Baking

Soulfood – Saxonian Quarkkeulchen with a twist

- Tobia Leave a comment
plate with saxonian quarkkeulchen with applesauce and cinnamon real soul food

Some days call for soul food. Like really you need it to take another breath on this damaged world we live in. Please tell me I am not the only one. While I am often drawn towards hot semolina for breakfast. I recently remembered “Quarkkeulchen”. Something my mom made only every once in a while. It’s a Saxonian dish, very regional in Germany. Not a lot of people know about it. It’s a shame because souldfood coming out of a pan is always a good idea. And Saxonian Quarkkeulchen are pretty much the best there are.

As so many great dishes it is actually a meal made of left overs. Here you traditionally use boiled potatoes. But let’s be honest there is no such thing as left over potatoes. At least not in this house. Maybe the reason why it’s not often made.

stacked Saxonian quarkkeulchen real German soulfood

However I remember that there was a hack using some pre-made potatoes dumpling dough that you can buy almost in every supermarket (here in Germany at least).

Saxonian Quarkkeulchen – my souldfood of 2020:

  • 375 g potato dumpling dough (aka Kloßmasse) – it’s half a package
  • 250 g quark (curd)
  • 50 g flour
  • 1 tbsp sugar ( I often use brown sugar) – use more if you like it sweeter
  • 1 egg
  • a bit of grated lemon peel if you like
  • raisin if you prefer
  • cinnamon sugar
  • apple sauce
German soulfood Saxonian Quarkkeulchen fried in a pan served with cinnamon sugar and apple sauce
  1. Whip up the dough by combining dumpling dough, quark, flour and egg. Add lemon and rain if you like.
  2. Heat a pan with oil or shortening and form small patties of the dough.
  3. Fry until golden brown and crisp on the outside and a bit mushy inside.
  4. Serve hot or cold with cinnamon sugar and applesauce.

If you prefer to not use dumpling dough you can easy boil up potatoes, let them cool and grate them. Perfect if you do come across some left overs.

Be warned this dish is very filling. But also very delicious so you might find yourself reaching for just one more even though you are already stuffed.

Now have you ever heard of this dish? Or even eaten it? And do you have one of those dishes that are very regional to were you live that your friends from the next town over might not even have heard about? I love those little hidden recipes that are handed down through generations, that you grow up with and casually mention and suddenly realize the person next to you has not the faintest idea what you talk about.

saxionian quarkkeulchen stacked on a plate with applesauce and cinnamon sugar real German souldfood

Well, you better get some potatoes boiling or shopping because you probably feel like having some Quarkkeulchen right now.

And if you are not to fond of sweets you might like my other very regional and all time favorite summer dish Schmorgurken.

Happy cooking

Tobia

Omenakakku – Finnish Apple Cake with Herbs

- Tobia 6 Comments

It’s this time of year again where we celebrate together and I serve up some Finnish delicacies. Once again I’ve some baked goodies for you. Omenakakku – this Finnish Apple Cake is more like a breakfast cake. It’s dense, it’s rich and with the addition of the rolled oats and herbs it has an interesting flavor. I haven’t come across anything like it yet.

I know you also want to have some dinner choices and I promise one of those days I will get around to it. But not today. Since I am planning of staying married we have a couple more celebrations ahead of us. But let’s not procrastinate any further.

seeking creative life omenakakku finnish apple cake

Here is what you need for omenakakku – Finnish Apple Cake.

  • 250g butter, room temperature
  • 200 g sugar (I used 150g regular and 50g brown sugar)
  • 4 eggs
  • 350g flour
  • 150g rolled oats
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tsp ground ginger powder
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 300 g finely chopped apples
  • 1 handful cinnamon-basil leaves, chopped
  • 1 handful mint leaves, chopped
omenakakku finnish apple cake seeking creative life

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.
2. Mix butter and sugar until slightly foamy.
3. Add in eggs and beat.
4. Now add in flour, baking powder, rolled oats and spices. Mix well.
5. Grate apples, chop herbs and combine with dough mixture.
6. Pour dough into baking tin.
7. Bake approx. 30-40 min – it depends on the size of your tin. Make sure to test the dough. I personally like a cake slightly underbaked.

seeking creative life craftaliciousme omenakakku finnish apple cake

You can serve the omenakakku the true Finnish way with whipped cream and cranberry jam. I had it with a bit of butter. As I said before it feels a bit like a baked breakfast choice. It fills you up pretty good and sustains for quite some while too. You might actually be able to leave out the sugar altogether to make it a bit more healthy. I will give that a shot next time.

