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German Recipes

Viennese Apple Strudel

Viennese apple strudel, would you like a piece? Yes, we are going to make this beauty from scratch, strudel dough is actually not as hard as you may think. Just be sure you have enough time at hand when you make the dough because it needs a pretty long resting period. That was actually what I tried to ignore this time and that’s why my first dough had a lot of holes and couldn’t be strechted properly. So feel free to start the dough the day beforehand. Resting it more than a few hours, e.g. overnight is no problem at all, you just give the gluten more time to develop. And then you will be rewarded with a delicious dessert with lots of apple flavor!

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Germany’s Answer to Apple Pie: German Apple Cake

Today I am going to introduce Germany’s answer to apple pie: German apple cake. It consists of a double pie crust, lots of apple filling and is then glazed. Compared to American apple pie, it looks rather plain. It doesn’t have any decorations, but believe me, this doesn’t mean that it tastes any less! This year we went apple picking already and so I decided to make this good old German apple cake. Sometimes you just crave the classics, so today you get this very traditional German apple cake.

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Onion Tart from Germany

Onion tart (Zwiebelkuchen) with a loooot of onions nestled into a thin pastry dough and covered with a cream and eggs mixture. This is exactly how I like it. It may be something savory, it may be sweet, but I always want more filling than dough, that is for sure. That’s why I created this recipe. This onion tart is traditionally served in September with the first wine of the season. This wine is called “federweißer”, it is only partially fermented and is pretty sweet. When I lived in Dresden, I was sure to visit the wine festivals (the wine from Radebeul is pretty popular) and eat my share of Zwiebelkuchen. It is divine! The version below contains caramelized onions mixed with some bacon, a dough similar to pie pastry and is then topped off with an egg and cream mixture. I am telling you, this is sooo delicious!

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My Favorite Kaiserschmarrn – Broken-up Pancakes with Plum Compote

Kaiserschmarrn with Zwetschgenröster aka broken-up pancake from Austria with plum compote, wow, you asked on Instagram unanimously that I publish the recipe, what a surprise! So your wish is my command, let me introduce you to this recipe, which I happen to make about every other week. My husband and me enjoy this for a weekend breakfast, but I also often make it to introduce guests to German/Austrian cuisine. I probably could be woken up at 3 in the morning and I would manage to produce kaiserschmarrn without a problem and from memory. You need to separate eggs? Not a problem. You don’t have a kitchen scale at hand? I will somehow figure it out. Once I even beat the egg whites by hand with a fork, you do need quite a bit of arm muscle, but it worked. Kaiserschmarrn is something everybody loves and can be practically served any time of the day, as a main dish, as dessert, for breakfast, you name it. This is the most traditional version of kaiserschmarrn. My husband and me agree that it is particularly good with plum compote. So let’s get to work and make some classic recipe!

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Strawberry Sponge Roll or brazo de reina from Colombia

It barely ever happens, but this does coincide. This recipe is the same in Germany as well as Colombia. Today I am presenting a strawberry sponge roll from Germany or brazo de reina from Colombia. This sponge roll is super easy to make and is filled with heavy cream and cubed strawberries. If you are expecting guests, I highly recommend this roll as it is easy to prepare and fast to make. So far every single person has loved this recipe, Colombians and Germans alike.

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Marble Cake with Cherries

Today I am finally going to introduce another bundt cake, it has been way too long. This is a traditional German cake, marble cake, with a little twist as it has chrries in it. Currently the cherry trees are blossoming in Munich. I simply had to take advantage of this beauty and take pictures of this marble cake with cherries with some cherry blossoms. It does not mean, however, that you can only serve this coffee cake in spring. Actually, this cake is delicious all year around as the cherries are from a jar. With a little imagination you may even see the cherry tree imitated in the marbled cake. I tried to create swirls that way, but I guess I didn’t succeed fully. Anyway, I promise you, it tastes great!

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Russian-German Twoiback or Double Buns

I just realized that I don’t have that many recipes here on the blog that remind me of my childhood. This probably has to do with the fact that we moved so much. I was born in Uruguay, then we spent three years in the U.S, came back to Uruguay before we finally settled in Germany. Needless to say that my four grandparents all have a German passport, however, all of them were born in the former Soviet Union. Thus, our food and dishes were influenced by a lot of different cultures. Dear to my heart is the Uruguayan cutlet called milanesa, I also love the Russian Napoleon cake, the meat dumplings pelmeni, wareniki or Polish pirogi. I also wouldn’t say no to Ukranian Easter bread named paska. Just recently I tried one of the many peppermint cookies from my grandma she has many recipes for. In this mix of cultures and dishes I am going to throw in a new one, Russian-German twoiback or double buns. You can think of brioche, it is a very soft dough with butter and you will see two balls that are attached to each other. My sister described them as an unfinished snowman. I couldn’t have said it any better.

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Classic Apple Strudel

Klassischer-Apfelstrudel

When I showed you in my stories on Instagram how I made this strudel, so many of you asked for the recipe and how I did it, so this is it! A classic apple strudel with some streusel or crumbs. I know that strudel dough can be intimidating, it was also for me, but like with everything, practice makes perfect. My first strudel looked very different, it had a lot of thick parts and I had so many wholes in it. But one of the good things of strudel is that the main event is the filling anyway, so even if your dough is not perfect, it does not matter that much because the dough is so thin and only is there to hold together the fruit filling or whatever you are going with.

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Traditional Gingerbread Heart for the Oktoberfest

Lebkuchenherzen zum Oktoberfest

For the beginning of the Oktoberfest I decided to introduce gingerbread hearts, they are a staple during this time, decorated with royal icing, often in blue and white for the Bavarian colors and showing the edelweiss flower common in the mountains. These gingerbread hearts, however, don’t necessarily need to be served for the Oktoberfest only, you can also give them as a gift for a special occasion such as a wedding, baptism, or as another sweet giveaway. Essentially, I went for my beloved recipe for gingerbread, which has been on my blog for a while. You can very easily make a vegan version of this recipe as it does not contain eggs. Please see details in the recipe below.

I asked several experts who have eaten hearts from the Oktoberfest and they did tell me that yes, you usually make it with the traditional gingerbread spices. You don’t necessarily have to, but it is pretty common. So folks, if you are in for some decorating, for having fun, this recipe is for you!

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Simple Cherry Cake for a Picnic

Einfacher Kirschkuchen

This simple cherry cake has a little embarassing backstory. I once baked this cake many years ago when I was going to college. I remember, it was during one of these horrible times when there were like tons of exams and I was studying like there was no tomorrow. It felt like my brain was a hardware drive and had to be fully deleted and swiped clean just to be crammed again with data and facts for the next exam. It was during this time that my roommate asked for the recipe because she enjoyed it the first time around. She had planned to make it for her family visiting. And I simply didn’t remember anymore where I got it from, my brain, my hard drive had gone blank. However, I was too ashamed to admit to not knowing, so I simply did some research and gave her a recipe I found. Unfortunately, the recipe I had passed on to her was not nearly as good. But I kept quiet, I was too embarassed. Years later when I flipped through the very old cookbook my mom had given to me from the famous German brand Dr. Oetker, I realized that actually this was the recipe I had used back then. So, Susann, if you are reading this, it had nothing to do with your baking abilities, I simply had passed on the wrong recipe to you! Sorry for that.

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