German Comfort Food Recipes by Peter Gau - HTML preview

Chapter 7

Cakes and Cookies

Apple Cake

Plum Cake

Bee Sting

Gugelhupf

Chocolate Pretzels

Spice Cookies

Hazelnut Macaroons

Lebkuchen

Marzipan Candies

Apple Cake

Ingredients:

6 apples (medium, tart)

2 lemons (medium, juiced)

3 teaspoons of sugar

3 teaspoons of butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 egg yolks divided*

1/2 lemon (juiced and peel grated)

1 teaspoons of baking powder

1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon of rum

2 egg whites

1 teaspoon of butter (to grease cake pan)

1 teaspoon of vegetable or sunflower oil

3 teaspoons of confectioners sugar

*Important: Do not mix the two egg yolks together. They will be used individually!

Peel apples, cut in half and core.

Cut decorative lengthwise slits in apples, about 1/2-inch deep.

Sprinkle with lemon juice and sugar. Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar together.

One at a time, beat in egg yolks.

Gradually beat in lemon juice and grated peel. Sift baking powder and flour together.

Gradually add to batter. Blend in milk and rum.

In a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Fold into batter.

Generously grease a spring form pan.

Pour in batter and top with apple halves.

Brush apples with oil. Bake in a preheated 350 degree F. oven for 35 to 40

minutes.

Remove from pan and sprinkle with confectioners' sugar.

Plum Cake

Ingredients:

the yeast dough:

1/2 lbs. flour

1 oz. fresh yeast

3 1/2 oz. butter

2 eggs

3 teaspoons of sugar

1 cup milk

1/2 lemon (the rind, grated)

topping:

3 1/4 lbs. damson plums (rinsed, pitted)

5 teaspoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

2 teaspoons of butter (to grease the cookie sheet) breadcrumbs

Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl.

Make a dent in the middle and crumble the fresh yeast into it.

Mix slightly and leave for an hour.

Then add all the other ingredients for the dough and form a firm yeast dough.

Grease a cookie sheet and dust it with breadcrumbs. On it, roll out the dough to about finger thick.

Along the edges, pull up the dough to form a rim.

Top the tart with tightly arranged plum halves (at a slight angle).

Dust with cinnamon, and bake at medium heat for 40 to 45 minutes.

Once done, dust with sugar.

Bee Sting

Ingredients:

the cake:

3 cups flour

1 pk active dry yeast

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup sugar

6 tablespoons of butter or margarine

1 egg

the filling:

1 1/2 cups milk

1 pk vanilla pudding

the topping:

1 cup sugar

9 tablespoons of butter or margarine

1 1/4 cup almonds (sliced)

2 tablespoons of milk

Place flour in a large bowl. Add yeast and sugar.

Scald milk, stir in butter or margarine and cool to lukewarm.

Pour over flour, add the egg and beat until smooth.

Cover and let it rise in a warm place until it doubles in size.

Punch down dough and roll into a 10" round.

Place in a 10" X 3" spring form pan. Cover and let it rise again in a warm place until it doubles in size.

Once the cake has doubled, place sugar, butter or margarine and almonds in a saucepan.

Cook over medium heat for approximately five minutes until butter and sugar have melted.

Take if off the heat, add two tablespoons milk and cool to lukewarm.

Spread over the top of the cake and bake in a preheated oven at 375!~F for 30

minutes.

Loosen the edge with a knife, take the cake out of the pan and cool.

Prepare pudding according to the package's directions using 1 1/2 cup milk.

Set aside to cool.

Once the cake is cold, cut it into two layers. Spread the cold pudding in the middle and replace the top layer.

Serve. Makes one 10" X 3" cake.

Gugelhupf

Ingredients:

1 pk. dry, active yeast

1 cup milk (scalded and then cooled)

1 cup sugar

1 cup butter or margarine

5 eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of grated lemon rind

3/4 cup raisins

1/3 cup ground almonds

1/2 teaspoon of salt

4 cups flour

Sprinkle yeast into milk to dissolve.

In a large bowl beat sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time.

Stir in vanilla, lemon rind, raisins, and almonds. Mix salt and flour.

Add milk and flour mixtures, alternately, ending with the flour mixture.

Grease a gugelhopf mold*, budt pan, or tube pan. Pour batter into pan. Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.

Bake in preheated 375 degree F. Oven for 40 minutes or until browned and done.

Serve warm with butter.

* The gugelhopf mold is known also as a turban-head pan. If this is not available, you can use the others with the same results.

