Bread Roll Blossom

Do you know that moment in the morning when you still lie in bed – not full asleep but not yet quite awake? The duvet has just the perfect temperature. Not too warm and not too cold and your thoughts go into wondrous directions bordering from sheer fantasy to deep discussions with yourself, salutary and bright – gone within a gasp. I like to think of that moment as the closest overlap between conscious and subconscious possible. Between what is really going on in my mind and what it wants me to believe is going on.

Pfeffernüsse (Pepper Nuts)

Christmas Day is coming closer and closer. The tree is up and decorated, half of the presents are bought and the grill assembled. You've heard me. Is said Grill. With a capital G. It's December, it's cold and wet (no snow for me at Christmas this year probably) and my wacky mother is holding up her tradition to invite people in the late morning and have the last barbecue of the year. That's how she rolls. Bless her heart.

And by Christmas Day, I actually mean Christmas Eve, which is the 24^th December. Unlike in many other countries where the presents are being unwrapped in the morning of the 25., it is all about Christmas Eve here. The family comes together, (religious people may go to a Christmas mass where children usually re-enact the Nativity), you eat and then it is time for gifts (and other religious people may skip the first mass and go to a later one sans Nativity as the latest is usually held at midnight). That is probably the rough plan for many German families. When I was little, one of my gifts always was a board game that we played after the gift giving.

Oh yeah, and the food! What I am about to write will probably make a few people's heart stop for a second. As long as I can think, the dinner on Christmas Eve always consisted of one thing, and I know it is the same in many German families: Potato-Salad and bangers/wieners.

I do not know what the story behind serving a humble meal like this is, though.

The two days afterwards (the official Christmas Holidays) however, Germans usually step it up a notch and prepare more festive meals like duck, goose or roasts.

Coming to the fourth recipe of my 5 Day Christmas Countdown/Bake-a-thon.

This one has really got the Christmas flavours tingling. With allspice, cardamom and ginger, it is a spice-fest. But the kick (or a certain “je ne sais quoi”) is definitely giving the white pepper. Pepper in a biscuit? Yes. But don't worry, it is not hot and the pepper is not overpowering. This really tastes like Christmas to me.

Pfeffernüsse (Pepper Nuts)

You can find the original here (German).

The dough needs to rest over night so it is easy to whip it up in the evening.

• 275g (9.7 oz) all-purpose flour
• 1 generous pinch of baking soda
• 75g (2.6 oz) butter (or margarine for a vegan version)
• 3 tbsp. honey (ca. 50g; replace with maple syrup or more dark beet syrup for a vegan version)
• 75g (2.6 oz) dark beet syrup/molasses (alternative: simple molasses)
• 75g (2.6 oz) demerara sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1/4 ts ground white pepper
• 1/2 ts ground dried ginger
• 1 generous pinch of cardamom
• 1 generous pinch of allspice

• 75 g (2.6 oz) icing/powdered sugar 

1. Mix together flour and baking soda
2. In a medium pot, boil up butter, honey, dark beet syrup, demerara along with pepper, ginger, cardamom and allspice.
3. Add flour and quickly stir it up into a homogeneous mass. Let it cool down completely. Wrap it up in cling film/saran wrap and keep in in the fridge over night (the dough can become rather tough but do not fret, that is alright).
4. The next day, let dough regain room temperature again. Preheat oven to 180°C (355°F).
5. Roll dough into hazelnut-sized balls and bake on second rack from the bottom for about 12 minutes (the pepper nuts will not rise a lot, so you do not need to leave too much space between the balls while baking).
6. Let them cool completely. Stir icing/powdered sugar with about 1 ts of water to icing. Brush on pepper nuts.

On the first day, the pepper nuts will be rather tough and crunchy. But keep them in a jar or box for a couple of days and they will soften, developing their spicy flavour.

Enjoy!

How do your traditions on Christmas look like?

Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescents)

Alright, so I'm a big old liar.

Last post – which was AGES ago – I promised that I would stick around and keep writing. I did not.

But hey, at least I'm pretty good at lying as I had convinced myself at that moment I could do it. Damn how oblivious I was.

The reason I was on a hiatus? University. Let's just say there had been complications with my Bachelor's Thesis that had me stuck on the computer rewriting and writing it (or falling into comatose four hour sleeps or lying on the floor in fetus position slowly rocking myself back and forth...whatever) until the last third of November and then trying desperately to catch up on all the academic things I have missed (I had to complete my thesis during the first semester of my master's programme... long story), holding presentations, attending a three-day course over the weekend in between yadda yadda yadda.

Anyways.

 Good news is, I'm back! It's the middle of December and no thought was given towards Christmas so far. Not one. Meaning: No Christmas shopping yet, no trips to the Christmas market yet and only vague plans of how Christmas is going to be this year.

