Chocolate Stars with Pink Peppercorns

http://schneiderchen.de | © 2011 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

http://schneiderchen.de | © 2011 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

These chocolate star cookies are special for the holidays or any time you crave sweets. The cookie dough was prepared with spelt flour, cocoa, and marzipan, and formed into stars. They are very tasty and pretty enough, thanks to the white chocolate coating and pink peppercorns, to decorate the X’mas tree or give away as the presents.

Chocolate Stars with Pink Peppercorns

adapted from Küchen Götter

310 g Refined spelt flour 1/2 tsp Baking powder 50 g Cocoa powder Pinch of salt 100 g Powdered sugar 1/5 tsp Nutmeg powder 1 tsp Orange zest 150 g Unsalted butter, diced 50 g Marzipan paste, diced 1 Egg 1 tsp Vanilla extract 200 g White couverture 4 tbsp Pink peppercorns

1. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together spelt flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, salt, powdered sugar, nutmeg and orange zest. Add in diced butter, marzipan paste, egg and vanilla extract. Mix until you have a smooth dough. Shape the dough into a disc, then wrap in plastic film and refrigerate for 30 minutes before using.
   
2. Line two baking trays with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 160C/320F, fan-forced. Remove the dough from the fridge and place it between two pieces of plastic film. Roll it out to 3mm thick. Cut with a 5cm star cookies cutter or any shape you prefer. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes. Remove and cool on pans.
   
3. Meanwhile, cut the white couverture into smaller pieces and place them in a heat proof bowl. Set the bowl on a pot of hot water. After 10 minutes, give the chocolate a good stir until completely smooth. Dip the cookies with white chocolate and garnish with pink peppercorns. Place coated cookies on wax paper and let stand until firm.

http://schneiderchen.de | © 2011 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

http://schneiderchen.de | © 2011 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

http://schneiderchen.de | © 2011 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

Vanillekipferl Vanilla Crescent Cookies

http://schneiderchen.de | © 2011 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

http://schneiderchen.de | © 2011 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

Vanillekipferl are simply sugar cookies in the shape of crescents that are traditionally as a part of the typical Christmas baking in Austria, Hungary and Germany, but can be enjoyed all year round.They usually contain ground nuts, mostly almonds and hazelnuts, flavoured with vanilla, and often served dusted with confectioners’ sugar.

Recipe adapted from Ulrike Kraus -"Kekse und Gebäck rund ums Jahr"

• 300 g All purpose flour
  
• 250 g Butter, cut into small pieces
  
• 125 g Sugar
  
• 3 Egg yolks
  
• 125 g Ground almonds
  
• 1 tbsp Vanilla sugar
  
• 2-3 tbsp Powdered sugar
  

http://schneiderchen.de | © 2011 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

1. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl. Add in butter, sugar, egg yolks, and ground almonds. Mix until the dough has become smooth. Form the dough into a ball and wrap well with a cling film. Chill for one hour.
   
2. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line two baking trays with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 80 pieces. Shape each one into a rope, approximately 7mm thick, and bend into a crescent.
   
3. Place the kipferl on a baking trays, and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden.
   Mix the powdered sugar together with the vanilla sugar. Roll the crescents in this mixture while they are still hot.

http://schneiderchen.de | © 2011 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

http://schneiderchen.de | © 2011 | http://angiesrecipes.blogspot.com

Ginger Snaps

Few things make your house smell like festive holidays as much as the delicious baked treats fresh out of the oven. Made with fresh ginger, crystallized ginger, Christmas spices, molasses, maple syrup, these ginger snaps are packed with flavours and a great reminder of Christmas. Recipe adapted from Cook's Companion by Carole Clements and Essen und Trinken

To all my friends and readers, I wish you and your family a very Merry Christmas with Good Mood, Real Food and Love!

270 g All-purpose flour 2 tsp Baking soda 2 tsp Ground ginger 1/4 tsp Ground cardamom 1 tsp Ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp Ground clove 1/2 tsp Salt

200 g Golden caster sugar, plus extra for coating 120 g Unsalted butter, room temperature 1 Egg, room temperature 45 g Molasses 45 g Maple syrup 2 tsp Fresh ginger, finely grated 100 g Crystallized ginger, roughly chopped ©angiesrecipes

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Prepare 3 baking trays with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, and salt in a mixing bowl.
   
2. Beat the golden caster sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add in egg, molasses, maple syrup, and fresh ginger.
   With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Beat until incorporated.
3. Fold in the crystallized ginger. Cover with a plastic film and chill for 1 hour. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in the sugar, and place about 2-inch apart on the prepared baking tray.
   
4. Bake until the cookies are just firm to the touch, about 12 minutes or 15 minutes if you prefer them crisp. Transfer the ginger snaps to wire racks and let cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Mulled Wine Linzer Cookies / Spitzbuben mit Gluehweingelee

Linzer cookies based on traditional Austrian Linzertorte, are one of the common Christmas cookies in Germany. They are nutty, rich and SWEET. Traditionally they are filled with black currant jam, but any other fruit preserves can be used to fill the cookies. Rather than almonds, nuts such as hazelnuts, pecan, can be substituted to make Linzer dough.

