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 2025: German classics and International Yums |
 As I mentioned already in "42. ROOT: Großmama's Hühnerfrikassee (Chicken fricassee)"  , I was especially grinchy this year, for reasons I don't wanna let ruin this recipe by repeating them, as it's what got me out of the foul mood... kinda. It's still a fickle b–. On December 5, it had become so pressing – PLUS it was a dark fog hole day where I could barely make out the park across the street, and that's a 100 meters away  – that SOMETHING had to be done!  As I was sorting through – and eventually out a part of – my Christmas-themed cooking-/baking books, I browsed a little for inspiration...  To cut the long story short, I baked through the evening and most of December 6, St. Nick's Day, listening to Christmas albums. And suddenly the day(s), and the mood, wasn't so poopy anymore.  Let's start with the two cookies on the lower side of the plate, as they are a compound cookie => I needed one to make the other.  CHOCOLATE COOKIES I reduced ingredients by 1/3, as I only needed them to make the others. I baked these already in 2023 (I think), as part of a culinary Advent calendar. Serves: 20 Prep Time: 2 hrs PLUS dough resting overnight Degree of Difficulty: Easy WE NEED 100 gr / 3.5 oz. bittersweet chocolate In the absence of other choices 85% cocoa this time.  135 gr / 4.75 oz. butter 100 gr / 3.5 oz. sugar 135 gr / 4.75 oz. flour 35 gr / 1.25 oz. (baking) cocoa powder 2-3 gr / 0.1 oz. baking powder salt 1 egg Medium-sized OR small WE DO 1. Break the chocolate and cut the butter into pieces, add the sugar and melt the mix over a bain marie, occasionally stirring. It shall not get too hot, otherwise prepping the cookies takes longer.  Let the mass cool.2. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder + salt in a bowl. 3. Whisk the egg into the cooled mass – Temperature BELOW 40°C / 100°F as otherwise the egg curdles – and add it to the flour mix. 4. Wrap the soft dough into clingfilm, let it firm up in the fridge for 1-2 hrs. Then flour a working surface, take it out, halve it and roll it into 1 (2) rolls with 5 cm / 2 in in diameter, and let them rest in the fridge overnight. 5. On the next day, preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F and line 1(2) baking sheet(s) with baking paper. Cut 5mm / 0.2 in thick slices from the dough roll(s) and place them on the baking sheets with some space between them. 6. Bake them about 20 minutes in the middle of the oven. Keep an eye on them! One of my two sheets were almost burned after 20 minutes Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely on a cake rack.CHEESECAKE COOKIES These are out of the English edition of New York Christmas Baking by German authors Lisa Nieschlag & Lars Wentrup. Serves: 40+ Prep Time: 2 hrs PLUS: dough resting overnight Degree of Difficulty: Easy WE NEED 220 gr / 7.75 oz. cream cheese 120 gr / 4.25 oz. butter At room temperature. 130 gr / 4.5 oz. raw sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla extract OR 1 pck => 8 gr => 1/3 oz. vanilla sugar 250 gr / 8.75 oz. flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 ts salt 12 chocolate cookies See above.  PLUS: I only needed five. morello cherry OR cranberry OR apricot jam I used raspberry... yummy, too.  WE DO 1. Beat the cream cheese in a bowl. Add butter + sugar and continue until it's creamy. Then stir in egg + vanilla. 2. Combine flour, baking powder + salt in another bowl and fold them into the cream cheese mix. Cover and let the dough rest in the fridge overnight. 3. On the next day, crush the chocolate cookies and put the crumbs into a bowl. I'd START with 4-5 and crush more when they run out as you'll probably NOT need all 12. Line two baking sheets with baking paper.4. Take small portions of dough, shape them into 2.5 cm / 1 in balls and roll them in the chocolate cookie crumble before transferring them on the baking sheets. 5. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F. 6. With the handle of a wooden spoon, make a small depression into the center of the cookies, and fill it with jam. 7. Bake the cookies in the middle of the oven for about 12 minutes OR until they start to gain color. At latest then, get them out. And since every oven is different, it can take longer / shorter 8. Let them cool on a cake (/ oven) rack. The following THREE cookies are out of a VERY special Christmas baking book, by Turkish cook / baker Fatmanur Kilic. Muslims may not celebrate Christmas religiously, she writes in the preamble, but that she very much enjoys the festive sentiment – and that food doesn't care about perceived cultural + religious "barriers" and unites people, instead. AMEN!  And I can assure you that Fatma brought some new twists to classics and provided overall VERY yummy, and easy-to-make recipes.  So let's start with the KIPFERL (= crescents). I'm sure what comes to mind FIRST when thinking of German Christmas cookies, it's vanilla kipferl. BUT: you know me. I'd NEVER fob you off with vile vanilla kipferl.  I honestly liked Fatma's version WAY better, because – huhu, Ms. Lilli ☕   !  – they're made with espresso! ESPRESSO-HAZELNUT-KIPFERL (crescents) Serves: 30+ Prep Time: ~ 2 hrs INCLUDING 1 hr resting in the fridge Degree of Difficulty: Easy WE NEED 50 gr / 1.75 oz. floured hazelnuts I blitzed whole nuts in the food processor 125 gr / 4.25 oz. flour 70 gr / 2.5 oz. icing sugar 2 tbsp instant espresso powder Since I NEVER would even THINK of letting THAT into my house , I used a shot espresso / 1 US fl.oz., freshly brewed by the Italian deli around the corner. Probably recoiled on me! Salt 1 egg yolk 100 gr / 3.5 oz. cold butter 3 tbsp cocoa powder OR finely ground espresso beans, for the COFFEE cracks. WE DO 1. Roast the hazelnuts in a non-stick pan on middle heat until golden-brown, and let them cool on a plate. 