Among all those Chrismas-y things I have missed so far naturally is: Christmas Baking!

With only five days left until Christmas Eve, I hereby announce my 5-Day Christmas Countdown/ Last Minute Bake-athon! Starting today, I will post one recipe daily until Friday! Yay! But not just any kind of recipes. In a little attempt to spread some warm and cosy Old Worldly Christmas lovin', I will share the most traditional German Christmas biscuits and other pastries I could think of.

Admittedly, Vanillekipferl, sort of translating to Vanilla Crescents – do not ask me what Kipferl is supposed to mean as it is probably some kind of dialect – are more of German-Austrian-Bohemian origin, but as the boarders are rather blurry both geographically and historically, one cannot really pin it down to one particular country, especially not today's.

In Germany at least they belong to Christmas like Candy Canes do in the States and while there sure is a plethora of recipes for such a traditional kind of biscuit – with the ingredients varying slightly – this one is simply amazing. They really are delightfully light and almost melt-in-your-mouth airy. I think it is the lack of egg that helps with the consistency and also makes it really easy to veganize! Just replace the butter with margarine and there you go!

Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescents)

As recipes usually ask for vanilla sugar, which is not easily to be found everywhere around the world, I omitted it in my version and rather added the vanilla straight to the dough as opposed to rolling the baked biscuits in a mixture of icing and vanilla sugar.

• 250 g (8.8 oz) Cake or All-Purpose Flour
• 200 g (7 oz) Butter (or margarine for a vegan version)
• 100 g (3.5 oz) Walnuts, finely ground (I quickly did that in a blender)
• 70 g (2.5 oz) Icing/Powdered Sugar
• 1 Pinch of salt
• Seeds of 1 Vanilla Pod (You could go crazy and use two, I dare you!)
• Extra Icing/Powdered Sugar

Note: You can also make these using ground almonds or hazelnuts, but increase the amount of butter to 7.8 oz then

1. Preheat oven to 150°C (300°F)
2. Knead together all ingredients but the extra icing sugar. (I did that with my hands and I would recommend you doing that, too)
3. Let the dough sit for at least half an hour.
4. Form dough into rolls as thick as a finger. Cut into 3cm (a bit more than an inch) long pieces.
5. With your hands, shape pieces into little crescents.
6. Bake on the second rack from the top for 15-20 minutes (they should hardly brown)
7. Immediately yet carefully remove from tray as they both burn and break easily at this state.
8. Let cool completely and roll in generous amounts of icing sugar.

Getting the right shape can be quite a pain in the bum so sometimes I just roll the dough into little balls to bake vanilla buttons. It indeed is even less time consuming that way.

Enjoy!

Kartoffelpuffer mit Apfelmus (Potato Pancakes with Chunky Apple Sauce)

I wish I wish I wish. I wish I could cook and bake and enjoy life as much as I want. But unfortunately, there's stuff do to. Smart people stuff. Whether I'm up for the task has yet to be proven. I am working on my bachelor's thesis right now and am kind of in the crucial initial phase. Naturally, that means that it is taking up most of my time, leaving a little less for cooking and blogging. So today's main theme is: Keeping it simple.

You know what I have noticed? While I'm German, I have not posted any traditional German recipes so far. That is because I don't really know what “German Cuisine” is. I just heard some people yell “SAUERKRAUT!!”. Well, yes and no. Sauerkraut is eaten everywhere in Germany today, but traditionally, you would not find it in the northern parts. And then, every region would traditionally prepare and serve it differently along with different dishes.

See, historically, the area now known as Germany consisted of many small kingdoms and dukedoms each differing culturally, linguistically and culinary which one still notices today. I would not be able to understand people from the deepest parts of Bavaria. So even if a dish is prepared in a similar way in more than just one place, the name can still be different.

Those where a lot of differences in one post.

This is basically all you need.

These bad boys here for example, while basically known all over Central Europe, are called “Kartoffelpuffer” where I live. Other names would be “Erdäpfelpuffer“, „Reibekuchen“, „Reiberdatschi“, „Reibeplätzchen“, „Kartoffelpfannkuchen“ „Baggers“ and „Flinsen“ . See what I mean? Internationally, they are better known as latkes or simply potato pancakes.

For sticking with the 'simple' theme, I kept mine vegan, keeping it as simple as possible. The apple sauce however as a bit of an autumn like twist with roasted almonds and raisins. Onions along with a rather sweet dish? Yes. Trust me when I say that you won't taste them. Yet they are essential for having a lot of that roasted flavour!

