do you fancy some icecream?

it is sooooo hot and humid outside today, i am this close to running around in my underwear!

i was dying for some icecream all afternoon and yet i could not bring myself to quickly rub some sunlotion on my freckled skin, jump into my brandnew crocs and run to the grocery store - yes, run. that's how bad i wanted icecream. my spirit was really willing but my flesh was sooooo weak ...

i was so terribly powerless because of all that humidity that not even my craving for icecream could drive me out of my shady flat. so i had to come up with another idea for sweet and cool relief. i stuck my head in the freezer compartment and found the answer in a pack of frozen berries in the very back:

put 300 g of frozen fruit and 250 g of cremefin (maybe even yoghurt will work here) plus one tablespoon of your favorite sweetening (i took agave syrup) in a food processor and blizz for a few seconds

et voila!

makes two people incredibly happy within 3 minutes (or makes yourself happy twice if you freeze half of the icecream)

this might not be the most sophisticated way to make icecream, but it sure is a darn good quick fix! oh so yummie!!

apfelstrudel

i have made a couple of strudel's here, but i never managed to make a decent apfelstrudel before. finally i have an excuse for making one: i am currently collecting austrian goodies to send of a parcel to the lovely kate in america. she kindly offered to swapp food and i could not be more thrilled about that. kate, if you read this: i know you sent off the parcel already and i should have mine ready over the next couple of days. just in case you want to make an apfelstrudel when the austrian parcel finally lands on your porch ... here's a recipe! i just phoned my mama to get the recipe for my grandmothers strudel dough.

strudel dough
250 g flour
salt
2 tbsp vegetable oil
150 ml lukewarm water

these measurements actually yield one large or two small strudels. i divided the large ball in two small balls, using one for my apfelstrudel. i store the second one in my fridge (wrapping it in plastic wrap) and make a savory strudel tomorrow

filling
400 g peeled, cored and thinly sliced apples
4 tbsp of sugar
2 teaspoon of cinnamon
a hand full of raisins (my mama never uses rasins, she hates them!)

• sift the flour into a large bowl
• add a pinch of salt
• pour in the oil and lightly scramble with a fork.
• slowly add the lukewarm water (you might need less or more than 150 ml, it depends on your flour)
  
  
  
• knead until soft and smooth
  
  
  
• brush with a little oil
• cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough rest for at least one hour

my mama always lets the strudel dough rest for a couple of hours. i think that does the trick, because elasticity is developed by all the gluten, and that takes a little time! she often makes the dough in the evening and prepares the strudel the next day.

when you stretch your strudel by hand it should be paper thin! my grandmother always said "you should be able to read a newspaper through it". the best way to stretch it is if you put a large towel or an old table cloth on your table and you should be able to easily move around the table to stretch it evenly on each side

apparently stretching strudel is an art of it's own. don't worry, mine always has some holes in it on the edges ... only my mama can do that propperly (and my grandmother could, of course), i am just not that experienced yet :D my sister is also mastering this art quite nicely. she made a strudel the other day when i visited, check out the pictures i made that day:

• brush the stretched strudel dough with melted butter
• add the filling but leave some space on the edges
• sprinkle apples with sugar, cinnamon and raisins
• some recipes also require toasted breadcrumbs. if you want to add that, just toast 50 g of breadcrumbs in a little butter and sprinkle them over the filling too
  
• lift up the table cloth to roll the strudel
  
  
  
• make sure that you roll the first layer pretty tightly, otherwise it will get bent out of shape
• put your strudel in buttered a casserole, the seam should be on the bottom
• brush with melted butter again
  
  
  this one looks a bit like a catterpillar, don't you think?
  
  
• put in the oven and bake at 200 °c until the surface is golden brown. the apples will be tender then

i let the studel cool down completely because i had to leave for work while the strudel was still in the oven. and coming home to a nice plate of this delicious treat is indeed very lovely!

hello sweetie!

boy oh boy, i feel like the energizer bunny today!

i did tons of laundry (ooooohh, i am so looking forward to "clean sheets night" !!!). i cleaned my fridge and defrosted the ice compartment and currently i am in the middle of re-organizing the shelves in my living room. i will also totally tidy up the bedroom today!

i think i deserve a little reward in the middle of all this spring cleaning mania ... so i sit down for a minute and browse through those amazing cheesecakes from HHDD#10 because some of those recipes (actually, *all* of them) caught my attention and are on my "to do" list ...

but you see, i bought this fabulous cake tin the other day and while a cake from this silicone thingy would look really cute ... stupid me! did not realize at all that i'd have to fill this mould upside down, which is kind of a handicap if you prepare a cheesecake ... how on earth should i prepare a cracker crust that way?

so what now? i really like the soft / crumbly combination of most cheesecakes, but i have not found an "upside-down"-version of the cracker crust yet ... so should i just ditch the crust? i think i should! because i need something cute today - and my pretty mould will give me a cute little cake anyway!

all the pictures are really stunning! they all make my mouth water ... instead of flipping a coin i guess i should just go check if i have the ingredients for one of these gorgeous cakes in my fridge!

