Browsing Tag

nuts

Breads, Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Braided Puff Pastry Apple Strudel

Just seems like a week ago when I drove from Munich to Innsbruck to have “homeland” Apple Strudel. Oh wait, that was just last week!

If you follow me on social media, you know that almost every time I am in Munich, a friend of mine and I do this crazy drive just for a piece of strudel, aka The Strudel Run. Sometimes in addition to Austria, we end up in Italy or Lichtenstein or Switzerland, but it’s always an adventure. Often, you’ll see that I hashtag my posts with #bergblicksteuer, and I suppose I should actually explain that so here goes: “Berg Blick Steuer” translates to “Mountain View Tax”. A number of years ago, on a Christmas Strudel Run with some additional adventurers, the topic of conversation was “Taxes that Germans Pay, that others don’t” — examples are Kirchensteuer (Church Tax), Luftsteuer (literally, “Air Tax”; a commercial tax if a sign extends into public space off your property), Hundesteuer or even Pferdesteuer (Dog or Horse Tax — we would call those permits or registration fees, but not taxes). Anyway, when the view of the mountains came into sight, someone made the off-handed comment like “Well, I see that we paid the Mountain View Tax”, and #bergblicksteuer became a thing.

Train of thought: Strudel > Strudel Run > View of the Alps > Berg Blick Steuer!

This is a pretty straight forward recipe, easy to make because I used store bought puff pastry. The recipe is actually for two strudels, but you can either halve the filling recipe, or make both and freeze one of the strudels (they freeze really well; reheat from frozen loosely wrapped in foil for 25 minutes at 350F). Or just eat both. They are delicious with vanilla custard sauce (my favorite), ice cream or whipped cream.

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Uncategorized

Kamut Wheat Cranberry
Walnut Breakfast Bread

As I mentioned recently, I have been experimenting with my new “stash” of Maine Grains. In addition, this is my standard Cranberry Walnut Breakfast Bread that I make almost every week. I swapped out the standard bread flour and a bit of whole wheat flour that I usually use to make it with the Maine Grains Kamut Ancient Grains wheat and it turned out fantastically. Moist, hearty and flavorful. I think it is a success. I will have to loop back with my “taste testers” to see what they think.

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Breakfast/Brunch, Sweet Snacks

Purple Apricot, Almond and Olive Oil Cake

Have you ever heard of purple apricots? No? Me neither until about a week ago when I found some at a local green grocer. I suspect that they are actually a hybrid between apricots and small purple or black plums. They look unique but taste pretty much like apricots. This recipe works just as easily with regular apricots, so don’t let the unique ingredients throw you for a loop. It’s a dessert cake, a coffee cake or a cake for afternoon tea, take your pick. Would also be nice with a bit of custard, ice cream or whipped cream. The almonds and olive oil give it a great, subtle taste addition. When I have made this cake before (once with plums, once with cherries) the fruit stayed more on top, but this time they sunk in a little much. Not as pretty as I would have liked, but still delicious.

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Cookies, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Chocolate-dipped Salted Caramel-candied Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies

Cookies that could be as good as Christmas Cookies as they are here in the summer-time: Chocolate-dipped Salted Caramel-candied Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies! Yes, that’s a mouthful to say (and to eat, har har). Hazelnut shortbread, dipped in decadent dark chocolate and then partially coated in a salted caramel hazelnut crunch — sort of like a topping that you put on ice cream or an ice cream cone. Not too sweet, just the right size for two bites. Would be a great “after dinner” dessert cookie.

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Breakfast/Brunch, Sweet Snacks

Maple Pecan and Cranberry Granola

I often make granola for myself, though I don’t post the recipe, because it is mostly the same — swap out the nuts, swap out the dried fruit, but there is usually maple syrup and of course oats and sunflower seeds. This time I made Maple Pecan and Cranberry Granola. not too sweet, a little tart and definitely delicious. I mostly eat my granola with yogurt (blatant product endorsement: Cabot Whole Milk Vanilla Greek Yogurt is excellent), but would also be great with milk for breakfast or ice cream for dessert.
Yum yum.

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