Kartoffelpuffer mit Apfelmus (Potato Pancakes with Chunky Apple Sauce)

Potato Pancakes

• 1 kg (35.3 oz.) potatoes
• 2 medium sized onions
• 2 tbsp starch flour
• 1/4 ts ground nutmeg
• Pinch of salt

• oil for frying

1. Peel and grate potatoes and onions. With your hands, tightly squeeze out as much liquid as possible (I am sure there are more sophisticated methods, but I am not that fancy and stick to the 'simple' theme here).
2. Add starch flour, nutmeg and salt. Stir well and set aside and start preparing apple sauce. Your batter might get a grayish tone that, while it will not be visible when prepared anymore, does not look too appetizing. To prevent the colour change, add about 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
3. When apple sauce is cooking, heat up a pan. Cover bottom of pan with oil. You will need quite a bit or the potato pancakes will stick. 
4. When oil is hot, stir potato mass again and place a heaping tablespoon of it it the pan, pressing it down with a spatula immediately, forming a patty (it is better to use a bit more batter than too little). I would recommend only placing up to three patties in the pan. Slightly shake pan to prevent patties from sticking to the bottom. After about three minutes or when you see that the patties are starting to brown, carefully flip them over. 
5. If the potato pancakes are not browned enough to you liking, turn them over and over again until they are. The crucial part for them to stick together and not on the bottom really is the first turn. 
6. Lay them out on paper towels to soak up some of the fat.

Chunky Apple Sauce

• About 1kg (35.3 oz.) apples (preferably tart)
• A splash of lemon juice
• 1 ts cinnamon
• 150-200g (5.3-7 oz.) almond slivers
• 100g (3.5 oz.) raisins
• Sugar to taste

1. Remove core from apples and dice them in cubes of about 1''. You can peel them if you would like to. I did not. Throw them in a large pot heated up on low heat along with a splash of lemon juice. Stir well.
2. In a small pot, dry roast the almond slivers until they browned to your liking, add to the apples.
3. Once the apples start to soften, add all other ingredients. Stir occasionally until most apples have cooked into a sauce, yet still with some chunks remaining.
4. Add sugar to your liking. I found my apple sauce to be sweet enough because of the raisins.

Serve along with potato pancakes and enjoy!

Hasselback Potatoes with Apple Chutney

Apples. I know I have already posted a picture of the apple tree from our garden. But just in case, here is a reminder:

Yup. A different one.

In fact, there are THREE apple trees back there taunting me with their heavily loaded branches. They know exactly that I should spent my time on something else than picking them all and I could swear there is a hushed giggle following each thud caused by another apple dropping down. You complained about a bad "apple year" last autumn? You want apples? We give you apples! Mean apple trees those are!

Actually, I should be happy about the plethora of tart, juicy fruits they are carrying this year. However, the only thing you cannot have too much of is money happiness, right?

So, as I am trying to use (and/or give away) as many of them as possible, there are going to be lots of apple recipes showing up on here, as I have mentioned before. Don't say I did not warn you.

This combination has a bit of a fusion cuisine touch to it with the hasselback potatoes originating from Sweden and chutney being associated with India and Pakistan. Hasselback potatoes are less of a recipe than they are a way of preparation. Make thin cuts (about 3-4 mm) into a (preferably waxy and broad for better hold) potato without actually slicing through. I put a few pieces of onion into mine, salted and topped it with a dab of butter and paprika powder. They were then baked in the oven on 220°C (425°C) for about 40 minutes, with pepper added afterwards.

The actual recipe is the chutney. I really like the combination of sweet, sour and savory. However, the recipe calls for a whopping 500g of sugar for 1kg apples! I sticked strictly to the recipe and found it to be overly sweet so I halved the amount the next time and it was just sweet enough this way. It works great with potatoes and pork like I served it. Chicken works just as well so does cheese or a fondue.

Apple Chutney

The original can be found here (German).
Makes a lot! But you can store left-overs in jars.

• 1kg (35.3 oz.) apples (preferably sour), peeled and cut in thin slices.
• 250g (8.8 oz.) onions, finely chopped.
• 1 clove of garlic (I used 3), finely chopped.
• 375ml (12.7 fl. oz.) vinegar (while the original recipe suggests wine vinegar, I used cider vinegar)
• 500g (17.6 oz.) sugar (I would suggest 250-300g)
• 3 tbsp ground mustard seeds (I used freshly ground brown mustard seeds which are milder in taste)
• 2 tbsp of freshly grated ginger
• 1 ts cayenne pepper
• 250g (8.8 oz.) raisins

1. In a large pot, combine all ingredients but the raisins and let simmer for an hour, stirring it from time to time.
2. Add raisins and let cook for another 15 minutes (I always add the raisins right away and never found anything to complain about this way.)

The chutney is done when it does not run off a spoon anymore.

You can store it in jars like jam if you want to right away, or heat up any left-overs and store those. Here is a great instruction on sterilizing jars. 

Enjoy!