... i swear, i shrieked when i saw this one over at "the garlic press" - and i am oh so happy that i actually have what it takes to reproduce it (ingredients, that is!).

so here's my twist on the recipe! as always, i took the original recipe as an inspiration rather than something i must religiously obey. especially because the capacity of my mould is only 3 cups, so i need to do some scaling as well as higher mathematics ... you know by now that all these ounces, gramms, cups and what not always have me confused ... (though i have some nifty online tools by now!)


(would you stop taking pictures?!? lick that bowl already, you fool!!)

chocolate truffle cheesecake
inspired by this one by sarah at "the garlic press"

200 g 4,5% cottage cheese
200 g cream cheese (philadelphia)
100 g sugar
50 g unsweetened cocoa powder
25 g starch
2 large eggs
30 g chocolate, melted
pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp of hot water


(these ingredients yield exactly 3 cups)

1. preheat oven to 200 °c
2. puree cottage cheese in a food processor until very smooth
3. add cream cheese and blend
4. pour into a bowl and whisk in sugar, cocoa and starch
5. add the eggs, the coffee, the pinch of salt and the melted chocolate
   
   
   
6. pour in a little silicone baking mould
   
   
   
7. bake the cheesecake until the edges are set (about 45 minutes)
   
8. let cool and garnish with chocolate drizzle ...

actually, i have no idea how to get this cheesecake out of the mould! so far it looks really stuck ... i thought you don't have to grease a silicone pan! i might have to scrape it out with a spoon! but hey ... if i really have to destroy a lovely little cake because i can't get it out of the mould i can finally host that "kitchen disasters" - foodblog event i am dreaming about ...


update: look how pretty!! it slipped out of the mould just like that!


... and it is soooo good!

ps: thanks for the tip, zorra!!

pampering myself

now this one was really close! i barely made the deadline for hay, hay ... i decided to give our heirloom birthday cake a twist and throw in something other than pineapple for a change ... i asked my mama, and though we've had this b-day cake several times every year since i was a little kid she had actually never used any other fruit than pineapple for this cheesecake before.

i on the other hand took the bold step of changing a recipe that has travelled from australia to austria 30-ish years ago and has not been changed since.

i decided to submit a cherry cheesecake to hhdd#10:

250 g graham crackers (just take plain butterkeks, it's the best!)
125 g melted butter
250 ml cream
250 g curd cheese
1 small can of pickled cherries, drained (about 300 g)
3 tbsp of vanilla sugar (you can even skip this!)
10 g gelatine

1. crumble the crackers in a food processor and pour the crumbs in a cake tin
2. melt butter and mix with the cracker crumbs. press firmly in the tin until the cracker crust is very solid. chill until topping is ready
3. in a bowl, combine cream and curd cheese until smooth, add sugar if you like (though it is not really necessary)
4. fold in the drained cherries. add some of the liquid for a nice pink colour if you like
   
5. let gelatine soak in a little water for a few minutes. drain exess water and let gelatine dissolve completely over low heat
6. combine gelatine with the cream and cherry mixture and quickly pour topping onto the cracker crust
7. cover the cake and chill for at least 2 hours

that oughta cheer me up, dammit --- actually, it does a little, because it is just delicious!







[roundup]

a heavenly combination: apple / cinnamon / semolina

my sick stomache is slowly recovering and i want to thank you all for your kind words! right now i am having my first coffee in over a week (and i am usually a total coffee person). i am taking little sips of heaven! coffee is divine!

regarding all your tips about a stomache-friendly dish i decided to go with a sweet one (lacking a soup hen) for a start. so i am preparing a big pot of a sweet porridge-style semolina dessert. i am making it not too sweet though. i still need to give my belly a break and i don't want to kickstart my digestion - baby steps, everyone! because i learned from experience that bowel cramps are no piece of cake!

mmmmh ..... cake! but no, silly me! let me get back to my semolina-dish instead!

as a child i was not a big fan of semolina, although it is a big part of bavarian and bohemian (hence mühlviertler) cuisine. whenever we would have a main dish made of semolina little gerda would go on strike! like a little suppenkaspar i'd yell "i hate semolina! i HATE semolina" ... and i would run straight to my room and pout all day long. or at least until supper.

do you know the suppenkaspar? it is a story in the (very cruel!) german children's book struwwelpeter. oh yes, i hated that book too! die geschichte vom suppen-kaspar (the story of augustus who did not have any soup) begins as kaspar, a healthy, strong boy, proclaims that he will no longer eat his soup. over the next five days he wastes away and dies. VERY questionable stories for little children, if you ask me ...

again, i am drifting off! now let me really get back to my semolina-dish! it is easy, quick, and it tastes really good. and above all it totally soothes my stomach.

