Tag Archives: Almonds

March 31st, 2013

Aachener Poschweck

Category Bread, regional breads, Special Occasions Tags: Almonds, Eastern, only with yeast, Pâte fermentée, Raisins, Zuckerstücke 20 Responses

When I saw the Poschweck that Petra baked some days ago, I knew that I had to bake some as well because it looked so delicious!

The Poschweck is a very traditional bread which the Bakers of Aachen gave as present to their customers during Easter since the late medieval. It is first mentioned 1547 in the “Aachener Bäckerverordnung” (Bakers edict). In 1760 some bakers tried for the first time to get rid of this custom but they where forced by the municipality to deliver the sweet breads. After nearly another 100 years they tried again to break with the tradition, which ended with the so called “Poschweck riot” in which angry citizen demolished shops. To restore the public order the bakers where forced once again to bake and give away the Poschweck. Finally, in 1946 the bakers succeed with their claim to sell the Poschweck instead of giving it away.

I used Petras Recipe as a start for my own variation of Poschweck. With a pâte fermentée and less yeast the bread develops a complex taste. With almonds, raisins and sugar cubes and the hint of orange and vanilla it is a really rich bread. I love the fact that the sugar cubes will melt during baking and leave sweet and sticky holes in the bread (which you can see on the picture below). A perfect bread for persons with a sweet tooth!

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March 23rd, 2013

Poppy Seed Gugelhupf

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Almonds, Cake, Poppy seeds 5 Responses

A dear friend and favourite colleague doesn’t like poppy seeds. She always tells me that. And then she brings me from her lunch break little pieces of poppy seed cakes to try, because she likes it so much. And tells me about this great recipe for poppy seed rolls, which she could not find in her recipe folder anymore and that she is upset about that. Having this facts in mind, I decided to take a risk when baking her birthday cake.

In the January/ February –Issue of the Magazine “Landlust” I found a recipe for a Poppy seed Gugelhupf and I was very sure that she would like it. The dough contains a lot of eggs and butter, which keeps the cake soft and moist, which is the perfect consistence for a gugelhupf. The cake contains mainly grounded poppy seeds, some almonds and nearly no flour. It is flavoured with grated lemon peel, vanilla and a little pinch of cinnamon. Some lemon juice adds a fresh taste.

The only problem is the tendency of the cake to stick to the pan, even to my non sticking one. So take care to not only grease it very well but although sprinkle the greased pan with some grounded almonds or flour so the cake will come out more easily. But beside this it is a lovely cake which I baked already twice.

And did my friend like the cake? A big “yes” and she is now thinking that she maybe like even poppy seeds 😉

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December 21st, 2012

Pepparkakaor

Category Christmas Cookies Tags: Almonds, Cardamom, Cinnamon, clove, Honey, Ingwer, Kokos, Malz, Walnuss 8 Responses

Is everyone still here? Or did the apocalypse happened somewhere?

In our little corner of the world the “weather precast for the apocalypse” did not come true (luckily). It is good that I bought my christmas presents already, now I will need them !

With 4°C and a lot of mist this day should be spend on the couch, snuggeled in a warm plaid with a cup of tea and some cookies. On my cookie plate I have some old friends as well as some new. A new recipe besides the Hazelnut Bars and Allspice hats is the recipe for swedian Pepparkakaor

This delicious recipe I found on My Italian Smörgåsbord and I had to try it. It is packed with nuts, spices, malt and honey and they are very delicious. The next time would just exchange the coconut with some hazelnuts, then they will be perfect for me!

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December 19th, 2012

Chocolate & Spice Almonds

Category Christmas Cookies, Presents from the kitchen Tags: Allspice, Almonds, Cardamom, Cinnamon, clove, Geschenke aus der Küche, Sternanis, Vanilla 13 Responses

Christmas eve is now near. And the nearer this day comes the more I enjoy the fragrance of almonds, cinnamon, vanilla, clove and other spices. And when I read a recipe for Chocolate Almonds I knew instantly that I has to try this recipe. But – and I knew this instantly, too – that I would have to make spiced chocolate almonds, with cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla – just like the delicious chocolate almonds that you can buy at this time of the year.

They are not very complicated to make but to coat them with chocolate needs some time. The chocolate is added in small increments and then the almonds have to be stirred until the chocolate sets. And then the next increment of chocolate is added… And that repeatedly until the almonds are covered with a thick layer of chocolate. It is a similar principal as dipping candles.

