“Wäffelcher” – Wafers

Wäffelcher – Wafers

Ingredients

 

• 250 gr very soft unsalted Butter (1 1/5 stick)
• 250 gr granulated sugar (1 1/3 cups, a bit less)
• 250 gr all purpose flour (2 1/2 cups)
• 6 eggs

* * * *

Whip butter with sugar, then add eggs. Mix well. Add in the flour, and mix well.

Heat up your wafer iron (not too hot or your wafers will burn) and put in a teaspoon of batter. Close lid, bake until golden brown.

Quickly take the baked wafer out, and while it is still hot and soft, give it a shape:

You can roll them:

fold them:

or leave them flat:

Leave them on a rack to cool and harden.

* * *

Storage

When completely cooled, put them in a tin and make sure the lid is well closed. Leave that lid closed unless you want to take some out and make sure it is closed well again. It does not have to be refrigerated, nor does the tin have to be airtight, but they be disturbed or exposed to air moisture as little as possible or they go soft.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Truffles

Chocolate Truffles

Ingredients

 

• 100 gr grated dark chocolate (1 cup)
• 100 gr soft, unsalted butter (3 1/2 ounces)
• 100 gr powdered sugar (3/4 cups)
• 50 gr ground almonds (1/2 cup, heaped)
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 2 cl (1 1/4 tbsp) Rum or Cognac or Cherry alcohol (not sweet)
• ground almonds or hazelnuts or coconut (unsweetened), or cocoa powder

* * * *

 Whip butter with powdered sugar and alcohol, then add almonds, cocoa powder and grated chocolate.

Mix well, refrigerate for 2 hours.

From the chocolate mass, form cherry-sized balls and roll them in almonds, hazelnuts, coconuts or cocoa powder.

Refrigerate before serving.

Enjoy!

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

Ingredients

• 60 gr melted unsalted butter (1/4 cup)
• 120 gr brown sugar (1/2 cup, packed)
  
• 100 gr all purpose flour (1 cup)
• 100 gr granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
  
• 1 tsp. baking powder
  
• 1/4 tsp. salt
  
• 60 gr softened unsalted butter (1/4 cup)
  
• 120 ml milk (1/2 cup)
  
• 1 egg
  
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, or a few drops of vanilla oil
  
• 1 large can pineapple slices in (light) syrup
  
• maraschino cherries (as many as pineapple slices used)

Use a 20 cm / 8 inch round pan.

Drain can of pineapple, saving the syrup.

Place butter in the cake pan, melt in the oven while preheating to 200 °C / 375°F.

Sprinkle brown sugar over melted butter. Arrange whole pineapple slices and cherries (with cherries in centres of pineapple slices) over the brown sugar in pan. Cut some of the remaining pineapple slices into half circles, then line the sides of the pan with them (standing up).

In a bowl, combine cake flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, softened butter, milk, egg, vanilla and 2 tbsp of the pineapple syrup.

Pour batter into the pan, being careful not to disturb the pineapples and cherries.

Bake at 200°C / 375°F for 30 to 35 minutes or until cake is golden and has pulled away from the edges slightly.

Remove from oven and allow to stand for a few minutes to set and then turn it upside down onto a serving dish. Serve while still warm.

Enjoy.

With my special thanks to Laura for this recipe!

Black Forest Cherry Cake

Black Forest Cherry Cake

 

Ingredients

• 4 Eggs
• 3-4 tbsp warm water
• 175g granulated sugar (a little less than 1 cup)
• 1 pack vanilla sugar (usually 7 gr – a bit more than 1/2 tbsp)
• 100g all purpose flour (1 cup)
• 100g cornstarch (1/2 cup, heaped)
• 3 tbsp Cocoa (unsweetened)
• 4 tsp baking powder

for the filling:

• 12 tbsp Kirsch (cherry alcohol, not sweet)
• 1 l whipping cream (1 quart)
• 1 pack vanilla sugar (usually 7 gr – a bit more than 1/2 tbsp)
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1 big jar of canned cherries
• 2 tbsp cornstarch

Miscellaneous:

• 23 cm / 9 inch spring form cake pan
• baking parchment
• dark chocolate, grated

* * *

Separate the eggs.

Add the water to the yolks and beat; gradually add about 2/3 of the sugar and the vanilla sugar. Beat until the mix has become creamy and white.

Whip the egg whites until firm, adding the rest of the sugar.

Let the whites slip onto the yolk mixture.

Mix flour, cornstarch, cocoa and baking powder, and sift on top of the egg whites. Carefully incorporate.

Pre-heat oven to 180°C / 356°F.

Cut out baking parchment to size of your cake pan, cover the bottom of the cake pan with it (for best results, butter bottom first and stick parchment to it).

Pour dough into the cake pan, distribute evenly, bake for 30 – 35 minutes.

After baking, put cake upside down on a rack; paint parchment with water and remove carefully. Let cool (best is to prepare this the day before filling).

