German Culture

German Chocolate Cake – 3

December 27, 2017 By germanculture

Ingredients:
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2 cups flour
1 cup margarine or butter, softened
1 package of German Chocolate
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 tsp salt
4 egg whites
4 egg yolks

Cooking:
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Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Then line the bottom of a round cake pan with wax paper. Melt the chocolate squares until they are completely melted. Stir well. Mix flour, baking soda and salt: set aside. Beat margarine (butter) and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Add flour mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating after each addition until smooth. Beat egg whites in another large bowl with electric mixer on high speed until stiff peaks form. Gently stir into batter. Pour into prepared pans. Bake 30 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched in center. Immediately run spatula between the cake and sides of the pan. Cool 15 minutes and remove from the pan. Remove wax paper. Cool completely on wire racks. Spread Coconut-Pecan Frosting between layers and over top of cake.

Coconut-Pecan Frosting:
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1 can evaporated milk
4 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup margarine or butter
1 package of coconut
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Mix milk, sugar, margarine, egg yolks and vanilla in a large saucepan. Cook and stir on medium heat about 12 minutes or until thickened and golden brown. Remove from heat. Stir in coconut and pecans. Cool to room temperature until it can be easily spread.

How to Cook Gingerbread Cookies

December 23, 2017 By germanculture

Gingerbread cookies are traditionally made in Germany for Christmas. Cook them anytime, and let some Christmas into the house right now!

Difficulty Level: Average Time Required: 30 min

Here’s How:

Heat 3/4 cup honey, 3/8 cup sugar and 2 tbsp butter in a saucepan until smooth.
Stir in ginger, black pepper, ground cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, coriander and nutmeg (a pinch of each).
Let cool.
Sift 2 cups flour into a bowl, add the honey mass and one egg yolk. Mix well.
Dissolve 1 tsp baking soda in 1 tbsp warm water and add to the mixture.
Knead in 1 cup flour to make a firm dough.
Heat the oven to 160 C.
Roll out the dough to 1 cm thick.
Cut out your favorite figures and place on a greased baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 min and let cool.
For icing mix 4 tbsp sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp water.
Decorate the cookies when cool.

Tips:

Use the heavy-based saucepan.
Make the dough firm enough to come away from the bowl’s sides.

German Chocolate Cake – 2

December 16, 2017 By germanculture

German chocolate cake, originally German’s chocolate cake, is a layered chocolate cake from the United States, filled and topped with a coconut-pecan frosting. It owes its name to an English-American chocolate maker named Samuel German, who developed a formulation of dark baking chocolate that came to be used in the cake recipe.

Ingredients:
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1 cup margarine
1/2 cup salad oil
1 cup water
2 cups sugar
2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp soda
1/2 cup buttermilk
vanilla

Cooking:
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Sift dry ingredients. Bring margarine, oil, and water to a boil. Pour over dry ingredients. Add beaten eggs. Dissolve baking soda in buttermilk and add last. Bake in a greased pan for 30 minutes at 200 degrees C.

Frosting:

1 1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup coconut
1 can evaporated milk
3 beaten egg yolks
1 cup chopped nuts
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cook butter, sugar, coconut, milk and egg yolks until thick. Stir constantly as frosting burns easily. Remove from heat and add nuts and vanilla. Cool, then frost the cake.

Strawberry Santas

December 15, 2017 By germanculture

Ingredients:
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1 lb large strawberries
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3-4 Tablespoons powdered sugar (or sugar substitute – to taste)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
sesame seeds

Cooking:
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Rinse strawberries and cut around the top of the strawberry. You want to cut just enough to make the hat with.
Clean out the whole strawberry with a paring knife, if necessary (some of them are hollow already. Prep all of the strawberries and set aside.
In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Add cream cheese mix to a piping bag or Ziploc with the corner snipped off. Fill the strawberries with cheesecake mixture.
Once strawberries are filled, top with the ‘hats.’ Decorate according to photos or your own imagination.
If not serving immediately, refrigerate until serving. Serve on decorative plate with sugar “snow”.

Halloween: Trick or Treat?

January 24, 2016 By germanculture

Trick or Treat? Treat!!!

