German Stollen

4 Stollen (double recipe)

Stollen is a traditional German Christmas bread full of nuts, candied fruit and raisins with a marzipan filling.  Most recipes use yeast, mine calls for Quark and baking powder and I replaced the candied fruits and raisins with dried cranberries.

Ingredients:

• 500g flour
• 1tblsp baking powder
• 275g unsalted butter
• 200g sugar
• a few drops vanilla extract or a packet of vanilla sugar
• pinch salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 tblsp rum
• grated fresh lemon peel
• 1/4 tsp cardamom and nutmeg
• 250g quark (you can substitute with Greek yoghurt)
• 50g pistachios
• 100g walnut pieces
• 100g dried cranberries
• 125g marzipan
• 2 tsp icing sugar

Mix flour and 175g soft butter, add eggs, sugar, baking powder, vanilla, salt, eggs, rum, lemon peel, quark, nuts and cranberries and mix to a dough ball.  Gently roll dough out to form an oval.  With the marzipan form a log and place on dough.  fold dough over to make a loaf.

Bake at 175C in preheated oven for 1 hours (or if you are making two smaller loafs, bake 40min).  Remove from oven and immediately brush with remaining butter and sprinkle with icing sugar.  Let cool completely.  Can be eaten fresh or wrapped in foil and stored for a week.

To Die For Chocolate Cake

My daughter dug this recipe up (Internet) and we adjusted a bit to replace egg substitute and white flour... Absolutely to die for, moist and rich but not too sweet!

Devilish Raspberry Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

Dough

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 cup vanilla yoghurt
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Raspberry Sauce

• 3 cups raspberries
• 1/3 raspberry jam (PC or Smuckers)
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Topping

• whipped cream

Combine all the dry dough ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl using electric mixer mix wet ingredients for 30 sec. Combine both mixtures and mix with electric mixer first on low speed until blended then on high speed for 3 min.

Fill into greased spring form. Bake at 165C in convection oven (180C /350F in normal oven) for 35-40min. Let cool completely.

To make the sauce, slowly heat the raspberry jam. When hot add lemon juice. Add fresh raspberries just before serving. Serve with fresh whipped cream. Yummy!

Naan Bread Recipe

By popular demand here is my naan bread recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 pk dry yeast
• 4 tsp sugar (I use 1 or none)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 egg beaten
• 3 tbsp milk
• 4 1/2 cups flour
• 2 tsp minced garlic

Make yeast dough with these ingredients. Let rise for 30min-1hour. Form naan patties, make them about 0.75cm thick. This recipe makes about 8-12 depending on size. Brush breads with melted butter (I use olive oil). Grill 2-3 min each side (20min at 200C or 400F in oven works fine, too).

The recipe I made up in a hurry today (very yummy) was very plain. I used about 400g flour, tsp salt, 1 tbsp dry yeast and warm water (@350ml) to make a workable dough. Made 8 paddies, brushed with olive oil, sprinkled with minced garlic and dried herbs from my garden. Perfect fit for the wicked curry...

I have no idea where the original recipe came from. I hand wrote it in my recipe book.

Sourdough Starter

This takes a bit of time to get ready, but not much work. My kids claim it is disgusting...but they do like the bread and it is so much cheaper than if I'd bought the equivalent at a bakery.

The original recipe comes from "Breads of the World" by Mariana Honig. If you are into baking breads this is a great resource. The book was published in 1977 - not sure if it is still in print.

• 2 cups warm water
• 3 cups flour
• 2 tsps salt
• 2 tsps sugar
• 1 envelope yeast (this might be cheating a bit, but it works to get everything going)
• 1 1/2 cups grated, raw potatoes

Using a glass, earthenware (not metal or plastic) bow, mix all ingredients well. Leave bowl uncovered in warm place for 24 hours. Then stir down, cover with saran wrap and let stand for 3-4 more days. Stir down several times a day.

The starter should now be foamy and has a sour smell. Pour into a glass jar with a lid (mason jars work great) and store in fridge. You can begin to use the starter when a layer of clear liquid appears on top.

The night before you want to bake, take the starter out of the fridge, pour into a bowl (not metal) and stir in 1 1/2 cups flour and cold water. Blend well, cover with saran wrap and store in warm place over night. The next morning stir the starter again and pour off 2 cups into a clean mason jar. This becomes your starter for next time (I try to keep two starters in the fridge in case I forget to set one aside). The remaining 2 cups of starter are what you will use for your immediate baking. See my sourdough bread recipe here.

Sourdough Bread

I have baked our own bread for a number of years now. I started with a fool proof whole grain yeast bread, unsuccessfully dabbled a bit with sourdough until about 2 years ago, when I came across a sourdough starter recipe, that worked right from the get go.

