All Seasons Archives - Jenny is baking

German Cheesecake with No Crust

My grandma was a wonderful cook and she baked the most amazing cakes. I was gifted a recipe booklet from her. She passed away a few years ago so you probably can understand that this is a little treasure for me. Today I am introducing a German cheesecake recipe I found in this little booklet of hers. She titled it “Quarckkuchen”. I was surprised she actually had written down measurements for the recipe, that is not always the case. A full kilo of German quark (similar to farmer’s cheese) has to go into the cake. Maybe you can find quark in Aldi or Lidl? Unfortunately, the steps involved in making this cake were pretty limited, e.g. no oven temperature or time was given. So I decided to give it a go and put into place what I have learned so far of cheesecakes and how to avoid cracks. I think the result speaks for itself, there were no cracks whatsoever, I am so proud. I wish I could hand a piece to my grandma for her to try.

06/06/2025

Empanadas with Chicken Filling

Guys, we need more empanadas in our lives! Today I am presenting these turnovers very popular in all of Latin America with a chicken filling to you. My love for empanadas is pretty visible on my blog, I have a lot of recipes on here, for an overview, check out these eight empanada recipes in this blog post. Just a warning, yes, empanadas do require a bit of time. You will need to make the dough, you will need to make the filling, and then you need to make each empanada separately before baking them. However, what I do love about empanadas is the fact that you can do everything in advance. You may make the dough as well as the filling two days in advance. For me filling each empanada is better than yoga, it really calms me down. Once you get to the baking part, you will be awarded some delicious food!

23/05/2025

New York Cheesecake

Can I confess something? I am not a huge fan of German cheesecake known as Käsekuchen and usually prepared with a large part of quark. American cheesecake, on the other hand? Say no more, happy to have a large helping or even two. Confessing this as a German is close to committing a crime. But I can’t help myself. Probably because I don’t like quark. I mean, I do like quark in many things, but not necessarily in a cheesecake. I think I like the creaminess of cream cheese, quark on the other hand? Not so sure. I also like the fact that cheesecake is often served with a sauce. Well, as a huge fan of anything fruity, I am all in!

21/03/2025

Fluffy Chocolate Chip Buns

Are you in the mood for super fluffy buns that are big and bold and taste like brioche kissed by chocolate chips? Then look no further, these chocolate chip buns are for you. They can be served as they are, but will also taste amazing with some butter. I am sure that this will be a huge hit for any breakfast table.

07/03/2025

Pan de bonos from Colombia (gluten-free)

Wow, guys, really? 85% of you said on Insta that you want another pan de bono recipe on the blog. So I will happily oblige. Below version is made with Russian tvorog, which is a cream cheese also available here in Germany. My Colombian hubby says this is the closest I have gotten to the Colombian original, so I will take this as a huge win. Believe me, I have made probably thousands of pan de bonos by now, I have tried so many different cheeses, I have used mozzarella, and feta, I used queso de Burgos in Spain and a cheese called “Schichtkäse” here in Germany. Now we will turn to tvorog as this seems to be pretty close to the Colombian “queso costeño”, which is used originally.

25/02/2025

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Whisky

If you know me, it won’t come as a surprise that I am a huge fan of any type of chocolate chip cookie. I tried so many different recipes before I finally settled on this recipe for chocolate chip cookies. The below recipe contains whisky or bourbon, and also includes rye flour and rolled oats. It is only a distant relative of the original, but be it as it may, these cookies are extremely delicious. You will definitely taste the whisky flavor, but it is not too dominant. The only downside is that you definitely need to chill these cookies as otherwise you will not get a lot of whisky flavor. Best is 24 hours or overnight.

21/02/2025

Sandwich-Cookies: Alfajores with Almonds

Have you every heard of “alfajores”? These are sandwich cookies that are usually filled with the caramel cream called dulce de leche. They originally stem from Andalucia in Spain, but have become extremely popular in Uruguay and Argentina. Supposedly about 10 million (!) alfajores are sold each day in Argentina in 2023. The “original” is usually made with flour and cornstarch and creates this nice crunchy texture, however, my version below contains flour and almonds instead. The classic alfajor is usually rolled in coconut flakes, however, I will used chopped almonds for this version.

06/11/2024

Updated Version: Chocolate Cookies with a Caramel Center

If it were for me, we could skip Halloween all together and dive right into Christmas season. Do you also feel that way? For me fall is perfect for a nice cookie, they are simply comfort food for me, cozy and simple. I remembered that I have a wonderful chocolate cookie on the blog with a caramel center. So I decided to revisit the recipe and tweak it a little bit. I mean, I originally published the recipe in 2017 and I do have a bit more baking experience under my belt. You won’t believe how many cookies I have baked in the last seven years as a pronounced cookie monster. The below recipe has a slightly lower amount of butter and chocolate chunks and I also decided to make them a bit smaller. Also, I decided to sprinkle the cookies with sea salt after baking. Seriously, it took nothing for the cookies to disappear and I need to make more again…

23/10/2024

Simple Sour Cream Cake

This is a German recipe from the south, this is a simple sour cream cake. It was passed down by a reader, I didn’t even know of its existence and had to do some research. I learned that this can be classified as a cheesecake. It is made with sour cream containing 10% fat and heavy cream. What I like about this cake is several things. Number 1 being, it does not need a waterbath. Number 2: despite the fact that it is baked at a relatively high temperature, it does not crack easily. Number 3: as it uses this mild sour cream, it is not a tangy as some other German cheesecakes, it is slightly milder in taste. So will these reasons mean that you give it a try?

13/09/2024

American Cinnamon Rolls

Finally I got to make one iconic dish from the US, cinnamon rolls or cinnamon buns. Yes, I have made them before, but not the classic and traditional version with cream cheese frosting. But finally I got round to it and made the full deal, no extras, but also no substitutions. These are very moist and fluffy cinnamon rolls, we will need to make a tangzhong, which means boiling flour, water and milk, so that the flour can gelatinize. This will help for the rolls to stay extra fresh. Yes, you will add five more minutes of work, but I believe it is so worth it.

01/02/2024

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