food

Recipe | German Plum Streusel Sheet Cake

September 27, 2021 filed under: baking, food, recipe

As promised last week, I wanted to share the recipe for the German plum cake with you. I feel like plums or Zwetschgen, as they’re called in German, are not on a lot of people’s radar, especially for baking. And you guys, we need to change this because OMG, baked plums are so freakin’ good. And this sheet cake is so easy to make – if you can find the right plums, that is.

You need Italian (Empress) plums for this cake. They’re a little smaller, have an oblong shape, and dark purple skin. They’re sweet, sometimes a little tart, and get a deeper flavor when baked. They’re usually in season for a few weeks in the late summer/early fall and your best bet is finding them at the local Farmer’s Market.

There are many popular recipes for this type of cake with different kind of cake bases (e.g. quark-oil dough or shortcake), but my family prefers a yeast-based cake. Lots of people shy away from yeast dough, but I feel like it’s one of the easiest doughs to prepare. You just need a little time and patience.

INGREDIENTS

For the cake:

2 kg (about 4 pounds) Italian (Empress) plums, cut into quarters, pits removed
180 ml (3/4 cup) warm milk or milk substitute (I used soy)
1 1/2 tablespoons dry active yeast
500g (4 cups) bread or pastry flour
150g (3/4 cup) sugar
1 sleeve vanilla sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
113g (1 stick) unsalted butter (1/2 cup melted but not hot)
2 eggs

For the streusel:

125g (1 cup) bread or pastry flour
200g (1 cup) sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
113g (1 stick = 1/2 cup) butter at room temperature

INSTRUCTIONS

Stir the yeast in the 3/4 cup of warm milk and let it sit for 5-10 minutes until dissolved and frothy.
Place the flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and pour in the yeast mixture, melted warm butter, eggs and vanilla extract. Use a dough hook and knead the dough on slow for 4-5 minutes, adding a little extra milk if necessary. (The dough should be sticky but hold together fairly well. Cover it loosely with plastic wrap and set it in a warm, draft free place to rise for an hour or until about doubled in size.)
Grease a large, deep baking pan (at least 18 inches in length and 1 inch deep) with butter or baking spray.
Use your hands to spread the dough out across the full length of the pan, pressing it up against the sides. Lay the plums tightly in rows over the whole length of the dough on the sheet pan.
Let the cake rest and rise for about another hour.
To make the streusel: Place all the ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and use your fingers to bring it all together. Work with the mixture until it’s thoroughly combined and forms a rough sand and clumpy texture. Sprinkle the streusel over the top of the cake.
Bake the cake on the middle rack of the preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden.
Let the cake sit for at least 10 minutes before slicing to let some of the liquid set. Slice the cake into squares and serve.

NOTES

*This sheet streusel cake holds up well for a day or two and you can easily freeze it by the slice, too. Take it out for a few hours to defrost and heat up in the microwave for a half minute.

* * *

Let me know if you try this and how you liked it. Jon is a big fan!

Recipe | Homemade Tzatziki Sauce

September 13, 2021 filed under: food, linkup, recipe

I don’t know about you, but when it comes to summer and BBQ season, I am all about the dips. Germans are known for their array of grill sauces (we have a HUGE variety of store-bought sauces, but also a gazillion good recipes for homemade sauces and dips).

One of the ones that you’ll frequently find is Tzatziki (pronounced zza-zzee-key), obviously not a German dish, but still a favorite at every grill party either as a dip for potatoes and veggies or grilled meat. It’s super quick and easy to whip up and so light and tasty.

It’s made with yogurt, olive oil, and grated cucumber and the only trick to remember is to properly drain the cucumber, as its high water content will otherwise water down the dip too much. I simply grate the cucumber and then squeeze the excess water out over the sink.

½ English cucumber, grated and squeezed to remove water
1 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 ½ Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. dried dill
2 garlic cloves, minced
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper

Grate the cucumber into a bowl and then use your hands to squeeze out the excess moisture over the sink. Combine the cucumber with yogurt, then fold in the other ingredients and give it a good stir. I usually let the dip sit in the fridge for a couple of hours, so the flavors can really meld.

Enjoy!

What’s your favorite dip?

What I bought at Trader Joe’s Vol. 12

April 20, 2021 filed under: food, traderjoes

If you know me, you know I am a little bit Trader Joe’s obsessed. We do 80% of our shopping there and it never gets boring. I am generally someone who enjoys grocery shopping (I know not all people do), but I always argue that nobody would mind it so much if they always shopped at Trader Joe’s. It’s the Ikea of grocery stores, amirite?

I picked up a couple of new (and a couple of old, well-loved) items at Trader Joe’s recently and wanted to share, in case you’re making a trip to the store sometime soon.

Prosciutto* (5.29 oz) $4.99 // deli section

With all the bread I’ve been baking during the pandemic, we’ve been having many “German dinners” this last year. This translates to fresh bread with cheeses and cold cuts, and this prosciutto has been a staple in our fridge. I think I have successfully converted Jon into a “Brotzeit”-lover.

Soffrito* (2.7 oz) $3.29 // pantry section

This is the best, versatile seasoning blend ever and if you haven’t picked it up yet, you’re totally missing out. I use this in everything, most recently in all of the soups that I’ve been cooking.

Brie Cheese with Wild Mushrooms* (per lb) $11.99 // dairy section

Jon and I enjoy some brie and crackers every once in a while. I usually go for the regular brie, but I recently found this brie with wild mushrooms and since we both love mushrooms, we had to try it. Well, let’s just say it won’t be the last time that I bought it. It’s delicious!

