These German nut triangles are one of my favorite desserts from Germany. I just learned recently that you supposedly only serve them during Christmas season in some regions of Germany. However, I remember seeing them everywhere all year round, every bakery had them at least where we lived. Even the school kiosk offered them all the time and I happily ate them day in and day out.
Yes, you read right, today I am serving maple syrup bacon cupcakes! This is definitely an unusual flavor combination. The first time caramelized bacon got my attention was when I saw the Irish blogger using bacon for scones. And once I was paying more attention to bacon in sweet goods, I suddenly saw it on Pinterest, used in and for cupcakes. If you think using bacon in sweet cupcakes is crazy, maybe I can convince you if I say that the bacon is caramelized. I have to say, I do love this crazy sweet and salty flavor combination.
I already blogged about the Paraguayan version of cheese bread. But today I want to introduce you to Colombian cheese bread: pandebonos! Pandebonos are, as many Latin American recipes, gluten free as they are prepared with tapioca starch. Pandebonos take very little time to prepare and are easy to make with regular ingredients.
Recipes that have a story to tell are my favorite recipes. That’s definitely the case for these black forest eclairs. The reason for me making eclairs after a while again was because a blogger colleague of mine named Julia (her German blog is called Julia bakes) was hospitalized and eager to eat some proper eclairs. Obviously the hospital didn’t provide such a treat so Julia asked if anyone was willing to bake her some. Since I live in the same city and had some time off before starting to work again, I volunteered. Baking eclairs for her reminded me of the fact that my husband is a huge lover of eclairs. For that reason I have been whipping up eclairs more regularly again. These black forest eclairs are definitely one of my favorite flavor combinations.
I do admit that eclairs take a while, but the good thing is you can prepare the cherry filling in advance. Since these eclairs are based on the famous black forest cake, I added chocolate shavings to the whipped cream. So imagine an eclair filled with lots of delicious cherry filling, topped off with whipped cream and chocolate shavings and then being dipped in chocolate ganache. Sounds like music to my ears.
Choux pastry, the dough the ecalirs are made with, is not difficult to make. I honestly don’t know why so many people are intimidated by it. If you ask me, I find it easier than working with than yeast. What you should keep in mind when preparing choux pastry? Do NOT open the oven door while they are baking. The eggs need a consistant environment, so don’t be tempted to check and open the door. Just like cheese cake, choux pastry likes a humid environment, so my little trick is to put a container with water on the bottom of the oven. And secondly, you need to be sure to bake them long enough. The outside should be crunchy and the elcairs easy to cut through. That way it will be easier also to hold up all the filling and for them to stay fresh longer.
The ony part that is a little tricky is knowing how many eggs you need to add to the dough. But if you have a glossy dough that is pipepable, you got the right consistency and boy, I can tell you that home-made and from scratch eclairs are simply the best. A light and fluffy dough which is filled with cherries and complemented by whipped cream with chocolate shavings and chocolate ganache, I don’t know what else to ask for. Are you going to give these beauties are try?
These Black Forest Eclairs have a regular houx pastry, are filled with a super fruity cherry filling and are then topped of with whipping cream with chocolate shavings and some extra chocolate glaze. For the eclairs heat water, salt and butter in a pot and let the butter melt completely. Change temperature to low and add all the flour at once while still stirring. Stir until a ball forms. Be sure to move the ball around for about one or two minutes, there should be a thin white layer on the bottom of the pot. Move dough ball to a bowl and let cool off. Add first egg. Beat in one egg at a time. First the dough will appear crumbly. Depending on the size of the eggs, you will have to beat in between 3-5 eggs. The right consistency is reached if the dough slowly drops off a spoon and looks glossy. Preheat oven to 220 degrees Celsius and place a large ovenproof container with water on the bottom of your oven. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper and pipe stripes of about 2 centimeters in width and 12 cm in length on the baking sheet. Leave space between each as they will puff considerably. You can wet your fingers with some water to smooth away any inconsistencies. Bake eclairs on medium rack for 10min, reduce temperature to 180 and bake for another 15-20min. The crust should be a little darker and crunchy. Do NOT open the oven door as otherwise the eclairs will shrink. Cut eclairs in half while still warm. For the cherry filling drain cherries while keeping the juice. Take about have the juice and bring to a boil with sugar and lemon juice. Stir tapioca starch with some water until you see no lumps. Once the juice is boiling, add the tapioca and stir for about one to two minutes, until it become thick. Add the cherries and set aside. For the whipping cream whip the cream with all ingredients except for the chocolate shavings for about four minutes or until stiff. Fold in chocolate shavings. For the chocolate ganache heat the heavy cream, once almost boiling, take off heat and add chocolate in chunks. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Spoon cherry filling on the bottom of each eclair and either dollop or pipe on the whipped cream. Dunk the top part of the eclair in the chocolate ganache and place on top. Eclairs taste best on the same day they were made. However, you can keep them chilled for a few days in an airtight container. Eclairs taste best on the day they were made. If kept chilled in an airtight container, they can be eaten for a few days.
