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Winter

Festive Yule Log or Tree Trunk Cake

The good thing when you get married to somebody from another country is that you can start your own traditions. I got married to a Colombian 12 years ago, but we have been living in Germany since the start. Christmas is traditionally something we have discussed extensively. I have explained the difference between Colombian and German Christmas in this blog post. Man, we have discussed so many things, should it be the traditional bird as is common in Germany or should we go for the many snacks Colombians like to serve for Christmas? Should we make tamales, which is corn, veggies and meat steamed in banana leaves and which require a lot of work? Should we focus on the gifts instead or spend hours on the food? One thing we have learned over the years is that what works best for us is to create new traditions. Traditions that are neither German nor Colombian, but just us. New traditions we like and enjoy.

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Aged Eggnog

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.

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Cranberry Pie for Thanksgiving

Cranberry-Pie

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.

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Advent Wreath made from Gingerbread (Vegan Option)

Adventskranz aus Lebkuchen

Shame on me, somehow I never manage to take care of a proper Advent wreath on time. When I finally decide to buy one, they are always sold out or only very sad ones are left. I am talking about the traditional ones with candles and fir branches. But not this time. This time we will have an advent wreath made from gingerbread. I love making things from gingerbread. Years ago, when I was a poor university student, I started this tradition of making everything from gingerbread as I didn’t have money to buy any expensive Christmad decoration. I decorated the Christmas tree with gingerbread, the nativity was made from it, I even hung some igingerbread n the windows. It is definitely something I hold dear. So this year I decided to make the advent wreath from gingerbread as well.

Adventskranz aus Lebkuchen

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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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Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookie

Finally some cookies on the blog again. I haven’t posted a recipe for 9 (!) months, can you believe that? This is extra crazy because of course there were cookies in our house during those nine months, believe me. I find it sad that Germans tend to bake cookies only for the season, there even is a special word for these cookies, instead of Kekse you will say Plätzchen. But I ignore that, for me cookies can be eaten all year long. We had brownie cookies, my favorite chocolate chip cookies and Nutella chocolate chip cookies, recently we have had vegan pumpkin chocolate chip cookies or pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting.

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Pecan Pie with no Corn Syrup

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.

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Simple Lemon Loaf or Lemon Pound Cake

Saftiger Zitronenkuchen

Today you will get a simple, yet extra moist and very lemony lemon loaf or lemon pound cake. If my hubby were to decide, I am sure I would be making cakes with citrus fruits all the time. It is by no accident that my first published recipe is a French tarte au citron oder lemon tart. I made it for Valentine’s Day and published it shortly afterwards. My list can go on and on, I do have double lemon cupcakes, blueberry lemon cake, American lemon pie and (key) lime pie on the blog, I think it is endless. All of these baked goods were for him, of course. He just loves this tart flavor and I won’t say no to lemons and limes either. Especially in winter when fruits are harder to get and the options limited. So I decided to make a simple lemon loaf. The recipe I found used tons of lemons so I gave it a go and the result is full of lemon flavor.

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Pink Raspberry Champagne Cake

Today you will get a pink champagne raspberry cake, with no artificial food coloring, but a lot of alcohol. You may also use your favorite rose wine. I decided to use a traditional white cake as the base and put a lot of reduced champagne in it. These cake layers are then brushed in reduced champagne for extra flavor and also to keep the cake moist. The filling, on the other hand, is prepared with raspberries as I find their tart and acid flavor to combine nicely with the alcohol. Let’s celebrate with this pink champagne raspberry cake!

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Simple Hot Chocolate

Heiße Schokolade in einer süßen Emaille-Tasse

I had a weird quirk for a while, every time I went to a café, I would order hot chocolate if they had it, regardless of the season. I was often amazed as to what I was served. I remember eating some sort of custard one time, another time it seemed to be pure melted chocolate, and many times it was something in between. Today I am going to introduce to you some simple hot chocolate I do enjoy and which is very easy to prepare. If you so desire, you can also make it vegan. I have been meaning to publish this recipe here and finally I have gotten around to it, let’s have some hot chocolate!

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