I am excited to say that today I have the privilege of opening the first Advent door of the Advent Calendar, see further details here. Advent what? The Advent Calendar is a tradition that originated somewhere in Germany at the end of the 19th century. The basic idea is to make waiting for Christmas more bearable. For that reason between December 1 and 24 you get a daily tiny treat. It is common in German to say to “open the Advent door” to see what treat is found. Traditionally the calendar is filled with little chocolates, which are hidden behind tiny doors, but the Advent Calendar I want to introduce to you is a Food Advent Calendar. Every day one blogger will open their blog door and show us a new recipe they specifially created for this event. I named the calendar Food Advent Calendar “Spice It Up!” and requested for participating bloggers to use a spice, which is commonly used during the season. I picked the tonka bean and wanted to introduce you to the German Christmas Stollen. Let’s open Advent Door No. 1!
Don’t you hate pies that are mushy and have half of their goodness spilling onto your plate while it is being served? I don’t know about you, but I really don’t like that. If you have ever tried a squishy rhubarb pie, you know what I mean. But look no further, I found the perfect solution for this. In is really simple: instant vanilla pudding! If you chill this pie properly, you will have an amazing rhubarb filling (lots of it, almost one kilogram!), which combines nicely with the meringue. Is that a German thing? To put meringue on top of rhubarb? Not sure, but who cares. It is so yummy! You should definitely try it. I really love this nice combination. It looks so impressive and tastes even better.
So if you put a gun on me in the middle of the night, dragging me out of bed and asking me which cake is the ultimate German cake, I would probably say Black Forest Cake. It simply is THE cake. It is German in so many ways:







