My hubby graciously allowed me to write down this recipe for a Colombian wheat and pork stew called cuchuco. I didn’t know of its existence, but once I tried it, I was sold. It is perfect in winter as it has wheat or barley kernels, as well a cabbage varieties. If you are into one-pot stews, this one is definitely one to try!
Today I am going to introduce a festive orange sponge roll with cranberry filling. What I like best about this recipe? That you can make a lot of the components in advance. In fact you can make the entire roll the day before and only decorate it shortly before serving. This is perfect if you want to show something on Christmas, but don’t want to do everything on Christmas directly, stress-free recipes are the best, are you with me?
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.
Aren’t these tiny gingerbread houses cute? Bonus point, they are even vegan, I tried for the first time vegan royal icing and the secret is chickpea brine! That is the only “funny” ingredient you need, but other than that, all pretty normal. Of course I already have these cute little gingerbread houses here on the blog. Those are made with normal royal icing, which has egg whites. However, this time I decided to make them fully vegan. I already knew that making the dough vegan was super easy as it does not contain any egg (or potassium carbonate, which for some strange reason is used in seasonal baking in Germany). So I knew the only obstacle to tackle was the vegan icing. Royal icing contains egg whites, however, we are going to use the brine of chickpeas, also known as aquafaba. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised how easy it was. So are you in? Do you want to gift these to somebody?
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.
This is a nostalgic recipe for me: borscht, a soup from the former Soviet Union. Probably the reason why there are still fights who can call it a national dish. Whereas Russia has declared the dumplings called pelmeni its national dish, Ukraine claimed borscht, the soup with red beet, a national treasure. However, quite a few of the former states of the union serve a variety of this famous soup. The main ingredients are usually red beet and cabbage. In the Ukraine typically it will be served with sour cream, dill, and vinegar. Since I got used to the version from my grandma, who was born in Odessa, Ukraine, it probably comes as no surprise that I will introduce the Ukrainian version here.
Have I mentioned that my hubby is a huge fan of citrus fruits? I will admit, I don’t mind them either. It probably comes as no surprise then that I have tons of recipes on my blog with a citrus touch. I love any fresh and yellow, especially in winter. I also don’t mind the vitamins (yeah, I know, we are still talking about cake). I learned not that long ago that lemons, limes and the like are usually harvested in winter, sometimes in January or February. For that reason I thought it might be a good time to share 14 recipes with these fruits, I hope you find something you enjoy!
#1 Lemon Mousse or Lemon Posset
This dessert comes together in minutes and just looks great in the lemons!
Everybody talks about sustainability and I am doing my best not to waste resources. Today I decided to put this into practice by using leftovers from Christmas and make something delicious with it. In my opinion a pie is the secret to any leftovers. As soon as you sandwich leftovers between pie dough, it makes it so much better. And to make it even more convenient, you can freeze the unbaked pie, so you can enjoy it at a completely different time and don’t have to eat the same thing for a week. Plus, even something like gravy can be hidden in this pie. The pictures show a pie that contains leftover cranberry sauce. Another version I made was with some apple and raisins. Both were extremely delicious.
I am going to introduce torta rogel from Uruguay today. Why do you find many recipes from Uruguay on this blog? Because I was born in this beautiful country in Latin America. Even though I have a German passport, I lived in Uruguay for several years as a child. We happened to live in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Back in the 80s you would occasionally find some horse carriages between the cars and we lived on one of the main streets. My sister and me often paid a visit to the nearby kiosk, we would either get “chicle”, which is chewing gum, or we got breakfast: bread and dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is the peanut butter of Latin America, the caramel made from sweetened milk is used as much in Latin American cuisine as is peanut butter in the U.S. I will never forget how my dad instructed my sister and me to get breakfast: “Go and get bread and dulce de leche from the vaca cow (vaca= Spanish for cow).” We may have spoken German among each other, but a Spanish word would slip in here and there. Sometimes funky creations such as saying the same word in two language would come out of it. But anyway, I love dulce de leche, so I wanted to show you this delicious cake, which contains a lot of it. In this reel you can see how I make it and how it looks.
Today I am introducing a very simple cantuccini recipe. This November my blog is all about giving gifts from the kitchen. Cantuccini are a perfect gift in my opinion. This famous cookie from Italy keeps long, can easily be transported as it is very sturdy and freezes beautifully. My husband ate them so quickly, I barely managed to take some pictures. I decided to go with a rather classic recipe with one small addition: dried cranberries. Yes, you can omit them, but we both felt they taste extra special with them.