30 g semolina
300 ml milk
50 g yoghurt
1 apple
cinnamon
sugar

1. core, peel and dice an apple and cook in a little water until tender. add cinnamon and mash the pieces up when they're done
   
   


2. in a small saucepan, stir together milk and sugar (as much as you may like, i took one teapoon) and bring to a boil 


3. immediately remove from the heat 


4. stir in semolina and return to the stove


5. bring to a boil over medium heat and stir until thickened
   
   


6. remove from heat again and stir in the yoghurt
   
   
   


7. pour in a bowl and top with the apple sauce

(serves one person)

the yoghurt adds a fresh touch to the dish, but you can skip the yoghurt altogether if you like.

semolina - friend or foe? i can see why i changed my mind- semolina is just too delish!

ricotta pancakes with fruit on top

just lovely! i can share so many *firsts* with you here on my food-blog, and here is another one:

250 g ricotta
125 ml milk
2 egg yolks
20 g sugar
125 g flour
2 egg whites

3 tablespoons of maple syrup
1 kiwi
1 banana
1/2 apple

01 in a bowl, combine ricotta, milk, egg yolks and sugar. add flour and stir until well blended
02 beat the egg whites and gently fould into the mixture
03 pour batter onto a lightly greased hot griddle and turn when bubbles form on top of pancakes. cook until second side is golden brown
04 in a little pan, heat the maple syrup
05 cut fruits in little pieces and add to the boiling syrup
06 cook fruit mixture for a little while and pour over the pancakes

i have never made american style breakfast pancakes before! they taste just fantastic, i guess i will add them to my sunday routine! i am still used to eating pancakes (the much thinner version we austrians like to call "omletten") as a rich desert after a luscious meal - but hey, there seems to be nothing wrong with eating desert on sunday mornings!

(recipe can be found @ chefkoch and is by dialog)

technorati tags:pancake, pancakes, ricotta, fruit

Blogged with Flock

the birthday cake

today i want to share another heirloom with you - our classic birthday cake, the beloved käsekuchen. it is a recipe my mother got from her cousin who lived in australia for like 20 years. i have no idea if our recipe has been altered compared to the original from australia and i don't even know if this is a traditional australian thing. it might be american too ...

it is just the best cake ever.
really.
trust me.

and it is a pretty easy and quick recipe. you don't have to bake the cake, just make some room in the fridge!

i remember my mum made me a "regular" cake for my birthday once when i was a teenager and i was terribly disappointed - which mama noticed of course. i did not want to be an ungraceful teeny, but this cake is some sort of a ritual dish at any of our birthdays, and so my mama smilingly sneaked out for groceries and made the cheesecake later that day. she understood. because a birthday without the cheesecake is no birthday.

250 g graham crackers (just take plain butterkeks, it's the best!)
125 g melted butter
250 ml cream
250 g curd cheese
1 small can of crushed pineapples, drained (about 300 g)
3 tbsp of vanilla sugar (you can even skip this!)
10 g gelatine

01 crumble the crackers in a food processor and pour crumbs in a cake tin.
02 melt butter and mix with the cracker crumbs. press firmly in the tin until the cracker crust is very solid. chill until topping is ready.

03 in a bowl, combine cream and curd cheese until smooth, add sugar if you like (though it is not really necessary).
04 fold in the drained crushed pineapples.

05 let gelatine soak in a little water for a few minutes. drain exess water and let gelatine dissolve completely over low heat.
06 combine gelatine with the cream and pinapple mixture and quickly pour topping onto the cracker crust.
07 cover the cake and chill for at least 2 hours. (plus, i allowed myself a little *i heart you, mama*-decoration )
08 enjoy!

best.
cheesecake.
ever.

well, actually i did never try any other recipe. what about your killer cheesecake? do you want to share the recipe with me? i might want to expand the horizons of my cheesecake universe just a tiny little bit ... maybe there even has been a imbb-foodblog challenge for cheesecake recipes in the past ... for there must be a at least thousand different variations of the classic cheesecake ... hm ... worth a thought, don't you think? if i would ever want to host a foodblog event, this would be it!

technorati tags:cake, birthday, mama, 52, imbb

Blogged with Flock

what better way to celebrate post no. 100 ...