November… Cold biting wind is howling outside the window, the pale moon is swimming above the naked trees, and one can almost see all kinds of broom-riding witches and foggy ghosts in the dark… Isn’t it the best party time for Halloween?!?

Halloween party will not be Halloween party without great costumes and decorations. However it will not be that great either without the nice spooky snack, nicht wahr? Let’s start with the hot apple punch, proceed with Halloween picnic meat and Spicy eggs, and finish with chocolate cookies.

Hot Apple Punch

Take:

☻ 1 l natural apple juice (if possible sour)
☻ some sugar if needed
☻ 2 tbsp. cinnamon
☻ juice of 1 lemon
☻ some liquor (e.g. vodka) if needed

Make:

Blend the apple juice, juice of a half the lemon, 1 tsp. cinnamon and sugar in a fire-proof bowl and heat. Dip the edge of each glass first in the rest of lemon juice, and then into the cinnamon-sugar mix. Fill the glasses carefully with the punch. The adults should add some liquor into their glasses – for a more bewitching effect!

Halloween Picnic Meat

Take:

☻ about 200 g cold roast meat
☻ 120 g (4 tbsp.) butter
☻ 2 tbsp. sour cream
☻ salt, pepper to taste
☻ 1 tbsp. lemon juice

Make:

Chop up or meat-mince the cold roast meat, blend the room-temperature butter and the other ingredients in. The Halloween picnic paste is ready! Now spread it on the rye bread, or even better – on toasts. Listen to the crunching, and make your imagination work!

Spicy Eggs Toasts

Take:

☻ 2 tbsp. sesame seeds
☻ 2 tbsp. ground hazel nuts
☻ 1 tsp. ground coriander
☻ 1 tsp. ground caraway seeds
☻ salt, black pepper to taste
☻ 4 or 5 hard-boiled eggs
☻ rye bread
☻ butter

Make:

Roast all spices and nuts on a frying-pan till they start exhaling fragrance. Remove then the mix from the heat, and grind all together in a food processor, or chop. Make rye toasts, slice the eggs and cover the toasts with eggs slices. Now sprinkle with the spicy mix.

Chocolate Cookies

Take:

☻ 1/2 cup butter
☻ 1/2 cup sugar
☻ 1/3 cup brown sugar
☻ 1 egg
☻ 1 egg yolk
☻ a pinch of salt
☻ 1 cup flour
☻ 1/2 tbsp. baking powder
☻ 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Make:

Beat sugar and soft butter into a foam. Blend in the egg and the yolk. Add flour and baking powder. Finally add choco chips. Cover the baking sheet with baking paper, and use the table spoon to lay out the dough onto the baking sheet. Be sure to leave enough space between the cookies so that they don’t become one big pancake! Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 min.

Tasty Halloween!

German Maiwein

November 24, 2015 By germanculture

May Wine is a traditional May Day beverage

Maiwein (May Wine) is a German drink, dedicated to springtime and flavored with fresh Waldmeister (sweet woodruff). Maiwein, a white wine, imported from Germany, can be found in stores. Waldmeister is a fragrant herb, a small plant with white blossoms. In Germany it grows in the forests. However, the variety which grows wild is not usable for flavoring. This decorative plant may be grown in a shady corner of a herb garden. It should be used for flavoring only in May when the new leaves are tender. Cut up and soaked in the wine, it will produce the distinctive May Wine taste.
You can make your own Maiwein by using a good white wine and flavoring it with woodruff.

Maiwein-1

Ingredients:
12 sprigs young Waldmeister
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 bottle Moselle or Rhine wine or other dry white wine

Cooking:
Cover the mixture for 30 minutes, no longer. Remove the Waldmeister. Stir contents of bowl thoroughly and pour over a block of ice in a punch bowl. Add:
3 bottles Moselle
1 quart carbonated water or champagne

Thinly sliced oranges, sticks of pineapple and, most appropriately, sprigs of Waldmeister, may be used to decorate the Maiwein.

