Christmas cookies - part 3

In this third set of cookie recipes I am describing some of my favorites. My cousin who owns a bakery has sent us some goodies from the bakery, and my favorites were Baerentatzen (bear claws), a cookie filled with apricot jam and so soft, it melted on my tongue. Unfortunately, there were never enough in the box, so we found a recipe and have made them since then.

A variation on this are Schokotatzen (chocolate claws), made with cocoa in the batter, and filled with Nutella and dipped in chocolate. Both types require a little skill because the batter has to be squeezed out of a piping bag.

Lastly, another family favorite are Nussherzen (nut hearts). This type contains hazelnut or walnut meal in the batter (and doesn't contain egg). In addition, they are filled with hazelnut cream, and either decorated with or dipped in chocolate.

Baerentatzen (Bear Claws)

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

Batter:

250 g butter

175 g powdered sugar

2 packages vanilla sugar or 2 teaspoons vanilla aroma

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

175 g flour

175 g potato starch

75 g almond, hazelnut or walnut meal

Filling:

Apricot jam

Glaze (optional)

250 g confectioner's sugar

30 g cocoa powder

3-5 tablespoons milk or hot water

25 g coconut oil

Preparation:

1. Using an electric hand mixer whisk butter until softened. First stir in sugar and vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma, then add in the egg.

2. In a separate bowl mix flour, potato starch and almond or nut meal. Add to batter.

3. Transfer the batter into a piping bag with a star-shaped opening. Squeeze little claws on parchment paper, and bake for 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

4. Remove cookies from oven, and let them cool down. Spread some apricot jam on the flat half of one cookie, then put a second cookie with the flat half on top.

5. Optional: Mix the ingredients for the glaze together. Dip one end of the sandwich cookie into the chocolate. Once the glaze has set, put cookies in a cookie box.

Schokotatzen (chocolate claws)

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

Batter:

150 g butter

15 g marzipan (optional)

60 g powdered sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla aroma

1 egg yolk

2-3 tablespoons milk

225 g flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

Filling:

Nutella

Glaze (optional)

250 g confectioner's sugar

30 g cocoa powder

3-5 tablespoons milk or hot water

25 g coconut oil

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Using an electric hand mixer whisk butter, marzipan, powdered sugar and vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma until softened. Add egg yolk and milk and whisk well, then first add in flour, then cocoa powder.

2. Transfer the batter into a piping bag with a star-shaped opening. Squeeze little claws on parchment paper, and bake for 10-15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

3. Remove cookies from oven, and let them cool down. Spread some Nutella on the flat half of one cookie, then put a second cookie with the flat half on top.

4. Optional: Mix the ingredients for the glaze together. Dip one end of the sandwich cookie into the chocolate. Once the glaze has set, put cookies in a cookie box.

Nussherzen (Nut hearts)

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

Cookie cutters

Batter:

150 g flour

125 g butter

75 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla aroma

150 g hazelnut meal

2 tablespoons milk

Filling:

Nutella

Glaze (optional)

150 g chopped chocolate

10 g coconut oil

Preparation:

1. Sift flour into a bowl. Add all remaining ingredients and knead with the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer until a dough has formed.

2. Refrigerate batter for 30 minutes or overnight.

3. Roll dough out flat until about 2-3 mm or 1/8" thick. For best results roll out the dough without flour in between two sheets of parchment paper. Cut out cookies with a smaller size cookie cutter (I used a heart shape, but you can use any cookie cutter), put on parchment paper, and bake for about 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

4. Remove cookies from oven, and let them cool down. Spread some Nutella on one cookie, then put a second cookie on top.

5. Melt chocolate and coconut oil in microwave or in a bowl over warm water.

Sprinkle chocolate with a fork on cookies or dip one cookie half into chocolate. Once the glaze has set, put cookies in a cookie box.

Cookies displayed in photo:

Top left: Baerentatze (Bear Claw)

Top right: Schokotatze (Chocolate Claw)

Bottom middle: Nussherz (Nut Heart)

Christmas cookies - part 2 (egg-free)

This post contains the recipe for three types of Christmas cookies. The basic type of dough is the same, but they contain different additional ingredients. You can certainly prepare these cookies with egg (one egg in each recipe), but the dough is easier to work with if you exchange the dough for a little milk (dairy, almond, soy) or water.

The first recipe is for Vanillekipferl (vanilla crescents), and is a family recipe, hence the somewhat odd measurements. The second and third recipe are cookies filled with jam, again a very traditional type of German Christmas cookie. Spitzbuben (literally translated it means rascal) or Geleeringe (jelly-filled cookies) are frequently made, but Preiselbeerrauten are on of my personal favorites. The latter contain some Christmas spices like cinnamon and nutmeg, and have a different taste to them. Using a somewhat tart jam nicely balances the sweetness of the cookie with the tartness from the jam. Although you can prepare all these cookies with cheap margarine these cookies are softer and melt in your mouth when using unsalted real butter!

Vanillekipferl

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

210 g cold unsalted butter (real butter!)