... than making salted macadamia millionaire’s shortbread

(16 squares) (recipe from waitrose food illustrated)

125 g salted butter, plus some extra for greasing
50 g caster sugar
175 plain flour
150 g roasted and salted macadamia nuts, roughly chopped

toffee filling and chocolate topping
100 g caster sugar
115 g salted butter
200 g condensed milk
2 tbsp golden syrup
200 g milk chocolate, chopped
50 g white chocolate, melted

01 preheat the oven to 150 °c
02 line a 23 cm square cake tin with greaseproof paper
03 rub the butter, sugar and flour together in a bowl until it forms a very stiff, crumbly dough
04 press into the tin and press the nuts on top
05 bake for 30-35 minutes until lightly golden
06 cool
07 meanwhile, make the toffee by slowly melting the sugar and 100 g butter for 10 minutes until thick and bubbling.
08 add the condensed milk and golden syrup and bring to a gentle boil, stirring constantly.
09 reduce the heat and stir the mixture vigorously for 5-10 minutes, scraping the sides and bottom of the pan, until the toffee is thick and golden. if brown patches start to appear, add a drop of condensed milk
10 pour over the shortbread and set for 20 minutes in the fridge
11 boil 4 tbsp water in a pan, take off the heat and stir in the milk chocolate with the remaining butter until melted.
12 spread over the toffee.
13 chill for 2 hours
14 drizzle melted white chocolate from a teaspoon
15 cut into squares with a hot knife
16 voilá, death by chocolate & fudge!

it has been a good ride so far, i have made lots of new friends. thumbs up for another 100 posts!

pudding from scratch

why did i always think making homemade cocoa pudding was difficult? it's not more difficult than ripping open a pack of dr. oetker chocolate pudding powder, actually! i found a recipe for cocoa pudding the other day at the tea-time blog and i was absolutely thrilled that it was totally easy and quick to have myself a little homemade pudding.

don't get me wrong, i do not shun finished products or convenience food from my kitchen, but i more and more like to look behind the scenes every once in a while. i'd like to know how a dish is actually made rather then shove it down my throat in an attack of the munchies. using instant products normally is way quicker than using the real thing (i guess i never ever prepared vegetable stock for a dish, i always use the instant one!) - but in the case of this pudding "the real thing" is even quicker and muuuuuch much more delicious:

500 ml milk
4 tbsp starch
2 tbsp cocoa
3 tbsp sugar

01 mix starch and cocoa with the cold milk and bring to a boil while constantly stirring
02 add sugar shortly before the mixture starts to boil
03 remove from the stove as soon as it starts to bubble
04 thoroughly whisk for a few minutes (i used a hand blender) until the kokoa creme is cooling down
05 pour in little cups and sprinkle with some pistachios, flakes or any other garnish you like ...

great recipe, quick satisfaction for my sweet tooth!

technorati tags:pudding, cocoa

a rehearsal lunch

i am afraid of yeast.

honestly.

yeas is an ingredient i have never used before because i really think yeast is always getting out of control no matter if i precisely stick to a recipe. i've watched the women in my family cook with yeast like a million times, and i was always terrified by the duplication of the dough's volume.

i might not fully understand the concept of yeast. this is a "living" ingredient and i guess that's what makes it so uncontrollable for me. you never know what those little fungi are about to do. is it to cold for them to rise? am i killing them by pouring too hot fluids over?!

well. today i was taking on the challenge and overcoming my fear of the fungus.

as my sister and my brother are coming over on saturday and i have never ever made anything with yeast before i needed to make sure that the lunch my sister "ordered" was turning out fine. i mentiones before that we give eachother little presents for no reason and my sister gave me a lovely (and again colorful! yeah!) oven/serving dish that perfectly fits for a single household like mine. and the dish is perfect for buchteln, as she told me.

so i will rehearse a recipe for sweet yeast dumplings and berries for lunch today because i want to try out whether the fungus will obey me.

