King's Cake

Christmas is upon us and this recipe is coming very late indeed! Luckily this is a wonderful cake not only for Christmas but New Year as well and any other occasion in the year!

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This recipe is from my Grandmother's handwritten collection and I love making it at least once a year. For this Christmas I baked several to share with my daughters and their families. Next year I hope they will do the baking, for a change!

Original Recipe in my Grandmothers'
Handwriting

                                                                                     
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Let me translate:
King's Cake  (Königskuchen)

250 g butter (room temperature)
200 g sugar
4 eggs
500 g flour
4 tsp baking powder
250 g raisins
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp vanilla sugar
a pinch of salt
rum for soaking the raisins (enough to cover them)
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This is how my grandma will note down the ingredients without explaining details. So I will do so instead. Raisins usually means a mix of currants, raisins and sultanas with the addition of chopped candied peel. Raisins also means the said mix has to be soaked overnight with enough rum (brandy as alternative, but it is not as tasty) to cover. Vanilla sugar is always made at home. Split a vanilla pod in half, place in a fairly large glass jar and fill up with sugar. ready for use in a couple of weeks. And never forget a pinch of salt! When asked why she doesn't add it to her list of ingredients she replied that that is a given, everybody knows to add salt! Now let us bake!

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You will need a loaf tin approximately 30 x 10 x 10 cm, lined with baking paper. Preheat oven to 180℃. Drain raisins, reserving the liquid. Sift flour, baking powder and salt.

Cream butter, sugar and vanilla sugar until really fluffy. Now beat in the eggs one at a time until fully worked in. Start adding about a quarter of the flour mix, work in until absorbed. Add juice and zest of the lemon and 2 or 3 Tbsp of the reserved rum. How much to use is determined by the flours' rate of absorption. Add another quarter of flour and mix in thoroughly. Continue until the flour is used up. The dough should drop heavily from the spoon, so do not add to much of the rum (keep the excess for another recipe). Finally add the drained fruit and mix until evenly distributed. Place dough in prepared loaf tin and bake on centre shelf for about one hour. When a skewer inserted comes out clean the cake is ready. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out, remove paper, then place on cooling rack.

If you wish, the cake can be covered with glacé icing to make it more festive (and sweeter)!

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My trusty baking spoon

My triple batch of dough

The finished  Königskuchen

Hopefully you will find time soon to make this delectable cake!

Then let me know how you rate it!

A Merry Christmas to everyone!

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Cinnamon Stars A Century Ago

To bake cookies for Christmas is a centuries old tradition dating back to the Middle Ages! Today I want to share one of the old recipes with you, not from that long ago but over a hundred years old and handed down from my grandmother.

Despite technological advances and modern ingredients for modern recipes some good old fashioned  recipes cannot be improved upon. This is one of them!

Cutting of first batch

Ingredients:

75 g butter
75 g sugar
3 Tbsp honey
1 egg
zest of 1 lemon
8 g ground  cinnamon (I use 2 tsp)
250 g flour
3 tsp baking powder
50 g ground almonds, peanuts or walnut          (I used freshly roasted and ground peanuts)
125 ml apple wine, or less, depending on consistency
 ( apple juice will do if preferred)

Ready for baking

Method:

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy, add honey, egg and lemon zest and mix until smooth. Sift flour with baking powder and stir in the ground nuts of your choice. Add about half of the dry ingredients to your butter mixture and combine until absorbed. Add a little of the apple wine, stir in, then add more of the flour mix. The dough should be smooth and a little soft but not sticky. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for an hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 180 C.
Roll out dough to pencil thickness, cut out stars and place on ungreased but floured baking sheets. Bake on middle shelf for 7 to 10 minutes or until light brown around the edges. Transfer to cooling racks. These cookies will not be crunchy but will remain soft.

An easy way to roll out the dough without it sticking to the rolling pin is to do the rolling between two layers of clingfilm 

To decorate the stars mix 250 g sifted icing sugar with a little fresh lemon juice to obtain a fairly thick icing. Use brush to coat each cookie and sprinkle with vermicelli or Hundreds & Thousands. Or decorate according to your own preference!

Ready to be enjoyed

The cinnamon stars will keep fresh for about two weeks in airtight containers separated by layers of greaseproof or waxed paper.

Let me know your opinion when you have tried this recipe. I would really appreciate it!

The Marvellous Cookie Press

A cookie press is a great alternative to rolling out dough and using cookie cutters. The press is ideal when you don't have a lot of time but still want enticing, inviting cookies! I have mine for almost twenty years and I must have made a couple of thousand cookies.

Mine is made of metal and is very easy to use. The press can give me four different sizes which is really useful. Turning the cutting disks either up or down gives you flatter and larger cookies or  smaller, higher ones. My cookie press can also be adjusted under the lever, so one gets a single or a double portion of dough in each cookie, which means you can have little, delicate ones or more substantial ones.

