Orange Chocolate Cookies

I have to apologize - these are no Plätzchen! But I was craving for something with chocolate to finalize my Christmas cookies selection, so I came up with these quadruple chocolate cookies with lot of orange in them. Besides, the recipe is 100% vegan  - it’s always good to have at least one vegan (and thus also lactose free) option when receiving guests :)

For about 25 small cookies you need:

• 125g vegan margarine


• 1 cup all-purpose flour


• 1,5 tsp baking powder


• 3 Tbsp sugar


• 3 Tbsp cocoa powder


• a pinch of salt


• 8g vanilla sugar


• 1 tsp dried orange peel powder


• 3 Tbsp candied orange, in small cubes


• 100g vegan chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used a mixture of rice milk chocolate, vegan white chocolate, and dark chocolate, about 35g each)


• 2 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice


• about 100g dark chocolate with orange flavour for the coating

Combine all dry ingredients in a baking bowl. Add margarine, cut in small cubes, and work with your fingertips until fine and crumbly. Add orange juice and work the dough into a ball. With your hands, take about walnut-sized pieces of dough and form them into round cookies. Bake in a preheated oven (190 C) about 15 minutes, or until firm from the outside but not too dry form the inside.
Let the cookies cool on a rack. In the meantime, melt the orange-flavoured chocolate in bain-marie or in the microwave. Dip one side of each cookie in the melted chocolate and place on a plate. Let dry before eating or storing!

Linzer Schnitten

I first tasted Linzer Torte in Vienna some years ago, and immediately became a fan. The combination of hazelnut, spices, and jam together with the crumbly sticky texture is just heavenly. This recipe brings you the same flavours and texture but in a miniature size!

These cookies are much easier to bake than one might first think. You just make the dough, roll it out, cover first with jam, then a criss-cross-pattern of dough stripes, bake, and cut into small cookies. That’s it! Be careful with the clover, though; better use a bit less than too much, or the other flavours don’t stand any chance.

For about 50 cookies you need:

• 300g flour (I used spelt 1050)


• 100g ground hazelnuts


• 80g sugar


• 1 tsp baking powder


• a pinch of salt


• 1 tsp cinnamon (Ceylon, if possible)


• 1 pinch of ground cloves (or more, if you like a stronger taste)


• 200g butter or vegan margarine


• about 50ml (vegan) milk


• 100g red currant jam


• 80 g raspberry jam


• one egg yolk and 1 Tbsp milk for the wash (optional)

Combine flour, hazelnut, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and cloves in a baking bowl. Add butter (cut in small cubes) and work with your fingertips until fine and crumbly. Add enough milk so that you can form the dough into a ball.

Take about ⅔ of the dough and roll it out into a rectangular form (mine was 25cm*35cm). Place the rectangle on an oven pan covered with a parchment paper. (If you want, you can roll the dough out on the parchment paper already - that way, you don’t need to worry about whether it will break when you move it!) Combine both jams in a bowl and spread them evenly on the dough.

Now, roll the rest of the dough about 3 mm thin. Cut out long stripes about 0,5cm wide with a knife or with a pastry wheel. Arrange the stripes to form a criss-cross pattern as in the picture. If you want, you can brush the stripes with egg yolk and milk - this gives a very beautiful colour to the cookies!

Bake in a preheated oven (190 C) about 25 minutes, or until thoroughly cooked. Let cool, then cut into long rectangular cookies, about 2cm wide and 7cm long.

P.S. I first tasted Linzer Torte in Café Goldegg, a coffee shop in Vienna that just might have the best coffee in the world. The cakes were awesome as well. Service was impeccable. And yet: I’ll never go to Café Goldegg again. Why? Because happy children are not welcome there. Every time we went there with a crying child, it was just fine. But when we once managed to have five happy children with us, it was a problem. The owner came personally to tell us that loud laughter was not allowed in a coffee shop. I mean, REALLY. How screwed-up is that?

Zedernbrot - Almond Cookies with Lemon Icing

These cookies with a very misleading name might just have reached my top 3 of best Christmas cookies ever! The name is deceiving, since Zeder is actually German for cedar, yet (luckily!) the cookies have no cedar in them. Instead, Zeder refers to Italian, where cedro stands for citron (citrus medica) - and yes, there’s a lot of lemon in Zedernbrot!

Zedernbrot cookies are very easy to do, they are not too sweet, and they combine two of my favourite flavours - almond and lemon. Besides, the consistency is very pleasant - like chewy marshmallow. (If you do it right, that is. I forgot to check on my second batch and it stayed too long in the oven - and they got too dry..)

For about 30 small rectangular cookies you need:

• 1 egg white


• 125g powder sugar


• a pinch of salt


• 200g ground almonds


• zest of 1 lemon


• 3 tsp lemon juice


• a bit of flour for rolling the dough out

For the icing:

• 100g powder sugar


• lemon juice

Beat the egg white with a pinch of salt until soft peaks form. Add sugar and continue beating until glossy and firm. Add lemon zest, lemon juice, and almonds, and stir with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are well combined.  Place the dough in the fridge for one hour or so.

Roll the dough out about 1cm thick. Originally, these cookies are cut out with a moon-shaped cookie cutter, but I couldn’t find mine, so for my first batch I used a rectangular cutter. The dough is sticky and quite tricky to cut, so for the second batch I rolled the dough out into a square and used a sharp knife to cut out small rectangles.

Dry your Zedernbrot in a preheated oven (150 C) for about 20 minutes, or until their surface isn’t sticky to touch anymore. While the cookies are in the oven, you can prepare the icing: add as much lemon juice in the powder sugar as you need in order to get a mixture that is easy to stir with a spoon. Let the cookies cool a bit, then spread some icing on top of each, using a small spoon. I wanted mine extra lemony, so I squeezed a couple of lemon juice drops on each cookie before spreading the icing. Let the cookies dry, then store them.

P.S. So, two more days to go! If I don’t change my mind in the last minute, there’s going to be still something fruity and something chocolatey on the list ;)

Kaffeemakronen - Coffee Macaroons

A friend of mine was asking for me to bake hazelnut macaroons, which are a must in any self-respecting Plätzchen assortment, but I was craving for something with coffee. That’s how I came up with this recipe that combines both wishes -  and it worked! There’s not enough coffee to my taste, but then again, will there ever be? ;)

German macaroons are very easy to do compared with their French counterparts. Just beat the egg whites, add the rest, and bake. Most recipes tell you to wait a couple of hours before baking them, but today I didn’t have the time for that, and they turned out good even so.

For about 28 macaroons you need:

• 2 egg whites


• a pinch of salt


• 85g sugar


• 145g ground hazelnuts


• 30g all-purpose flour


• 3 tsp instant coffee - make it as strong as you can!


• 2 Tbsp molasses


• 28 chocolate covered coffee beans

First make the coffee: dilute as much instant coffee as you can in about 2 Tbsp hot water. Note that you'll only need part of this - the rest you can drink, provided you add  a lot of sugar ;) (This is how I did it, maybe there would be better methods.)

Beat the egg whites together with the salt until they form soft peaks. Then add gradually the sugar and continue beating until shiny and firm again. Then add hazelnuts, flour, and 3 tsp of that strong instant coffee you made. Stir with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are well combined.

Now, drop batter by teaspoonfuls on an oven tray covered with a parchment paper. It’s best to use two spoons - in one, you have the batter, and with the other one, you help the batter to land on the oven tray.

Bake your macaroons in a preheated oven (160 C) for about 20 minutes, or until they are not sticky anymore form the outside but still soft from the inside. Glue one coffee bean on top of each macaroon, using molasses as glue.

Crunchy Caramel Hearts with Cashews

Caramel and salt is a match made in heaven. These crunchy cookies topped with salty cashew caramel are so far the favourites of two test persons- and I don't blame them! The recipe comes from a little book called Weihnachtsplätzchen, and the only thing I changed was the amount of caramel - I made a bit more for the cook to be able to savour some of it as well ;)

For about 35 hearts you need

Caramel:

• 90g sugar


• 55g cashews


• salt to taste

Cookies:

• 180g flour


• a pinch of salt


• 2 Tbsp sugar


• 16g vanilla sugar


• 120g butter or margarine


• 50ml (vegan) cream


• a bit of milk for brushing

First, make the caramel: in a pan, heat the sugar until it melts and gets light brown - but be careful! Caramel burns very easily. Then add the cashews, turn a couple of times with a spatula to make sure all cashews are coated with caramel, and take away from heat. Pour the caramel onto a surface covered with parchment paper and let cool.