Cut cake horizontally into 3 equal parts (if you don’t have a long knife, use a strong thread: put it around the cake, making sure it is on the same height all around, cross ends, pull quickly).

Drizzle 4 tbsp of cherry alcohol on each of the cake parts.

Drain cherries, saving the juice.

Boil the juice with 1 tbsp of sugar, thicken with cornstarch (dilute it in a bit of cold water, mix to the boiling juice). Add 2/3 of the drained cherries, let cool.

Whip cream, together with 2 tbsp sugar and the vanilla sugar, until nice and firm.

Spread some whipped cream on the bottom cake part; spread half of the cherry mass on top of it.

Cover with the middle cake part, repeat, using up the rest of the cherry mass.

Cover with top cake part.

Now spread cream around and on top of the cake.

Fill some of the cream into an icing bag, decorate the top of the cake. Use the reserved cherries for the decoration.

Sprinkle grated dark chocolate on top and around the cake. Keep chilled until serving.

Enjoy!

Amaretti

Amaretti

(handy for using up left-over egg whites)

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 300 gr ground almonds (3 1/3 cups)
• 200-300 gr granulated sugar (1 – 1 1/2 cups) *depends on how sweet you like it
• 6 drops of bitter almond oil
• decoration: 100 gr powdered sugar (3/4 cups)

* * * *

Beat the egg whites until very firm, then gradually and carefully incorporate the granulated sugar, the bitter almond oil and the ground almonds.

Cover bowl and refrigerate for about an hour.

Preheat your oven to 160°C / 320°F.

Prepare your baking sheet with baking parchment.

From your dough, with teaspoons, cut walnut-sized portions, roll them into balls between your hands and flatten them a little.

Space them widely on your baking sheet, these will spread a bit.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes.

Take out, immediately powder with powdered sugar, let cool.

 

Mosaic Cookies

Mosaic Cookies

Ingredients

• 250 gr cold unsalted Butter (2 1/5 sticks or 1 1/10 cup)
• 250 gr granulated sugar (1 1/3 cups)
• 500 gr all purpose flour (5 cups)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp rum
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder (unsweetened)

* * * *

Mix the flour with the sugar in a bowl, then pour mixture onto a flat clean surface. With your fingers, make a well in the middle of the heap.

Put eggs and rum into the well, cut up the butter in dices on top.

Knead (hands-on) until you get a homogeneous dough that does not stick to your hands any more.

Divide dough ball in two. Knead the cocoa powder into one of the halves.

Roll out both parts separately, into squares about 1 cm thick (a bit less than 1/2 inch).

Put both squares in the fridge and let cool for 1/2 hour.

With a sharp knife, cut the dough squares, still separately, into stripes about 1 cm wide (a bit less than 1/2 inch).

Now put a chocolate stripe on top of each white stripe, making them stick together without pressing too hard.

Take two of those double stripes and put them next to each other – one chocolate side up, one chocolate side down.

Make them stick together, without pressing too hard.

Proceed thus until all your stripes have been used up (it helps if you get the same number of stripes from both colours).

*Note: since rolled sheets of dough are never exactly the same, cut off the irregular edges, and reserve, keeping colours separate. Roll them out again, a bit thinner, put these again one on top of the other, and roll them firmly together to get a round roll.

Refrigerate for another half hour.

Preheat your oven to 150-180°C / 300-355°F.

Prepare your baking sheet with baking parchment.

Now, using a sharp knife, cut your previously prepared dough mosaic stripes into 1 cm (a bit less than 1/2 inch) thick slices – your cookies – and distribute on baking sheet. The mosaic squares have a chess board pattern, the “leftover” roll has a spiral pattern.

These do not run, so you can get them reasonably close.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the borders are golden brown.

Let cool on a rack.

* Note: don’t worry if at first the cookies seem a little soft after baking, they will harden down to a delicious crunchy crumbly texture after cooling!

 

Chocolate Macaroons

Chocolate Macaroons

(handy for using up left-over egg whites)

Ingredients

• 3 egg whites
• 250 gr caster sugar (1 1/3 cups)
• 1 pack vanilla sugar (usually 7 gr – a bit more than 1/2 tbsp)
• 125 gr grated dark chocolate (1 1/4 cups)
• 250 gr ground almonds (a bit less than 1 1/2 cups)

* * * *

Mix the vanilla sugar into the caster sugar.

Beat the egg whites until very firm, gradually adding the sugar (slowly, spoonful by spoonful).

Gently incorporate the grated chocolate and the ground almonds.

Preheat oven to 120-150°C / 250-300°F.

Prepare baking sheet with baking parchment.

With two teaspoons, set little heaps of your mixture on the sheet (you can also use wafers if you wish). Leave enough space between them.

Bake very slowly until dry (can take 25 to 30 minutes).

