I was in Scotland for the first time in my life. Went on holiday with my hubby. We managed to go during the most magical time, which was end of September, beginning of October. Conclusion: Scotland is so extremly beautiful, I want to go back immediately! Of course we tried lots of Scottish classics such as haggis. It took very little time to realize that every tiny (“wee” in Scottish) café would offer a soup of the day. I mean, it probably comes as no surprise, it was windy, it was chilly, and I can imagine the winter months to be long in Scotland. A nice soup is perfect to warm up. Usually this soup was served with thick (!) slices of sourdough bread or cheese scones made with cheddar. I believe in the US and Canada these would be considered “biscuits” as they were also cut round and also had a lot of layers. The best cheese scones I tried in Scotland were the ones from Bad Girl Bakery in Inverness (I was not paid to say this). Unfortunately, I forgot to take a picture, I was so busy enjoying this super delicious cheese scone, I completely forgot. You can get a peek on the Insta of Bad Girl Bakery if you want. Regardless, I was determined to reproduce this delicious cheese scone.
Drumrolls please, today is World Bread Day! I decided to make a national treasure from Uruguay, “pan marsellés”, which you can describe as a particular bun with a special shape that is widely eaten and enjoyed in Uruguay, Latin America. It is not from the city Marseille in France, it is a bit confusing why and how it got its name. Regardless, it is definitely a Uruguayan bun that is eaten for any occassion. You may serve it sweet, savory, or you can go with butter and a sip of mate. There you have your Uruguayan breakfast.
“Brezen” is the Bavarian word for pretzels and today I am going to introduce these to you. So far I have only bought this staple here in Munich, Germany. I was always scared of the lye bath, which is required for a true Bavarian pretzel. However, I finally decided to give it a try and have to say, wow, homemade and from scratch taste so much better than bought, even if from a nice bakery! So today I will do my best to guide you to these. Beware, even in Germany there are differences in how pretzels are made. I will explain below, I hope I can interest you in making these.
Are cinnamon rolls comfort food for you? For a cozy afternoon with a nice cup of tea or coffee? I at least find them perfect for a rainy and windy day. These are not just regular cinnamon rolls, no, they are filled with apple pieces that were steamed with some butter and sugar. So delicious! I hope you are interested in cinnamon rolls with apple filling!
Servus! Since the Oktoberfest 2024 is around the corner, I wanted to introduce you to another classic from Bavaria, Zwetschgenknödel, which translates as plum dumpling. You will realize that during the Oktoberfest a lot of desserts and pastries are sold and super popular, another typical one is the broken-up pancake called Kaiserschmarrn, a twin of the recipe from today is made with apricots and thus would translate as apricot dumplings. So far I have only made these famous dumplings with cream cheese or sour cream, but the real deal is actually made with cooked potatoes. So far I have refrained from it as it can be pretty finicky. It tends to be rather sticky and hard to work with. But below I offer some tricks so that you can enjoy this wonderful Bavarian classic.
Today you get a super chocolatey chocolate muffin. It has melted chocolate in the dough, loads of chocolate chunks and a gooey filling in the middle containing chocolate. These chocolate muffins are my version of the famous olympic chocolate muffins. Calling all chocoholics, if you have a craving for chocolate, this muffin is for you.
If you have been on my blog before, you probably know that I have a lot of corn flatbread recipes from Colombia and Venezuela on here, they are normally called arepas. Today I am going to introduce you to the gluten-free version that is made with sweet corn and is filled with cheese. In Venezuela these are called cachapas, in Colombia arepas de choclo. The Spanish word for sweet corn is choclo, hence the name. Normally the sweet corn is cooked and directly cut off the cob, however, I decided to go for canned corn as in Germany usually only sweet corn is sold. I had tried already once to make cachapas, however, I was not completely happy yet. But then I had the privilege to eat cachapas at my husband’s cousin again. Her husband is Venezuelan, so obviously he knew exactly how to make them. Of course I immediately asked her for the recipe, which she happily let me know. So I set to it and guess what, they tasted marvelous, so I finally felt OK to share the recipe here. So let’s make cachapas with cheese filling!
You can also make the cachapas and melt the cheese on the top if you find the procedure described below too complicated
Continue Reading…
Are you still looking for last-minute inspiration for your Easter brunch? I have compiled 15 ideas here, pancakes, waffles, cakes, you will also find something savory and vegan dishes, so let’s keep this brief and get going:
Waffles, pancakes and the like
#1 Fluffy Kaiserschmarrn with rhubarb compote#2 Thick pancakes with sourdough (overnight prep) Continue Reading…
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.
During Covid and lockdown times, everybody seemed to have baked banana bread. I never published a recipe because I didn’t feel like following a trend. There are sooo many recipes out there, healthier ones, vegan, classic recipes, and some that sound like a decadent cake and have names such as “death by chocolate banana bread”. I finally caved and this has to do with the fact that this banana bread is prepared with plantains instead of bananas. Traditionally Peru and also Chile like to use plantains to make the bread, so I dared to declare this a Peruvian recipe. But I know that there are heated and emotional discussions as to which recipe belongs to which Latin American country. I will just keep out of it and call this queque de platano Peruvian. Please don’t kill me.