In the meantime, prepare the dough: in a baking bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar, and vanilla sugar. Add butter (cut in small cubes) and work with your fingertips until fine and crumbly. Then add cream and form the dough into a ball. Place the dough in the fridge for 10 minutes or so.

Now, it’s time to cut the caramel. I used a sharp knife to cut it into small pieces, but you could also use your food processor. Add salt to your taste and stir well.

Take your dough out of the fridge, roll it out to about 3mm thin, and take out heart formed cookies with a cookie cutter. Place them on an oven pan covered with a parchment paper. Brush each cookie with a bit of milk and sprinkle caramel on top.

Bake in a preheated oven (190 C) for about 12 minutes, or when the cookies are golden brown. Let cool on a rack - and enjoy!

Kathrinchen - the Gingerbread That Opens the Christmas Season

So a Roman emperor asks you to marry him, and your answer is “No, thanks.” Better think twice! Catherine of Alexandria turned down a marriage proposal coming from the emperor Maxentius in year 305, and guess what happened? Maxentius tried to kill Catherine using a breaking wheel (hence the wheel in this picture) - but didn’t succeed and had her beheaded instead.

In memory of that event the Germans traditionally start their Plätzchen season on the 24th of November, on the eve of St. Catherine’s day, and bake a special form of Lebkuchen, or gingerbread, called Kathrinchen. I only found about this tradition today, but next year I’m definitely going to serve these lemon-scented gingerbread cookies on that day. And bake them a couple of days in advance: these cookies need 4-5 days to get softer and to better reveal their nice lemony taste.

This recipe is again from Feinste Weinachtsbäckerei. I don’t have a proper Kathrinchen cookie cutter, so I used another rectangular cookie cutter, about 4cm wide and 6cm long.

For about 40 of  cookies that size you need:

• 100g honey


• 50g sugar


• 25g butter


• 1 egg yolk


• 30g sugar


• 2 tsp gingerbread spice mixture


• zest of one lemon


• 1 Tbsp rose water


• 1 tsp potash


• 250g all-purpose flour (I baked mine with spelt 1050)


• 1 pinch of salt

Plus for the icing:

• 4 Tbsp sugar


• 2 Tbsp hot water


• 1 Tbsp lemon juice

Place honey, 50g sugar, and butter in a pan and heat until sugar has melted. Mix egg yolk, 30g sugar, spices, and lemon zest together in a baking bowl. Mix potash with rose water and add to the egg-sugar mixture. Now add honey mixture and flour (I added a pinch of salt in the flour, although it wasn’t in the original recipe) and stir with a wooden spoon until all ingredients are well combined. Place the dough in the fridge for one hour or so.

Roll out the dough 0,5cm thick and cut it into rectangular cookies either with a knife or with a cookie cutter. Bake about 15 minutes in a preheated oven (180 C).

Once the cookies have cooled a bit, brush them with lemon-sugar icing (just mix all ingredients together). This makes the cookies sprinkle like they had a bit frost on them!

Coconut Balls with Almonds and White Chocolate

My advice is - do NOT try out this recipe. I did, and there’s no turning back. These crunchy almond coconut cookies dipped in white chocolate and rolled in coconut flakes are highly addictive.

The recipe is from a small booked called Weinachtsplätzchen, and had to be somewhat modified - I had to add a bit of water in the dough, and the amount of white chocolate (100g) just wasn’t enough. That’s why half of my cookies are covered with dark chocolate (which didn’t work as well as white chocolate, though). You can also leave the coating out - the cookies taste great even without it.

For some 35 cookies you need:

• 300g all-purpose flour


• 100g ground almonds


• 100g desiccated coconut


• a pinch of salt


• 100g sugar


• 250g butter or vegan margarine


• about 50ml water

For the coating:

• 200g (vegan) white chocolate


• 100g desiccated coconut

In a baking bowl, combine together flour, almonds, coconut, salt, and sugar. Add butter or margarine in small cubes and work with your fingertips until fine and crumbly. Add enough water so that you can form the dough into a ball.

Divide the dough into about 35 pieces. Roll each piece into a small ball. Bake in a preheated oven (180 C) about 15-20 minutes, or until cooked but not brown yet. (Lower the temperature if needed.)

Once the cookies are baked and cooled a bit, melt the white chocolate - add some (vegan) cream if needed. I’m too lazy to use a bain-marie, so I melted mine in a pan - it worked, too, but I needed to add a bit of milk. Drop a couple of cookies at a time into the chocolate, take out with a spoon and roll in the desiccated coconut. Let dry on a plate and transfer into an air-tight container.

I’m going to bake a second portion of these cookies and coat them only just before Christmas. My guess is, even well-hidden, they won’t keep as well as other Plätzchen types.

Spitzbuben

“Quite good, but not as good as the ones my mother-in-law bakes”, was the honest judgment of a friend of mine when she tasted my Spitzbuben (= rascals), these little sandwich cookies that are amongst the most popular Christmas cookies in Germany. And she was right. The recipe I found in Feinste Weinachtsbäckerei results in very decent Spitzbuben - but not the best I've eaten.

While I’m waiting for my friend to convince her mother-in-law to reveal her secret recipe, I’ll share this one with you. Spitzbuben are not difficult to make, but you need to count with at least 2 hours to get 40 cookies. I was lucky today to have some baking company, so it went faster - and was a lot more fun!

For 40 or so you need

• 125 g butter or margarine


• 100g sugar


• 8g vanilla sugar


• 1 pinch of salt


• 1 Tbsp rum


• 1 egg


• 60g ground almonds


• 250g all-purpose flour


• plus some jam (raspberry, apricot..) and powder sugar to decorate

Beat butter, vanilla sugar, and sugar together until pale yellow and fluffy, then add the egg and rum and mix well. In a bowl, combine almonds, flour, and salt together, and pour the mixture on the butter mixture. Use your hands to combine all ingredients well together. Form the dough into a ball and place in the fridge for an hour or so (or even overnight).

Roll the dough out about 0,5 cm thin. Cut out stars (or circles) with a cookie cutter. In half of the cookies, make a hole in the middle (I used an apple corer). Bake your cookies in a preheated oven (180 C) for about 10 minutes, or until cooked but not brown yet. Set aside to cool and bake the rest of the cookies.

Spread about ½ espresso spoon of jam on top of each hole-less cookie and place a cut-out cookie on top. Place on a plate. When all your sandwich cookies are done, sprinkle some (vanilla-flavoured) powder sugar on top.

Zimtsterne or Cinnamon Stars

At this time of the year, thousands of Germans are attending baking lessons to find about the best method for baking better Zimtsterne as their neighbours do. Newspaper articles are written about what is the safe daily amount for kids to eat of these cinnamon stars. To put it short: Zimtsterne are THE German Christmas cookies. And luckily, if you have a good recipe, they are actually not that hard to make!

I was lucky to find the perfect recipe right in the beginning. It’s from a small book called Lieblings-Winachtsplätzchen. Making Zimtsterne takes some time - for my 40 stars or so I spent 90 minutes in the kitchen - and you need to be practically glued to your oven to make sure your precious little stars don’t overcook. But like I said, it’s not difficult.

For about 40 little stars you need:

• 400g ground almonds


• 3 tsp cinnamon (I use only Ceylon cinnamon these days, not the Cassia variety)


• 1 pinch of salt


• 16g vanilla sugar


• 2 egg whites


• 100g powder sugar

And for the meringue topping:

• 1 egg white


• 100g powder sugar


• 1 Tbsp lemon juice

In a bowl, combine almond, cinnamon, vanilla sugar, and salt. In a baking bowl, beat egg whites until they form soft peaks, then gradually add powder sugar and continue beating until firm again. Add almond mixture to the egg white mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until all ingredients all well combined.

Take this wet dough in your hands, form it into a ball, and place between two layers of cling film. Roll it out (still between the cling film) about 1cm thick. Remove the upper layer of cling film and cut out small stars using a cookie cutter. (The dough is sticky, so you might need to dip the cutter in some powder sugar.)

Now comes the hardest part: on each star, you should spread an even layer of meringue topping (beat the egg white until soft peaks form, add gradually sugar and lemon juice and beat until very firm again) - with a brush, it said in my recipe. My baking brush is quite big and it just didn’t work with these small stars, so I used an espresso spoon. I took one star at a time in my left hand and used my right hand to place a half of an espresso spoon of the topping in the middle, then spread it to each point.

Bake your stars in a preheated oven (150 C) for about 10-15 minutes. Don’t let them get any colour! If they are still a bit wet but you fear they’ll gain colour, reduce the temperature and let them dry just a bit longer.

After they have cooled, place your cinnamon stars in an airtight container.