Chocolate Pretzels

Ingredients:

dough:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg (beaten)

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup cocoa

2 cups flour

cocoa frosting:

2 tablespoons of cocoa

1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons of butter or margarine (melted)

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Cream 1/2 cup butter and the sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the egg, vanilla, and milk. Sift cocoa and flour.

Mix into butter mixture until thoroughly blended.

Chill dough until firm enough to handle (about 30 minutes).

Using 2 T dough, roll a rope about 12 inches long between your hands.

Shape into a pretzel as follows: Make a loop bout 1 1/2 inches in diameter by crossing the ends, leaving 1-inch tails.

Flip the loop down over the crossed ends. Press firmly into place.

Place pretzels on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F. for about 10

minutes.

Make frosting in a small bowl.

Mix cocoa and confectioners' sugar.

Gradually stir in butter and vanilla.

If frosting is too thick, thin with milk. When pretzels are cool, spread with Cocoa Frosting. Make 2 dozen.

Spice Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1/4 cup shortening

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/4 cup molasses

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/4 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of baking soda

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon of ginger

1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon of ground allspice

Cream butter, shortening, and brown sugar thoroughly.

Blend in egg and molasses.

Sift together the remaining ingredients.

Stir into sugar mixture.

Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls.

Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets.

Flatten each ball with the bottom of a glass that has been greased and dipped into sugar.

Bake in preheated 350 degrees F. oven for 12 to 15 minutes.

Cool cookies on racks and store in airtight tins.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Hazelnut Macaroons

Ingredients:

2 egg whites

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups ground hazelnuts

6 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa

2 teaspoons of grated lemon peel

1 teaspoon vanilla

pinch of salt

Grease large baking sheet.

Beat egg whites until they foam and thicken slightly.

Sprinkle sugar over them and continue to beat until whites form stiff peaks.

Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl and with a rubber spatula gently but thoroughly fold the mixture into the whites, using an over under cutting motion, rather than stirring.

To make cookies, drop by tablespoons onto the baking sheet, about an inch apart.

Let cookies rest at room temperature for 1 hour before baking.

Preheat oven to 300, bakes cookies in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes or until they are firm.

Carefully transfer to cake rack to cool.

They can be stored for several weeks in tightly sealed jars or tins.

Lebkuchen

Ingredients:

the cake:

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup molasses

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

1 teaspoon of grated lemon rind

2 3/4 cup sifted flour

1/2 tbs baking soda

1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon of ground cloves

1 teaspoon of ground allspice

1 teaspoon of ground nutmeg

1/3 cup citron (chopped)

1/3 cup nuts (chopped)

the icing:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

Mix the honey and molasses; bring to a boil.

Remove from the heat and cool thoroughly.

Stir in the brown sugar, egg, lemon juice, and lemon rind.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and spices. Stir into the honey-molasses mixture.

Mix in the citron and nuts.

Chill the dough overnight.

Roll a small amount at a time, keeping the rest chilled.

Roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut into oblongs 1 1/2 x 2 1/2 inches.

Place about 1 inch apart on a greased baking sheet.

Bake in a 400 F (moderate/ hot) oven for 10 to 12 minutes until, when touched lightly, no imprint remains.

While the cookies bake, make the Glazing Icing.

Boil together the sugar and water until the first indication of a thread appears (230F). Remove from the heat. Stir in the confectioners' sugar. Brush the hot icing thinly over the cookies. (When the icing gets sugary, reheat slightly, adding a little water until clear again.)

Marzipan Candies

Ingredients:

1 lbs. almonds (shelled, blanched)

1 lbs. confectioners sugar

1 egg white (unbeaten)

3 tablespoons of rose-or orange water

Nothing expresses the German love of edible art more succinctly than marzipan candies, which are shaped into piglets, cats, poodles, flowers, fruit and all sorts of other objects. They are delicious to eat, too.

Carefully dry the shelled almonds, then grind to a powder in an electric blender, if you have one.

Blend almonds, the sugar, the egg white and just enough rosewater or orange water (available from pharmacies) to make a pliable stiff dough.

Knead with fingers, then place on board dusted with confectioners' sugar and form into desired shapes, to resemble miniature apples, peaches, strawberries or, if you have an artist's touch, little pigs or birds.

Tint with food colouring.

Balls of marzipan may be rubbed in chocolate dots or colored sugar.

If dough becomes too stiff, work in a little lemon juice, rosewater or orange water, adding drop by drop.

When candies are shaped, dry thoroughly in a cool, airy place for 24 hours, then wrap separately or place in a container (such as a little straw basket for fruit) and cover completely with Saran or other plastic wrap.

Makes 2 pounds of candy.