My trusty cookie press with original
and substitute discs

A variety of discs come with the press, so it is ideal for making cookies for any occasion. Unfortunately some of my discs have gone missing over the years, so I added the plastic discs of another press which broke. Luckily they are the same size!

To create cookies with the cookie press the
dough has to be softer than the one used for
cookie cutters which would be too difficult
for the press to handle.

Here is the recipe which is so adaptable that you can use it for Christmas with the spice mix, change the spices to lemon or orange zest, add finely ground almonds or any traditional ingredient for your particular festivities.

Depending on the size of cookie you choose this recipe will make between 40 to 90 cookies!

Ingredients:                                                                                               
                                                                              
250 g softened butter, 100 g brown sugar, 125 ml treacle or molasses, 1 egg, 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 450 g flour, 4 tsp spice mix (see previous post), 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder.                                                                                                                                   
Method:

Cream butter and sugar, then add treacle, egg and vanilla and mix until creamy. Sift the dry ingredients and add in three batches, mixing in first and second batch until completely absorbed. The third portion should be kneaded in. Wrap dough in clingfilm and allow to rest and chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 190 C.
Fill cookie press and make cookies on ungreased baking sheets. Bake in centre of oven for 7 to 10 minutes, depending on size chosen, or until slightly brown around the edges. Remove from oven and cool cookies on a cooling rack.


If you wish you can decorate the cookies with various icings or glazes, dribble with melted chocolate, add sprinkles or sugar beads to make them extra special.

Remember to remove the spice mix for other variations, but don't replace it with anything textured or grainy because then the cookies will not shape well.

When you try this recipe, please let me have feedback about taste, any difficulties or problems so I can make adjustments if necessary!

Just a few cookies fresh from the press!

I need a name for this recipe! Who can give me some good suggestions?

S-Cookies for Christmas

S shaped cookies are traditionally a year round treat. But today I will give you a variation which tastes and smells of Christmas. The secret is the added spicemix which makes these cookies extra scrumptious! The taste is reminiscent of Spekulatius, a traditional picture cookie from Germany. But not many home bakers have the necessary moulds to make those. So, a piping bag with a star shaped tip of at least one centimetre  will give you an excellent result.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

S shapes piped on a lined baking tray

As I was piping merrily along the idea came to me to try the other letters of the alphabet. That way I can pipe all the letters to spell someone's name, which should be fun for children (of all ages)!

Not so easy without practice, but fun!

I also piped circles, otherwise known as Kringel, another traditional shape.

Fresh out of the
oven

Filled disposable piping bag

Now let us bake! You will need several baking sheets lined with parchment or baking paper. Piping bag with star nozzle or a piping syringe with a suitable tip.


Ingredients:

200 g soft butter, 100 g sifted icing sugar, 1 medium egg,
1 tsp vanilla extract, 2 Tbsp milk, a pinch of salt, 3 tsp spice
mix (recipe below), 270 g all purpose flour   

Method:

Using a handmixer cream butter and icing sugar till smooth, then add egg, vanilla and milk and mix to combine. Sift flour with the salt and spice mix and add half of this to the butter mix and mix in at low speed. When combined add the remainder and knead by hand until smooth. The dough should be soft but not sticky.

Spice Mix:

2 tsp ground cinnamon                          1/4 tsp ground green cardamom

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg                           1/4 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp ground cloves                             1/4 tsp ground white pepper (I prefer black pepper)

1/2 tsp ground ginger

Except for cinnamon and ginger which I buy already ground, use only whole spices which you toast and grind yourself in a spice blender. The taste is far superior to already ground spices which lose their flavour rather quickly. Likewise, nutmeg should be bought whole and grated finely according to need.

Now preheat the oven to 175 C and start piping the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets. This recipe yields at least 40 large cookies. I was able to get double the number because I used a tip of 1 cm diameter. Bake on middle shelf for 15 minutes until edges turn light brown. Cool on wire racks.

If you do not have enough baking sheets to use up all the dough, use the same sheets again but make sure they have cooled down completely between batches.

If you decide to make some alphabet cookies you should draw parallel lines on your parchment paper about 5 or 6 cm apart, turn paper over so the lines are on the back and will not affect the cookies.

Look closely and you see the lines

I hope you enjoy making these and eating them too! In my house these cookies do not last long. I would love to hear from you, comments, questions or other observations.

Coconut Candy

A very common treat in Nigeria, but not so well known in other countries, is coconut candy. It is made from fresh coconuts, not the desiccated type. Now that Christmas is only a few weeks away you might want to try this out to serve along with your regular Christmas cookies.

Fresh coconut

First, obtain a good sized coconut which should be fairly heavy for its size. Shake it to hear if any water sloshes around inside which is very important. If you do not hear any liquid moving around, the coconut is bad and should not be bought. The coconut water is used in the preparation of the candy, so drain it into a container after piercing the "eyes" of the coconut.