And what is the amount of Zimtsterne that kids can safely eat per day? Well, if you’re using Ceylon cinnamon, you don’t have to worry. But if you prefer Cassia cinnamon, kids should not eat more than three of your stars a day - the coumarin it contains causes liver damage (!) in bigger amounts.

Hallongrottor - vanilla cookies with raspberry

How cool is this: I’ve been baking small vanilla-raspberry cookies out of my favourite Swedish baking book, Underbart ät gott, for more than two years now, and only today did I find out that they are also German Plätzchen called Husarenkrapferl! In our family they will still be called hallongrottor, though.

Hallongrottor are very easy to bake, but there’s one challenge regarding the ingredients. According to the recipe, you need 60g of marsánpulver. Now if you live anywhere else than in Sweden you probably don’t have a clue what that is or how to get it. I’ve got my own Swedish provider (than you, Erik!) so I’ve been too lazy to find out how to replace it. Marsánpulver is a powder consisting of cornstarch and vanilla aroma, so I guess you could replace it by cornstarch and vanilla sugar. Then again, Sweden is really worth visiting - maybe this would be a perfect excuse ;)

For 25 hallongrottor/Husarenkrapferl you need

• 225g butter or vegan margarine


• 85g sugar


• 250g all-purpose flour


• 60g marsánpulver


• 1 ⅕ tsp baking powder


• 1 pinch of salt (if using non-salt butter)


• raspberry jam

Preheat your oven to 180 C. Cut the butter into small cubes and place in a baking bowl. In another bowl, combine sugar, flour, marsánpulver, baking powder, and salt (if using). Work the mixture with your fingertips until fine and crumbly, then form into a ball. If necessary, add 1 Tbsp cold water.

Divide the dough into 25 parts. Roll each of them into a small ball and place on an oven tray covered with parchment paper. Press a hole in the middle of each cookie, using your finger, and fill the holes with raspberry jam. Bake about 12-15 minutes, or until well cooked but not brown yet.

Lemon Madeleines

Now that I took my Madeleine form out to bake Bärentatzen, it’s also time to bake lemon Madeleines! They might not be a traditional Christmas thing, but they mix well into an assortment of Plätzchen. Ever since I read the famous passage of Proust’s "In Search of Lost Time" (and successfully faked in an exam having read the rest of it, too) I wanted to taste these small lemon-scented delicacies - and was rewarded when I finally got to taste them. Maybe it’s because these were the first I tasted, maybe not, but these particular ones taste to me better than any other ones! The recipe is from Professional Baking, and I’ve just adjusted the amount of lemon in them - up.

For about 28 small madeleines you’ll need

• 60 g egg yolks


• 10g demerera sugar


• 15g honey


• 8g grated lemon zest


• 60g egg whites


• 75g sugar


• 1g salt


• 3g baking powder


• 90g all-purpose flour


• 90g melted butter

In a bowl, mix together yolks, demerera sugar, honey, and lemon zest. In another bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder). In a third bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form, then add sugar while continuing to beat, and then beat until a firm meringue. In the yolk mixture, fold alternately the meringue and flour mixture. Finish by folding the melted butter. Chill the batter for at least 20 minutes in the fridge (or on a cold balcony). This is very important - if you bake the madeleines right away, they don’t gain the desired consistency (been there, done that ;) ).

Preheat your oven to 180 C. Butter your Madeleine pan(s) and using two teaspoons, place about 1 - 1,5 tsp batter into each hole. Bake 6-7 minutes or until golden brown. Now it gets exciting - will your Madeleines develop the famous “bosse” or not? One tip I heard is that the batter should be really cold and the oven set to 240 degrees in the beginning for an optimal “bosse” result. I tried that, and for one batch it did work! For the other ones it didn’t, though.

Remove Madeleines from the pan and bake the next batch as soon as the pan has cooled so much you can butter it.

Store Madeleines in an airtight container.

Bärentatzen, "bear paws"

A German friend of mine specifically asked me to bake Bärentatzen, or bear paws, since her mother doesn't normally bake them. Well, I don't blame her. If you follow the traditional recipe and buy the equipment needed, it's very time-consuming and expensive. But if you take some shortcuts, I do recommend you try baking these marshmallow-like chocolate cookies. They are irresistible!

Greek Christmas Cookies with Orange and Honey

I love cookbooks where every single recipe works. Recipes from My Greek Kitchen written by Rena Salaman is one of those rare books: you choose any recipe and can be sure that the result is perfect. After a Vanillekipferl disaster from the previous days, this was the book I needed now. I chose these traditional Greek Christmas cookies flavoured with orange, honey, cinnamon, and brandy - a heavenly combination!

These cookies are made without eggs and butter, so apart from honey, they’re vegan. For a 100% vegan result, either leave the last step out (they taste great even without), or make a syrup using agave syrup instead.

I made one small change to the recipe, though: instead of walnuts, I used pecans. Walnuts tend to get rancid very easily, whereas pecans keep better, so I rarely buy walnuts.

For about 35 cookies you need:

• 150 ml olive oil


• 95g sugar


• 1 orange - juice and grated zest


• ½ tsp baking soda


• 350g flour (I used spelt 630 this time)


• 1 tsp baking powder


• pinch of salt


• ½ tsp cinnamon


• 4 Tbsp brandy

And for the syrup:

• 150ml water


• 100g sugar


• 250g honey


• 1 tsp cinnamon

• plus some walnuts or pecan nuts, chopped coarsely

Mix olive oil with sugar. Add zest, brandy and baking soda to the juice (it will foam a bit, that’s normal). In a baking bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon, then add oil-sugar mixture and juice mixture. Mix the dough with a wooden spoon until it’s smooth. Then form small balls (mine were 20g or so) with your hands and place them on an oven tray covered with parchment paper. Press them down gently with a fork and bake about 15 minutes in a preheated oven (180 C), or until pale brown.

When your cookies come out of the oven, it’s time to prepare the syrup: combine water, sugar, cinnamon, and honey in a pan and bring to a boil. Let simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Drop a couple of cookies at a time in the syrup (my pan fit 8 or so at a time), let them simmer for 1-2 minutes and then remove with a skimmer onto a plate. Top with crushed nuts while the cookies are still sticky!

These cookies are quite sweet, so they taste great with a strong espresso.

Vanillekipferl - the Recipe That Worked

As the title suggests, I had some problems finding a good recipe for little vanilla crescents - to the extent that I was about to declare the word Vanillekipferl as my new least favourite German word (the current one being Mittelohrentzündung). These originally Austrian delicacies look very innocent, but it’s very hard to find a balance between a tasty one and one that is possible to bake. Either they’re too dry and tasteless, or they spread too much in the oven (like in the picture below), or they won’t hold together after baking and crumble all over.

With my fourth try I finally managed to bake the perfect ones and I’m happy to share this recipe with you. Note that most recipes use ground almonds instead of hazelnuts - to my taste, the ones with hazelnut have much more flavour! But if you want, you can replace the hazelnuts with ground almonds.

For about 40 crescents you need

• 200 flour (I used 100g whole-grain spelt, 100g all-purpose flour)


• 100g hazelnuts, ground


• 1 pinch of salt


• 80g sugar


• 8g vanilla sugar


• 100g butter or margarine (I used a mixture of both)


• 1 egg (small/medium)


• plus some vanilla flavoured powder sugar for dusting (I just mixed together powder sugar and vanilla sugar, but the best result you get if you split a vanilla bean, place it in a glass jar with sugar and let stand 24 hours or so)

In a baking bowl, combine flour, hazelnuts, salt, sugar, and vanilla sugar. Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. Work with your fingertips until fine and crumbly, then add egg and work the dough until it forms a ball (if not, add a tiny bit a water until it does).

Now most recipes tell you to let the dough rest for one hour, two hours, or even overnight, but I didn’t feel it made any difference whatsoever. So just form tiny crescents (mine were about 12g each) with your hands - this is actually the hardest part! Place the cookies on an oven tray covered with a parchment paper.

Bake in a preheated oven (180 C) 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are pale brown. Let the crescents cool 2-3 minutes, then transfer on a plate, using a spatula. Dust generously with vanilla-scented powder sugar.

I’m intrigued to see how well these keep. Hopefully very well: I’ve got hundreds of them - most of those from batches that look horrible but taste delicious :)

Rosinenhäufchen mit Rum

So finally I’m trying out an authentic German Plätzchen recipe! These are very easy and quick to do - and taste heavenly! They are my son’s favourite cookies - and in case you wonder, kids can eat them safely, because the rum is first cooked and then still baked so no alcohol left..

