a while in Nigeria and during this time we ate a lot of bananas in all kind of sizes and colors. Anyhow, my mother learned their to smush bananas in the pfannkuchen. This is an easy meal to prepare. We eat them to breakfast, as dessert or as the main dish. what you need (serving 4) 2 cups of whole wheat pastry flour 1 1/2 cups of milk 2 eggs 3 bananas pinch of salt maple syrup as desired what you do:
mix all the ingredients in a bowl. The batter should be on the runny side
heat a lightly oiled
frying pan over medium high heat
scoop the batter onto the
griddle, using approximately 1/2 cup for each pancake
These are my husbands favorite cookies. They are a bit tricky, but if you know what to watch out for you will be amazed!
you need (ca 80): 5 eggs 2 organic oranges 2 organic lemon 600g ground almond ( Trader Joes sells almond meal, which is perfect for this) 350g raw brown sugar a pinch of nutmeg 2 tbs cinnamon a pinch of salt parchment paper ( or Oblaten, if you happen to bring them from Germany) icing: 100g powdered sugar lemon juice as needed
what you do:
preheat the oven at 300° Fahrenheit
mix the eggs,sugar and spices
wash the oranges and lemon with hot water
peel the skin and dice them
add the diced peel and ground almonds
keep on mixing
when done use a couple of spoons to place a cookie on the parchment paper.
the cookie should be flat (mine seldom are)
bake for 12-15 minutes ( the trick is to get this right, the Lebkuchen should still be moist in the middle, if not it becomes very quick to hard, if you undercooked it you will notice when youtaste it, in this case just put them back in the oven and bake a few more minutes)
prep the icing mixing powdered sugar with lemon juice, be careful not to use too much juice, the icing should be white not transparent like the one I did.
It is tradition in our family to make a gingerbread house for Christmas. Usually I am off the hook since my mom volunteers, but the last couple of years I have been on my own. I still use her recipe, however I am using whole wheat which brought me a raised eyebrow from my mother, but no one else noticed.
what you need:
500g honey 250g raw cane sugar (refined is traditional) 250g coconut oil 1000g whole wheat pastry flour 50g chocolate powder 3 eggs 2 tbsp rum (or rosewater) 10g cardamon 10g cinnamon 5g ground clove 10g baking soda what you do:
combine the honey, sugar and coconut oil in a large pot
bring it to bubble over medium heat
let it cool down
add the other ingredients and mix well until you got an even dough
refrigerate over night
roll the dough out and cut out the cookies (stars and flowers are fun to decorate with icing)
if you are doing a ginger bread house the thickness should be close to 1 cm
bake for 15-20 minutes at 390 Fahrenheit (really depends on the size or your cookies)I tend to make big cookies and decorate the tree with it
It has been a couple of years since I actually wrote people for Christmas, and simultaneously I am getting less and less cards myself. I swore to myself that I would get back on track this year and I ended up cutting a Mini Boden Catalog in little strips and gluing them on white cardboard. It was fun for an hour, which was enough to make 8 cards. It works even better with a glass of red wine!
I have been in the mood for Christmas cookies and started with some of my favorites. These are super easy and so delicious! I have cut down 1/3 of the sugar, so if you like it sweet jam it up again.
you need: 3 egg whites 250 g ground hazelnuts ca 30 whole hazelnuts for deco 100 g turbinado raw cane sugar 1/2 organic lemon (zest and juice) 1/2 tsp cinnamon (opt.) parchment paper
mix the ground hazelnuts with sugar, lemon juice, zest and cinnamon
beat the egg whites until they are stiff and add carefully to the dry mix (do not over mix!)
preheat the oven at 280 Fahrenheit (convection oven)
