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Pies and Tarts

Tarte au Riz or Rice Pudding Tart from Belgium

Rice puddig tart is an elevated form of rice pudding. You are going to pour the prepared pudding into a tart form, which was lined with yeast dough. Since it will be baked at a very high temperature just like pizza, this will result in a caramelized top, yet creamy center. I would like to invite you to try this dessert from Belgium. If you like rice pudding, you will love this rice pudding tart from Verviers in Belgium.

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Meat Pie with Leftovers from Christmas

Everybody talks about sustainability and I am doing my best not to waste resources. Today I decided to put this into practice by using leftovers from Christmas and make something delicious with it. In my opinion a pie is the secret to any leftovers. As soon as you sandwich leftovers between pie dough, it makes it so much better. And to make it even more convenient, you can freeze the unbaked pie, so you can enjoy it at a completely different time and don’t have to eat the same thing for a week. Plus, even something like gravy can be hidden in this pie. The pictures show a pie that contains leftover cranberry sauce. Another version I made was with some apple and raisins. Both were extremely delicious.

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Onion Tart from Germany

Onion tart (Zwiebelkuchen) with a loooot of onions nestled into a thin pastry dough and covered with a cream and eggs mixture. This is exactly how I like it. It may be something savory, it may be sweet, but I always want more filling than dough, that is for sure. That’s why I created this recipe. This onion tart is traditionally served in September with the first wine of the season. This wine is called “federweißer”, it is only partially fermented and is pretty sweet. When I lived in Dresden, I was sure to visit the wine festivals (the wine from Radebeul is pretty popular) and eat my share of Zwiebelkuchen. It is divine! The version below contains caramelized onions mixed with some bacon, a dough similar to pie pastry and is then topped off with an egg and cream mixture. I am telling you, this is sooo delicious!

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Roasted Strawberry Pie

Today I am presenting a roasted strawberry pie with some braided topping. My strawberry season was extremely long this year. I started in Spain on holiday where they were already at the end of the season to return to Germany and continue. Here in Munich lockal strawberries are just available now, so I have been eating fresh and local strawberries for quite some time now. I didn’t know this, but roasted strawberries are even better than just baked strawberries, believe me, this is a special treat.

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Old-fashioned Rhubarb Pie

Old-fashioned rhubarb pie! Guys, I am ashamed to say, but this pie was polished within two days and it is only th two of us! If you love rhubarb, this pie is for you. It is a very simple, very plain pie, a buttery pie crust holds together: rhubarb. Yeah, duh, I decided to go for no further adornments, no additional spices, no egg, no custard, no nothing, just loads and loads of rhubarb. It is sweetened with sugar and tapioca starch will serve as the binder, but that’s it. I enjoyed mine with a dollop of whipping cream. Feel free to serve with ice cream or just eat plain!

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Pascualina, a Savory Pie from Uruguay with Egg and Spinach

Pascualina is a savory pie from Uruguay prepared with spinach and eggs. “Pascua” translates as Easter, thus this pie is usually eaten during the holy week or “semana santa”. As many Uruguayans have Italian ancestry, many Italian dishes were adapted to what was available in Uruguay. In Italy pascualina is normally prepared with ricotta and Parmesan cheese, however, Uruguayans like to infuse flavor with bacon and additional veggies such as bell peppers. Other dishes include milanesa, cutlets, which already tell you the origin. Another is the quince tart named pasta frola, which is very popular in Uruguay.

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Quince Tart with Four Ingredients

Normally quinces are harvested in October, however, for some strange reason all the local stores here in Germany offer them in abundance in January and February. I did ask last October whether any were available, but I was informed that I would have to wait a little. For that reason I decided to publish one more winter recipe before we finally jump to fresh and vibrant spring recipes. If anyone knows why stores offer this fruit just now, please let me know. Regardless, I decided to make a traditional tarte tatin. This means that a) this is an upside down cake, so the dough is on the top when it is baked. And it also means that b) the fruit gets to soak up all of that lovely caramel. I hope you understand now why I wanted to make a quince tarte this way.

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Cranberry Pie for Thanksgiving

Cranberry-Pie

Warning, this cranberry pie is probably not for everbody. I made it pretty tart and tangy. But if you think of it as a replacement for the cranberry sauce, you may be swayed. It has a slight hint of sage and is prepared with dried as well as fresh cranberries. As the pie crust is prepared without egg, you can make it a few days in advance.

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Pecan Pie with no Corn Syrup

Pecan pie adapted for readers in Germany! If you are looking for a recipe which is not sickenly sweet, but actually makes you taste the wonderful pecans, this recipe is for you! Needless to say that this recipe does not require any corn syrup and is made with molasses instead. If you have difficulty getting hold of pecans, you may as well use walnuts instead.

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How to Make an American Pie

Amerikanischer Cherry-Pie

After a long break I am going to do another “how to” tutorial. This is geared towards German people and non-Americans because I am going to talk about pie. What exactly is a pie? The most traditional pie has a dough base (pie crust) and a filling, it may have a second pie crust it is covered with. It was already popular among the American pioneers as it didn’t contain any leavener and could all be done by hand. It usually contains few ingredients such as flour, sugar, butter, egg, and milk and/or fruit or meats and has reached popularity also outside of the U.S. The most traditional pie is probably the apple pie, pumpkin pie or pecan pie is another classic you will find everywhere for Thanksgiving. In Germany pie is not that popular, even though the Europeans brought their different pies and tarts to the U.S. in the first place before it became so popular in the U.S.

It is impossible to find a proper pie form in Germany, I searched high and low, I used a springform (you can see a few pictures below with a springform), I used a tart form, until I finally gave up and simply ordered one online.  The one I currently use (I have two) is this one and it serves me well. What I do like about a proper pie form is that it chamfered, meaning that you will get more filling than in a tart form or springform. Below I will introduce you to many pie recipes and will give you tips on how to make sure that you are doing a proper American pie.

Amerikanischer Key Lime Pie

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