Fall is here: Plum Frangipane Tarte

Important report incoming: Summer is finally over and fall is here to stay. Behold! I know some of you just chocked on their PSL… My favourite part of fall is damson plum season, it reminds me of good ol’times and gives me a warm, fuzzy, comforting feeling. I know I still owe you the basic damson plum cake recipe like my Grandma used to make it, that I started to write years ago and never finished. But this one is too good and too delish to not share right away with you. The feedback of my taste testers was overwhelmingly good, not that I had any doubt with this combination of cinnamon pie crust and frangipane/marzipan filling topped off with local, fresh damson plums. Plum Frangipane Tarte | schabakery.com

Continue reading »

Christstollen – A German Christmas classic

It’s no secret that Germany is the home of edible Christmas anticipation. I grew up with baking tons of Christmas cookies, Lebkuchen and Stollen during advent season, just like everyone else in Germany. Back in kindergarden and school we had baking afternoons and cookie recipe swaps and for our family christmas gatherings everyone brought cookies that were all different. One of my aunts always makes the largest variety of cookies, more than 10 types at least and so that you can eat through all of them in one sitting she makes them tiny miniature versions. I especially like her Florentine buiscuits. My other aunt made the hardest cinnamon stars I have ever had in my life, they even top the ones than my mother made once and almost chipped my teeth. The general pattern in my family is that we all make a variety of classic christmas cookies like butter cookies or cinnamon stars and some experimental new ones each year like coconut oat crisps. Be it my mother, sister or aunts, we all have that in common. The other thing I noticed is that with all our experience and preferences the same exact cookie can taste totally different like for example coconut macaroons. Even though recipes are often passed on between all of us, the outcome is never the same.German Stollen (Christmas fruit cake) | schabakery.com

A bright example of that is the Stollen, a German fruit bread that can be baked in advance and can be stored for weeks. Stollen has a long history in Germany, it goes back to the 15th century. Traditional Stollen is made with yeast, however my mother makes one with Quark/Curd that is more moist and doesn’t taste yeasty (which I don’t like too much). A few years back my mother passed me the copy of her Stollen recipe and I made it myself for the first time. But I couldn’t resist changing the recipe, like I do with almost any recipe I try out of books or the internet… Stollen contains dried fruit, such as raisins and currants, I even put cranberries once, and candied orange and lemon peel, which I find rather disgusting itself. So when I made my first Stollen I gladly let the peel out and added a core of marzipan to it. Over the years I have learned a lot, tried out a lot and brought my recipe to perfection*. I hope I can inspire you to try out yourself and enjoy a nice slice of Stollen underneath the christmas tree.

*Due to the current lack of oven I baked at my Sister’s and my Stollen was not baked through completely as you might see in the pictures. On top I forgot to add the baking powder, even though she asked me if we needed it… That’s what I get for not reading my own recipes carefully… Continue reading »

TBL September: Plum Frangipane Cake

The goldsmith gave me a hell of a minute when telling me on the phone that something went wrong with making our wedding bands smaller. What a joke. It was a huge hassle to make them smaller and in the end we payed nothing. So I decided to pay with a smile and a cake. As September is traditional plum season I went for something with plums and a twist. When I flipped through my marked recipes I stumbled upon a recipe in Lecker magazine: Plum Frangipane Cake

To be honest, the first thing I did was looking up what frangipane is: a filling made of almonds, butter, eggs and sugar. The recipe I used needed marzipan instead of ground almonds. The Scone rolls I tried earlier this year were filled with something similar, not calling it frangipane. Seriously, Marzipan cream and Plums? Hell yeah! Continue reading »

Cinnamon Marzipan Roll

Last weekend I Cinnamon Marzipan Rollfound a cube of fresh yeast in my fridge that was almost expired so I decided to surprise my boyfriend with a twisted roll, the first I ever made. It looked nicer in the Lecker magazine but it was very delicious. I know a lot of people that are afraid of yeast doughs because they heard it is difficult – it’s not! A yeast dough is pretty easy and most of the work is done by the yeast itself while you can put your attention on other important stuff 🙂 No aluminium, no draft, heavy kneading, no machines, pre-dough … there are tons of things that are common sense about yeast doughs and that may have scared you off. You can forget almost all of this (except for the draft), I swear, no lie 🙂

 

 

Continue reading »

Filled Scone Rolls – or let’s get dirty!

This is the february contribution to my new years resolution and definitely one of my new favourites. Special Thanks to my boyfriend for picking this recipe to try it!

I love scones. Everyone who has been to England or Ireland sure tried some for afternoon tea. But making perfect scones with the right consistency and taste is an art itself. I’ve learned some things about scones the hard way of trial and error. It is crucial to not overknead the dough and you should do that by hand in order to keep small butter pockets in it that make the scones soft and fluffy. I’ll pick up that point later in the description. AndYou need patience, space and your finger tips to make a good scone. So let’s get dirrrty! Continue reading »