This Bavarian potato salad is made with broth and vinegar instead of mayonnaise. Since I grew up in the north of Germany, this was unusual for me, but I have to say, it is so good as it makes you focus even more on the potatoes. Are you interested in making this super German potato salad?
This simple apricot cake is exactly what you need for a picnic, I took pictures outside on purpose. Sitting in a green area with a piece of this cake sounds perfect to me. The cake is easy to make and does not require any chilling times. Even though there are only two of us, we gobbled it up quickly. I was inspired by this simple cherry cake, but I would be me if I didn’t tweak the recipe a bit and made it even simpler. If you are looking for some more recipes with apricots or peaches, how about this blog article with 14 apricot and peach recipes.
Apricot strudel, I just had to make one! Since attending an online strudel class, I have been in a strudel craze. I published one full article on how to stretch out strudel dough not long ago. This time I decided it was time for a summer strudel with a lot of apricots. I am a huge apricot fan, I have a lot of apricot recipes on my blog. So it comes as no surprise that a strudel also had to be filled with apricots. I also added caramelized bread crumbs and almonds.
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.
I firmly believe that we have to enjoy the small moments. One of them is this simple eggnog coffee cake. It needs about 20 minutes to prepare and then has to be baked for almost an hour, but I believe it is so worth it. My husband ate this cake single-handedly within a few days and requested for me to make it again very soon.
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Guys, you won’t believe how many strudels I have made recently. Crazy! Have you every tried to make one from scratch? I know a lot of people are scared of making the dough. But believe me, it is much easier than it looks, really. I was not paid for this but I took an online strudel class with the Austrian Lamarche, she shared so many helpful tricks, it was amazing! One major thing to keep in mind is that strudel dough has to rest. A lot. Like several times. You first knead it for a long time, then it rests, then you work a bit on it, and it rests again. For that reason I recommend making the dough the night or day before so that you can focus on all that stretching. Below you will have ten tips for perfect strudel dough, the basic recipe, and some extra recipes.
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.
Have you heard of Springerle cookies from Germany? Traditionally they are made with anise seed. However, I don’t really like that flavor and instead made them with orange zest and vanilla extract. If you want to do the traditional flavor, I have you covered as well. Springerle cookies are a cookie that needs to be made in advance. It takes three days until they are baked and will intesify in flavor over the course of weeks. For that reason I recommend making them already now if you want to try them for Christmas. If you believe Wikipedia, Springerle cookies were already made in the Middle Ages and served for a lot of festivities, including weddings. The cookie molds were made from pear trees and passed down from generation to generation. I found my cookie mold here in Munich at the store Holzstandl, you may also try Etsy.
Spritz cookies without any cookie press, this is what I am presenting to you today. All you will need is a piping bag with a star tip and you should be good to go. In order for it to work, there are two secrets: first the consistency of the dough can be altered by adding milk by the spoonful, and second, in order for the piping bag not to explode, we will fasten it with some scotch tape. Kindly note that you need to find the happy middle between very dense dough, which is hard to pipe and dough that is too loose so the cookies won’t hold their shape. It does require a bit of experimenting until you have the right consistency. I hope that below instructions are helpful.
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Ole from the German blog Nimmersatt has a legendary apple cake on his blog, which has been on my baking list forever. I finally have come around to making it. The recipe is from his beloved granny (actually not his real grandma, but a neighbor that took him under her wings) that sounds very much like my own grandma. Just as granny Hanna would always have a cake in the house and offer it to friends and family, so did my grandma. My grandma was a very good cook and always made something sweet. If it was somebody’s birthday, there would be so much cake and so many different pastries that the table would almost break down. She always made too much, but that is how she liked it. Usually her cakes were simple, one typical one would be a sheet cake with fruits and crumbs or peppernuts.