I will leave you to your weekend for now. While you read this I will roam the city of Oslo and have a short vacation. If you like of hop over to Instagram to follow along.

Happy baking

Tobia
craftaliciousme omenakakkku finnish apple cake

PORKKANAVESIRINKELIT – Finnish Carrot Rolls

- Tobia 4 Comments

It’s time for our annual Finnish get-together. How awesome of you to join me for the fifth time and celebrate with me. I promised you dinner last year unfortunately the recipe I was going to serve needs to be in the oven for 5 hours or so. Not very ecological when cooking for 1-2 people. So instead let’s have some hot steaming porkkanavesirinkelit – Finnish for carrot rolls. Could be part of your dinner too however I enjoy them in the morning.

Finnish Carrot Rolls PORKKANAVESIRINKELIT spread

Here is what you need:

  • 100 ml of warm water
  • 50 ml of milk
  • 50 ml vegetable oil

  • 7g of yeast which equals one pack of dry yeast

  • 1/2 tsp of sugar
  • 3 spritz of agave sirup
  • 1/2 tsp of salt
  • 100g grated carrots
  • 500 g flour (I used 350 whole grain and 150 wheat)
PORKKANAVESIRINKELIT finnish carrot rolls hands

Here is how it’s done:

Dissolve yeast in warm water, milk and add sugar, salt and oil. Add too carrots and mix well. Now add flour and knead dough until it comes off your fingers. Let rise in a warm place. I prepared the dough at night and let it sit over night.

Form little balls and gently press flat. Let them rise a bit more while you start heating a pot with 2 l of water and add 2 teaspoons of salt for cooking. Preheat oven 200-degree.

Make a hole in the middle of the buns with your thumb and drop them into the water a few at a time. Allow to boil for about a minute and bring them to baking paper to dry.

Bake the rolls about 15 minutes until they have a beautiful color.
Serve with salted butter or marmalade.

Finnish Carrot Rolls –PORKKANAVESIRINKELIT

Now I would suggest you enjoy them still warm and fresh out of the oven. At least that is how I prefer homemade fresh rolls.

As you know I love a good winter hence my winter wedding. However it seems like yet another winter where Berlin is not really blessed with snow. We’ve only gotten one or two days with a tiny bit of snowflakes. Nothing stayed on the ground of course. While I haven’t given up completely on winter yet I see the signs for spring all over. And therefore I was wondering if those rolls might actually be a perfect addition to an Easter brunch. What do you think?

Well for now let’s enjoy the cold weather.
Happy Friday

Tobia
PORKKANAVESIRINKELIT – Finnish Carrot Rolls for easter brunch

Spicy Chai Cookies – My all Time Favorite

- Tobia 4 Comments

You know how much I love this season by now. And I might have mentioned here and there that I am totally baking crazy.

spicy chai cookies the best

I remember one year where I bought 12 kg of flour and baked it all in one weekend. It was insane. I am not doing that anymore but I am still baking way too much. I mean there are just so many fun recipes out there. But than there are the all time favorites. And the repertoire gets larger with every year…

baking spree
I have this unwritten rule with myself: For every known/proofed/favorite recipe I bake there must be an unknown one. This way it is not getting too boring but at least 50% of the cookies taste good.

One year I made 12 different cookies. So it was a surprise the other day when I realized there is not one Christmas Cookie Recipe on this blog. Time to change that and today I spill my most favorite recipe of recent years.