Black Forest Eclairs
Ingredients
Instructions
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Notes
Have you every experienced this? You want to bake something you ate during your holiday, but then you can’t find the right ingredients. This is what happened to me when I tried to make achiras, this is a gluten free cheese snack from Colombia. My first problem was the cheese being used, it is called queso campesino and simply is not sold in Germany. Feta is probably the closest you will ever find, but it is firmer and much saltier. So I thought I couldn’t make achiras.
On top of that, Colombians use a special starch for achiras. It is extracted from the Sago palm. I was very certain that regular grocery stores in Germany wouldn’t offer Sago starch. At least this is what I thought.
Today I am introducing a delicious and vegan Oreo layer cake because I feel like celebrating. You may wonder why? Well, today exactly one year ago I had a horrible bike accident including hemorrage. I am sure glad I didn’t google damages you may get from hemorrage, I would have cried my eyes out.
I am extremely grateful that I don’t have any permanent damages and I can live a normal life. That’s why I am in celebratory mood. Hence this delicious and vegan Oreo cake. I was so excited introducing this cake here. I am always happy when I see people sneaking back helping themselves to a second piece. I have never seen a layer cake disappear so quickly, let alone a vegan one. That tells you how good this vegan Oreo cake is.
These simple and delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are perfect for any and every occaison. They contain a lot of oatmeal, are chewy, with a nice buttery flavor, and contain a lot of chocolate chips. I love cookies this way. Apparently I am not the only one who loves these cookies. I invited a whole bunch of girls for coffee the other day and these cookies were gone so quickly, I was really surprised. Several asked for the recipe. That is always a good sign.
You need to know that baking cookies is something only reserved for the holidays in Germany. Baking cookies throughout the year is something that is only starting. Finally it is possible to find cookies in bakeries, but usually only a few different ones. I am so glad that this is finally changing. Funnily enough, if you offer a cookie to anyone, young or old, people will not decline. But for some reason we still don’t bake as many cookies as Americans. Hopefully that will change soon. Especially since I am a huge cookie monster and love cookies any time of the year. Especially such a classic oatmeal chocolate chip cookie like this one.
Is it already spring in your region? I currently live in Munich, in the south of Germany and just a few days ago we had heavy snowfall. Today the sun is shining brightly but it is brisk and cold outside. I feel that the snowdrops and crocus are all confused as to whether spring is actually around the corner or not. But be it as it may, I decided to introduce some refreshing lime bars, which are definitely going to bring spring to your plate. I love the fact that they are super easy to prepare, you don’t need a lot of ingredients and that you can serve them for Easter, brunch or anything that needs to be brigthened by some fresh yellow color. Also, these will intensify in flavor on day 2 or 3, so perfect if you want to make them in advance.
I decided I needed a super simple and quick recipe. There have been too many complicated ones recently. We simply don’t have time to be in the kitchen for so long, especially if it is supposedly made from scratch. How about these delicious lime bars? You can also make them with lemon or any other citric fruit. I love them with lime. The shortcrust is not prepared the regular way with cold butter, but don’t despair, melting the butter is actually what makes this so easy to prepare. And the lime curd is also done in a jiffy, you basically whisk together all ingredients and that’s it. Let the oven do the hard work.
Update 2019: improved recipe, more tips and better pictures!
Are there any oreo fans out there? Then I got something for you! Since I promised to present more cookies during my second year of blogging, I decided to give oreos a try. And alas, homemade ones are so much better than bought ones!
It is a shame that I haven’t posted that many bundt cakes on my blog yet. Seriously, I love bundt cakes, they are so German! And when we moved inside of Germany and I was holding my bundt cake form, I thought, well, it is about time to finally make another bundt cake again! So I decided to go with a fruity one, I love raspberries, so this time I wanted to make a delicious bundt cake with raspberry filling. It is made with yeast dough, filled with raspberries and then rolled up in the bundt cake. The yeast basically does most of the work, so don’t worry, you will have this cake ready in no time!
Many people are intimidated by yeast, but you really don’t have to be. Think of yeast as a living thing, which is actually is. I like to compare yeast to a woman in winter, yeast always likes it cozy and warm, not necessarily hot, but nice and warm. As long as you take care of that and your yeast is active, I promise, it is not that hard to deal with, give it a go!
Once you have the dough prepared, you will roll it out into a rectangle and smear the raspberry filling on top. Think of it as a cinnamon roll, because you do exactly the same, you smear the raspberries on, roll it up, but then you will place this roll into the bundt cake form. I find it so exciting cutting into the rather plain looking cake.