Maiwein-2

Ingredients:
1 bottle of light dry wine (Bergstrasser- or Moselle wine)
1 bunch (handful) Waldmeister (the herb shouldn’t be in bloom yet)
2 tbsp sugar

Cooking:
Wash the herb thoroughly, bind into a bunch, and pour the wine over it into a large bowl. Add sugar, and let the mixture stay for 15-30 min in a cool place. Strain the wine through the sieve, and taste for sugar. In case it tastes not sweet enough, add some more sugar.

Tip: add some soda or Seltzer to make the drink more refreshing.

There is a special Maiweinlied (May Wine Song) to accompany drinking Maiwein. Sing it and celebrate May Day!

Related article:
May Day in Germany, Maypole

German Easter Bunny Recipes

November 23, 2015 By germanculture

Some last-minute recipes of Easter bunny-shaped cakes and cookies

Easter is not all about hard-boiled eggs. You cannot make it with egg salads only! Let’s honor Easter rabbit – the one who hides Easter eggs – by putting him on the festive table.

Easter Bunny

Ingredients:
1 kg flour
1 tsp salt
160 g soft butter
600 ml room-warm milk
1 tbsp sugar
40 g yeast
24 hazel-nuts or raisins
2 yolks for coating

Cooking:
Dissolve yeast in the warm milk, add some sugar, and leave the dough until bubbles appear on its surface. Put the rest of the ingredients into a big bowl, pour the milk&yeast mixture in, and mix well till the dough is smooth (~10 min). Put the bowl in a warm place, and let it stay there till its volume at least doubles. At this point the dough requires intensive kneading. After that, let it rest for about 20 min.

Knead the dough again, and cut it into 12 equal parts. Form the Easter Bunnies: separate the dough part into 3 pieces, and adjust them to each other as a head, body and tail. Form two ears on top of the head. Press the nuts or raisins onto the head as the rabbit’s eyes. Put the bunnies onto a greased and floured cook sheet. Coat with the yolk, let rest for 30 min, and bake in the preheated oven for about 25-30 min.

Bunny Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 cup milk
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
3 eggs

Frosting:

1 3-ounce package cream cheese, softened
a pinch of salt
1 tbsp milk
2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Cooking:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease and flour the cake pans (rub bottom of pan with butter or shortening, then sprinkle flour in the pan; tap the pan until flour spreads and covers the bottom). Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into the electric mixer bowl. Add the shortening, milk, vanilla, and eggs. Mix on low speed for one minute. Scrape the sides of the bowl, then turn mixer to high speed. Beat for 3 minutes. Pour into pans and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted in the cake center comes out clean (not sticky!). Cool in pans for 10 minutes, then turn cake layers onto a wire rack (you might need help with this step).

Make frosting:

Place the cream cheese, milk, vanilla, and salt in the electric mixer bowl. Mix on medium speed until well blended. Gradually add sugar, beating at medium to high speed until the frosting is smooth and will spread easily. If necessary, add more milk. Cut the cooled cake and arrange as shown in the drawing. One layer is left intact, and the other is cut to form the bunny’s ears and bow tie. Spread the frosting between the head, ear, and bow tie pieces, then over top and sides. Add jelly beans for the bunny’s eyes, strips of licorice for whiskers. You could also cover the rabbit with coconut for a very special Easter dessert!

Easter Bunny Cookies

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
1 1/2 tsp cider vinegar

Cooking:
Sift together flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt onto waxed paper. Beat together shortening, sugar and the egg in a large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy, for about 3 minutes. Beat in the molasses and cider vinegar. Stir in flour mixture until blended and smooth. Gather dough into ball; wrap and chill for several hours in the fridge. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (180 degrees C). Divide dough in half. Roll out half of the dough with lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Keep remainder of dough refrigerated while working with first half. To use a bunny pattern, draw a pattern onto a piece of cardboard. Make sure ears are attached to the head. Cut out pattern. Place pattern on dough and trace with a toothpick. Cut out cookies. Place them 1 inch apart on lightly greased baking sheets. Re-roll scraps, using up all the dough. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake in the preheated oven for 5-7 minutes or until firm. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
Store in airtight container between sheets of waxed paper for up to 2 weeks.