For about 25 cookies you need

• 100ml rum


• 100g raisins


• 100g sugar


• 100g butter or margarine


• 1 egg


• 200g all-purpose flour


• 1 pinch of salt


• ½ tsp baking powder

Preheat you oven to 180 C. Place rum and raisins in a pan, bring to a boil and let simmer 2-3 minutes or until most of the rum has been absorbed. Let cool. In the meantime, beat butter and sugar until the mixture is fluffy. Then add the egg and beat one minute more. Combine flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl and add to the sugar-butter-egg-mixture together with rum and raisins. Mix with a wooden spoon until all the ingredients are well combined.
With floured hands, form small balls (mine were about 25 g each) and place on an oven tray (covered with parchment paper). These cookies don’t grow much in the oven, so you don’t need to leave a lot of room between. Bake 10-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool - and hide well! Or eat right away with your favourite warm drink.

Finnish Gingerbread Cookies

When I was a kid I knew Christmas was upon us when I smelled the gingerbread cookies. That smell is Christmas for me.

My challenge this year was to get all of the ingredients here in Germany - to find out what they are called in German and to get them from the supermarket. There’s one ingredient I couldn’t find - bitter orange peel powder. So I used sweet orange peels instead, dried in the oven overnight and then ground as fine as possible. The effect is not exactly the same - not worse, but just different. Germans have their own version of gingerbread: they call them Lebkuchen. The main difference is that they're made with honey instead of molasses and the spices used are slightly different. I'm obviously very biased, so you might guess which ones I prefer.

This is what you need (it’s impossible to say how many you’ll get, it depends on the size of the cookie cutters you’re using - but one portion gives you one big plate full of them):

• 50ml molasses


• 125g butter (margarine for vegan cookies)


• 90g sugar


• 0,5 tsp cinnamon, ground ginger, cloves, bitter orange peel, each


• 0,2 tsp cardamom and allspice, each


• 1 egg (replace with 100g sour soy cream / some other vegan cream)


• 500ml flour (more or less 300g) - I baked mine this year with whole-grain spelt instead of all-purpose wheat flour, and it worked!


• 0,3 tsp salt


• 1 tsp baking soda

Place butter, sugar, molasses, and the spices in a pan. Warm until the butter has melted, then let cool to room temperature. In the meantime, measure the flour, salt, and baking soda in a baking bowl. When the butter-spice-mixture is cool enough, beat it until pale brown, add the egg, and beat one minute more. (I do this using a twirl whisk.)

Pour the mixture into the flour mixture and stir well. Note that the dough is quite soft at this point, but do NOT add more flour. Now, place the dough in the fridge for a couple of hours, or preferably overnight. This will allow for the flavours to develop to their full potential!

When your dough is ready, roll it out on a flour dusted work surface until about 2-3 mm thin. Cut out cookies, using cookie cutters of different shapes. Place your cookies on an oven tray covered with parchment paper.  Bake in a preheated oven (200 C) 6-8 minutes. Note that size matters here: on each tray, place cookies of more or less the same size - otherwise the small ones will burn before the big ones are done.

Out of experience I can already say that gingerbread cookies keep very well several weeks, as long as you store them in an airtight container.

Gingerbread cookies also taste delicious with blue cheese and Port wine..

P.S. Today I happened to find this spice mixture from Herbaria. It's called Ginger&Bread and it has all of the spices you need for gingerbread - I'll try it out for the next batch and tell if it works!

Biscotti di Nonna

These are the best cookies ever. And I’m not exaggerating. Even the dough is addictive! I got the recipe from a cousin of mine about four years ago, and have been baking them ever since. (Originally the recipe is from the Gourmet Magazine.) I bake them all year round. But during the Christmas time they are very practical: even one single portion yields about 50 (more if you make them Plätzchen-sized - very small, that is) - just pack a dozen or two in a nice tin box and you have a perfect gift.

As the name suggest, these cookies are baked twice (biscoctus - baked twice): first you make long loaves, bake them, cut them into slices, and bake once more.

Biscotti are said to keep for centuries (!) so I guess it’s safe to assume they’ll make it until the 24th - if you manage to hide them well, that is.

For about 50 biscotti you’ll need

• 200g almonds, toasted and roughly chopped


• 1 cup sugar (or 215g)


• 2 ¾ cups flour (or 375g, using spelt flour type 630)


• 1,5 tsp baking powder


• 1 pinch of salt


• 8g vanilla sugar


• 3 eggs


• 115g melted butter or margarine


• 50ml Cointreau or other liquor of your liking

Place all dry ingredients in a baking bowl. Then add butter, liquor, and the eggs, and with a wooden spoon, work the dough until the ingredients are well combined. Place the bowl in the fridge (or on a cold balcony, if you have one) and let stand 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat your oven to 200C. Then form two long loaves, using WET hands, and bake until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool and cut into slices, a bit less than 1 cm thick. Place the slices on an oven pan and bake again until your biscotti are evenly cooked, about 10-15 minutes. Be careful, this time they burn easily!

Biscotti taste wonderful with coffee at any time of the day, or with a strong wine like Port or Marsala. Store in an airtight container.

17 Is My Lucky Number - Or Is It?

In Finland, there is one kind of Christmas cookies - the gingerbread cookies. Until two years ago, I was more than fine with that. But now I’ve learned that any self-respecting German woman bakes a huge variety of Christmas cookies, or Plätzchen as they call them. A friend of mine told me that her grand-mother used to bake 17 different kinds, and so many that she could send a tin box full of cookies to every one of her children and grand-children - 15 boxes all in all.

17 happens to be my lucky number. This year I’m going to take the challenge: will I be able to bake 17 types of Christmas cookies in 17 days? Stay tuned - I’ll post the experience in my blog!

I’m going to bake a double portion of each variety, so that half of the Plätzchen can be stored until Christmas while the other half can be eaten right away. I know, this is not normally the case (a second challenge for any Plätzchen baker is to hide the cookies so well that no-one gets to taste them before the D-day) but I’m just too curious to know how they taste!

Besides, this will allow me to find out how the different Plätzchen types keep these magic three weeks and a half. (Or a bit less for the last ones on the list, of course.)

Now I need to hurry and get the first cookies out of the oven. You'll hear more on those tomorrow!

A Word On Flour Types

Ok, so the recipe says I need all-purpose flour - and I’m in Germany. How on Earth am I supposed to know which of those different flour bags to choose? Or I want to bake a bread in Finland and the recipe calls for German type 1050 wheat flour. Now is there any way to knowing for sure about the flour type equivalences in different countries?

Wikipedia gives you information about French, Italian, German, American, Czech, and Argentinian wheat flour types, but I couldn’t find anything about the Finnish ones anywhere, so I decided to ask Myllyn Paras, one of the most famous Finnish mills. They answered quickly, and I’m proud to present the results - and sad to say, there is no one-to-one equivalence between the Finnish flour types and all the other ones.

The numbers in both German and French flour types indicate the amount of ash (the German in 100 mg, French in 10 mg, hence the difference in scale). Next to the Finnish flour types, I’ve written the ash content of Myllyn Paras flour types, as they reported them in their answer. So, if you want to get wheat flour 1050 in Finland, you’d better bring your own - or make your own mix of the ones available.

Finland	Germany	France	Italy	America
karkea vehnäjauho (450-550)	405	T45	00	pastry-flour
erikoisvehnäjauho (500-600)	550	T55	0	all-purpose flour
puolikarkea vehnäjauho (600-700)	812	T80	1	high-gluten flour
hiivaleipävehnäjauho (1350-1480)	1050	T105	2	first-clear flour
grahamjauho (up to 2000)	Vollkornmehl	farine intégrale	farina integrale	whole wheat flour

A further note to this table is about flour type 812: I've never seen such flour in any of the shops I normally go to,  including a specialized store. Maybe it’s available in other parts of Germany.. or I haven't paid enough attention ;)

P.S. The flour in the picture above is whole oatmeal flour - delicious in bread and above all cookies!

P.P.S. Information on Portuguese wheat flour types can be found here.

Focaccia

I’m going to reveal a secret: the same dough that gives you 20 grissini (my previous post) can also be used for making one focaccia! The only difference is that I added 1 Tbsp sugar in the dough. The second fermentation also takes somewhat longer. If you want, you can add a bit of instant dry yeast for a shorter fermentation time.

For one focaccia, you need:

• 450g flour (I used spelt, type 630)


• 300g water


• 150g sourdough starter, refreshed 3-4 hours before (or until it has at least doubled in volume)


• 3 Tbsp olive oil


• 2 tsp dried rosemary


• 11g salt


• 1 Tbsp sugar


• 1/3 tsp instant dry yeast (optional)

• Plus a twig of fresh rosemary, 3 Tbsp olive oil, and some fleur de sel (or other kind of salt) for the topping

In a baking bowl, combine flour and water and let stand for about 30 minutes. Then add all other ingredients and knead 10 minutes or so. Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and let ferment 6-8 hours. On a baking surface, work the dough so that the air bubbles disappear.  Form a flat bread, place it on an oven-pan and let ferment 60-90 minutes.