Spicy Chai Cookies

spicy chai cookies

While I love cookies and sugared goodies this time of year it just sometimes gets too much. And that is when those cookies come in. They change up the cookie jar with it’s spicyness and a bit savory taste.

What you need:
∗ 125 g butter, soft
∗ 75 g sugar – I usually use about 50 g
* 1 pinch of salt
* 1 egg
* 4 bags of Yogi tea / chai tea – I only use the ones based on black tea and found this one to be the best
* 1/2 tsp grounded pepper – sometimes I add more
* 100 g brittle
* 250 g flour
* 1 egg yolk
* 2 tbs milk
* 2 packs of vanilla sugar

Directions:

1. Whisk butter, sugar and salt until smooth. Add the egg.

2. Cut open tea bag and put into a bowl. Add half of the tea, pepper, 50g of brittles and flour to the butter mix. Knead until you have a smooth dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and let the dough rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes. Try not to eat too much dough.

3. Preheat oven to 160-180°C. Roll dough onto floured surface and either cut cookies with knife or use a cookie cutter. Put cookies on baking sheet lined with baking paper.

4. Mix egg yolk and milk and coat cookies. Add remaining brittles and vanilla sugar to the remaining tea and cover cookies. Bake for about 7-10 minutes until golden and crunchy.

spice cookies

This makes for approx. 100 cookies. And they usually don’t last long. Unfortunately! My supply this year is already gone. Maybe I make another batch.

What is your favorite cookie recipe? Please share I always want to try new recipes.

Happy baking

Tobia

Baked Apple Pie with Pudding Filling | Bratapfelkuchen

- Tobia 6 Comments

It’s Saint Nicholas Day! Did you clean your shoes?

I used to think as a kid that you were only supposed to clean your shoes one day in the year – the night of December 5th. I now know it can happen more often but I find myself on the floor and cleaning all my shoes just that night every year.

Back when we were kids we usually had more than one pair out and of course the biggest boots we could find. Unfortunately we only had one pair filled. One boot was usually candy and chocolate and the other shoe was kinda boring with nuts, apples and if we were lucky an orange. But even though this wasn’t too exciting I was so sad when one year my apple was missing.

baked apple pie | bratapfelkuchen

Today I didn’t find an apple in my shoe. It’s ok though. In case you didn’t have one let me share this wonderful baked apple pie | Bratapfelkuchen recipe with you. It is wonderful. And even though quite heavy it doesn’t feel like it and is nice change in all the ginger bread and chocolate-sugar covered cookies.

Ingredients for the dough

♥ 250g flour
♥ 100g sugar (I only used 70g)
♥ 150g butter
♥ 1 egg
♥ 1/2 tsp baking powder

Ingredients for the filling

♥ 8 small apples
♥ 1 glass of cranberries (I used dried cranberries)
♥ 125g marzipan (optional)
♥ 2 packages of vanilla pudding pullover for cooking
♥ 250 ml milk
♥ 500 ml cream
♥ 125 ml sugar ( I used 100g)
♥ 1 package of vanilla sugar
♥ 1 tbs powdered sugar
♥ almonds

baked apple pie | bratapfelkuchen top

Now lets get baking:

  1. Combine all ingredients for the dough. Wrap in plastic and cool about 30 min in the fridge. Then put the dough in your baking pan and don’t forget to go up the sides. Just like any pie.
  2. Peel your apples and use this fancy tool to make holes * in the middle of an apple. When you are done fill with marzipan and cranberries and almonds. Place apples on your dough.
  3. Heat milk, cream, sugar, vanilla sugar and pudding powder in a pot and stir continuously until boiling. Remove from heat and pour over your apples so the gaps are filled. Add a bit of brown sugar and almonds.
  4. Bake in preheated oven (180°C / 350°F) for 40-50 minutes. Let cool for 4-5 hours before serving.

I am usually no fan of pudding in my cake but this one is a great exception. What is your favorite cake during advent?

Happy St. Nicholas and cake munching,

Tobia

PS: and don’t forget to enter my give-away for a self-created calendar or notebook.