The coconut water has been drained

Now you need a hammer to crack the coconut all around and with a final sharp blow it will break open. Using a sharp knife remove the flesh and also the brown skin adhering.

The fresh flesh from a very juicy coconut





                                                                                                                                                                                   

Now it is time to grate the coconut on a grater like the one shown in the picture. If you use a coarser grater the finished product will not stick together very well. And now for the recipe.

You need a baking tray for tiny cupcakes or a mini ice cream scoop. One can also use two teaspoons for shaping the candy and a lightly greased plate.

Ingredients:

2 cups freshly grated coconut (about 240 -250 grams)

1 cup sugar (280 grams)

the reserved coconut water plus enough plain water to make 250 ml

1 tsp butter

Method:

Place coconut and sugar in a heavy bottomed stainless steel pan and mix well, add the liquid and place on high heat. When the mixture starts to boil give it an occasional stir. When the liquid has almost evaporated add the bit of butter and keep stirring. When dry it will start to caramelize very quickly. So keep stirring until golden brown. Immediately take the pot off the heat and start shaping the candy, using a teaspoon or scoop to press into the cupcake tray. Or use one teaspoon to take a little heap from the pan and a second teaspoon to compress it into a quenelle or ball shape and place on greased plate. If not well compressed the balls will fall apart, so care should be taken to give each a good squeeze!

Cooling off in the mini cupcake tray

Total time spent including the prep work on the coconut is about two hours. I hope you enjoy making it and sharing with friends and family! 

The finished coconut candy

Pssst! For some extra indulgence you could dip the cooled candy in melted dark chocolate!

If you enjoyed this post, please share and let me know what you think!

Gingerbread Cookies - Pfefferkuchen

Christmas is around the corner once again and so I want to share with you some recipes which after some tweaking here and there have become my favourites. Todays' recipe is meant for cookie cutters, stars, hearts etc. But if you have a gingerbread man cutter, all the better because the cookies are ideal for decorating with coloured icing. Or coating with melted baking chocolate or couverture. Both methods are great in temperate zones but here in the tropics any icing will just melt. Nevertheless the cookies are delicious!

First batch

And now for the recipe:
500 g wheat flour                                                          2 Tbsp water
1 tsp. baking powder                                                     1 medium egg
1 Tbsp bicarbonate of soda                                           2 Tbsp ground cinnamon
100 g sugar                                                                    2 Tbsp ground ginger
200 g golden syrup or molasses                                    1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp vanilla extract                                                       1/2 tsp ground green cardamoms
125 g soft butter                                                            1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt                                                                                     

Ready for the oven

Method:
Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl, including the spices. Then add the soft butter, syrup or
molasses, vanilla extract, water and egg. Mix with the dough hooks on your hand mixer, use a stand mixer or do it the old-fashioned way by hand. When dough is smooth wrap in clingfilm and chill for about an hour. Then cut dough into about 4 portions for easy handling.

Lightly flour your work surface and start rolling out the dough to about 1/2 cm thickness or slightly thicker. Place shapes on lined baking trays and bake at 190 degrees Celsius (375 F) in preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Remove to cooling racks together with the baking paper and allow to cool. Initially the cookies will be quite soft but will get crisp by next day. Once they are completely cool, store them in airtight tin containers. I find that plastic containers are not as efficient in keeping cookies fresh.

On the cooling rack

If you wish to decorate your cookies, the next day will be best. This recipe yields about 90 cookies, depending on size and thickness.


I would love to hear from you if you decide to try these cookies!

Potted Pineapples

Growing your own pineapples is quite easy when one lives in a warm or tropical country because pineapples love sunshine! But even in cooler climes it can be accomplished if one has a greenhouse or a sunny corner in the home.

To start you need a good tasting pineapple, not one which is too tart. It should be fully ripe. Next a flowerpot of about 20 cm (8 inches) diameter and potting soil. Cut off the top of the fruit with about 2 cm of the flesh included. Scoop a little from the soil to accommodate the size of the cutting. Press the cutting firmly onto the soil and cover all around with the soil you removed. Then water just enough for the soil to be moist. Place in a sunny position and keep plant just moist, not letting it dry out.

Initially the leaves will start wilting before new growth occurs and eventually they dry up completely. By then new leaves should have sprung up strong and sturdy. You will also notice a difference in colour compared to the old leaves.

The plant in the photo is now about 3 months old and I hope I will soon see a sign of a new fruit. Some years ago I was successful in harvesting my own fruit from such cuttings but they were planted in open soil which is more beneficial to the plants. Now I have no garden and have to grow what I want in containers.

I would love to hear from anyone who has successfully grown a pineapple in a pot with a delicious fruit as reward! While mine is still in the process of growing it is time to transplant it into a larger pot to give it the needed room for good growth.

Three months old pineapple plant