Brush generously with olive oil, sprinkle evenly salt on top, and decorate with rosemary leaves. Bake in a preheated oven (225 C) about 40 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.

Cut into squares and serve as an appetizer tel quel or to accompany a soup. This bread is at its best when it’s still a bit warm!

Grissini with Rosemary and Olive Oil

Among my favourite Italian bread types are grissini, those long bread sticks that you can nibble on while waiting for the meal to be served. They come in various different flavours, but I prefer the ones with rosemary.

On Wednesday, I tried baking my own grissini for the first time. The taste compensates the somewhat imperfect shape!

I made the dough using sourdough starter instead of commercial yeast and once again, you really don’t taste it. I love to play with the idea that in 1679 when grissini are said to be invented there was no commercial yeast - so the recipe that follows just could be the original one..! Who knows?

For 20 long, thin grissini you need

• 450g flour (I used spelt, type 630 - next time I’ll try with whole-grain)


• 300g water


• 150g sourdough starter, refreshed 3-4 hours before (but doubled in volume - if not, wait until it has)


• 3 Tbsp olive oil


• 2 tsp dried rosemary


• 11g salt


• Plus some more olive oil, salt, and fresh rosemary (optional) for finishing.

In a baking bowl, combine flour and water and let stand for about 30 minutes. Then add all other ingredients and knead 10 minutes or so. Cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and let ferment 6-8 hours.

On a baking surface, work the dough so that the air bubbles disappear. Divide the dough in 20 parts, and work each part into a long, thin bread. Place on an oven pan (either greased or covered with greaseproof paper) and let ferment about 20-30 minutes. Brush your grissini evenly with olive oil and grind some salt on top. If you want, you can also decorate your grissini with fresh rosemary leaves. Bake in a preheated oven (225C) 10-15 minutes or until golden brown (but be careful, they burn easily!).

Serve as an appetizer with a glass of red wine! If anything is left over, store in a dry and cool place.

Martin's Rolls

Here in Germany, Martin’s Day is a big thing! All schools and kindergartens have their own Martin’s celebrations, with kids walking outside in the dark with lanterns, singing special songs for the occasion. I find it so sweet! Furthermore, the procession is followed by a gathering around a bonfire, with warm drinks and either pretzels or sweet rolls shared with everyone.

This year, I’m baking sweet rolls to bring to my girls’ kindergarten. The idea is to share, so I shaped my rolls in a way that they’re easy to break in two. I baked them with two different fillings: one with pecan nuts, sugar, and cinnamon, the other with vanilla sugar, lemon zest, and ground almond.

And, needless to say, I made the dough using exclusively my sourdough starter. Fermenting of rich sweet dough with only a starter takes quite a long time, though; so if you’re in a hurry, add about ½ tsp of instant dry yeast to the dough to speed up the process. Mine fermented 11 hours and I felt it wasn’t quite ready to be baked yet. I should have left it in a warmer place… (Sour)dough doesn’t like cold!

For a vegan version, use vegan margarine instead of butter, and a non-dairy milk for the dough and washing.

For about 30 rolls you need:

• 800 g flour (I used spelt, a mixture of types 630 and 1050)


• 350 ml milk or water


• 300g sourdough starter, refreshed 3-4 hours before (but make sure the starter has doubled in volume, if not, wait until it is)


• 160g sugar


• 10g salt


• 2 tsp cardamom


• 200g butter (or margarine), melted

And for the filling:

• 50g melted butter


• sugar, cinnamon, crushed pecan nuts, pearl sugar


• OR vanilla sugar, grated lemon zest, ground almond, almond flakes

In a baking bowl, combine all dry ingredients together. (If you’re using instant dry yeast, throw it in as well). Then add sourdough starter and milk and knead until a firm dough has formed, or some 7-10 minutes. Then add butter and knead until it’s absorbed in the dough. Cover with a damp baking towel and let ferment overnight, about 12 hours. (If you’re using yeast as well, the ferment time is shorter.)

On a baking surface covered with flour, work the dough until all bubbles are gone. Divide in two. Roll half of the dough out, cover first with melted butter, then add rest of the topping. Now roll the dough from both sides back in until both rolls meet in the middle. Cut into 3cm wide pieces, place on an oven pan covered with a baking sheet, cover with a baking towel, and let ferment 45-60 minutes. Bake the other half of the dough in a same way. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 225 C. Before baking, wash the rolls with either a mixture of egg yolk and a tiny bit of water, or milk (or soy milk), and decorate with pearl sugar or almond flakes.

Bake the rolls until they are well baked, or about 15-18 minutes. Let cool a bit - and share with someone! Happy Martin’s Day everyone ;)

Braided Loaf with Vanilla, Lemon, and Cardamom

My grandmother taught me how to braid loaves. She used to make a big loaf and give me a bit of the dough so I could make my own miniature loaf. I knew how to braid three, four, and five-strain braids. I had totally forgotten just how delicious these braided loaves were until we moved to Germany and tasted Zopfbrot (as the Germans call a sweet braided loaf) at a friend’s place.

Zopfbrot you can buy at the baker’s normally has milk in it, so it’s a no-go for anyone with lactose issues. But I’ve come up with my own braided loaf recipe that I find even better than anything you can buy! The secret ingredient of my loaf is - of course - sourdough starter (see my previous post about creating your own starter). It makes the loaf very moist and tastier than the ones baked with commercial yeast. It also makes it keep longer. Using sourdough also makes baking more easy-going - you don't need to worry about the right temperature of the liquid or about the right order to add the ingredients.

And no, it does not taste sour at all! Just remember to refresh your starter about 3-4 hours before making the dough. But make sure your starter has doubled in volume - if not, wait until it has. Mine doubles in 3-4 hours, but that depends on many factors, such as the temperature in your kitchen!

Another secret are the spices I use in my loaf: a mixture of vanilla, lemon, and cardamom. I find it a winning combination - but feel free to use any other spices of your liking. You can also add sultanas in the dough (a handful or two).

Unfortunately I had also forgotten how to braid.. But I quickly learned it again -  there are excellent instructions on this subject in books like Professional Baking or on the Internet.

For one loaf you need:

• 350g flour


• 65g sugar


• 1 egg


• 150 water or milk


• 120g sourdough (refreshed 3-4 hours before)


• 1 tsp cardamom


• 3 tsp vanilla sugar


• grated zest of 1 small lemon (organic)


• 5g salt


• 75g melted butter

Combine all ingredients in a baking bowl, except for the butter. Knead until the dough has gained a bubblegum-like consistency, or about 10 minutes. Add the butter and knead about two more minutes, or until it has been absorbed in the dough.

Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and let ferment 8-12 hours.

On a baking surface covered with flour, knead the dough until bubbles have disappeared. Divide the dough in 3 (or 4, or 5) equal-sized parts and braid. (In the loaf featuring in the picture, I added a smaller braid on top of the main one.)

Transfer on a baking pan, cover with a kitchen towel, and let ferment 1-2 hours. Wash with egg yolk, decorate with almond flakes or pearl sugar, and bake in a preheated oven (200 C) until well-baked, or about 45 minutes.

Cool on a rack and serve sliced, either plain or with butter and/or jam.

This loaf keeps very well, at least one week. Or in theory it does :)

How to Create a Sourdough Starter in Four Easy Steps

What does this sweet braided loaf have to do with sourdough? Well, in my kitchen - everything! Instead of yeast, I use exclusively a sourdough starter in salty and sweet baking. And no, although it’s called sourdough in English, it doesn’t have to taste sour at all.

In a week or so, I’ll be posting more of my favourite sourdough recipes. But in order for you to try them out, you’ll need a sourdough starter of your own! Maybe you have a friend who can give you some of their starter (like I did before I dared trying to create my own starter), but if you don’t, this post is exactly for you! So, today I’ll explain how to create your own sourdough starter.

Creating a sourdough starter (or a levain, like the French call it) is ridiculously easy. You need flour, water, a glass jar and about one week of time - but this is only passive time, because actually you only need to watch it grow - seriously!

Ready? Here’s how to start your own sourdough starter in 4 easy steps:

Step 1. In a glass jar, mix together 100g whole-grain rye or spelt flour and 100g water. Partially cover with the lid but make sure some air gets in. Another technique is to cover the jar with a damp kitchen towel. Let the jar stand in room temperature until it starts to bubble. This will take about 48 hours or more. Make sure that the starter only fills the jar less than halfway - once your starter is well-established, it will double in volume in 6-8 hours after refreshing!

