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.
Today I am going to introduce an extremely nostalgic recipe, it is called Dresdner Eierschecke, which loosely translates as a cheesecake from the city Dresden. You will find a lot of different varieties of this delicious cake. It may come along as a sheetcake, it may be a traditional round cake like in my case. Some are prepared with yeast dough, some with a pie crust. The word “Schecke” apprently comes from the late Middle Ages and would decribe a tunic with three parts: upper part, belt, and lower part. Thus, typically an Eierschecke would have three layers, the base (yeast dough, pie crust or a pound cake), the cheesecake or quark layer, and the top, which is like a custard.
Today I have some ultra-cute nutcrackers for you guys made from sugar cookies with royal icing. Yes, they do require a bit of work, but for me that’s the best way to relax. Especially since you can make each step on a different day (like make the dough, bake, decorate), which I find super convenient. I love the fact that these cookies keep and will look great in any cookie box. You can also wrap them individually and give them as a gift to somebody. What do you say? You can of course use other cookie cutters, such as ugly sweaters and the like…
Pastafrola or pasta frola is a tart from Uruguay, which is similar to Linzer Torte. It is based on a pie crust, which is then filled with quince paste. A simple tart on the one hand, yet also unusual as it uses quinces for the filling. I often wonder why there are so few recipes out there with quince? At least here in Germany it is really hard to find. Quince is a very common fruit in Uruguay. Dulce de membrillo or quince paste is basically dense jam, which comes in squares and can be cut in pieces. However, in Germany you may find quince jam, but even that is super hard to find. So for that reason you will either need to buy quince paste on Amazon or you will need to make quince paste yourself. Funnily enough, quinces are sold in grocery stores in Germany, so you may have a chance.
Finally an American recipe again: Apple Pie! This one has an all-butter pie crust, lots of apples, and caramel sauce. I do already have an apple cranberry pie on this blog as well as apple pie with a cream cheese crust. The one you see here is an apple pie with caramel, not only as an extra drizzle, but mixed with the filling. And for that reason I didn’t add any further sugar to the filling, the caramel sweetens the apples enough. I should have known that my husband would finish off this pie in a second, he loves pies and it basically was gone once I put it down on the plate. But hey, no problem, just make another one! What’s not to like about apples, and caramel?
Today I am going to introduce you to an old friend I have, but in a new outfit, I am talking about the creamy cherry chocolate mousse cake I already have on my blog. I actually made the recipe simpler and added more cherries to the mix. Whoever knows me, knows that I am a sucker for fruity cakes, pies, and tarts. In this instance, I felt about double the amount of cherries would be just perfect. I am still proud though that I won a prize with the original recipe. The award was for me and a person of my choosing to visit the beautiful city Tübing in the south of Germany and actually attend the chocolate festival they display every year. If you would like to learn more, check out this post. For the dressed-up recipe I decided to go for a 20cm/8inch cake instead of 26cm/9inch cake, with about double the amount of cherries and a much simpler chocolate mousse with no raw egg in it. Sounds good, doesn’t it?
If you want to make something delicious for your mom, but are not in the mood for a complicated layer cake, how about this simple fruit heart with pie crust? I used nectarines as filling, but feel free to go with any other fruit. Which fruit is your mom’s favorite? Unfortunately I couldn’t make this fruit heart for my mom for Mother’s Day, she lives too far away. However, today is a very special day for me, it is our ten-year anniversary. So I thought this is also the perfect occasion to make a heart. As soon as I got it out of the oven, my husband had googly eyes and asked whether he could have a piece. So I kept my photo shoot to a minimum to relieve him from his pain.
Baci di dama are heavenly cookies, a touch like a feather. These Italian cookies literally translate as a kiss by a lady. If you look at the profile of these cookies, they look like a set of lips wishing to kiss you. I really like this picturesque name which does tell you a lot what these cookies are going to taste like. Roasted hazelnuts are combined with buttery shortbread, which is sandwiched together by delicious melted chocolate. Baci di dama are perfect as a giveaway, superb for a coffee break and simply to enjoy.
I can’t believe I had forgotten about this apple pie with cream cheese pie crust! Sometimes you need to be reminded, in this instance it was my mom who actually baked the pie when I came for a visit for me to remember. I had sent her this recipe more than 15 years ago when I was fortunate enough to spent a year in Canada. This is an apple pie prepared with a cream cheese pie crust, so you will not need any egg or water. It basically has the cream cheese as the binder. Ironically, I had totally forgotten about this method of making pie crust, so I was very happy when she actually made this apple pie for my visit the other day.
I am almost to ashamed to admit that I don’t have that many animal recipes on this blog even though I am a huge animal lover. For that reason today these cute little hedgehogs from pie crust need to be published. I am a huge fan of anything related to fall. I love to watch hedgehogs looking for heaps of leaves, it is so cute to see squirrels happily looking for nuts or birds being content that there still is enough food.