110 g almond meal

70 g sugar

280 g flour

2 tablespoons milk or water or one egg

Confectioner's sugar

One vanilla bean

Preparation:

1. Sift flour into a bowl, then add remaining ingredients. Using the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer mix everything until a solid dough forms (add more milk if necessary).

2. Briefly shape dough into a ball, and refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes. (Chilling the dough is absolutely required when adding an egg to the dough!)

3. Divide batter into smaller portions, roll small dough portion on a lightly floured board into a long rod, about finger thick. Cut rod into pieces about 2 inches (3 cm) long. Roll the edges a little flat, then bend the roll into a crescent shape.

4. Place cookies on parchment paper and bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) until golden brown (8-10 minutes)

5. Core the vanilla bean and mix the interior with 500 g of confectioner's sugar. Dip hot vanilla crescents into confectioner's sugar, let fully cool, then put into a cookie box.

Spitzbuben or Geleeringe (sandwich cookies filled with jelly)

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

Cookie cutters (one medium-sized circle, and a very small circle)

250 g flour

1 leveled teaspoon baking powder

125 g butter

70 g sugar

1 pinch of salt

Lemon peel from one lemon

2 tablespoons milk or water or one egg

Filling:

Jelly or jam (traditionally red currant jelly is used, but raspberry jam or orange jam works well, too; I remove fruit pieces or seeds by squeezing the jam through a fine mesh)

Topping:

Confectioner's sugar

Some water (optional)

Preparation:

1. Sift flour into a bowl, make a little dent into the flour, then add the remaining ingredients. Knead everything into a solid dough using the knead hooks from an electric hand mixer (add more milk if necessary).

2. Briefly shape dough into a ball, and refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes. (Chilling the dough is absolutely required when adding an egg to the dough!)

3. Divide batter into smaller portions. Roll small dough portion on a lightly floured board with a rolling pin until about 2 mm (1/8") thick.

4. Place cookies on parchment paper and bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) until golden brown (8-10 minutes)

5. Remove cookies from oven and let cool down. Spread jam on the full circle cookies and place an open-circle cookie on top. Dust cookies with confectioner's sugar or mix confectioner's sugar with very little water and coat the top cookie with it. Let sugar coat dry before putting cookies into a box.

Cranberry diamonds

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

Pizza cutter

A clean ruler

150 g sugar

1 pinch of salt

1 package of vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

75 g butter

2 tablespoons milk or water or one egg

200 g flour

3 leveled teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Some extra flour for rolling out the dough

Filling:

Cranberry Sauce (I used Cranberry sauce in a jar from Trader Joe's, and removed fruit pieces and seeds by squeezing the sauce through a fine mesh)

Topping:

Confectioner's sugar

Preparation:

1. Beat butter, sugar, vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma and salt until a creamy batter has formed. Mix in egg or milk. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add flour mixture to batter and knead until a solid dough has formed (knead hooks).

2. Briefly shape dough into a ball, and refrigerate for about 2 hours.

3. Divide dough into smaller portions. Roll small dough portion on a lightly floured board with a rolling pin until about 2 mm (1/8") thick. Cut diamond shapes using the pizza cutter and the ruler (see comment 3 below)

4. Place cookies on parchment paper and bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) until golden brown (10-12 minutes)

5. Remove cookies from oven and let cool down. Spread 1/2 teaspoon cranberry sauce on half the diamonds, then place a second cookie on top. Dust cookies with confectioner's sugar and put cookies into a box.

Comments:

1. I prepare all the doughs described above with the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer. If you prepare the dough with your hands work the dough very briefly! The warmth from your hands will turn the dough into a crumbly mess if worked for too long.

2. Chilling these doughs is essential. If they are not chilled they will easily crumble, and it'll become painful to make decent cookies.

3. To cut even diamonds I odd the following: I placed the ruler on top of the flattened dough, then cut strips as wide as the ruler. I then turned the ruler at an angle to the set of first cuts and repeated cutting strips, hence making diamonds. To make the diamonds roughly the same between the different batches, I used the numbers on the ruler for orientation to keep the angle of the diamonds the same.

Almond-Cherry Bread

I made this cake for a recent birthday celebration, and it was very tasty, definitely a winner and one that I will make again!

Ingredients:
Springform (26 cm or 10 inches in diameter)
Grease

Batter:
1 jar sour cherries (Moreno cherries from Trader Joe's)
200 g butter or margarine
225 g sugar
1 package vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon vanilla aroma
4 eggs
2 tablespoons amaretto (almond liquor)
150 g Crème fraîche or sour cream
300 g wheat flour
3 leveled teaspoons baking powder
200 g almond meal

Decoration:
2 tablespoons amaretto
some confectioner's sugar or 100 g milk chocolate

Preparation:
1. Drain cherries well. Grease springform. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).
2. Whisk butter or margarine with an electric hand mixer until soft. Add sugar and vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma and whisk until a smooth batter has formed. Add one egg at a time whisking each egg in for about 1/2 minute at a high speed setting, then mix in Amaretto and Crème fraîche.
3. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder and almond meal, then add flour mixture in two portions into batter.
4. Lastly, carefully fold cherries into batter, pour batter into greased springform, spread batter evenly in springform, and bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for about 55 minutes.
5. Immediately after removing the cake from the oven brush the top with amaretto. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes before removing the springform edge, then let cake fully cool down.
6. Sprinkle cake with confectioner's sugar or melt chopped chocolate at low temperature over warm water and sprinkle over cake. Wait until chocolate has set before serving.

Christmas Cookies - part 1 (gluten free macaroons)

These cookies are traditional German Christmas cookies prepared in variations everywhere. They are called macaroons, but have hardly any similarity to the French macarons. The basic recipe is egg whites, powdered sugar, and some nut-like ingredient. The exact nut used is up to you, and your preference. Traditionally, hazelnut and almond meal or flour are used, but I've made these cookies with walnuts in the past. The are also very good when prepared with shredded coconut, and when cashew meal is used they get a sweet nutty flavor. I've not yet made them with pecan nut meal, but if am sure it'll work as well.

Ingredients:

Baking sheet

Parchment paper

Four egg whites (or 120 g liquid egg white)

250 g powdered sugar

1 pinch of salt or a little lemon juice

300 g hazelnut, almond, cashew or walnut meal or shredded coconut

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 140 degrees Celsius (300 F). Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Using an electric hand mixer whisk egg whites until very stiff. While whisking slowly mix in salt, and powdered sugar adding a tablespoon of sugar at a time and keep whisking until egg whites are stiff.

3. Carefully fold in nut meal (hazelnut, almond, cashew or walnut) or shredded coconut.

4. Using two teaspoons put little portions of the batter on parchment paper. For hazelnut, almond, cashew or walnut macaroons press a hazelnut, an almond, cashew or a walnut half into the center of the cookie prior to baking. Bake at 140 degrees Celsius (300 F) for about 20 minutes or until macaroons are slightly golden.

5. Remove baking sheet from oven, let macaroons cool down for a few minutes, then remove from parchment paper and put in a cookie box.

Comments:

1. Powdered sugar in the United States contains starch, which really helps to get the egg whites stiff in only a short period of time. When the powdered sugar is starch-free it'll take quite some time to get the mixture stiff. Be patient!

2. If the macaroons stick to the parchment paper slide a flat knife under each macaroon to detach them.

3. The actual baking time may vary by the nut meal used.

4. When separating the eggs be careful not to transfer any yolk into the egg whites. If residual fat (from within the bowl) or egg yolk comes into contact with the egg whites the egg whites will not become stiff, and might not be white, but have a yellowish tint.

5. The salt and lemon juice are optional, but help to get egg whites stiff.

Macaroons in picture:

Top left: Coconut

Top right: Cashew

Bottom left: Walnut

Bottom right: Almond

German style bread

This bread is based on my dad's recipe, but I modified it using ingredients available in the US. It contains many dietary fibers, and with the nuts you can get some essential unsaturated fats, too. It is very dense, a little like pumpernickel, and you need good teeth to chew it. It is really good with plain butter or cream cheese, or some stronger tasting cheese.

Ingredients:
250g whole wheat flour
250g whole rye flor
250g 7 or 9 grain mixture (milk pail sells this in bulk)
10g dry yeast
500g buttermilk
1 Tablespoon salt (more or less can be used depending on personal taste)
60g molasses (if you want the bread to be sweeter use more)
Optional: add walnuts

Hand-mixer with knead hooks
Greased baking pan

1. Add molasses to a bowl, using a hand-mixer with the knead hooks stir in the yeast.
2. Next, slowly add and mix in the buttermilk.
3. Add flours, grain mix, and salt. Knead with hand-mixer for several minutes until a dough is formed. Optional: Add nuts to taste (I used about a cup (250ml) for this amount of flour)
4. Add dough into a baking pan (it should be so liquid that it can be poured into the baking pan, but that depends on the grains and flour. Mine was too solid for that, but too moist to knead it with hands, so using the hand-mixer is important).
5. Do not preheat oven! Bake at 160 degrees Celsius (320F) for about 2h. This bread cal also be baked in a toaster oven, but then the time might need to be shortened to 1.5h.

Amerikaner cookies

It is not entirely known why these cookies are called Amerikaner (Americans). They are apparently known in the US as black-and-white cookies, and are a NYC specialty. One explanation for their German name is that the term black-and-white cookies is already taken for a different type of cookie, so these new ones were just called by the name of the people who introduced these delicious treats to us.
The NYC version of these cookies glazes one half with white icing, the other half with chocolate, hence the name. the traditional German cookie is glazed with white icing only. In addition to being great cookies going well with coffee or tea, they can be a great addition to a kid's birthday party, and kids can have fun decorating these cookies as they like.

Ingredients:
75 g soft butter
100 g sugar
1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma
1 pinch of salt
1 egg
375 g wheat flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
250 ml milk

For brushing: about 2 tablespoons milk

For the icing:
200 g confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice or water
150 g dark chocolate
1 tablespoon coconut or other cooking oil
Optional: chopped almonds, chopped pistachios, grated coconut, sprinkles, M&Ms

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350F).
2. Whisk butter in a bowl with a hand-mixer until soft. Add sugar, vanilla sugar or aroma, and salt and stir until dough is smooth and even. Add egg, and stir in for 1/2 minute at highest setting.
3. Mix flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Alternate adding the flour mix and the milk and whisk until smooth.
4. Using a tablespoon put little heaps on the parchment paper. Make sure to leave enough space between cookies as they tend to become bigger. The original size uses two large tablespoon per cookie, but I like them smaller, so I use one tablespoon.
5. Bake for about 20 min. After 15 min in the oven, brush the surface with a little milk. This keeps the cookies moist, and facilitates the browning. When done remove cookies from oven and let cool.
6. For the icing, sift the confectioners' sugar and mix with water or lemon juice. The glaze should be rather syrupy, not liquid. Melt the chocolate (I use a microwave and heat for 20s at a time stirring after each heating step until melted). Add coconut or cooking oil. Coat the flat side (underside during baking) with icing and/or chocolate. Decorate with nuts, coconut flakes, sprinkles or M&Ms while the icing or chocolate is still soft.

Variation: The sponge dough can be flavored. Here are two suggestions I've tried. If you use icing with lemon juice, you can add some lemon aroma to the sponge for a stronger lemony taste. Alternatively, peppermint aroma works well. In this case you should add some peppermint aroma and water instead of lemon juice to the confectioners' sugar for the icing. I've also added a drop of red food coloring to the icing turning the icing pinkish, but truly, use your phantasy and play around with aromas and icing.

Bee Sting Cake (Bienenstich)

This cake is a classic German cake, traditionally prepared on a baking sheet, but it can as well be made in a springform for a fancier look. It is a yeast dough covered with an almond-honey mixture that caramelizes during the baking process. After baking, the cake is horizontally sliced and filled with a vanilla custard or buttercreme.
The origin of its name is unknown. In one legend the baker of this cake got stung by a bee that had been attracted by its sweet smell of honey, in another legend two baker's apprentices who had thrown bee hives at raiders attacking their city celebrated their victory with this cake.

Ingredients:
a baking sheet (or with the amounts listed I would use a springform of 26-28 cm or 10-11 inch
some grease

Yeast dough:
200 ml milk
50 g butter or margarine (1/2 stick)
375 g wheat flour
1 package dried yeast
50 g sugar
1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma
1 dash of salt
1 egg (optional)

Topping:
200 g butter (2 sticks)
100 g sugar
1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma
2 tablespoons honey
4 tablespoons whipping cream
200 g sliced almonds

Filling:
750 ml milk
2 packages vanilla pudding

Preparation:
1. For the yeast dough: Heat up milk in small stove top pot or microwave, melt butter or margarine in milk. Let cool down until lukewarm.
2. Mix wheat flour and yeast in a bowl. Add all other ingedients and milk-fat-mixture. Using the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer, use the lowest speed to form a dough (about 5 min). Let dough sit in a warm (not too hot) space until is visibly expanded.
3. For the topping: Melt butter slowly in a stove top pot. Add sugar, vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma, honey and cream. Briefly bring to a bubbling boil, then stir in almonds. Let mixture cool, and occasionally stir.
4. In the meantime, grease baking sheet and preheat oven to 200°C (375 F).
5. Cover yeast dough with some flour, briefly knead dough, then roll the dough out on the greased baking sheet using a rolling pin. Evenly spread the topping on the yeast dough. Let yeast sit until dough has visibly risen (about 3 cm high!).
6. Bake cake for 15 min, remove cake from oven and let cool on a rack.
7. Prepare the custard filling: Using 1/3-1/2 less milk than suggested follow the instructions to prepare the custard. If the custard is cooked, let the custard cool down a little.8. Assembly of the cake: Cut baked cake into quarters. Horizontally cut each quarter. Apply custard to each bottom quarter, put top half of the quarter on top. Refrigerate cake for about 1h before serving.

Comments:
1. The yeast dough: It is absolutely essential that the yeast dough is at least 3 cm high on the baking sheet before baking the dough. Although my dough has risen nicely, it was not that high, so I could not horizontally cut my cake after baking. To "rescue" this cake I prepared a second batch of yeast dough that I then baked without the topping to have a bottom to my cake. For this reason my top layer had a harder baked and darker bottom rather than the soft middle as bottom as it is supposed to. I don't think that insufficient rising of the yeast caused the problem presented here. Rather, the amount was too small for the baking sheet. I suggest to either use the amounts described above for a 26 cm or 28 cm (10 inch or 11 inch) springform or to prepare more yeast dough. A second recipe I found uses more milk and more flour for a baking sheet : 250 ml milk, 60 g butter or margarine, 500 g flour, 1 package dried yeast, 50 g sugar, 1 pinch of salt.
The egg is optional (I had left it out), and the fat in the yeast dough makes the dough a little easier to work with, but can also be cut into half without any problem.
2. Based on the original recipe I had prepared the custard ahead of time to give it time to cool down entirely. However, the custard separates a little upon cooling and becomes clumpy. So I would really prepare the custard while the cake is baking. The time the cake needs to cool down will be enough for the custard to cool down as well. The shorter the cooling time for the custard the less likely it will form clumps and the easier it will be to spread the custard on the cake bottom. Also, it might be better to use only 1/2 of the milk as instructed to prepare a more solid custard (might not be as thick on the cake then), or alternatively, use three packages of vanilla pudding for 750 ml of milk, rather than two.
3. Cutting the cake: The filling is fairly soft, the topping is not sticking very well to the yeast dough, and a yeast dough is tougher to cut. Thus, I strongly suggest to cut the top layer while separated from the custard-covered bottom, then assemble the top layer on the custard-covered bottom, and use the cuts made on the top layer as guides how to cut the bottom. If you follow this advice, the custard won't squeeze out of the sides, and the almonds on the top will not fall off as easily.

Bellini Cake (with a Mango Twist)

With my friends birthday approaching I asked her what kind of cake she wanted. She had tried a few of my baking adventures, and settled on a cake with a yoghurt-fruit filling. I had made the fruity triangles (see earlier post) which used canned mandarins before, and didn't want to make the same cake again, and went searching for something different. I came across a Bellini Cake recipe with champagne, and peach puree. However, this recipe uses a couple of packaged ingredients that are not always available in the U.S., so I tweaked the recipe for the filling quite a bit (see my comments below).

Ingredients
a springform (Ø 26 cm or 10 inches)
some grease
parchment paper

Spongecake:
2 eggs
50 g sugar
1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma
75 g wheat flour
1 leveled teaspoon baking powder

To soak (optional):
4 tablespoons peach liquor

Creme filling:
1 can peaches or 480 g ripe fresh peaches, skin peeled (I used a mixture of 430 g peaches and 70 g of mango)
for non-vegetarians: Mix 1 package of gelatine in 2 tablespoons of water, let sit for 10 min, briefly heat in a stove-top pot until it becomes clear, then whisk into the peach puree
for vegetarians: arrowroot starch, agar or pectin (I used arrowroot starch, see comment below)

400 g cold whipping cream
zest of one lemon
100 ml dry champagne
500 g Quark or Greek Yoghurt (Fage or Chobani brand)

2 x 30 g confectioner's sugar

1. Preparation: Grease bottom of springform, line bottom with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180°C (350F).
2. Spongecake: Mix eggs in a medium bowl with an electric hand mixer for 1 min on highest setting until foamy. While beating the eggs mix in sugar and vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma. Keep beating the eggs for an additional 2 min. In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder, then add to eggs and mix briefly on on lowest setting. Add batter to springform, level it, then bake for about 15 min in preheated oven. When spongecake has been baked, remove the springform edge, put cake upside down on a second piece of parchment paper, and let spongecake cool.
3. Remove parchment papers from spongecake, and put cake on a plate. Take the cleaned ring of the springform and put around spongecake. Optional: Soak bottom of spongecake with peach liquor.
4. Filling:
Canned peaches: Drain canned peaches well, set aside one peach half.
Fresh peaches: Peel peaches, set aside one peach half.
With an immersion blender or a regular blender puree peaches. Mix in gelatine or vegetarian starch for about 1 min.
Beat whipping cream with 30 g of confectioner's sugar until stiff.
Add yoghurt, 30 g of confectioner's sugar and lemon zest into a bowl, mix, then add champagne and gently whisk for about 1/2 min (don't over-mix or yoghurt becomes too liquid). Carefully fold in whipped cream.
Take half of the cream and spread on bottom of spongecake, spread peach puree on top of cream, and spread the remaining half of cream on top of the cake. Using a fork carefully fold the three layers until a marble pattern is visible. Cool cake for at least three hours before serving.
5. Decoration: Cut the remaining peach half into small strips and decorate cake top.

Comments:
I made several changes to the original recipe, which I am describing in my comments:
1. The original recipe uses 1 package of Dr. Oetker Tortencreme Kaese-Sahne, which contains mainly sugar and starch to thicken the yoghurt mixture. Instead, I added 30 g of confectioner's sugar, which in the United States contains both sugar and starch, to both the yoghurt mixture and the whipping cream, and I used about 100 ml of champagne instead of 200 ml which was used in the original recipe. An easy method to thicken this cream is by using gelatin: Mix 1 package of gelatin with 2 tablespoons of water, let sit for 10 min, carefully heat up in a stove-top pot until gelatin has dissolved. Now stir two tablespoons of the yoghurt mixture into the gelatin, then whisk the dissolved gelatin into the yoghurt mixture.
2. Although the confectioner's sugar stiffened the yoghurt-creme nicely, the peaches turned this cake into one big runny mess. The original recipe uses 1 package of gelatin fix by Dr. Oetker to bind the fruit puree. The gelatin fix does not have to be dissolved and heated, but can be directly added to the fruit. Instead of the gelatin I used two teaspoons of arrowroot starch, which I dissolved in about 2 tablespoons of the champagne before adding it to the peach puree. It said on the package of the starch to use 1-2 teaspoons per cup, and while it did thicken the peach puree, the peach puree was still not thick enough, and made this cake quite runny. I might try again by heating up the peach puree next time, or by using pectin instead.

Stollen

Stollen is a traditional German Christmas bread or fruit cake. It contains many seasonal flavors, candied orange and lemon peel, almonds and raisins, rum, cinnamon and other spices. There are different Stollen recipes, some like the Dresdener Christstollen are a yeast bread, but this recipe does not contain yeast, but quark, a German type of sour cheese.

Ingredients:

Parchment paper

Baking sheet

Aluminum foil

200 g raisins

About 100 ml rum

750 g flour

6 leveled teaspoons baking powder

250 g sugar

2 packages vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

1 pinch of salt

1 teaspoon dried lemon peel

2 tablespoons rum

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

3 eggs

275 g butter (2.5 sticks)

375 g quark or a mixture of sour cream and fat free Greek yoghurt (Fage or Chobani brand)  (I used sour cream and fat free Greek yoghurt)

100 g candied lemon peel (Zitronat)

100 g candied orange peel (Orangat)

200 g ground hazelnut or ground almond

100 g marzipan (optional)

Topping:

125 g butter

50 g confectioner's sugar

Preparation:

1. The day before soak raisins in rum: Add raisins to a bowl, pour rum into bowl until raisins are covered, then cover the bowl. Let raisins sit in rum overnight.

2. Cover a baking sheet with three layers of parchment paper (this will prevent the Stollen from becoming too dark on its bottom). Preheat oven to 180-200 degrees Celsius (350-375 F). Drain rum raisins very well.

3. Mix flour and baking powder, then sift both into a bowl. Make a little hole in the center of the flour bed. To that center add sugar, vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma, salt, dried lemon peel, rum, spices, and eggs. Using the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer or your hands, knead everything until a thick 

Has formed.

3. Cut butter into pieces, then add butter and quark or yoghurt and sour cream to batter and knead until a solid dough has formed. Knead in candied lemon and orange peel, ground hazelnut or ground almonds, and rum raisins.

4. Divide dough into as many pieces as you want to prepare Stollen breads. I divided the amount described in this recipe into two very large Stollen breads. If you make three or four Stollen breads they have a nice size, and if you make four to six Stollen breads they are a nice size to give as presents.

Roll dough out into a square (30 x 30 cm or 13 x 13 inches for two Stollen breads or somewhat smaller if you prepare more breads). Knead marzipan until soft, then roll out on powdered sugar. You can either roll it out flat to a square a little smaller than the square of the Stollen dough, or you can make a long tubular role. Put marzipan on Stollen dough.

5. Roll up 1/4 of one side of the Stollen dough, then use the rolling pin to make a lengthwise dent. Fold one side of the Stollen bread over to the other side leaving about 3 cm (1.5 inches) of the other end uncovered. Fuse the seam between the folded part, then make a little lengthwise dent on the side of the seam raising a the middle into the typical Stollen shape.

6. Put Stollen bread on parchment paper and on a baking sheet. Take some aluminum foil and fold into a strip about 1 inch high. Put the strip around the entire Stollen bread (use multiple strips if necessary to surround the entire Stollen bread with a aluminum cuff; the cuff will prevent the Stollen bread from running and becoming too flat). Bake Stollen bread at 180-200 degrees Celsius (350-375 F) for about 55 minutes.

7. Melt butter for the topping in the microwave or a small stovetop pot. Immediately after removing Stollen bread from oven spread butter on top of bread, and sift convectioner's sugar on top. Briefly let bread cool down a little and repeat the butter-sugar coating.

8. Let Stollen bread cool down completely, the wrap Stollen in multiple layers of clear plastic wrap for storage.

Comments:

1. Stollen is best prepared ahead of time (often at the end of November to be ready for Christmas). Then the different flavors can really seep in, mix and develop the typical Stollen flavor.

2. Stollen can be frozen well.

3. You can prepare Stollen without any rum or you could exchange the rum for some rum aroma to make it kid-friendly.

Rotweinkuchen (Red Wine Cake)

The red wine in combination with cinnamon and cocoa makes this cake perfect for winter time. It is a classic German bread, but beware, don't try to sneak in more wine than the recipe calls for. If the dough is too moist, the cake will collapse after baking, and will show moist stripes in its interior. Also, this cake is great to use up leftover or not very tasty wine.

Ingredients:

Baking form

Grease

Flour

200 g butter or margarine

100 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

A few drops of rum aroma

1 pinch of salt

3 eggs

200 g flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda (optional)

1-2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

50 g almond meal or chopped almonds

100 ml red wine

100 g chocolate, chopped into smaller pieces

Topping:

Confectioner's sugar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Grease baking form, then line baking form with flour to prevent the cake from sticking.

2. Whisk butter or margarine until soft, add sugar and vanilla sugar or vanilla aroma and salt until sugar has dissolved. Add one egg at a time and mix in each egg for about 1/2 minute.

3. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, and almond meal. Alternating between flour mixture and red wine add ingredients in two portions to the batter. Lastly, briefly stir in the chocolate pieces.

4. Pour batter into baking form and bake for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). After 10 minutes cut the cake lengthwise about 1/2 inch deep, so that it can fold open nicely during the remaining baking time. Bake cake for another 40 minutes.

5. Remove cake from oven and let cool for about 10 minutes. To remove cake from baking form, flip the baking form upside down on a cooling rack. The cake should come out easily. Turn cake back up, and let fully cool down. Sift some confectioner's sugar over the top.

Comments:

1. For this recipe is is crucial to only use the indicated amount of wine (see comment above).

2. The original recipe only calls for baking powder. However, based on experience from making muffins I added some baking soda. Baking soda is used when acidic components (lemon juice, buttermilk, vinegar) are used. Because wine is also a mild acid I tweaked the recipe and added some.

3. I used 50 g of chopped chocolate and 50 g chocolate chips. The chopped chocolate melts during baking adding some color and flavor to the entire cake. The chocolate chips on the other hand are designed to not melt entirely leaving some chocolate to bite on.

Honeycake (Honigkuchen)

Honeycake is somewhat similar to gingerbread, and is traditionally prepared and served during Christmas time. The gingerbread spice mixes sold in Germany usually don't contain ginger, but cinnamon, orange peel, coriander, lemon peel, star anis, fennel seeds, nutmeg, ground cloves, and cardamom. You can certainly add ginger and allspice, and mix different spices to taste.

Ingredients:

Deep baking sheet or Pyrex form (13 x 9 inches)

Some grease

Cake batter:

250 g honey

125 g (1stick) butter or margarine

2 eggs

1 package of 15 g Lebkuchengewuerz or 1 tablespoon gingerbread/pumpkin spices: gingerbread spices are cinnamon, orange peel, coriander, lemon peel, star anis, fennel seeds, nutmeg, ground cloves, cardamom, allspice, mix to taste

1 teaspoon grated or ground lemon zest

375 g wheat flour

3 leveled teaspoons baking powder

1-2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

100 g raisins

100 g hazelnut meal

Some milk 

100 g sliced almonds

Glaze:

5 tablespoons apricot jam

Topping:

200 g semisweet chocolate

1 tablespoon vegetable or coconut oil

Hazelnut-, walnut- or (skinned) almond halves 

Preparation:

1. Add honey and butter or margarine to a stovetop pot. Slowly melt butter or margarine on low to medium heat while stirring. Remove from heat, pour into a mixing bowl, and cool mixture in the fridge for a few minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Grease baking sheet or Pyrex form.

3. Whisk eggs, spices, and lemon peel into the butter-honey mixture using an electric hand mixer.

4. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Add flour mixture two tablespoons at a time to liquid mixture using an electric hand mixer. (Switch to knead hooks when the dough becomes very stiff and heavy).

5. Lastly, stir in hazelnut meal and raisins. Spread batter evenly on a deep baking sheet or in a Pyrex form. Brush some milk on top to prevent the surface from drying out while baking and spread sliced almonds over top.

6. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for about 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

7. Rub the apricot jam through a mesh and brush over cake immediately after removing the cake from the oven. Let cake fully cool,down.

8. Cut chocolate into smaller pieces and add to a bowl together with the oil. Melt chocolate in microwave (lowest heat setting, stirring frequently) to on top of hot water. Spread chocolate over cake, garnish with nuts and/or almonds.

9. When the glaze has fully set, cut the cake into pieces and store in an airtight container.

Comments:

1. Prepare the cake a few days ahead, so that it can develop better flavor.

2. The cake keeps for about two weeks (if it lasts that long...)

Sachertorte

This traditional chocolate cake was invented by the Austrian Franz Sachet, and is one Viennese specialty. It's a chocolate sponge cake with a filling of apricot jam and a chocolate icing. And appropriately, according to Wikipedia December 5 is National Sachertorte Day.

Ingredients:

A small stovetop pot

Springform (26 cm or 11 inches in diameter)

Some grease

Cake batter:

150 g semisweet chocolate of good quality

6 eggs

A pinch of salt

75 g powdered sugar

120 g butter or margarine

75 g sugar

Vanilla aroma

130 g flour

Filling:

200 g apricot jam

Decoration:

150 g semisweet chocolate of good quality

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Grease bottom of springform.

2. Add water to a stovetop pot and bring to a near boil. In the meantime cut the chocolate into smaller pieces and add to a bowl. Put the bowl with chocolate over the hot water, and slowly melt the chocolate in the hot waterbath.

3. Separate eggs. Using an electric hand mixer beat the egg whites with the pinch of salt until very stiff. Slowly add the powdered sugar and keep beating.

4. In a separate bowl add butter or margarine. Using an electric hand mixer beat until soft. Add in the vanilla aroma and sugar and mix until a smooth batter has formed. Stir in the melted chocolate, the the flour.

5. Carefully fold the stiff egg whites under the chocolate batter. Pour batter into springform and bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for about 45 minutes. Check with a toothpick whether done (if the toothpick comes out clean the cake is done)

6. Remove cake from oven. Carefully remove outer ring of springform. Flip the cake upside down onto a plate or board, the remove springform bottom. Flip cake back onto a cooling rack and let fully cool down.

7. Cut cake horizontally in half. Spread apricot jam on the cut surface of the bottom half, then put back top half.

8. Melt the chocolate for the decoration as described above. Pour chocolate over cake middle and coat cake evenly using a knife while turning the cake.