Simple Thyme and Rosemary Potato-Wedges

Alright, this is just a snippet that I don't really consider a recipe but because it's THAT simple and good I think everybody should add that to ones repertoire. Normally I just eyeball the whole ordeal so the measures of quantity are not exact but sure will work. You can already see these wedges making a cameo here but they are also great as a side to steak or pork tenderloin or even just all by themselves along with a dip.

Thyme and Rosemary Potato-Wedges

Serves 4 or 3 when served as a snack.

• 2 pounds of evenly sized potatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 heaping tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 twigs of thyme
• 2 twigs of rosemary
• 1 tsp chili flakes (optional)
• pepper to taste and maybe some extra salt

1. Preheat oven to 170°C (340°F).
2. Wash potatoes leaving the skin on and them into evenly sized wedges. Put them in a big mixing bowl.
3. Remove needles/leaves from both thyme and rosemary, chop them up finely with a knife or scissors (I find the latter easier).
4. Roughly crush garlic
5. In a cup or small bowl, stir all ingredients but the potatoes and extra salt and pepper together.
6. Pour mixture over wedges, tossing them well. Let it sit for 15 minutes, toss them in between.
7. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper evenly spread the potato-wedges on it round side down, trying to make sure they don't touch each other.
8. Pour remaining marinade on wedges and let them bake on the centre rack for about 40 minutes or until they are golden and done (time depends on oven and size of wedges, you may want to try one before taking them all out).
9. Add nice amount of pepper and more salt if needed.

Serve immediately and enjoy!

I could pull off an Ina Garten impersonation by saying “How easy is that?” but that would be wrong because I actually mean it.

Creamy Zucchini and Basil Soup

I'm no vegetarian. Hell and I am miles away from being a vegan.

I love meat. Meat Meat Meat. I love me some juicy beef in my mouth. Yes. You heard me right!
Innuendos aside, I also am a complete hypocrite.
When it comes to eating meat, I block out the fact that what I am stuffing into my face has once been alive and kickin'. Whole fish with head and all is also not the most comforting sight to see.
Hey there big fella! You enjoy my filet? Don't mind me, I'm just watching you devouring my body. SHIIIIVERRS.

Is that a good thing? No. But that's the way it is with me and I doubt I'm alone with that.

Most people, including my humble self, are used to dishing up good ol' steak and Co. almost on a daily basis or at least too often. While many may argue at this point that ANY number is too often, I'll leave that aspect out for now. However, sneaking in some days where the only things on the menue never had a pulse is not the worst thing you can do to yourself and probably to your wallet as well. I mean, it should not be too difficult to find other nice things to spend that extra money on, right? (Like uhhm, a better camera...? Although that would take some major meat-omitting...so...hm.)

And then, there is the extra step again. Veganism. I know that to many, "vegan" is a term that equals "bland",  "boring" or, well, "thank you, but no thank you". Not. The. Case. Let that be told to you by an omnivore: Vegan cuisine DONE RIGHT can be down right delicious, comforting and filling - without leaving the feeling of anything missing.

A great resource for super healthy vegan cuisine is FatFree Vegan Kitchen. I love how Susan finds ways to veganize known and loved dishes and also reduces the fat to a minimum. You also find many recipes with Asian and Oriental twists. The only thing to critisize for me is that many recipes require spices and ingredients that I usually don't have myself and probably won't use completely before they expire. However, this is not the case with the following, which to me perfectly captures the way a mild evening in summer is supposed to be.

I served the soup with some nice oven-roasted herbed potato wedges, but some nice bread'll do just fine.

Directly adapted from her blog:

Creamy Zucchini and Basil Soup
Servings: 6; my own comments are put in italics.

• 2 pounds zucchini (about 5 small to medium)
• 1 large Vidalia onion, chopped (I just use onions I have got on hand)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 3 cups vegetable broth (I simply use water and then add the needed amount of granulated vegetable broth directly to the pot)
• 1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, packed
• 3 tablespoons raw cashews
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast (I find the soup tastes just as good without the yeast. And a teaspoon of Marmite or Vegemite would do the trick just as good. Or simply another one of granulated broth)
• additional salt & pepper, to taste

1. Set aside one of the zucchini; trim and coarsely chop the rest.
2. Cook onion in a large saucepan for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add the garlic and cook for another minute.
3. Stir in the chopped zucchini, salt, and pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
4. Add the broth and simmer until zucchini is tender, about 15 minutes.
5. Pour into a blender (in 2 batches, if necessary) taking care to avoid burns by not filling the blender more than halfway. 
6. Add the basil, cashews, and nutritional yeast and blend until smooth.
7. Return soup to the pot, season with salt and pepper to taste, and keep warm. 
8. Shred the remaining zucchini with a spiral slicer, mandolin, or grater. Pour soup into bowls and sprinkle grated zucchini over top.  (I also garnished the soup with some cashews and crushed pepper)

Enjoy!