winter Archives - Jenny is baking

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.

11/12/2022

Tips for Making Your Cake Look Festive

Winterlich dekorierte Torte mit Lebkuchenhäusern

Today I am going to share a lot of tips and tricks for your cake to look all festive and perfect for winter. Anyone who knows me will tell you that I really don’t like fondant. I find it very sad that a baker spends so much time working on fondant and in the end about 99% of the people eating the cake will leave the fondant aside since it is so utterly sweet. This is so very sad! In my opinion there are so many other options out there. Instead of fondant, how about decorating with buttercream, cute little gingerbread houses, cookies or something else you may eat afterwards and which tastes better than fondant. If you would like your cake to look all festive for Christmas or for a winter-themed occasion, this is the perfect place for you. The good thing is that I will only talk about the decoration, which cake you are going to use, is entirely up to you. But of course, I will also provide a lot of cake recipes in case you are looking for inspiration.

17/12/2021

Toffee Cake with Dates

Warning, you will only be able to eat a small piece of this decadent toffee cake with dates. I find the combination of sweet dates with sticky toffee sauce so endearing. This is rich, this is soulfood. The cake layers are sweetened with dates, the buttercream contains toffee sauce and of course the whole cake needs to be soaked in toffee sauce. I decided to sprinkle this cake with a little bit of coarse salt to cut the sweetness a bit. This is a prefect cake for a gloomy November day or any day that needs some comfort food.

05/11/2021

Cranberry Orange Muffins

These cranberry orange muffins are the perfect start of a winter day. They are not overly sweet and have just a little bit of glaze, lots of cranberries and a soft dough in the center. I got so excited when our local produce owner started selling fresh cranberries. They are really hard to come by in Germany. He said he would have them around for a while, so I immediately knew I was going to make these muffins. Since my blueberry muffins are a hit every year, I wanted to create a winter version of this beloved muffin. Of course you are free to make them without the glaze, they taste wonderful just as is.

04/01/2020

Wintery Kaiserschmarren with Cherry Compote

Today I brought along broken-up pancakes, which are called Kaiserschmarren with a nice cherry compote with spices and mulled wine. I would like to take a bite right away. When I moved from the north of Germany to the south, I realized that it was a lot of fun making some of the more southern recipes, you can definitely feel the influence of Austria, which is about one hour away. The Austrian cuisine offers a lot of pastry dishes prepared with flour, eggs, and milk. Once you go hiking in the Alps and are offered Kaiserschmarren at one of the cabins, you will know what I am talking about, it is so amazing. I like this dish also for breakfast or brunch, it is perfect for a cold winter day. I already introduced a Kaiserschmarren recipe on the blog in spring, that one was prepared with rhubarb, but today we are going for the winter edition with warming and spiced cherries.

13/12/2019

Gingerbread Cupcakes with Cranberry Filling

Lebkuchen-Cupcakes mit Cranberry-Füllung

Today I brought you some wonderful gingerbread cupcakes with cranberry filling. They are so easy to prepare, really! Basically you cream the butter with the sugar, add the egg, and then all other ingredients and that’s about it. Really simple, I promise.

There is a reason why I called these cupcakes gingerbread cupcakes. I made the cupcakes with molasses and added a lot of gingerbread spices. I mean, you do want them to actually taste like Christmas, right? I also decided to fill them with cranberry jam, which we are going to prepare in a few minutes, it is really simple. And the frosting secretly hides some gingerbread spices in the chocolate. I hope you are as excited about these cupcakes as I am!

I am also excited to be introducing the very talented illustrator Ellen Martens who designed these adorable cupcake toppers. I especially like this very cuddly deer and that cute little fox. She was kind enough to graciously invent cupcake topper PLUS Christmas cards. Let me know either her or on Instagram what you think of these illustrations.

Weihnachtskarte mit Reh gestaltet von Ellen Martens

Weihnachtskarte Merry Christmas gestaltet von Ellen Martens

Weihnachtskarte mit Fuchs gestaltet von Ellen Martens

I would also invite you to check out Ellen’s Instagram!

02/12/2018

My 10 favorite Christmas Cookies

I’ve decided to open the season, it is time for Christmas cookies! Have you started yet? Every year I promise to start early and then I end up with a long, long, long list of cookies I want to bake, but nothing happens other than the list getting longer. Well, maybe this blog entry with my ten favorite Christmas cookies will also make your list longer, but maybe you will actually bake some, that would be actually awesome. Please let me know in the comments if you do!

#1 Tiny gingerbread houses

Seriously, I feel Christmas is not complete without gingerbread. Gingerbread houses, gingerbread men, ugly sweater cookies made with gingerbread, you name it. My recipe also includes some printables for these cute little gingerbread houses.

I urge you to try these cute little gingerbread houses

#2 Alfajores with chocolate and a slight hint of orange

Hands down, my favorite cookie from my country of birth Uruguay. It is filled with dulce de leche, do I need to say more?

Alfajores, a cookie made with cornstarch, filled with dulce de leche and covered in chocolate

#3 Cute little Santas

These cute little santas are a simple sugar cookie with ermine frosting, I just love them, check the recipe for further details!

If you really want to get into Christmas, make these cute little Santas!

#4 Peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies with caramel and sea salt

This may not be the traditional Christmas cookie, but all these flavors, I promise, you won’t regret making these!

All my favorite flavors combined, peanut butter, chocolate, caramel and sea salt, yes!

#5 Meringue cookies that actually look like mushrooms

You have some egg white left over? How about these little cuties? They only contain two ingredients, egg whites and sugar and are glued together by some chocolate.

You are making a yule log for Christmas? How about decorating it with these little mushrooms

#6 Linzer cookies

Another Christmas cookie I can’t do without. Who can say no to these cookies with a slight hint of almond and yummy jam filling?

This is one of the traditional Christmas cookies in Germany, go ahead and try it!

#7 Stained-glass cookies

They are easier to prepare than you may think. Obviously I give a lot of tips in my blog post to guide you along.

They look so cool and actually are not that hard to make, try these beautiful stained-glass cookies, they are a perfect gift and wonderful decoration.

#8 Snickerdoodles

These snickerdoodles are made with a lot of brown butter for extra awesomeness.

Oh, this joy of cinnamon and brown butter called snickerdoodles!

#9 Heidesand cookies

You may not know this traditional cookie from Germany, but it has brown butter and real vanilla. So buttery, so good!

These shortbread cookies are prepared with lots of brown butter and real vanilla. Traditionally from the north of Germany and so good for Christmas.

#10 Vanilla stars with chocolate ganache

If you are a chocolate lover, these cookies are for you. Instead of jam or buttercream, these cookies are filled with wonderful chocolate ganache.

If you can’t decide if you want to do chocolate or vanilla, why not combine these two flavors? Make these vanilla stars with chocolate filling.

So which one is your favorite Christmas cookie you can’t do without?

20/11/2018

Apple Cranberry Almond Pie

If you are looking for the perfect pie for Thanksgiving, this is for you. This is the perfect winter/fall pie with lots of juicy apples, fresh cranberries, and a hint of almond. Let me introduce Apple Cranberry Almond Pie to you!

16/11/2017