Käsekuchen (German Cheesecake)

25. January 2013
by troutandhawk
comment 1
Cakes + Cookies

A good cheesecake is the pride of every German housewife and apart from the famous NewYork Cheesecake (which is made of cream cheese instead of fromage frais) it seems to be a signature cake of Germany.

The recipe in the cookbook requests 7 (SEVEN!?!) eggs for the filling. “No no no, that can’t be true” I thought to myself, numbers and exclamation marks filling my head. The perfect cheesecake, one that satisfies the tastebuds and is still kind of healthy, wasn’t to be found in the cookbook, but instead on the other end of the phone line (Grandma).

Cheesecake

Short crust
70g sugar
100g butter
200g flour
1 egg

Filling
1kg Quark (fromage frais 10-20% fat content)
150g sugar
3 ts vanilla sugar
1 ts grated lemon peel or a pinch of lemon myrtle
2 tbs flour
4 eggs

Prepare a shortcrust working together the sugar, butter, flour and the egg. Let it sit in the fridge for 1/2 an hour. Roll out the pastry with a rolling pin and place it in a buttered springform.

Preheat oven to 180°C.

With an electric mixer whisk the eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar and lemon peel until white and creamy.
Add quark (fromage frais) and flour and mix again until creamy.

Pour the cheese filling into the shortcrust lined springform. Bake it for 40 minutes at 180°C. It is finished when the surface turns slightly golden.

After ca. 20 minutes of cooling down outside the oven you may turn the cake upside down on a wiring rack with the springform still assembled. Now let it cool completely for at least 2 hours. The imprints of the wiring rack leave the typical “German cheesecake” pattern.
You can’t see the pattern in my pictures? YOU ARE RIGHT!  Me neither, but I couldn’t have turned the cake upside down without ruining the crust!

Grandma’s tricks to prevent the inevitable shrinkage of the filling once out of the oven
1) after 20 minutes of baking open the oven, cut gently with a knife between short crust and filling and continue baking
2) once baked turn off the heat and let cool down for 10 minutes in the open but still warm oven


Red cabbage with figs and chestnuts

20. January 2013
by troutandhawk
comments 3
Dinner / Lunch

 

 

 

Following my intuition rather than a recipe I broke my red cabbage routine. The original recipe contains apples and onions which gave the distinct savoury-sweet flavour.

This time I used dry golden figs and cooked chestnuts to add sweetness and body. I was happy to find that the cabbage was no longer merely a side dish but had been transformed into a filling meal.

Red Cabbage with Figs and Chestnuts



2 tbs butter

1/2 head of red cabbage, thinly sliced

4 dry figs, thinly sliced

100g cooked chestnuts, minced

5 splashes of Tabasco sauce

1 tbs balsamic vinegar

1 tbs paprika powder

1 ts thyme

2 cups of water

salt and pepper to taste

fresh greens to decorate



Melt the butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add the cabbage and braise until slightly wilted, about 5 minutes. Add the figs and the chestnuts and stir. Add Tabasco, vinegar, paprika, thyme, salt and pepper and stir again to coat evenly.

Add 2 cups of water.

Now reduce the heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until the cabbage is tender. It takes about 30 minutes, but have a look from time to time and stir. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Decorate with fresh greens. Enjoy!




 

Midnight Milk Punch – Lenka’s suggestion from Paris

31. December 2012
by troutandhawk
Leave a comment
Drinks

Hi Lenka,
thank you so much for your suggestion! Your Midnight Milk Punch reminded me of the legendary Eggnog, Cary Grant offered so adorably in “The Awful Truth”. Only that in all the years I tried to serve the Eggnog all my guests denied in favour of some more transparent liquids.
But you won’t believe it: just mentioning your name  (so much cooler than Cary Grant!), everybody
has been keen to try it.
Big hugs and kisses and a very happy New Year (I’m sure it will be, because now we entered The Age of Aquarius!)



Chin chin!

Terrace Heart Biscuits

21. December 2012
by troutandhawk
Leave a comment
Cakes + Cookies

My dear friend Mela sent me a recipe of her grandmother and a picture of herself (cute!) as an extra feature for this blog! I was so excited about the submission so I felt rather guilty for taking so long with the actualization of the blog post! Mela, I finally baked the terrace heart biscuits, so what do you think?

I must say, they were fingerlicking good!

 

The recipe (as seen above):

120g sugar
250g butter
peel of one lemon
1/2 vanilla pod
a pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
400g flour
some tablespoons of jam, I took raspberry because of the nice red colour, although the original recipe requests apricot
icing sugar

Prepare a short crust working together the sugar, butter, lemon peel, the inside of the vanilla pod, egg yolk and flour.
Let it sit in the fridge for 1/2 an hour.
Roll out the pastry with a rolling pin and cut out the biscuits with a heart shaped cookie cutter.
Bake on a tray at 180°C for about 15 minutes (until the pastry turns slightly golden).
Assemble the hearts using the jam as glue and dust with icing sugar.

 

 

 

Bon Appetit! Enjoy the terrace hearts on your terrace or elsewhere… if your terrace is currently frozen to -5°C like mine, a little bonfire and some mulled wine (bah!) will help your toes to stay alive.

 

making Advent wreathes

1. December 2012
by troutandhawk
comment 1
Uncategorized

It has already become a great tradition that the day before first Advent my closest friends and I get together to turn fresh pine green, ivy, box, holly and laurel into the most beautiful Advent wreathes.


We make wreathes for our doors, for the windows, for the childrens’ school and the typical wreathes with four candles to be lighted one more every Advent Sunday.

I’m horribly untalented in tying together the wreathes. My part rather consists in decorating. I love using the hot glue machine to stick on crab apples, nuts, pinecones and apples. I love choosing ribbons, drinking coffee, chatting around and eating Christiane’s freshly baked waffles….

If you are interested in the recipe,  I’d be happy to request it for you. The only thing I know is that they are made with cream instead of butter. Just sublime!


When everybody had gone I stayed a moment longer to continue chatting with Christiane and, you won’t believe it, while talking, my fingers all by themselves had made that sweet little heart from the last twigs remaining on the table.