It is the seventh anniversary of my bike accident today. I had brain bleeding, a concussion, and lost a tooth. Despite all of these symptoms, I did not get any permanent damage, which I am extremely grateful for. If you want to read about the details of my accident, check the details here. Obviously I have to celebrate this special day with a decadent cake, obviously. Today I decided for British sticky toffee pudding. I have mentioned it before, we were in Scotland last fall for the first time and at some point I ate sticky toffee pudding. This is a sticky date cake that is served with a toffee sauce. It is a dream come true if you ask me. You can do single servings, but I decided for the more traditional route and went with a cake you can cut into slices. The warmth and cozyness of this cake is to die for, can I interest you in making it?
I am introducing rhubarb strudel to you today. I already have an article on how to make strudel dough from scratch on the blog. Of course I have an apple strudel on here as well. However, I wanted to include a spring version of strudel and decided to go for rhubarb. But try to imagine this, as a food blogger it can often take several weeks before a recipe goes on the blog. This means seasonal fruits/vegetables are needed very early on. I mean, you may make the recipe, you have to take pictures, you need to tweak the recipe, write it down, rewrite segments, etc. I am telling you, it takes a while. So when I was looking for rhubarb, it was still March. However, since I saw asparagus and strawberries being sold, which are usually in season at the same time, I thought I may also find rhubarb. But no, rhubarb, I was told, is definitely not available until April.
For our fifteenth anniversary I made this lemon tiramisu with no raw egg or alcohol. This is the third tiramisu on my blog with fruits, there is a strawberry tiramisu and also a plum tiramisu and today you will get the lemon tiramisu. Since my hubby loves anything with citrus fruit, I knew I wanted to make something refreshing. If you are interested in all recipes with lemons, limes, etc., check out this blog article.
I don’t know about you, but I feel like I need a lot of comfort food and soul food. Hence I felt like making brownies. I feel brownies taste great any time of the year. The best thing is, they are rather easy to make and don’t take too long. The below recipe is made with melted chocolate and cocoa powder. This makes them extra fudy. I usually reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe as I feel that the sugar can easily overpower the chocolate flavor. Below version contains chopped walnuts and coarse sea salt, but you can omit these two ingredients.
Tada, today I’m introducing a specialty that actually comes from Spain and has been adapted in Latin America with local products: turrón. In Germany, we would probably call this nougat. Turrón traditionally consists of a honey-sugar syrup that is mixed with egg whites and almonds. This “paste” is then pressed into relatively flat bars and then cut into pieces or cubes. I use the version with peanuts (maní), which are much cheaper to buy in Uruguay and are also native to the country. The Uruguayans have simply replaced almonds with a local product: peanuts. Turrón basically comes in two varieties: “duro”, i.e. hard turrón, or “blando”, i.e. the softer verrsion. I opted for the hard version. You should definitely be prepared to take at least 45 minutes to make this delicacy and you will need some arm muscle. However, I think it’s well worth the effort.
Guys, I was fortunate enough to participate in a strudel online class by the Austrian Astrid Lamarche. I was not paid to say this, I really enjoyed that strudel class. If you want to check Astrid’s Instagram, you will be amazed as to how big she manages to stretch out strudel dough. So I got super ambitious and swore to myself, I want to get as good as she is. If she manages to only use 200 grams of flour (a typical amount for strudel) to stretch the dough over her entire dining table, I want to try that, too! And it worked, of course there still is room for improvement, but I was so happy that this is a super classic and traditional Austrian strudel. So below I am sharing the recipe with you guys.
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 I am introducing the Venezuelan dessert to you named “quesillo”. Quesillo is the Venezuelan name for a custard that is normally known as flan. Flan originates in Spain and is commonly consumed and enjoyed in Latin America as well. There is a reason I have several flan recipes on my blog, you may try the classic flan, flan with pineapple, flan with coconut, chocoflan with a chocolate cake and the cousin called leche asada, which does not require a watherbath. There are a lot of recipes out there, each family has their little secret. However, what they usually have in common is a) the caramel layer on top and b) milk or heavy cream and eggs. But that is about it, some recipes require only egg yolks, others use the full egg, some may ask just for milk and others only cream. Quesillo does use sweetened condensed milk and usually a dash of rum for extra flavor. Preparing this dish only requires around 10-15min, the rest will be taken care of by the oven and fridge. The word “quesillo” comes from the Spanish word “queso” as a slice may look a bit like a slice of queese with some holes in it.
Today I am offering roasted plums ice cream, yes, you heard right. This ice cream is amazing, I was actually blown away. If you have ever tried broken-up pancakes with plum compote, a very famous dish here in Germany, you will know what I am talking about. I couldn’t stop eating this delicious ice cream, it was just so good.
This was the first year I finally was in Catalonia in Spain. Of course I had to try the famous “crema catalana”. This is a custard seasoned with orange and lemon zest and cinnamon. Just like the French crème brûlée it has a layer of caramelized sugar on top. The advantage of this custard? It is made on the stove-top and does not need a waterbath so it is easy to make and requires little time.