Step 2. Now it’s time for the first feeding or refreshing of your best-friend-to-be. Discard half of the starter, then add again 100g water and 100g whole-grain rye or spelt flour. Mix using a fork. Cover as before, and wait until it starts to bubble. This time it should take a bit less time.

Step 3. In the second refreshing, discard about two thirds of the starter, and add again 100g water and 100g whole-grain flour. Mix with a fork. Now your starter is almost ready to use! Wait once again until it starts to bubble - it should take 12-24 hours this time, or something might have gone wrong.

Step 4. When it bubbles, refresh as in step 3, but instead of whole-grain flour, use either type 550 or 1050 flour. A whole-grain starter is much more difficult to maintain - it should be possible, but all my experiences have resulted in a rotten starter after a couple of weeks. So, take it easy and go for the 550 or 1050 flour.

If everything went well, your starter should have a sour but not unpleasant smell - anything like yoghurt, slightly alcoholic, cider or apples is fine. If the smell is unpleasant, start all over. You might have done everything right, but it could have been the weather - sourdough started doesn’t like when it’s too hot or too humid.

Or you might have committed the biggest mistake ever and covered the starter! DO NOT COVER THE STARTER COMPLETELY, OR IT WILL DIE. This is why my first attempts resulted in a stinky, dead starter. Before I got the hang of it, I thought it was impossible or the result of some higher-level magic to create a starter. But trust me, it isn’t. Just let the starter breathe.

The French usually give their sourdough starter a name. What will yours be called? :)

Chocolate Muffins with Beetroot

Now this is what I’d call a perfect scam. Delicious chocolate muffins - that hide a considerable amount of beetroot in them! So far, I've been unable to motivate my kids to eat beetroot in any form. "It tastes good, just give it a try!" "It's healthy!" "See, it's pink, you love pink, don't you?" None of this would work. But today, they were begging for more!

Thanks to the beetroot, the muffins are very moist. Yet you don’t taste the presence of anything unusual. You have to try it out yourself to believe.. For a vegan version, change butter to vegan margarine, cream to a vegan cream, and leave the egg out.

For six muffins, you need:

• 90g butter


• 90g dark chocolate


• 150g cooked beetroot, pureed


• 80g sugar


• 20g cocoa powder


• 100g whole-grain spelt flour


• 1 egg


• 1,5 tsp baking powder


• 1 tsp vanilla sugar

Plus for the topping:

• 50ml heavy cream


• 50g sugar


• 10g dark chocolate

Set your oven to 200C. Melt butter with chocolate in a pan and set aside. Sift together cocoa powder, flour, and baking powder in a bowl. Add sugar and vanilla sugar, then chocolate-butter mixture, egg, and beetroot. Mix until smooth. Bake in a muffin pan for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let the muffins cool on a rack.

In the meantime, prepare the topping:

Measure all ingredients in a pan. Heat until sugar and chocolate have melted in the cream, then let cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the mixture slightly thickens. Set aside, let cool a minute or two (so that you won't burn your fingers when spreading the topping) and using a spoon, spread over the muffins.

Serve with your favourite warm drink!

Pancakes with Carrot and Spinach

Pancakes are an excellent place to hide any veggies that the kids don’t want to eat. As a kid, I used to eat pancakes with carrot, spinach, and even blood in them (yes, you read right - just Google to find out that it’s a traditional Finnish dish and that I’m not kidding). A friend told me her kids sure would protest because of the green colour in spinach pancakes - mine don’t, but you still could consider eating in candle light to avoid this..!

Here’s the basic recipe, feel free to use any other veggies of your liking (and/or of your kids’ disliking):

• 400ml milk


• 130g flour


• 2 eggs


• 1 medium-sized carrot, peeled and grated


• 100g frozen spinach


• ½ tsp salt


• oil or butter for baking

Unfreeze the spinach. Measure flour and salt in a baking bowl, add milk and mix. Then add the eggs and vegetables and  mix again until smooth. Let the batter rest about 15-30 minutes. Then bake the pancakes on both sides in a frying pan (or two, to make the process quicker) with either oil or butter and set aside on an oven-proof plate - this is handy if you’re making a lot of them and need to warm them up before serving. Serve with sliced cucumber and tomatoes. Or with strawberry jam :)

Green Käsespätzle

When you go to a restaurant in Germany, there’s normally only one vegetarian dish on the menu: Käsespätzle.  Vegans have it even worse off (or better, depends on how you see it), the only vegan thing you usually get in restaurants being beer.

Spätzle is an amazingly tasty, easy and quick dish to prepare at home as well, as long as your kitchen is equipped with a special device for making Spätzle. I got one of these myself as a birthday present this year, and I’ve been using it quite a lot! Kids also love Spätzle - even my new specialty, Green Spätzle, which funnily enough tastes exactly the same as the normal one but is green! Now how could that be..? ;)

Count with 100g flour, 1 egg, 50ml water, and about 70g grated cheese (I use a mixture of Parmesan and local Bergkäse), per person, plus some 20g frozen spinach (melted first) if you want green Spätzle, and salt to taste. Spätzle is normally served with fried onions, so you’ll need one medium-sized onion per person, plus some butter and olive oil for frying.

Start with the onions: peel them and cut into thin slices. Melt butter in a pan with olive oil, then add onions and fry over a low heat until golden brown - this takes about 20-30 minutes. Stir once in a while.

Now it’s time to boil some 3 liters of water in a large pan and preheat your oven to 150 C. While you’re waiting for the water to boil, measure the flour and salt (I use 1 tsp for 500g flour, and that’s quite little, feel free to use more) into a baking bowl, make a hole in the middle, pour the eggs and water (and spinach) into it, and mix well - I use a spiral whisk to do this. If your water is boiling already, just add 2 tsp salt in it and you’re set to go!

Set your Spätzle maker on top of the pan and fill it with batter, then scrape the batter with a spatula into the boiling water. Repeat twice, stir, and wait until the Spätzle comes on top - it doesn’t take long, 1-2 minutes or so. Move the cooked ones into an oven dish and cover with a layer of grated cheese. Repeat until all your Spätzle is cooked and topped with the rest of the cheese. You can put your Spätzle in the oven for a couple of minutes to make sure all the cheese has melted and that your Spätzle is piping hot.

Decorate with fried onions and some parsley, and serve with a green salad.

Ratatouille that even picky kids will love!

Can you guess what evil powers hide in this innocent-looking tomato sauce? I served it a few days ago to my kids - while we adults were eating ratatouille. Well, at least our kids couldn’t guess it was actually their official number one least favourite dish. Pureeing ratatouille was a great tip I learned from a friend, and it really works. I don’t know how long it will take for my little ones to figure out my little secret, but hopefully by then they are as addicted to ratatouille as I am!

For about 4 portions you need

• one medium-sized onion, chopped


• 1 courgette and eggplant each, cut into smallish cubes


• 2-3 peppers (I prefer using 1 green and 2 red ones), cut into squares


• 500g tomatoes, peeled and chopped


• 2-3 garlic cloves


• juice of half of a lemon


• 2 tsp agave syrup


• salt and pepper to taste


• olive oil

Sauté the onions in olive oil, then add peppers, fry a couple of minutes, then add eggplants and courgettes and fry and additional 5-7 minutes. Now, add tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice and agave syrup, and salt and pepper. Let simmer over medium to low heat at least 45 minutes. Serve with pasta, rice, couscous, or a good bread! For kids (or any picky adults ;) ) puree it and serve with pasta - I love fusilli because the sauce penetrates the pasta in a way even my littlest one can’t possibly get the sauce out..!

If you’re making ratatouille in winter, use canned tomatoes instead. It might not be exactly as good as with fresh ones, but it is still very tasty!

Oven-baked Zucchini and Potatoes

Has it ever happened to you that you spend time and effort to prepare a dish you love, but when you proudly bring it to the table, the little ones suddenly lose their appetite - or worse, start crying in despair? Well, this happens to me a lot. Especially when it comes to vegetarian food. But it used to be worse - I came up with a couple of strategies to fool them into eating at least some of the things they officially hate. Four strategies, to be precise (well, five, if you count bribing): Hide it. Puree it. Decorate it. Or make the kids cook it themselves. (The two first ones work for adults as well ;) )

Today, I’ll share with you a recipe containing zucchini, the number one enemy of my kids. But surprisingly enough, when they get to slice the vegetables for this dish themselves, they somehow forget to complain about it. A small miracle..

