I have decided to theme November: gifts from the kitchen. I really enjoy gifting people with homemade baked goods. I often gift these cute animal cookies; since the last birth was a girl, I made some pink elephants and carried them in a jar (see the picture below). Another good gift is dulce de leche, caramel made from sweetened milk. Today we are going to make fudge with peanut butter swirl and salted peanuts. I made the fudge in a frying pan, so it didn’t take that long. The fudge pictured below was wrapped in parchment paper and then shipped out of the country. Yes, you can ship it and it will keep. Continue Reading…
I get very nostalgic when I think about these chcocolate chip banana muffins. This is one recipe I made over and over again as a teenager. Back then there was a time I ate these muffins about every day. I love the combination of chocolate and banana. That is also one of the reasons why I once invented a chocolate banana cake for my birthday. But be aware, if you don’t like this flavor combo, this recipe is probably not for you. But if you do like it, these muffins come together within minutes and only need about 20-25 minutes in the oven. So if you have some ripe bananas you wish to use, this is perfect. Make some super delicious chocolate banana muffins. You will only have to wait about half an hour to bite into these!
Have you ever heard about cobbler? I would say this is the American solution for a quick and easy dessert. Slice up some fruits and cover with crumbs, that is basically what cobbler is. You don’t have to go through the hassle of making a dough, nope, just toss some fruits together with crumbs and you are done. Yes, you still have to prepare the fruit and you still have to make the crumbs and bake the entire thing, but I mean, this is really easy and simple compared to say a layered cake.
Banana pudding from the south is a layer dessert, you will have vanilla wafers (basically vanilla cookies), custard, bananas, and meringue on top. Usually this dessert is served in a casserole. However, since it is only the two of us and because I had never made this dessert before, I decided to serve this pudding in dessert glasses. I also reduced the amount and ended up liking a recipe for only four dessert glasses. If you like a creamy dessert with bananas, this is a recipe you should try. Of course we are going to make the custard ourselves, it is really not as hard as you may think.
Old-fashioned rhubarb pie! Guys, I am ashamed to say, but this pie was polished within two days and it is only th two of us! If you love rhubarb, this pie is for you. It is a very simple, very plain pie, a buttery pie crust holds together: rhubarb. Yeah, duh, I decided to go for no further adornments, no additional spices, no egg, no custard, no nothing, just loads and loads of rhubarb. It is sweetened with sugar and tapioca starch will serve as the binder, but that’s it. I enjoyed mine with a dollop of whipping cream. Feel free to serve with ice cream or just eat plain!
I actually don’t think I have taken pictures of anything this fast. I believe I gave this eggnog three minutes on my balcony. It was about -3 and during the shot it was snowing heavily. But then, when I could get inside and enjoy a nice cup of eggnog, it was all worth it. Eggnpg is a mix of cream and/or milk, alcohol, eggs, and spices. This eggnog is prepared with raw eggs, so be sure that they are fresh. It is aged over time, thus you will not need to heat anything. With age it matures in flavor. The original recipe says to start two to weeks prior consumption, so this is the perfect time if you want to enjoy it for Christmas.
Warning, this cranberry pie is probably not for everbody. I made it pretty tart and tangy. But if you think of it as a replacement for the cranberry sauce, you may be swayed. It has a slight hint of sage and is prepared with dried as well as fresh cranberries. As the pie crust is prepared without egg, you can make it a few days in advance.
Pecan pie adapted for readers in Germany! If you are looking for a recipe which is not sickenly sweet, but actually makes you taste the wonderful pecans, this recipe is for you! Needless to say that this recipe does not require any corn syrup and is made with molasses instead. If you have difficulty getting hold of pecans, you may as well use walnuts instead.
Finally I get to introduce this delicious Oreo cake! I honestly was surprised, when I asked you on Instagram, 100% agreed to have an Oreo cake on the blog, wow, I feel honored. I already published this vegan Oreo cake on the blog. Last year, that recipe was among the top 10 of the most clicked recipes. So I had been toying with the idea of actually making a non-vegan version as well. When I presented below version to some test eaters, all of them said that it does indeed taste like a gigantic Oreo, just somehow better.
After a long break I am going to do another “how to” tutorial. This is geared towards German people and non-Americans because I am going to talk about pie. What exactly is a pie? The most traditional pie has a dough base (pie crust) and a filling, it may have a second pie crust it is covered with. It was already popular among the American pioneers as it didn’t contain any leavener and could all be done by hand. It usually contains few ingredients such as flour, sugar, butter, egg, and milk and/or fruit or meats and has reached popularity also outside of the U.S. The most traditional pie is probably the apple pie, pumpkin pie or pecan pie is another classic you will find everywhere for Thanksgiving. In Germany pie is not that popular, even though the Europeans brought their different pies and tarts to the U.S. in the first place before it became so popular in the U.S.
It is impossible to find a proper pie form in Germany, I searched high and low, I used a springform (you can see a few pictures below with a springform), I used a tart form, until I finally gave up and simply ordered one online. The one I currently use (I have two) is this one and it serves me well. What I do like about a proper pie form is that it chamfered, meaning that you will get more filling than in a tart form or springform. Below I will introduce you to many pie recipes and will give you tips on how to make sure that you are doing a proper American pie.