When the almonds are done you have to find a save spot hide the almonds, otherwise small or big christmas mice will eat them

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October 28th, 2012

Ammerländer Apfelkuchen

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Almonds, Apple, Cinnamon, Poolish, Pudding, Vanilla 9 Responses

During autumn, one of the most used fruits in our kitchen is apple. And when I wake this morning very early around due to the change from daylight saving time to winter time, I decided to knead the shortcrust for apple cake Elfriede. And while the dough is resting in the fridge I have time to blog about the apple cake I bake last weekend. I found the “Ammerländer Apfelkuchen” on Chili & Ciabatta and fell in love with the mixture of apple compote and custard which is used for the filling. Because I always cook custards without the help of convenient products I used Petras Recipe as inspiration, but with my own dough (with a preferment and less yeast) and a homecook custard. This apple cake is now the new favourite of me. It has a soft apple filling, topped with rich custard, butter, sugar and almond slices. The compote filling reminds me a little bit of the Rheinischen Riemchenkuchen. And due to this filling, it stays fresh for some days! Continue reading →

October 2nd, 2012

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Allspice, Almonds, Apple, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Herbst, only with yeast 17 Responses

In the morning the mist is already lingering in the valley I am living in, the air is getting colder and some windy and rainy days made it clear: Autumn is finally here. And so the first windfall from my parents garden is waiting in my kitchen to be used in some delicious recipes.

But what should I do with them? Appel strudel, Apple cake or Apfelküchle are all good recipes, but I was longing for something else. Something with yeast. Something like Cinnamon-rolls?

And so I started a yeast dough and bake some Apple-Cinnamon-Rolls. They are filled with a cream made of egg, butter, almonds and cookie crumbles, which I topped with finely chopped apples. Cinnamon is the main flavour in the seasoning, but a touch of allspice and cardamom add a little bit of deepness it.

A gorgeous treat, perfect for the early autumn!

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September 23rd, 2012

Marzipan-Braid

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: almond paste, Almonds, lactose free, Sourdough 6 Responses

When I bake cake to celebrate with my colleagues (e.g. at my birthday) it is some kind of tradition to include a nut filled braid. But sometimes I need to break out of the routine and so I decided to bring a marzipan braid this year, too.

I make a dough with sourdough, which kept the braid fresh for 2 days (well, the small left over of it at least). But if anyone don’t like sourdough in a sweet pastry, the 1.5 amount of dough from the nut filled braid would go nicely with the filling, too.

The filling contains beside marzipan grounded almonds, some bread crumbs and egg white. The mixture is lovely, the taste of marzipan is dominant without overpowering the aroma from the dough.

It is a recipe for Marzipan lovers – and you can find a lot of some among my colleagues. And so everyone was very happy with this new recipe!

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July 5th, 2012

Apricot Almond Tart

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Almonds, Apricot, Cake, Frangipane, Vanilla 10 Responses

I thought already last year about baking a tarte with apricots and almonds. But somehow I never made it. When I tasted the first apricots of the year, they where aromatic but sour, and I thought that they would be perfect for a tart!

And so I did not hesitate and bought some of them and baked small apricot almond tarts last weekend. Since I got this nice little tart forms with a diameter of 12 cm I tend to use them all the time, whenever I bake quiche or tart. The small tarts and quiches are perfect for lunch at work or as little present for friends.

For the apricot almond tart I used as custard some frangipane, a custard mixed with almond creme. I wanted to use the recipe from Michael Suas “Advance Bread and Pastry” but then decided to use less sugar but more egg and almonds.

I like the mixture of sweet almonds custard and tart apricots very much. A new favourite cake!

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February 5th, 2012

Almond Honey Crescents

Category Cake & Pastry, Rolls Tags: Almonds, Honey, Sourdough, whole grain 8 Responses

At the moment I stay often very long in the lab to finish the missing Experiments of my thesis. Around late afternoon/ early evening I often get hungry when lunchtime was already 5 hours ago. And when I am hungry and tired I am lacking motivation and concentration. That’s not good if I plan to work another two hours!

To prevent this I baked some wholewheat almond-honey crescents for the coming week. The original Idea is from “Das große GU Vollwert-Kochbuch” but I changed the recipe so much in the last years that you can not recognize the original recipe anymore. I use more liquid and less yeast, I removed the soybean flour from the recipe and added a sourdough. The filling contains less butter, cinnamon and eggs but additional cacao and a pinch of salt.

I like the result very much: Delicious, filling with enough honey to give me a little more power. The long days in lab can come, I’m prepared now!

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January 1st, 2012

New year pretzel with Sourdough

Category Bread, Special Occasions Tags: Almonds, New year, Sourdough 6 Responses

And now we have 2012. I hope your new years eve was nice as the one we had!

We tried already our new year pretzel for a late breakfast, so there are no pictures of the pretzel as a whole.

This year I decided to bake it with a mild sourdough, water roux and less sugar. I kept the sourdough overnight at 25°C which gave it a delicious smell like yoghurt and slightly sour taste, which makes it perfect for a sweet dough.

The dough itself is very soft. Experience with handling soft dough is required, so for beginners I would suggest to prepare the dough with 50-60g less water. That would make handling much easier.

I kneaded the dough very long, so the gluten network was well developed and the bread could rise highly. Using Egg white keeps the crumb bright and white. I think its fit to the fresh new years morning and I used some frozen egg white from christmas baking.

The pretzel has a nice complex taste, a little bit of youghurt and has this slightly sweetness, that fits so well to both sweet jam and salty cheese.

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