Hazelnut-Nutella-Cake

Ingredients:

Springform (9 inch or 24 cm in diameter)

Parchment paper

Sponge Cake:

3 eggs

100 g sugar

30 g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

100 g ground hazelnuts

Filling:

Nutella

500 ml milk

1 package vanilla pudding powder or 1 package JELL-O vanilla pie filling

200 g whipping cream

1 tablespoon powdered sugar

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Line springform bottom with parchment paper.

2. Using an electric hand mixer beat eggs until fluffy. Add sugar and beat until eggs start to stiffen. In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder, add flour mixture to eggs and mix. Lastly, mix in ground hazelnuts, then pour batter into springform.

3. Bake sponge cake batter for about 25 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius or until toothpick comes out clean. Remove cake from oven, let briefly cool, then remove springform edge. Let cake cool down entirely.

4. In the meantime, prepare pie filling or vanilla pudding/custard according to the instructions. If using cook-and-serve variety, let filling cool down.

5. Whip whipping cream and powdered sugar until whipping cream is stiff (you should be able to put the bowl upside down without the cream running out).

6. For the creme filling: Carefully fold whipped cream under 1/2 of the pie filling or pudding.

7. Cut the sponge cake once horizontally. Spread a thin layer of Nutella on the cut edge of the bottom piece. Add 1/2 of the prepared filling on top of the layer of Nutella. Put the top half of the sponge cake with the cut edge facing down on top. Spread the remaining amount of the creme filling (optional: set aside some for the cake decoration) on top of the cake. Decorate and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight, so the sponge cake becomes a little soft.

Comments:

1. If you use potato starch instead of wheat flour the sponge cake will be gluten-free.

Apple-Wine-Cake (Apfelweinkuchen)

This is a fall favorite. No further comment needed.

Ingredients:

Baking sheet or one 9x11 inch (30x40 cm) Pyrex form

Some grease

Baking frame or aluminum foil when using a baking sheet

Pie crust:

300 g wheat flour

50 g potato starch

1 leveled teaspoon baking powder

150 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

1 pinch of salt

2 eggs (optional, can be exchanged for 60 ml or two tablespoons milk)

150 g (1 stick) butter or margarine

Topping:

2 kg or 4 lb apples

Juice from one lemon

4.6 oz package vanilla cook and serve JELL-O

(or alternatively: 3 packages Dr. Oetker vanilla pudding powder and 150 g of sugar)

2 packages vanilla sugar or some vanilla aroma

500 ml apple juice (2 cups)

375 ml white wine (1/2 bottle)

Glaze:

375 ml white wine (1/2 bottle)

300 ml apple juice

50 g sugar

50 g potato starch

3 tablespoons arrowroot starch

(or instead of the starches: 3 packages Tortenguss klar/cake glaze clear)

Preparation:

1. Grease baking sheet or Pyrex form. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

2. Prepare pie crust: Mix flour, starch and baking powder in a bowl. Add remaining ingredients and use the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer to form a dough. Shape into a rod. Roll dough flat on baking sheet or Pyrex form. Pierce pie crust with a fork multiple times. If using a baking sheet put a baking frame of the size of the sheet around or use aluminum foil to build a frame.

3. Pre-bake pie crust for 15 min at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

4. Prepare apple topping: Peel and core apples, cut into small pieces, and cover with lemon juice to prevent the apples from turning brown.

5. In a stovetop pot, mix apple juice, wine and pudding powder. Bring mixture to a boil while constantly stirring. When liquid thickens, remove pot from stove, and stir in apples. Pour apple mix on top of pre-baked pie crust, level, then bake for another 40 min.

6. Remove cake from oven and let cool down.

7. Prepare glaze: In a stovetop pot, mix apple juice and wine. Remove three tablespoons of that liquid and stir in the starches. Bring wine-juice mixture to a boil while constantly stirring. Remove from heat and stir in the dissolved starches. When liquid thickens, pour over apple layer and level. Let glaze cool down the refrigerate cake.

8. Before serving, carefully remove baking frame from cake, cut into pieces and serve.

Comments:

1. Pie crust: I used milk instead of the eggs because the crust is less crumbly and doesn't need to be refrigerated before rolled out. However, I think that next time I would not pre-bake the crust, or if then only for 5 minutes, because it got very hard over the remaining baking time.

Well, a day later, the pie crust was nice and soft, so or wasn't bad at all, just needed an extra day.

2. Apple topping: Because the vanilla cook and serve JELL-O I used already contains sugar I left out the additional sugar asked for in the recipe. I used Gala apples because they are my favorite kind, but the original recipe calls for apples that are a little on the tart side (e.g. Elstar).

3. Glaze: Tortenguss mainly contains starch and sugar, so it can easily be made using potato starch and/or arrowroot starch. Cornstarch can be used, too, but the glaze will appear milky and not clear.

4. Garnish the cake with chopped almond pieces or some whipped cream.

5. To make an alcohol-free version of this cake, exchange the wine for apple juice, and leave out the additional sugar.