My Mom's "Eierkuchen" (German style pancake/ crepes)

 

German "Eierkuchen" are very thin pancakes, similar to the French crepes. They are often also called "Palatschinken". My Mom uses a special non-stick crepe skillet and the pancakes come out amazingly. 

 My favorite fillint its blueberry and plum jam. If you want to go more "French crepes" style, I like nutella with fresh strawberries or banana slices. My Mom likes to keep it simple by dusting the "Eierkuchen" with powdered sugar. 

Ingredients (ca. 7)

• 330 ml milk
• 3 eggs
• 1 cup club soda (sparkling water)
• 1 tsp sugar
• pinch of salt 
• 200 g flour
• 1-2 Tbsp oil
  

Filling:

• jams (blueberry, plum, strawberry, apricot)
• nutella
• apple sauce
  
• powdered sugar
  

 

Preparation:

The Batter

In order to avoid clumps in the batter, my mother adds the flour last.

First, mix the liquid ingredients (milk, eggs, club soda) in a large bowl. Then, add sugar and salt and give it a stir. Lastly, add bit by bit the flour while whisking. Beat till its smooth. Doing this slowly prevents clumps.

Cook the "Eierkuchen" one by one

Heat oil at medium heat in a non-stick skillet of the size of the prefered "Eierkuchen" (thin pancake). Pour one small ladle (about 1/4 cup) into the middle of the pan. Swirl the pan in a circular motion to spread the batter and so that the surface is lightly but evenly covered. The pancake is supposed to be very thin. Let bake for 1-2 minutes till you see that the edges crisp up. Losen it with a spatula. When the bottom is slightly browned, flip the pancake around and fry for another 0.5-1 minute. Repeat for the next pancakes.

Serving the "Eierkuchen"

Serve the pancake immediately. Top with jams, nutella, apple sauce, etc. Spread it evently on it and then roll the pancake. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Print this recipe:

Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows

 

An original Thanksgiving side dish - the Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmellows. The first time I heard about it and tried it, was during my college times in my dorm kitchen. Even though in Germany, my friends and I liked to celebrate and cook for Thanksgiving - or better Friendsgiving ;) 

My friend M. had this recipe and I actually had never heard of this. I found it a funny recipe, putting brown sugar in a savory dish and topped with sweet melting marshmallows... And indeed, it does taste sweet like a dessert, but strangely, it also goes very well with the traditional Thanksgiving turkey meat and gravy. 

And, in my opinion, this dish just looks adorable :)

 

Ingredients:

• 3 big sweet potatoes (1.5-2 pounds)
• 1 l salted water to boil
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 Tbsp salt
• 2 Tbsp orange juice
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 100 g mini marshmallows (3.5 oz)
  

 

Preparation: 

Boil the sweet potatoes: 

Preheat the oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit/ 170 degree Celsius. Peal the sweet potatoes, cut into cubes. Cover with salted water and boil till soft, about 10 minutes. Drain.

Prepare the sweet potato mix: 

Mash the potatoes with a potato masher (not the electric one, you do want to have it a little bit rustic, with pieces). Add the brown sugar, butter, salt, orange juice and cinnamon. Mix well with a spoon. Adjust salt and orange juice to taste.

Bake: 

Butter a 8x8 inch casserole dish. Spread the mashed sweet potato mix into the casserole evenly. Sprinkle with the marshmallows. Bake in the oven for about 30-45 min till marshmallows are a little melted and crispy golden brown on top.

Print this recipe:

Rhubarb-Raspberry Crumble

During my time in the US, my friend Jamie prepared this delicious rhubarb raspberry crumble for one of our weekend get togethers. I am usually not a big fan of those crumbles as the fruit is too overpowering for me. However, she converted me because she used a very crispy crumble topping and lots of it.

While I do not really have her recipe, I used the memory as an inspiration :)


Note - Topping: I like very crispy and crunchy toppings. So I added the oats and nuts. Also, I put the crumble in the freezer for about 15 minutes.

Note - Filling: Do not use cornstarch! Some suggest this would prevent the filling to be too watery. I tried it, it just adds a slimey taste that sticks to your tooth. Instead, use flour.