I now have two starter batches in the fridge, just in case I forget to set a new one aside when baking. It's a big pain to set up a new starter and you want to avoid that at all cost. I was told that some old restaurants, who have their own, old sourdough starter, actually advise their staff that in an event of fire one of the things to save is the sourdough starter. Anyway, I will post my starter recipe here another time.

Here is the recipe for my sourdough bread:

Pre Dough

• 500ml of sourdough starter
• 500g whole wheat flour
• 1000ml warm water

Mix all ingredients well in a wooden or plastic bowl with a wooden or plastic spoon. do not use metal. Metal and sourdough do not mix. I don't know the chemistry behind this, but the dough won't rise in a metal bowl, so don't try. Cover bowl with lid or saran wrap and let stand overnight in a warm spot (38C would be perfect), but normal room temp works as well.

The next morning, take about 500ml of the starter dough and fill into mason jar, close lid lightly and store in fridge for your next batch.

Sour Dough Bread

• sourdough starter dough (minus 500ml)
• 500g whole wheat flour
• 500g of mixed grains, seeds and or nuts
• 1 Tblsp salt
• warm water to make a mushy dough (if you use loaf pans) or a non-sticky dough if you make loafs

Mix all ingredients well (again, don't use metal). Let stand until late afternoon. Dough should have risen and almost doubled in size. Either fill in loaf pans (3) or form 3 loafs. Preheat convection oven to 175C (200C/400F for traditional electric oven). Bake loafs for 1 hour. Let cool on wire rack.
Note: all amounts are approximate. I don't usually weigh the ingredients, not do I measure the water.

Oatmeal Granola Bars

These are great granola bars to take along hiking. I vary the type of nuts and dried fruits I add:

2/3 cup (150 mL) butter, softened
1 cup (250 mL) packed brown sugar (less is fine too)
1 egg
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) rolled oats
1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking soda
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped dried apricots (or prunes, figs, etc)
1/2 cup (125 mL)chopped almonds (or walnuts, peanuts, etc)
1/2 cup (125 mL) dried cranberries
1/2 cup (125 mL) sweetened shredded coconut

Preparation: Grease small baking sheet. In large bowl, beat butter with brown sugar until fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla. In separate bowl, whisk together rolled oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and stir in apricots, almonds, cranberries (prunes work well too) and coconut. Fold into butter mixture. Spread evenly in prepared pan. Bake in centre of 180 C oven for 30 minutes. (165 C convection) Let cool on rack for 10 minutes. Cut into bars. Keeps in container or saran wrap for a week.

I think I originally saw this in a Canadian Living magazine.

Chocolate Poppy Seed Bars

Ingredients:
Dough:

• 300g whole wheat flour
• 150g sugar
• 200g unsaltedbutter
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Poppy Seed Filling:

• 250g butter or unsalted margerine
• 200g sugar
• vanille extract
• 5 eggs
• 400g yoghurt
• 200g whole wheat flour
• 3 tblsp baking powder
• 200g poppy see

Chocolade Icing

• 30ml milk
• 200g dark chocolate (melted)

Mix dough ingredients and press into the bottom of a high baking tray. Mix everything for the poppy seed filling and spread onto dough. Bake at 200C (180C convection) for 20min. Gently and evenly pour 30ml of milk on the hot pie. Spread chocolate over pie and let cool. Best to bake a day or two ahead.
(note: the original recipe calls for 300cc cream to be poured over cake and 300g sugar and 400g sour cream in the filling - turns out way too heavy, fatty, sweet and soggy)

Post Jack O'Lantern Pumpkin Baking

Post Jack O'Lantern Pumpkin Baking, originally uploaded by Turtlepace.

Every Year, I fret about throwing the Jack O'Lanterns we carved for Halloween out into the compost. Last year, I laboured for hours, peeling pumpkins and making first pumpkin puree, than soup and pie.
This year, I was told that nobody in my familiy really likes pumpkin soup (and the pie was a disaster anyway). I had resigned to dispose of the pumpkins in the compost, only to find a recipe for muffins at the gym yesterday. They turned out great. Encouraged by the success I looked up a recipe for a pumkin loaf. It just came out of the oven. Not sure yet what the verdict of the testers will be...

Zucchini Loaf

• 250g butter or unsalted margerine


• 150g sugar (original recipe calls for 350g)


• a few drops vanilla extract or vanilla sugar


• 3 eggs


• 1 small level tsp salt


• 1.5 tsp cinnamon


• 50g ground nuts (almonds or hazelnuts)


• 320-350g shredded zucchini


• 500g whole wheat flour


• 2 tsp baking powder

Mix everything well with electric mixer. Fill into 2 small loaf pans. Bake at 175C for 1 hour (165C for 45min in convection oven) Cool down in loaf pan.