buchteln
200 ml milk
60 g butter
375 g flour
1 pkt of yeast
50 g sugar

01 sieve flour into a bowl
02 add sugar to the bowl
03 warm up milk and let butter melt in the warm milk (leave a little of that mixture to pour on the dumplings later)
04 dissolve yeast the fluid and pour over the flour/sugar mixture
05 add one egg and combine to a smooth dough
06 cover bowl and let dough rise for about 40 minutes at a warm place
07 the dough should be easily removed from the bowl
08 knead dough and make little dumplings
09 place them in a greased oven dish. arrange the dumplings closely, touching each other.
10 cover and let rise again for about 20 minutes
11 pour over the rest of the milk/butter mixture
12 bake for 30 minutes at about 200°C

berries:
300 g frozen berries
50 g sugar
1 tbsp starch
50 ml water

01 heat berries in a small pan
02 combine water and starch, add to the berries and bring to the boil
03 pour the berries over the dumplings while still hot

though the dumplings where not as fluffy as i would have liked them to be, they tasted quite okay for my first ever yeast-experience.

technorati tags: yeast

a little update:

my second experience with yeast was finally a winner! while i was on skype with my sister and my mom (her first time skyping *alone*) they both suggested to be more patient and let the dough rise a couple more times. i guess that was the whole trick!! i can't wait to have those little babies for breakfast tomorrow!

how do i make leftover apricots more interesting?

by making a desert, of course! a desert with virtually no calories :)

01 cut apricots and put in a pan over medium heat
02 add a little water and stir the mixture until the water thickens
03 grate a medium piece of dark chocolate and chop some almonds
04 when the apricots are softened and the added water has turned into sirup pour on a plate and sprinkle with almonds and chocolate

also great with icecream!

pear-a-dise cupcakes

very much inspired by chockylit i made some cupcakes today.
i singled out the weakest one and ate it right up.

200 g pears
250 g flour
100 g sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
a dash of salt
30 g vegetable oil
50 g honey
200 g plain yoghurt
1 egg
2 tablespoons rum

01 preheat oven to 200°c.
02 dice pears
03 mix together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and sugar. also add pears to the dry ingredients.
04 in a bowl combine yoghurt, oil, honey and egg
05 mi in flour mixture
06 spoon into paper liner cups and bake for 20 to 25 minutes

20 eggyolks

there are six appartements in my building and three of them are occupied by me, my best friend franziska and her boyfriend markus, as well as my friends leo and his girlfriend tanja. you see, we are almost taking over the house by now ... it's great to have my best friends in the building. we meet in one of our flats quite regularly to eat, drink and chat and generally have a good time.

on saturday it was markus's birthday and we had a big big party with about 120 guest all over the place. every appartement served a different food and drinks so people where litteraly forced to tour our building in order to experience full culinary offerings. i served kidney bean dip, magic monday morning (pear juice and rum) and chips in my appartement. franziska and markus served potato spread, white russian and pretzel sticks. leo and tanja offered a herb dip, vodka-orange and snips (peanut snack)

on friday we also made a giant cake. a cake with layers, which turned out pretty fancy! we never thought we could even handle such a big project, but we did! with a littel help from our friend martina who knows her way around the kitchen very well too us four girls managed to accomplish this pretty difficult task. check it out:


cutting a long story short: i still have 20 eggyolks in my fridge and don't know what to do with them. some sort of desert would be nice. any suggestions for a recipe where i can make use of that ammount of yolks?!? please help!!!

tagged with: cooking + food

my sister is staying at my place

my sister does not come over very often. as long as i can remember we where like best friends. we went to the same schools, we had the same friends, we even lived together for several years. i always was the bossy, protective one and she always was the cute little sister. while we where roommates we also had to go through some pretty tough times. my sister was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when she was 19. it was terrible. suddenly i was so completely helpless. as the oldest sibling i always took care of pretty much everything that could ever harm my "little ones". i could not make this problem go away though.

it was pretty tough for the whole family, but it was particularly hard for the both of us as we where living together. i have no idea why, but after like three years in the same appartement we somehow had a big fight. it did not come out of nowhere, i guess we both kind of saw that coming. my sister moved out and after a while i moved out too. we did not leave on good terms and we did not have contact for months.

honestly, this was a scaring and scary experience for me. we where very close ever since we where children and not having my sister around every day was like cutting an umbilical cord. everyone always asked us how we handle this: being sisters and being best friends too. we always wondered: "yeah, what's so strange about that?!"

well, to cut a long story short: after hardly speaking to eachother for two years we now have very very different lives. but we have forgiven eachother for that stupid fight we both picked.

now.

we sometimes visit eachother and then it is just like it used to be. yesterday karin spent the night at my place and she made a phenomenal interpretation of this chicken saag (murgh saag) giving it her own twist. i made an espresso gratina for desert. we had a great day, checking out herbs and spices the indian and asian corner shops.