Ingredients:

Topping

• 1 cup (ca. 140g) flour
• 3/4 cup (ca. 110g) brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tspn salt
• 6 Tbsp (ca. 90g) butter
• 3/4 cup (ca. 60g) oats
• 1/4 cup walnuts (chopped)
• 2 Tbsp almonds slices

Filling

• 400g rhubarb (about 2-3 stalks, peeled if necessary, sliced)
• 150g raspberries
• 2 cups water with 1 tsp sugar
• 3 Tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp vanille sugar
• 2 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh)
• 2 Tbsp orange juice (fresh)
• 2 Tbsp flour

 

Preparation:

Start with preparing the Topping

Mix the flour, brown sugar, sugar and salt. Dice the butter into little cubes and add to the flour-sugar mixture. Knead everthing with your fingertips by squeezing the butter cubes. Add the oats, roughly chopped walnuts and almonds. Mix, till you have a crumbly dough with little chunks in it.

Now, put it in the freezer for 10-15 minutes. This helps to keep the crumble crsip.

Prepare the Filling

Preheat the oven at 200 degree Celsius (Ober- und Unterhitze).

If the rhubarb stalks are too stringy, peel them. Then, put the rhubarb lices in a bowl, cover them with water and 1 teaspoon sugar. Let sit for about 10 minutes, then drain. This is supposed to reduce the bitterness of the rhubarb.

Now, gerase the baking dish. Add the rhubarb slices and raspberries. Sprinkle with the sugar, vanille sugar, lemon and orange juice. This will balance the tartiness of the raspberries and rhubarb. Add 2 tablespoons of flours and combine everything. The flour shall help with thickening the fruit juices when it bakes.

Bake the Crumble

Sprinkle the chilled crumble on the fruit mixture. I like a lot of crumble, so I used almost everything. Don't worry if the baking dish gets a little full. During baking, the fruit will get soft and sink. You can easily freeze leftover toppings for another time.

Bake the crumble for about 35-40 minutes till the top is golden brown and crispy. Take it out and let cool for about 10 minutes. Then, serve warm with some ice-cream.

Print this recipe:

Christmas Chocolate Crunch

This is another recipe from my favorite little Taste of Home - Best Holiday Recipe magazine (see also Holidy Peas and Blueberry Sparkling Lemonade). It brings back memories of one of my first Thanksgiving in the US :)

This chocolate-butterscotch treat may not look like much, but if you start snacking it, you sure cannot stop ;) I especially like the salty snacks (popcorn, pretzles). They are a good contrast to the sweetness of the chocolate. Also, you will barley notice the butterscotch. If you prefer a stronger butterscotch flavor than chocolate, add more butterscotch and less chocolate.

Ingredients:

• 1 package (11 oz) butterscotch morsels
• 11 oz (ca. 300g) bittersweet chocolate
• 10 cups slated microwave popcorn
• 3 cups pretzles
• 1 cup toppas
• 1 cup cornflakes
• 1 cup nuts (walnuts, almonds, etc.)
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins

Preparation:

Mix the snacks

Prepare the microwave popcorn by following package instructions. Break half of the pretzles in little pieces. Now, combine all snacks (popcorn, pretzles, toppas, cornflakes, nuts, dried cranberries) into a big bowl and set aside.

Melt the butterscotch

You can use the microwave and follow the package instructions. I advise to let it melt for 1 minute and then take it out of the microwave and stir it, squeeze the morzels as much as you can. As the butterscotch morzels stay in form and it does not really melt, it is easy to overmelt and burn the butterscotch. It is important that you frequently stir and see whether it is already done.
 

Melt the bittersweet choclate

This is easier. Put it in the microwave for 1 to 1.5 minutes and stir. You will definitely see it melting. You don't need to wait till all the pieces are comletely melted. Just keep stiring it and the mix will be so warm, that it will melt the remaining pieces while it rests.
 

Finish the chocolate crunch

Mix the melted butterscotch and chocolate. Pour it over the snacks in the bowl. Give the snacks a good stir with a big spoon so that all pieces are covered. Then spread the covered snacks out on a baking tray. Butter the tray or use a baking sheet, so that the chocolate crunch will not stick to the tray. Let rest for a bit till the chocolate dries. Then break pieces apart.

Print this recipe:

My Mom's "Hefeküchle" (little yeast cakes)

While I was a little kid, my Mom used to make these little yeast cakes in the evenings for dinner, as a special treat for my brother and me. They are very simple, you just dust them with sugar. So tasty!