Created in Linz, Austria in the 17th century, the Linzer torte is the world's oldest torte recipe. Tortes use nuts rather than flour as the main dough ingredient. The Linzer torte features an almond-based crust filled with black current preserves and topped with a lattice crust. In the 19th century, the Linzer torte was adapted into the present-day Linzer cookie.

Recipe adapted from Spitzbuben mit Gluehweingelee

Mulled Wine Jelly	Cookie Dough
1 Orange 100 ml Red wine 180 g Canning sugar (3:1) 2 Star anises 1 Cinnamon stick 3 Cloves	200 g Butter, cut into small pieces 100 g Sugar Pinch of salt 1 Egg yolk 150 g Ground almond 180 g Plain flour 1/2 tsp Spekulatius spice, optional Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Cut the orange into halves, put the half of the orange face down on the juicer and rotate it to get the juice. Place orange juice, red wine, canning sugar, star anises, cinnamon stick, and cloves in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and simmer for about 4 minutes. Strain the jelly through a sieve. Set aside.
   
2. Beat butter, sugar, pinch of salt and egg yolk until combined. Add in ground almond, spekulatius spice and flour. Mix all the ingredients together with your hands until you have smooth dough. Flatten the dough into a 5-inch disk. Wrap the disk in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.
   
3. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Roll out the dough into a 4mm thick round between 2 sheets of wax paper. Cut 2-inch rounds with a plain or fluted cutter and place them on the prepared trays. With half of the rounds, cut a hole from the middle of each round with a heart or flower shaped cutter.
   
4. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature. Spread mulled wine jelly thinly on the flat side of each solid cookie. Dust the top of the cut-out cookies with confectioners' sugar and press the flat sides together. Fill the holes with little more jelly. Store them in your cookie box, separating the layers with waxed paper, and store for up to 2 weeks.

Sourdough Spelt Pumpkin Bread

It is always preferable (and more affordable) to use the seasonal produce, so I promise you that this wouldn't be the final pumpkin recipe. :-)) So please do bear with me with all my repetitious pumpkin recipes.

• 470 g Spelt #630 flour©angiesrecipes
  
  
• 7 g Instant dried yeast
  
  
• 360 g Roasted butternut pumpkin puree
  
  
• 30 g Milk
  
  
• 30 g Maple syrup
  
  
• 80 g Walnut oil
  
  
• 1tsp Salt
  
  
• 80 g Mature sourdough starter
  
  
• 1 Egg white, well-beaten
  
  
• Poppy and sesame seeds

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, stir together splet flour and instant dried yeast. Make a well in the center and add in the pumpkin puree, milk, maple syrup, walnut oil and salt.
   
   
2. Mix on the slow speed until all the ingredients blended. Then increase the speed and knead on medium until dough forms. Now lower the speed, and gradually add in the sourdough starter and knead it into the dough, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic in appearance. The sourdough starter here adds extra depth of flavor and moisture, and also speeds the fermentation slightly even in dough using the usual amount of instant yeast.
   
   
3. Remove the dough from the bowl and shape into a ball. Grease the mixing bowl with a little walnut oil, return the dough ball, and cover with a plastic wrap. Leave it at room temperature for 1 hour or until it’s doubled in size. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Punch down the dough, knead briefly and cut into two 200 grams pieces and four 160 grams pieces.
   
   
4. Shape two 200 grams of dough each into a round and place them in a loaf pan lined with a baking paper. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and proof for 45 minutes until doubled. To make the braid, form each of four 160 grams of dough into strands of about 25-cm in length, tapered so the center of each piece is thicker than the ends. Pinch the 4 strands together at one tapered end. Cross strand 1 over strand 3, strand 2 over strand 3, and strand 4 over strand 2. Repeat until you get to the end of the strands. Pinch all loose ends together. Now pinch two tapered ends together and place it into a 18-20 cm greased springform pan. Cover with oiled plastic wrap and proof for 45 minutes until doubled.
   
   
5. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F. Once the dough has doubled, brush the tops of two loaves with well-beaten egg white and sprinkle the poppy or sesame seeds atop. Make a cross on the top of rectangular loaf and bake in the center of the preheated oven for 35 minutes until golden brown.

Pumpkin Walnut Praline Cheesecake

What would AUTUMN be without pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread or pumpkin cheesecake? I like to add nuts to the cheese filling, just to have something to chew on while enjoy the creaminess of the cheesecake. If you prefer yours without, then leave the walnut praline out. The cheese I used for the recipe is called "Quark©angiesrecipes", a type of fresh cheese, which is made by warming soured milk until the desired degree of denatured proteins and then strained. Quark usually contains much lower fat than the cream cheeses and has no salt added.

Feel free to replace it with other type of fresh cheese, like fromage frais or cream cheese.