For four portions, you need

• 600g potatoes


• 2 medium-sized zucchini


• ½ red pepper


• 500g fresh tomatoes, peeled


• 1 onion


• 3 garlic cloves


• 50ml hot water


• 1 tsp salt


• black pepper to taste


• 50ml olive oil


• fresh parsley


• dried oregano

Set your oven to 225 degrees Celsius. Slice (unpeeled) potatoes and zucchini into thin slices. Set them in an oven-proof baking dish. Chop onion, red pepper, and garlic and sprinkle over the potatoes and zucchini. Cut tomatoes into cubes and place on top, and add pepper and herbs (if using). Combine salt with hot water so that it dissolves, then add oil, and pour evenly on the vegetables. Bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes, then reduce heat to 175 degrees, and bake 30 minutes more, or until the vegetables are tender. You may have to add some water in the meantime - check every once in a while!

Even small kids can do most of the slicing and chopping, and it’s fun! Except for the onion - that might be a bit trickier.

P.S. This blog already proved its usefulness: while I was having fun in Zurich, my hubby and 8-year-old son had done sushi themselves - they had looked up the recipe in my blog!

Granola with Nuts, Dried Fruit, and Cinnamon

I didn’t intend to write about granola today. Instead, I had planned to present the perfect vegan pancakes! Well, the thing is, I’ve been testing them the whole week now, and I couldn't find any recipe that actually worked: either they were impossible to cook, or they tasted horrible, or both. But I’m sure I’ll find one and as soon as I do, I’ll post it!

So, I’m writing about granola, which is oven-cooked muesli. Muesli can be delicious, too, but what is so special about granola is the irresistible smell it creates - as long as you don’t forget you have it in the oven, like already happened to me a couple of times ;)

You’ll need:

• 200g rolled oats


• 30g butter (or margarine)


• 3 Tbsp sunflower oil


• 2 Tbsp honey (or agave syrup)


• 2 Tbsp dark sugar


• a pinch of salt


• ½ tsp cinnamon


• 100g chopped nuts - pecan, walnuts, hazelnuts..


• 50g dried fruit - sultanas, apples, cranberries..

In a small pan, melt butter or margarine. Add oil, honey, sugar, salt, and cinnamon, and stir. Place the rolled oats in a baking bowl, pour the liquid mixture on top, and stir, making sure that all oats get moist. Spread evenly on an oven pan covered with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated oven in 150 degrees for about 15 minutes. After 7-8 minutes or so, take the pan out, turn the oats so that the ones from below get to the surface. At the same time, add the nuts evenly on top of the oats. (I’ve also tried adding the nuts in the beginning, but they burn quite easily, so I find this strategy better.) Bake until golden and crispy. Take out of the oven, let cool, transfer in a serving bowl, and add dried fruit.

Serve with plain natural (soy) yoghurt and some fresh fruit.

This is my last post in the brunch series - hope you found some useful ideas for your weed-end breakfasts! Next week I'll be writing about child-friendly veggie dishes, but now I'm heading to Zurich for two nights - and hopefully find a nice brunch place to write about!

Omelette Rolls with Sour Cream and Smoked Salmon or Fried Mushrooms

For me, omelette is an essential part of a brunch. Yet that’s one dish I’ve never fully mastered! It's hard to know how many eggs exactly one needs, it gets burned easily but still might be uncooked from inside, it's tricky to transfer it from the pan to a serving plate without breaking it.. Luckily these omelette rolls are easy to make - a bit like pancakes, but even easier! And they taste fantastic - either with smoked salmon or fried mushrooms. You can keep them warm in the oven, but they are even better when served right away. I’d advise at least two per person, but the amount obviously depends on how many other dishes you have prepared for your brunch!

For four omelette rolls, you’ll need

• 4 eggs


• ⅓ tsp salt


• a bit of oil or butter for frying


• 150g smoked salmon, in slices OR 200g mushrooms, thinly sliced and fried, sprinkled with salt


• 150g sour cream


• a couple of basil leaves


• freshly ground black pepper

Crack the eggs into a baking bowl, add the salt, and beat until the mixture is pale yellow. In a frying pan, place a bit of butter or oil, then pour just enough mixture to make a thin, pancake-like omelette. Fry from both sides, then transfer on a plate. When all of your omelettes are ready, it’s time to fill them: spread about 2 Tbsp sour cream on each omelette, place salmon or mushroom slices and 2-3 basil leaves on top of the cream, then grind some black pepper on top. Roll the omelette and transfer on a serving plate (oven-proof if you’re not serving them right away and want to keep them warm).

If you want some smoke flavour in the veggie version, you can sprinkle your fried mushrooms with a bit of liquid smoke - but don’t exaggerate!

Scones with Plum Compote

Scones are an element sine qua non for a brunch, at least if you ask me! They are salty and sweet at the same time, so you can eat them either with butter and cheese or with honey, marmalade - or with this easy plum compote with a hint of cinnamon. They can be baked with any flour of your liking - I prefer a mixture of rolled oats and spelt. I’ve tried a vegan version of scones as well - I just left the egg out and replaced butter with margarine and milk with spelt milk (a bit more than in the original recipe, to compensate for the egg). The structure was great, but the taste was a bit compromised. Maybe you’d want to add some dried fruit - raisins, cranberries, sour cherries - to make them tastier!

For about 10 scones, you need

• 100g butter (or margarine)


• 300g flour (rolled oats, spelt, wheat..)


• 50g sugar (or more, if you like it sweeter)


• 50ml milk (or soy milk)


• 1 egg (for a vegan version, leave out)


• 1,5 tsp baking powder


• 0,5 tsp salt

First, preheat your oven to 225 degrees Celsius. Cut butter into small cubes and place in a baking bowl. Measure all dry ingredients together and pour onto the butter. Work with your fingertips until fine and crumbly, then add egg and milk and work into a dough. It’s a bit on the liquid side, but don’t add too much flour, or they’ll get dry! Divide the dough into 10 pieces (about 40g each) and, with your hands, form round cakes. Use some extra flour in doing this if the dough is too liquid. Bake in the oven for some 15 minutes, or until nicely brown. Let the cool a bit before serving as a part of brunch - or for afternoon tea.

For the plum compote, cut 400g ripe plums into small cubes, set in a pan with 100g sugar and one cinnamon stick and cook until plums are thoroughly cooked. Take the cinnamon stick out and serve either warm or cold.

Chocolate Ice Cream

As most Finns, I eat a lot of ice cream. Or I used to, until I was diagnosed with lactose intolerance. That meant no milk, yoghurt, cream - or ice cream for a long, long time. Then some eight years ago I got an ice cream machine as birthday present! Cool! I could do all kinds of sorbets and soy-based ice creams myself. But when the first lactose free ice creams appeared on the supermarket shelves, I didn’t feel motivated to continue my own production - until I moved to Germany where even most of the sorbets have added lactose in them! Good news for my abandoned Krups Sorbetière - now she’s got something to do again.

I’ve tried a lot of different recipes so far, and this very creamy, very chocolatey one here is among my absolute favourites.

For a portion that fits into my sorbetière, I need:

• 200g dark chocolate


• 500ml double cream, divided


• 200ml milk (I use 3,8% fat)


• some sugar, depending on how bitter your chocolate is and how sweet you like your ice-cream


• optional: 2 Tbsp of any liquor of your liking (Amaretto, Cointreau..)

Bring 300ml cream to a boil in a pan. Set aside and put in the chocolate and sugar. Let melt, then add the milk. Pour into a recipient with a lid, then set in your fridge for a couple of hours. About 30 minutes before serving, whip the rest of the cream into chantilly, add liquor (if using), mix with the chocolate-cream mixture, and prepare the ice-cream according to the instructions of your ice-cream maker. Serve as a dessert - or as part of your Sunday brunch!

Bright Day Banana Muffins

These are THE muffins for me. I've been baking them for so long I could probably make them with my eyes closed! And yet, every time I make them, it comes as a surprise how good they taste. It's a bit like bread with butter - you just don't get tired of it! I got the recipe from a kitchen-wizard cousin of mine some years ago. I ended up losing the original recipe (a long story...), but this is how I make them:

Dry ingredients:

• 230g flour


• 75g sugar


• 1,5 tsp baking powder


• a pinch of salt


• a bit of cinnamon


• a hint of nutmeg (be careful, too much will ruin the muffins)

Liquid ingredients:

• 100g melted butter


• 1 egg


• 100ml milk


• 2 bananas, mashed with a fork

+ some extra butter (melted, 20g or so), cinnamon, and sugar

Combine the liquid ingredients with the dry ones and stir well. Pour the batter into a muffin pan (this dough makes 6 muffins). Bake 20 minutes or so, the move the muffins on a plate. When they are still hot, brush them with melted butter and sprinkle some cinnamon and sugar on top. Serve as a part of brunch - or on any other occasion!

P.S. This morning I tried them with whole-grain spelt flour - and started wondering why I didn't start using whole-grain years ago...

Sunday's a Brunch Day

Today was Parliamentary elections day here in Germany. As foreigners, we were not allowed to vote, but why not use this special day as an excuse for having a bit fancier brunch? So this morning we enjoyed freshly baked bread and scones, sweet whole-grain pancakes, cheeses, veggies, fruit, coffee, and Mimosas. Brunch is by far my favourite meal - you can serve it practically any time, and there’s nothing you couldn’t serve as a part of it - it’s a total carte blanche! I love having a lot of variety - warm stuff, cold stuff, something sweet, something salty, something crunchy, something fresh.. And of course, great coffee!

During the following week, I’ll be posting my best brunch recipes - maybe next Sunday, you’ll be serving some of them yourself! So stay tuned…

I like to start my brunch with a fresh drink, so today I’m sharing the recipes of my two preferred brunch drinks with you: the classic Mimosa, and pineapple juice with fresh mint.

For the Mimosa, you’ll need

• the juice of ½ orange per serving


• about 6cl of your favourite champagne or bubbling wine per serving

For the pineapple mint juice, you’ll need (for about 6 servings)

• 1 pineapple


• 20g fresh mint


• 300ml water


• possibly some sugar or agave syrup

The night before, remember to put all ingredients in the fridge and to fill your ice-cube maker! For the Mimosa, squeeze oranges, divide the juice into glasses, and fill the rest with champagne. Serve immediately!

For the pineapple mint juice, peel the pineapple and cut it into cubes. Wash the mint. Combine pineapple cubes, mint, water - and sugar or agave syrup if you prefer it a bit sweeter - in your mixer and pulse. (It will be a bit foamy, that’s ok!) Serve with ice cubes.

Pizza with Smoked Tofu and Pineapple

I’ve eaten a couple of times in a vegan restaurant in Stuttgart, called Coox&Candy. Once I happened to eat there on a Tuesday, pizza day. We just couldn’t get enough of their vegan pizza with smoked tofu and pineapple! Since they are a vegan restaurant, their pizza includes a special type of cheese, which they also sell to take away. I immediately bought a package of No-Muh-Cheese (the spicy one) and was ready to try my first vegan pizza. It was a success! Unfortunately, we live in a small town where there are no vegan cheeses available (yes, one could buy it on the internet, but somehow I’m not that deep in the world of internet shopping just yet), so today I used a local cheese from our organic farm instead. This time, I wanted to try whole-grain spelt flour in the dough, and it was really tasty (according to my hubby, it was the best pizza ever, but he was so hungry I’m not sure if he can be trusted ;) ) - in the future, anyway, I’ll be using only whole-grain flour in my pizza dough.

This recipe yields 2 big pizzas - that’s usually more than enough for us 5.

Dough:

• 250ml water


• 12,5g fresh yeast or half a package instant yeast (that would be about 5g)


• 1 tsp salt


• 2 Tbsp olive oil


• 1 Tbsp sugar


• about 450g flour

Tomato sauce:

• 1-2 onions, peeled and chopped


• 600g tomatoes, peeled and cut into cubes


• 2-4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped


• olive oil


• salt, pepper, and oregano to taste

On top:

• 200g smoked tofu in thin slices


• 5 Tbsp chopped pineapple


• grated cheese of your choice

Preparing the sauce

Begin with the tomato sauce: sauté onions in olive oil, add garlic, continue frying for 2 minutes or so, then add tomatoes, salt, pepper, and oregano. Bring to a boil and let simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes, reduce heat and let simmer over a low heat for about one hour. (If you’re in a hurry, feel free to reduce cooking time - and if really in a hurry, just take one can of tomatoes, and purée it with salt, pepper, oregano, garlic, and olive oil.)

Preparing the dough

To prepare the dough: measure the water in a baking bowl, throw in yeast and stir until dissolved, then add salt, oil, and sugar, stir again, and then add as much flour as you need to get a good dough. Then knead for a couple of minutes, cover the bowl with a cloth, and let ferment for an hour or so.

Depending how quick you were, you now have some time to do other stuff - go for a walk, read a book, call a friend.. But if your memory is as good as mine, it’s better to set an alarm, though!

Once your dough and sauce are ready to go, set your oven to 250 degrees Celsius. Knead your dough so you get the air bubbles out, divide into 2 pieces, and roll them both into a square a bit smaller than the oven pan you’re using. Transfer onto the pan, bake in the oven for 5 minutes or so, take out, and then cover each pizza with a layer of tomato sauce, tofu, pineapple, and finally cheese. Put back in the oven for some 15-20 minutes more, or until nicely brown and crispy.

Serve with a side salad - und ein kaltes Bier!

Potato and Celeriac Gratin with Porcini Mushrooms

It was love at first sight. As soon as I opened the New Vegetarian Kitchen by Nicola Graimes at a shop in Frankfurt Airport, I knew I couldn’t walk away without buying it. And it was the right decision, although it meant an even heavier bag to carry around. (Will I ever learn to travel light?!) Every single recipe I've tried has worked perfectly! One of my favourite recipes to try on one of these cold and windy autumn days is a gratin with potatoes, celeriac, porcini mushrooms, and lots and lots of cream.

For 3 hungry people you'll need

• 20g dried porcini mushrooms


• 30g butter (or vegan margarine)


• 1 tbsp olive oil


• 3 garlic cloves, sliced


• 300ml heavy cream (or any vegan cream - soy, rice, oats.. just make sure it isn’t sweetened!)


• 4 tbsp milk (or soy/rice/oats milk)


• 300g celeriac, peeled and cut into small cubes


• 550g unpeeled potatoes, sliced


• salt and black pepper to taste

First, set mushrooms in a small bowl and pour 100ml boiling water to cover them. Let them simmer for some 10 minutes, drain, but reserve the water for later use. Chop the mushrooms (I use scissors). Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet and fry the garlic slices for about one minute, then add mushrooms, potatoes, and celeriac, and fry for a couple of minutes more. Then add all liquids (including soaking water from mushrooms), and salt and pepper. Let simmer over a low heat for some 20 minutes, then transfer into a baking dish, and cook in a preheated oven (200 Celsius) until the top is golden brown - this takes about 20 minutes as well. Serve hot with with a green salad and a glass of red wine! You also might want a slice of bread to wipe all that delicious sauce from your plate. With vegetarian dishes like this, who needs meat, anyway?

The only downside is that it’s very difficult to take a picture of this dish that would do it any justice!

Easy Whole-grain Cookies

Yesterday I had afternoon tea at a friend’s place. She a great baker, and this time she had made some pear muffins. I realized that all of those delicious things she bakes have something nicely rustic about them - and I found out why: she only uses whole-grain spelt flour she’s milled herself! (It seems to be very common here in Germany for people to have a small grain mill at home.)

Now I was curious - would it really work with something I’d normally never bake with whole-grain? So I took a basic cookie recipe, you know the one with butter, sugar, salt, and flour, and started baking, with 100% whole-grain wheat. And it did work -  so well that I ended up eating half of the batch in one go.. I'll definitely try more whole-grain baking in the future, and maybe even get one of those grain mills so I could always bake with fresh flour!

For 10 cookies, you’ll need:

• 100g butter (for a vegan version, use vegan margarine)


• 150g whole-grain wheat (or spelt) flour


• 40g muscovado sugar (if you want it sweet, feel free to use more)


• a pinch of salt


• 2 Tbsp cold water


• + some extra sugar/cinnamon and sugar/vanilla sugar

Make the dough: In a baking bowl, cut the butter/margarine in small cubes. In another bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt, then pour over butter cubes. Work with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Then add the water, stir, and let the dough rest for some 20 minutes in your fridge - unless you’re in a hurry.

Work the dough into a long, round “log”, about 9cm long and 5cm wide. Using a good knife, cut the log into 9 round cookies. Take an apple corer and cut a small hole in each cookie - the “holes” can be used to make one more cookie! (Goes without saying -  you can also skip the whole hole part, and just have 9 hole-less cookies instead.) Sprinkle some sugar (or cinnamon and sugar, or vanilla sugar) on top, and bake in 200 Celsius for some 15 minutes. I like mine really well done, but they get bitter if they burn even the tiniest bit, so I need to spend the last couple of minutes glued to my oven to get it perfect!

Let your cookies cool on a rack and serve with your favourite warm drink. I prefer to eat them when they’re still a bit warm - what about you?

P.S. My next post will be something salty again.. so stay tuned!