This is a recipe that my Mom actually grew up with. Her mother called them something like "Kliemes". I tried to google this name and recipe to find its origin, but wasn't successful. Maybe the name was just a made-up name from my grandmother. However, I did find a similar recipe of so-called "Welsh yeast cakes". Maybe this was originally an English recipe? Or maybe It could also be something from my mother's father's side. My grandfather was from Latvia, and maybe the orginal recipe came from there?

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour (and a little extra)
• 1/8 l milk (and a little more)
• 1/2 tablespoon sugar
• 20 g fresh yeast
• a pinch of salt
• 4 tablespoon oil
• 1-2 tablespoon sugar (as topping)
• Serve with dry fruit compote

Preparation:

1. Prepare the dry fruit compote: Use a package of dried mixed fruit, including for example plums, pineapple, apricots, peaches and dates. Put in a small pot, cover with water, add 1 teaspoon sugar. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 10-15 minutes till soft.
2. Prepare the dough: Add the flour to a bowl and create a little well in the middle. Warm up the milk. Be careful, it must not be hot, only lukewarm. If the milk is too hot, it will kill the yeast. Pour the milk into the well of the flour. Add sugar to the milk. Crumble the yeast into the luke warm milk. Stir the milk-yeast mix a little bit till the yeast is dissolved. Add a little bit of the flour from the sides and stir till the milk-yeast-flour mix is thick but still runny. There should still be some of the flour around the thick batter. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towl and let sit in a warm place for about 30-60 minutes. The yeast will now work (it will create bubbles, if not, the milk may have been too hot) and the batter will rise a little bit. Then, uncover the batter, mix in the remaining flour from the sides and add a pinch of salt. If the batter is too thick, add a bit more lukewarm milk. If it is too thin, add a little bit more flour.
3. Fry the cakes: Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan. Pour several small (about one laddle spoon full of the mix) round cakes in the hot oil. The top side will have a lot of little wholes from the working yeast mix. Let fry from one side till the sides get dry, then flip. Fry the other side for another minute till golden brown. Place on a plate with a paper towl to assorb excess oil. Immediately (while they are still warm) dust with sugar. Keep them warm in the oven at very low heat till you have baked all the cakes.
4. Serve about 5 cakes with a side of dry fruit compote per person.

Print this recipe:

Raspberry-Yoghurt Mini Bundt Cakes

I still haven't recreated the orange-poppyseed mini bundt cake that I once ate at a coffee shop in Seattle and that inspired me to bake mini-bundt cakes. However, after trying the delicious chocolate-pear mini bundt cakes a while back, I know tried a little lighter version. A recipe using raspberries and yoghurt, but also some nice müsli for some crunch.

Müsli is a mix of rolled oats with some grains, fresh or dried fruits, seeds and nuts. Some fancier version even include chocolate flakes, coconut, ets. You can use any kind of müsli but make sure that it is broken up in small pieces. Place the müsli in a sandwich bag and roll over with a rolling pin. You can also substitute it for plain oat flakes.

Ingredients (makes 12 mini bundt cakes):

• 30g (2 tablespoons or 1/4 of a stick) butter
• 75g (3/8 cups) sugar
• 1 egg
• 100g (3.5ounces or 0.4 cups) yoghurt
• 50g (3/8 cups) flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon lemon peel (freshly grated)
• 1 pinch salt
• 100g raspberries (fresh)
• 75g (3/8 cups) müsli (or oat flakes)

Icing:

• 1 tablespoon lemon juice (fresh)
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• water - if necessary

 

Preparation:

Preheat oven at 370 degree Fahrenheit (190 degree Celsius).

1. Prepare the batter: In a large bowl using a hand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Now, beat in the egg. Add the yoghurt and blend well. In a separate smaller bowl, sieve the flour and whisk together with the baking powder, lemon peel and salt. Now, add the flour mix to the butter mixture. Stir till smooth. Lighly fold in the raspberries and the müsli.
2. Bake: Grease the little bundt cake forms. Fill in the batter. Bake for about 12-15 minutes. Insert a little wooden pick in the center of one of the bundt cakes. If it comes out clean, the cakes are done. Take them out and let cool for 30 minutes before icing them.
3. Icing: In a small bowl, sieve the powdered sugar. Add the lemon juice and whisk toghether. Glaze should be thick but pourable. If too thick, add a few drops of water. If too liquid, add a little more powdered sugar. Pour the glaze on top of the cooled mini bundt cakes. It will run a little down the sides, no need to cover everything. Let dry before serving.

Print this recipe: