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Sweet Snacks

Sweet Snacks

Zebra Cake (Zebrakuchen)

So this is Zebra Cake (Zebrakuchen). I know that you can barely see the zebra stripes in the marbling, but if you look on the bottom piece on the right, you can see the stripes.

Zebrakuchen is definitely one of those “things of my childhood” – I think every kid in Germany since the late 1960s on has had Zebrakuchen — for birthday parties, the ubiquitous cake that people brought “for the kids” to family gatherings and Sunday afternoon cake and coffee. It’s fun and happy and …. and well sometimes it doesn’t really look like zebra stripes and them you can just call in Marble Cake and the funny thing is that you won’t actually know if the stripes are there until you cut into it, so sometimes you have to change you tune halfway through. “I meant to make it a Marble Cake!” The last one that I made was really stripey, this one not so much. It’s an easy cake in that you can make it in a cake pan or a loaf pan, it can be frosted or left plan. I doubled up on the espresso powder in the chocolate batter and it made it ultra-rich. Perfect for a snowy Friday afternoon.

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Appetizers/Starters, Breakfast/Brunch, Lunch, Savory Snacks, Sides, Sweet Snacks

Blueberry Lemon Soufra

Something a little different today: a Blueberry Lemon Soufra. What is a soufra, you ask? It’s a Greek and Middle Eastern filo souffle pie. You fill the pie dish with buttered filo dough layers, folded or ruffled together, toast in the oven before pouring/ladling on custard. They can be savory (skip the sugar and vanilla in the custard) with spinach and feta or walnuts for example, or sweet as in this one with lemon and blueberries, or dates and walnuts, or any fruit or even chocolate chips. I made it for brunch (and truth be told, added some maple syrup over the top), but also would be a nice breakfast or lunch. Tastes best right out of the oven, and eaten the same day for sure.

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Cookies, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Cherry Chocolate Oatmeal Florentines

Thought I’d start off my “cookie year” here in January with something at least semi-healthy with oatmeal cookies. Of course, there is lots of butter, toffee bits, jammie bits and chocolate chips, so that takes away most anything healthy about these, but they are delicious, so there is that. Thin, very crisp, with a bit of a crunch. If you like “thin and crispy” these are definitely for you.

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Breakfast/Brunch, Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Cardamom Nutmeg Spiced Bundt Cake

I love cardamom. It is by far, bar none, my favorite spice. Second to that is nutmeg, so if I have the opportunity to combine the two, I am all for it. AND I love bundt pans because you can make really cool looking cakes without frosting — and you all saw evidence of how untalented I am at frosting the other day. I bought myself this bundt pan for my birthday this week and really like the pattern. Just a sprinkling of powdered sugar and this Cardamom Nutmeg Spiced Bundt Cake really pops. Very straight forward recipe and extraordinarily pleased at the outcome.

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Desserts, Sweet Snacks

Luscious Lemon Celebration Cake

So despite the fact that I should be “taking it easy” with my shoulder (and I mostly am), today is annual cake day, so I had to make a cake. I’m not the best cake decorator in the best of times, so we’re just going to go with a bit of sloppy. Tastes great though!

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