Barebells Protein Bars* (1.94 oz) $1.99 // nutrition bar section

Somebody (on Instagram? I don’t remember) recommended these protein bars. They have no added sugar and I was willing to try them for that reason alone. I am usually very picky when it comes to protein bars (most taste gross to me), but these were surprisingly good (although they do have some artificial sweetener, I realized, which I am not a huge fan of, but oh well). I love having an alternative (especially because they don’t need to be refrigerated – like Perfect bars, the only other protein bars I will buy, also available at Trader Joe’s.)

Pink Pomelo Grapefruit Hand Soap* (17 oz) $3.99 // household section

If you’re looking for a hand soap that smells good and lathers well, may I recommend this grapefruit hand soap? I am usually a fan of Mrs. Meyers hand soap and picked this one up on a whim, but I would also totally buy this one again.

What have you bought at Trader Joe’s recently?

* I am not affiliated with Trader Joe’s, nor have they endorsed, sponsored, or paid for my reviews. I am just sharing my love for the store and its products, which basically means free advertisement for them. Ha. All opinions are my own.

29: Recipe | Spritzgebäck (German Spritz Cookies)

November 29, 2020 filed under: baking, family, food, holidays, NaBloPoMo, nostalgia

I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. #nablopomo2020

This post has been years in the making. Spritzgebäck is the traditional holiday cookie in my family. Everybody gets involved. My Mom prepares the dough, my Dad and the kids (first my sister and I, then my cousin, now my niece and nephew) make the cookies. My Dad used to have a manual meat mincer and cookie inset that he used for years and years, but they upgraded to an electric food grinder attachment for a stand mixer a couple of years ago (which makes it much easier). Everybody in the family brings a cookie tin that gets filled to the top with spritz cookies and in recent years, when I couldn’t go home for the holidays, my Mom always sent me some in her Christmas package. It’s always the most coveted item.

We decided that this year, with the pandemic and unreliable postal service times and outrageous postage prices, we wouldn’t send any packages for Christmas. So, finally, after talking about it for years, I invested in a meat grinder attachment and cookie inset to make my own. I guess it was about time.

The trick for these cookies is to chill the dough overnight, then prepare the cookies the next day by pressing it through the meat grinder into thin strips which bake into extra crispy, hard cookies. My niece and nephew can demonstrate it much better than I could because they’re experts now.

If you are “team soft cookie”, I still recommend you give these a try. Maybe they’ll change your mind. Although, you will have to invest in the equipment first… but it’s worth it, IMHO. Jon is also a fan. The cookies are crisp, but not too sweet. Just perfect with a cup of coffee or tea. Great for dunking, too. Our family traditionally makes them ‘plain’, but you can also dip on end into melted chocolate if you’re into that.

If you try them, let me know if you enjoy them. Meanwhile, I’ll sit here with my nostalgia, nibbling on a cookie.

Ingredients

500 g unbleached wheat flour
250 g sugar
250 g butter (unsalted) — softened
1 egg
1 pinch salt
1 pouch vanilla sugar

Beat the soft butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and eggs and keep beating. Add the rest of the ingredients and form into a ball. Wrap in aluminum foil and place in the fridge overnight.

Bring dough to room temperature before proceeding. Add dough to your meat grinder and press through the cookie attachment and line the cookies up on a cookie sheet (you can line them up tightly as they won’t expand much, but you still might have to bake in a few batches). Bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Let cool down on a cooling rack.

Spritzgebäck (German Spritz Cookies)

500 g wheat flour
250 g sugar
250 g butter ((unsalted))
1 egg
1 pinch salt
1 pouch vanilla sugar

Beat the soft butter until fluffy.
Add the sugar and eggs and keep beating.
Add the rest of the ingredients and form into a ball. Wrap in aluminum foil and place in the fridge overnight.
Bring dough to room temperature before proceeding.
Add dough to your meat grinder and press through the cookie attachment and line them up on your cookie sheet.
Bake at 375°F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.
Let cool down on a cooling rack.

28: Our Thanksgiving

November 28, 2020 filed under: food, holidays, NaBloPoMo, running

I am doing NaBloPoMo this month. 30 blog posts in 30 days. Come join me. #nablopomo2020

Our Thanksgiving this year didn’t look much different than last year’s, to be honest, despite the pandemic. As previously mentioned, Jon and I are kind of used to spending holidays without seeing family, so it’s our “normal” to make it nice just for the two of us. Funnily enough, we had tentative plans this year to actually see family for the holidays, but when the COVID-situation didn’t allow for travel (at least in our opinion, it didn’t), it wasn’t too hard to switch back to our usual plan.

I probably would have run our local Turkey Trot again this year, but since the run went virtual (like everything else), I decided to team up with Tanja for a virtual run on Thursday morning. It’s nice that you can count on a friend to go along with your plans and knowing that she was also running a turkey trot in her neck of the woods and made me feel thankful and connected. And we even did a virtual high five at the end.

After I got back, I started preparing our Thanksgiving feast, while sipping coffee and face-timing with my family in Germany. I love spending the day in the kitchen and setting a nice table, even if it’s just for the two of us.

We did stay in our lounge pants, however, in expectation of the waistband-expanding dinner.

When we initially brainstormed side dishes for our meal, we threw around some new ideas and then ended up just recreating our Thanksgiving meal from last year: Roasted ~~Turkey~~Chicken, mashed potatoes, gravy, roasted green beans, and delicious apple-cornbread-stuffing. For dessert, I baked an apple cake again and made some freshly whipped cream to go along with it.

After dinner, we settled in for a cozy evening on the couch by the (fake) fireplace. Honestly, I was so stuffed that I couldn’t move one more inch. We talked about what we’re thankful for this year and I also got some knitting done. We both agreed that it was just the quiet and cozy Thanksgiving that we wanted.