Leave on parchment until cooled (in this case the parchment comes in handy, I have a small oven that can hold only a limited amount of cookies – I put the parchment on a rack to cool, thus freeing the baking sheet, and can go on baking). When cooled, carefully pull the macaroons off the parchment.

 

Focaccia

Focaccia

 

Ingredients

 

 

• 2 cups lukewarm water (for metric users: use the same cup size for flour and water)
• 1 pack of dry active yeast (about 9 gr – 1/2 tbsp)
• 4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp salt

other ingredients:

• olive oil
• coarse salt (optional)
• rosemary (optional)

* * *

Pour the lukewarm water into a big bowl. Dissolve the yeast in the water.

Stirring with a wooden spoon, add 2 cups of the flour and the salt.

Mix well, and only then add the remaining 2 cups of flour. Stir until well mixed.

The dough should be very soft and sticky, but should detach itself from the bowl when stirring. If needed, add a little bit of flour.

Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel. Put in a warm spot and let rise for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 260°C / 500°F (the oven has to be very hot when the Focaccia goes in).

Prepare your baking sheet by putting a sheet of baking parchment on it and oiling the parchment generously with olive oil.

Now carefully let the dough drop from the bowl on the prepared sheet – it should not be disturbed too much, the gases ought to stay in the risen dough as much as possible. This is important!

Carefully spread some olive oil over the dough. Oil the handle of your wooden spoon and gently poke some holes in the dough, pulling it at the same time to fit the size of your baking sheet (these holes will close again during baking). Spread some more Olive oil over it all, some oil should go in the holes.

Don’t worry if the shape isn’t very regular.

If wanted, you can now sprinkle some coarse salt and/or some rosemary over the top.

Immediately put the focaccia in your oven (middle) and reduce the heat to 230°C / 445°F.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes.

* * *

Tips

• can be eaten hot or cold
• can easily be reheated the next day by putting in the oven for a few minutes – tastes like fresh all over again!
• is wonderful with barbecues, salads, etc.

 

Nut Bread

Nut Bread

 

Ingredients

• 500 gr all purpose flour (5 cups)
• 500 gr wholegrain wheat flour (5 cups)
• 1 cube of fresh yeast (a cube is 42 gr – about 1 1/2 ounce) – or – 2 packs of dry active yeast (a pack contains about 9 gr – 1/2 tbsp)
• 2 tsp salt
• 600 ml lukewarm water (2 1/2 cups)
• 200 gr of shelled whole hazelnuts, or walnuts, or other kinds – unsalted! (7 ounces 0r 1 1/5 cups)

* * *

Thoroughly dissolve the yeast in 50 ml (a bit less than 1/4 cup) of the water.

Put the flours, the salt, the yeast and the water together into a big bowl, knead (hands-on) for about 5-10 minutes.

Cover bowl with a clean kitchen towel, put in a warm spot and let dough rise for 50 minutes.

Prepare your baking sheet with baking parchment.

Knead shortly, adding the nuts.

Form the loaf (this quantity makes one big loaf, or two smaller loaves, or you could also half the quantities) and put it on the baking sheet.

Cover with the clean kitchen towel again, put in a warm spot, let rise for another 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 250°C / 480°F.

Put the baking sheet with the bread in the oven (middle), and quickly pour one cup of cold water in the bottom of the oven (this provides the necessary moisture in the oven for a nice crust).

Immediately close oven door!

Bake for 5 minutes.

Reduce temperature to 200°C / 390°F. Bake for another 40 minutes. (If you halved the quantities or made 2 small loaves, reduce the baking time by 5-10 minutes).

Let cool on a rack – enjoy!

Btw, as tempting and as tantalising as the smell may be, too warm bread can give you belly aches, so resist the temptation…

 

All-Purpose Pie Crust

All-Purpose Pie Crust

This recipe makes 3-4 crusts, depending on your pan size. Despite the sugar and the salt in it, it tastes neutral enough so it can be used for both sweet and savoury recipes.

Ingredients

• 500 gr all-purpose flour (4 cups)
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 400 gr cold unsalted butter (1 3/4 cups)
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 egg
• 120 ml water (1/2 cup)

* * *

Mix flour, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, mix the liquids together (vinegar, egg and water).

Sift the flour mix on a flat clean surface, make a well in the middle of the heap. Pour the liquid mix in the well.

Cut up the butter in dices on top of the heap.

Knead well (hands-on) until you get a homogeneous dough.

Divide in 3 or 4, according to your needs.

Refrigerate before using; the surplus parts can be frozen until needed.

* * *

You can use them for both sweet and savoury recipes.

Preheat your oven. Most recipes will work well with 200°C /390°F, but consult your filling recipes for details!

Butter and flour your pan, roll out the crust to fit (rolls nicely, but flour your rolling pin and the surface you are rolling on). Put the crust in your pan, add the filling (filling suggestions to follow soon).

Bake for 30-35 minutes (or according to your recipe!)