At Christmas Markets and in homes, you find Glühwein for the adults at Christmastime. (My mother always left a pot on the stove Christmas Eve, and we would enjoy it during the Bescherung, or gift exchange) With warm wine and aromatic spices, it’s such a cozy feeling to hold the mug and breathe in the delicious steam while sipping. But…
Category: German Foods and Recipes
Easy German Cookbook: 80 Classic Recipes Made Simple
Easy German Cookbook was a labor of love. However, sharing German culture and food is what I do online, so this book is the next logical step. Between the covers, you’ll find 80 pages of food memories. These are the foods we ate at home, the foods we ate at festivals, and the foods we reserved for special occasions. Foods…
Simple German Bratapfel Recipe with different Variations
In my old German recipe book, there’s a Bratäpfel or Baked Apple Recipe. The ingredients are apples, nuts, raisins, cinnamon, and honey (and rum). The instructions are to carve the core out of the apple, fill it with the desired filling, and bake. That’s it. No details, no actual amounts. Even the bake time is vague… Bake until soft. I…
Gedeckter Apfelkuchen Recipe – Covered German Apple Cake
Like many other foods in Germany, you won’t find just one recipe for German Apple Cake. I now keep several different recipes in my back pocket because you never know; the apple cake must fit the occasion, after all! Apfelkuchen mit Streusel vom Blech (Apple Streusel cake in a Pan) for every day and Versunkener Apfelkuchen (sunken Apple Cake) is…
My Oma’s Schoko-Nusskuchen Recipe- A Nut-lover’s Favorite
My cousin Linda made my day when she sent me our Oma’s recipe for Schoko-Nusskuchen along with the note, “This is the cake Oma always baked for our Birthdays.” This simple little cake may not be a fancy Torte, but flavorwise, it packs a delicious punch, reminding me of my favorite mid-day pick-me-up treat, a Hanuta. It’s hazelnut and chocolate,…
Germany and Coffee- Coffee Culture and History of German Coffee
“Komm, lass uns einen Kaffee trinken“… words I’ve heard my whole life. Come on, let’s drink a coffee. Mornings before a big day, the middle of the afternoon on a shopping trip, or just while sitting and chatting. Germany and coffee go hand in hand. Germans might actually drink more coffee than beer. They certainly import more coffee than any…
German S’mores! Why NOT play with your Food?
German S’mores are what happens when I’m alone in the kitchen and craving the flavors of childhood. To be perfectly honest, and because I know lots of people will point this out, German S’mores aren’t a real thing. But I think they should be, and now, they CAN be! When I was a child growing up here in the US,…
What is Maggikraut : All about Liebstöckel or Lovage
My friend Edie told me about Maggikraut, I didn’t believe her. In my world, Maggi exists in liquid form to add flavor to soups and stews. I’ve even visited Spicey’s Spice Museum in Hamburg to see the Maggi exhibit (yes, I realize the previous sentence makes me sound like a nerd, but we all know how much I love small…
Ostalgie or Ostalgia for East German Products
What is Ostalgie? Ostalgie or Ostalgia, words that combines the German words for East and Nostalgia, describe a feeling of longing or desire for bits and pieces of the now wiped-away DDR (GDR). Now, while very few people can look you square in the face and say how wonderful the East German government was, or how fantastic it felt to…
Kase Sahne Torte Recipe Made EASY with Dr Oetker Mix
Two minutes after my Tech Guy said, “I really don’t want to eat a piece of cake”, the plate was empty. (And it looks like a few more pieces are missing….). Now, I LOVE Kase Sahne Torte. To those who taste it, this deceptively light cake seems like a magic trick. All that cream! and it’s a cheesecake? Yet, instead…