Schwabenbroetle

Schwabenbroetchen, originally uploaded by Turtlepace.

These are cookies that my grandmother, Tinsel Oma, and then my mom used to bake. They are my favorite Christmas cookies.

The recipe I have in my binder is a photocopy of Oma Tinsel's handwritten original. Here is the recipe (in German)

3/4 Pfund Mehl
1/2 Pfund Butter
1/2 Pfund Zucker
1/2 Pfund ungeschaelte, geriebene Mandeln
1 Ei
etwas Zitronenschale
20g Zimt

Diese Zutaten arbeitet man auf dem ....brett zusammen, stellt den Teig kurz kalt, wellt ihn mit Mehl aus, sticht beliebige Formen aus und lasst sie ueber Nacht liegen. Den anderen Tag bestreicht man sie mit Eigelb, bestreut t sie mit feingewiegtem Mandeln und Hagelzucker und backt sie in nicht zu heissen Ofen

165C (Convection) - 12 min

Easy Pumpkin Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 6 tbsp wheat germ
• 4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 2 cups pumkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 tsp pumkin pie spice
• vanilla
• 4 tbsp chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 180C (165C convection). Combine all ingredients (except of walnuts) and mix until combined. Spoon the batter into lined muffin tins, sprinkle with walnuts. Bake for 25 - 30 min, until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from the pan, serve warm or cold.

Sour Dough Bread

Sour Dough Bread, originally uploaded by Turtlepace.

 

Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup sour dough starter
- 6 cups whole wheat flour
- 1tblsp salt
- 1 tblsp yeast
- warm water to make a soft, non-sticky dough

Mix ingredients and let rise in warm location until the dough has doubled in volume. Knead dough and form 2 small oval loafs or one large one. Place on greased baking sheet and let rise again. Bake at 200C (400F) for 50 minutes. In convection oven bake at 165C for 40 minutes.

 

German Vollkornbrot

Ingredients:

- 500g whole wheat flour
- 500g oats
- 200g seeds (ground flax, sesame, pumpkin, sunflower, millet, amaranth etc)
- 1 tblsp salt
- 3 tblsp yeast
- 1000ml warm water
(you can experiment with different flour and seeds, the dough should be soft and sticky for baking in loaf pans. If you like to make oval loafs, add more flour to make the dough smooth and non-stick)

Mix everything with the dough hooks on your electric mixer. Let rise for 1h. Spoon into 3 small loaf pans. Bake in preheated oven at 200C (400F) for 50min or in convection oven at 175C for 45min. Let cool slightly then remove from loaf pan and let cool on wire rack. Can be frozen.

Gewuerzkuchen

Gewuerzkuchen, originally uploaded by Turtlepace.

After looking on ebay, Buy and Sell and Craigslist for years, I finally found exactly the convection range I was hoping for.

I've been baking up a storm since I brought the beast home last week.

This Gewuerzkuchen is the latest creation. BTW, family loves the stove...or should I say the end results ;-)

Ingredients:
125g butter
150g sugar (original recipe calls for 350g - yikes)
320g whole wheat flour
1 tbls baking powder
125g grated dark chocolate
4 eggs
1/2 tblsp ground gloves
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
1 cup milk

Combine all ingedients with electric mixer. Pour into greased bundt or 2 loaf pans. Bake on 175C or 75 min (less if using 2 loaf pans) or on 200C for 60 min. In the convection oven I baked at 175C for 50min.

Cornbread

Made this last night for the Capilano Canyon Night Run potluck party. It’s an easy recipe and very yummy.

3 cups cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat flour
6 tsps. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cayenne
4 eggs slightly beaten
2 cups buttermilk or yoghurt
2 cups grated sharp cheese
2 cups creamed style corn (canned)
1 cup chopped jalapeno peppers
1 cup corn oil

Blend all ingredients well. Pour into a well oiled baking pan (large) and bake for about 45min or until a cake tester comes out clean. Serve warm or cold.

What's Cooking - Fueled by Oats

I am a lousy cookie baker. Cookies end up either burned or to soft, crumbly and ugly looking. I blame it on the uneven heat in my oven...

My kids and my husband, of course, love cookies, no matter what shape. And I try coming up with fool proof recipes and this one is pretty close. I have made it several times and even experimented with different ingredients...yummy!

Ingredients:

• 250g margarine or butter
• 500g regular oat flakes
• 200g sugar (I used 100 with no ill effects)
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 50g flower
• vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract)

Melt the butter, add oats, let cool. In another bowl beat eggs, sugar, baking powder, flour and vanilla sugar. Add the oat mixture. Mix well. Place tbsp sized dollops of dough onto greased cookie sheet. Bake for 20 min at 180C.