Praline	Crust
100 g Granulated sugar 50 g Chopped walnuts	70 g Butter, diced 3 tbsp Brown sugar 120 g All-purpose flour
Filling	Topping
550 g Quark cheese ©angiesrecipes (or Fromage frais)at room temperature 120 g Brown sugar 2 tbsp All-purpose flour 450 g Pumpkin puree©angiesrecipes 1 tsp Vanilla 1/2 tsp Ground cinnamon 1/2 tsp Ground ginger 1/2 tsp Ground nutmeg 3 Eggs	200 g Sour cream 1 tbsp Sugar

1. For praline, line a baking sheet with foil. In a heavey skillet place the 100 grams of granulated sugar. Cook over medium-high heat, swirling the skillet occasionally until sugar begins to melt. Reduce heat to low. Stir in the chopped walnuts and cook until sugar is golden brown and walnuts are toasted. Pour the mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, spreading with a wooden spoon as thin as possible. Cool and chop the cooled praline into smaller pieces. Place 1/3 of the chopped praline in a blender container and process until ground. Store them in separate boxes in fridge until ready for use or up to 1 week.
   
   
2. For crust, beat butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until softened. Add 3 tablespoons of brown sugar and beat until fluffy. Sift in the flour. Beat at slow speed just until combined. Press the dough onto the bottom and 4cm up the side of 9-inch springform pan. Bake the crust in a 190C/375F oven about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool crust on a wire rack while preparing filling.
   
   
   
   
3. For filling, in a large mixing bowl beat quark cheese, 120 grams of brown sugar, and the flour with an electric mixer on a medium speed until combined. Add the pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Beat until combined. Add in eggs and beat on low speed just until combined. Stir in the coarsely chopped walnut praline pieces, reserving the powder for the topping.
   
   
4. Pour the filling into the crust and return to the oven. Bake in a 190C/375F oven for 40 minutes or until center appears nearly set. In a small bowl combine sour cream and granulated sugar. Spread over top of cheesecake.
   
   
5. Cool cheesecake in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Use a small metal spatula to loosen crust from sides of pan. Cool completely and chill, covered, in the fridge for at least 4 hours or overnight. Just before serving, sprinkle the ground praline over the sour cream topping.

Pumpkin Yeast Bread

Autumn is the season for pumpkin recipes. So here is another one, which comes from one of my favourite baking source Dr. Oetker Backen A-Zangiesrecipes. This deliciously soft yeast-risen pumpkin bread is a great alternative to the moist, dense pumpkin quick bread, which is leavened with baking powder or/and baking soda.

• 300 g Hokkaido pumpkinangiesrecipes, peeled and seeded
  
  
• 45 ml Water
  
  
• 3 tbsp Milk, lukewarm
  
  
• 2 tbsp Honey
  
  
• 100 ml Olive oil
  
  
• 3/4 tsp Salt
  
  
• 500 g German #550 flourangiesrecipes
  
  
• 15 g Fresh yeast

1. Cut the pumpkin flesh into small dices. Place them in a pot with water over medium heat. Cook until soft and puree the pumpkin with a blender.
   
   
2. First add milk, honey, olive oil, salt and pumpkin puree in the pan of your bread machine. Then add in flour. Make a dry well in the center and add the yeast to the well. Program the bread machine the "Dough" cycle.
   
   
3. Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and press it down to flatten. Form the dough into a roll and place into a greased 30cmx11cm loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Make a 1cm deep slash in the center along the length of the dough. Bake the bread in the preheated oven for 30 minutes. Remove the bread pan and cool on a rack.

Spekulatius Spiced German Christmas Cookies

It simply isn't Christmas in Germany without flat,crunchy and richly spiced Spekulatius. Traditionally Spekulatius are moulded into shapes with a small Christmas design on the surface. Well, those wooden Spekulatius forms are not cheap at all, so I have decided to use X'mas-themed cookie cutters to make these cookies. You can garnish the cookies with colourful sugar icings, or with confectionery coatings made with couverture chocolate, to decorate your X'mas tree, or table center.

500 g All-purpose flour, sifted 4 g Baking powder 2 g Baking ammonia angiesrecipes 200g Sugar 1 pack Vanilla sugar 2 Eggs

1/2 tsp Almond extract 100 g Almond, ground angiesrecipes 1/3 tsp Cardamom, ground 1/3 tsp Cloves, ground 1 tsp Cinnamon, ground angiesrecipes 200 g Butter, chilled

1. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder and ammonia. Make an indent in the middle and add eggs, sugar, spices and extract, and combine all into a thick dough. Cut in the cold butter and together with the ground almonds and knead it well to form a smooth dough. If the dough is still sticky, then wrap and rest it in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
   
2. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Roll out the dough into 3mm thick circle and cut out the cookies with favourite Christmas cookie cutters. Place them onto greased baking sheet and bake until starting to brown, about 10 minutes. When cool, store cookies in an air-tight container. Decorate the cookies with sugar icings as desired.