2. When the nuts are cold, mix them with flour, icing sugar, espresso (powder) + salt in a bowl. Guess you rather use the instant powder as, although I worked it into the dough sip-wise, the real espresso most likely led to the cookies turning into Dalì-clocks rather than crescents – although they started off as such. Make a trough in the middle, in which you add egg yolk + butter in little pieces – and quickly knead everything into a smooth dough. I started kneading with the respective hooks of my hand mixer and, when things JUST came together, finished with my hands. Wrap the dough into clingfilm and let it rest in the fridge for 1 hr. 3. Preheat the oven to 160°C / 320°F and line two baking sheets with baking paper. 4. Briefly knead the dough and shape it into two rolls about 2 cm / 0.75 in thick, from which you cut about 2 cm / 0.75 in pieces, which you roll into balls and then shape to crescents. 5. Place the crescents on the baking sheets with some space between them – Just to be safe. Oh, and make a souvenir photo in case it happens to yours what did to mine – and bake them in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes OR until golden-brown. Since every oven's different it can take longer/shorter, and since they're rather delicate, keep an eye on them6. Let the crescents / cookies cool on a cake rack and dust them with the cocoa powder / powdered espresso beans. APPLE-WALNUT-COOKIES Especially Americans might love these as they're rather "fist pizzas" than cookies in size. What a "fist pizza" is? Weeeell, a European's word for "American cookie". Oh, and they're really yummy! Serves: 12 Prep Time: ~ 2 hrs INCLUDING rest time Degree of Difficulty: Easy WE NEED DOUGH 115 gr / 4 oz. soft butter 155 gr / 5.5 oz. brown sugar salt 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla paste OR 1 pck. / 8 gr / 0.3 oz. vanilla sugar 210 gr / 7.5 oz. flour FILLING 1 apple best a sour one, like Granny Smith 1-2 tbsp brown sugar 1 tsp ground cinnamon Prefer CEYLON as it contains LESS liver-damaging Cumarin than the cheaper CASSIA ICING 50 gr / 1.75 oz. whole walnuts 80 gr / 2.75 oz. icing sugar 3 tbsp lemon juice Be VERY careful If the icing has reached its slightly viscous, liquid texture already after 2 tbsp, STOPWE DO 1. Wash hot, deseed + finely cube the apple. 5mm / 0.2 in MAXIMUM. Put it in a non-stick pan, add the brown sugar and bake it at middle heat until the leaking juice has evaporated. Take it off the heat, stir in the cinnamon, and let it cool completely. 2. For the dough, in a bowl knead together the ingredients, and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. 3. When the apple's cold, preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F and line a baking sheet with baking paper. 4. Divide the dough into 12 even portions and shape it into balls. Press them flat and add 1 tsp filling in the middle. Then fold the dough rims over the filling and press on firmly. 5. Place the dough balls on the baking sheet with some space between them, and bake them in the middle of the oven for 10-12 minutes OR until golden-brown. As every oven's different this can take longer/shorter When done, let them cool completely on a cake rack.6. Chop the walnuts. Or roughly blitz them in the food processor. Mix icing sugar + lemon juice – CAREFUL – and drizzle the icing onto the cookies. Immediately, sprinkle the walnuts on top, and let them dry. LAST, we get to a German pastry institution, which I've always wanted to try out... and now did.  Fatma has a variation with cashews + macadamias, but THIS time, I stuck with the classic. NUSSECKEN (nut wedges) I HALVED the recipe as I didn't want too many tempting "leftovers" after gifting my friends. ORIGINAL measures in brackets Serves: 16+ (32+) Derived from recipe – I already got like 30 from the halved recipe. Prep Time: ~ 2 hrs Degree of Difficulty: Easy WE NEED DOUGH 65 (130) gr / 2.25 (4.5) oz. soft butter 50 (100) gr / 1.75 (3.5) oz. sugar 1 (2) eggs 150 (300) gr / 5.25 (10.5) oz. flour 1/2 (1) tsp baking powder TOPPING 85 (170) gr / 3 (6) oz. butter 50 (100) gr / 1.75 (3.5) oz. walnuts 100 (200) gr / 3.5 (7) oz. chopped hazelnuts "Chopped" whole nuts in the food blender 50 (100) gr / 1.75 (3.5) oz. floured hazelnuts See 45 (90) gr / 1.6 (3.25) oz. sugar 1/2 (1) tsp orange zest From an actual orange. Have a nice juice, too. FURTHER 2.5 (5) tbsp apricot jam Like raspberry better, and took that. 100 (200) gr / 3.5 (7) oz. bittersweet couverture Used 100 gr / 3.5 oz. 70% chocolate. Next time I think I'll rather heed to couverture as it ran out pretty quickly, and was a bit TOO liquid.  WE DO 1. With the kneading hooks of a kitchen machine/electric whisk, knead the ingredients into a dough which you lightly press flat on the working surface, wrap into clingfilm and let rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes. 2. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and preheat the oven to 175°C / 350°F. 3. Melt the butter in a little pot. Chop – or blitz – walnuts + hazelnuts and stir them together with the rest of the ingredients – except the jam – in a bowl. 4. Flour a working surface + rolling pin and roll out the dough about 5 mm / 0.2 in thin and prick it with a fork several times. Spread the jam onto the dough and top it with the nut mass. Smooth that with a spatula and bake it in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes OR until golden-brown. Since every oven's different it can take longer / shorter 5. After removing it from the oven, let the dish rest about 5 minutes before detaching it from from the baking paper and cutting it into squares which you cut diagonally into triangles... and let cool. 6. Melt the couverture in a bain marie. Dip two cusps of the nut wedges into the couverture and let them dry on the baking paper. GUTEN HUNGER & FRöHLICHE WEIHNACHTEN!   |
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