Eggs in Frankfurter Green Sauce

November 17, 2015 By germanculture

Ingredients:
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5 hard-boiled eggs
1/2 cup grapeseed oil
5 oz plain yogurt
5 oz sour cream
2 tablespoons finely chopped herbs (e.g. watercress, chives, sorrel, parsley, chervil etc)
1 garlic clove
juice of half a lemon
1 tablespoon German prepared mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1 pinch sugar
1 pickled German gherkin
1 onion

Cooking:
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Peel the hard-boiled eggs, cut in half, remove the yolk and mash it with the oil. Add the yogurt and sour cream.
Finely chop the fresh herbs.
Peel and crush the garlic clove and mix together with the herbs, lemon juice, mustard, salt, pepper and sugar.
Finely chop the egg yolk and gherkin.
Peel and grate the onion and mix the remaining ingredients together.
Serve with hard-boiled eggs.

Roast Pork and Sauerkraut

October 14, 2015 By germanculture

Okay, so sauerkraut and pork isn’t all that sexy, but what it lacks in fancy ingredients and visual appeal it more than makes up for in flavor and pure comfort food bliss.

Ingredients:
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3-4lb pork shoulder roast
2 lbs sauerkraut, well drained
1 onion, sliced
1 golden delicious apple, peeled cored and sliced
1 asian pear, peeled cored and sliced (or swap in 2 more apples)
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsps caraway seeds
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2/3 cup apricot or currant jelly (or a mix of leftover jams, ideally no sweet berries)
1/3 cup apple butter (or 1/2 cup apple sauce)
1/2 cup white wine or sparkling apple cider
1 cup chicken broth (or water, or kraut juice if you just can’t get enough of it)

Directions:
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Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
Generously season your pork roast with salt and pepper. Set aside on the counter for about 30 minutes to take some of the chill off it.
In a large skillet, saute the onions over medium-high heat. When the onions start to soften, add in the asian pear and apple slices and sprinkle over brown sugar and a big pinch of salt. Reduce heat to medium and cook until lightly caramelized all over.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the dijon, jam, and apple butter.
In a large dutch oven (or a tall sided roasting pan), combine the sauteed onion mixture with the sauerkraut. Make sure the bottom of the pan is completely covered and heap the rest of the mixture along the outside to create a nest. Sprinkle the outside rim with caraway seeds, then nestle the pork roast into the center. Spread on the jam mixture, dotting some around the kraut. Pour in the wine or sparkling cider and place it uncovered into the hot oven for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes the pork should have a nice caramelized crust.
Reduce heat to 325 degrees, add in the broth just to keep the bottom of the pan from getting too dry. Place the cover on the pan, or seal off the top with a double layer of aluminum foil and return to the oven for 2-3 hours, until the pork is tender and pulls apart easily.
Allow the pork to rest for 15 minutes before slicing into 1/2 inch thick pieces. This is a very fatty cut of pork and despite the long cooking time it will not all render out. You’ll have to eat around some of this excess fat, but this is what makes the meat so succulent and tender. Serve overtop the kraut with mashed potatoes and peas on the side.

German Potato Salad

October 6, 2015 By germanculture

German Potato Salad (Bavarian Kartoffelsalat) is a popular variation which is generally served warm. It is typically more sour in taste and contains pork or bacon. Potato salad from northern Germany, however, is generally based on mayonnaise and quite similar to its US counterpart.

Ingredients:
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4 slices bacon
1 small onion, chopped
1/4 cup vinegar
2 tbsp. water
3 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 cups cooked potatoes, chopped
ground black pepper
parsley

Directions:
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Place the potatoes into a pot, and fill with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, and cook for about 10 minutes, or until easily pierced with a fork. Drain, and set aside to cool.

Place the bacon in a large deep skillet over medium-high heat. Fry until browned and crisp, turning as needed. Remove from the pan and set aside.

Add onion to the bacon fat, and cook over medium heat until browned. Add the vinegar, water, sugar, salt and pepper to the pan. Bring to a boil, then add the potatoes and parsley. Crumble in half of the bacon. Heat through, then transfer to a serving dish. Crumble the remaining bacon over the top, and serve warm. This German Potato Salad can be served warm or chilled, but you taste the bacon a bit more when it’s chilled.

German Chocolate Cake – 3

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