So while I am on my red currant kick, and because we have soooooo many of them right now, I decided to make something else with currants …. an upside down cake. I also had found some smallish apricots at the farm last week, so it made the perfect combination.Super sweet apricots, wicked tart red currants. The perfect balance.
holidays
I will be the first to admit that the idea for making fried egg linzer cookies for Easter was not my idea. It came from Flour Bakery + Cafe, but I loved it, and I make Linzer Cookies so often that I thought I would add these to the website. They are fresh, pretty and very spring-like…. and make me feel like having breakfast. Perfect addition to Easter Baskets!
Here we are at the end of 2018, and I am baking again. The change of one year to the next always makes me think of “Lucky Foods” to ring in the new year. The US South has black eyed peas, Eastern Europeans have pickled herring. In Italy and I believe Spain, you eat 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight. In Germany, there are lots of traditions as well, but I am going with something that implies luck, though not necessarily New Year’s. You see, in English, we have the expression “Lucky Devil” (as in, “You’re such a luck devil for winning the lottery!”). In German, a similar expression is to be a “Glücksschwein” (lucky pig) or “Glückspilz” (lucky mushroom). I had found these cute little cookie cutters at the Christmas Markets in Munich a few weeks ago, so decided to make Glückspilz Spitzbuben (Lucky Mushroom Linzer Cookies) — mainly because I thought that words Glückspilz and Spitzbuben would be funny to say (can’t you tell that I am a linguist by profession?). Filled with apricot and raspberry jam, and sure to bring luck in 2019!
Every year for Christmas, I try to make a torte — aka a fancy cake. It’s really the only time of the year that I make a true cake as I am more of a pie or cupcake kind of person. So this year, I went with a little fancy and a little rustic with this Gingerbread Cake with Maple-Mascarpone Whipped Cream and Rosemary, decorated with gingerbread snowmen. The flavor was terrific though the cake ended up a bit dense. The Maple-Mascarpone Whipped Cream was fantastic … I’m going to have to find some excuse to make it for something else!