French Fridays with Dorie - Chicken, Apples, and Cream à la Normande

Today the recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is Chicken, Apples, and Cream à la Normande, a truly French dish, meant as an homage to the Normandy region of France. La Normandie is known for its apple orchards, cider production, apple brandy, and a wide range of delightful dairy products, such as the most deliciously thick crème fraîche that we ever tasted.

The ingredients in Dorie`s recipe for Normandy Chicken really represent all the best products available in that wonderful region of  France. You will need chicken breasts, of course, and get brown them in the pan, together with crisp apples, best to choose those that will keep their shape during cooking, then onions (I decided to thinly slice French shallots instead), mushrooms (I used baby portabellas because we much prefer their taste to the white button mushrooms), then there is chicken broth, calvados and cream. While I stuck with the cream part, I used natural apple juice instead of the chicken stock and Calvados.

As a side and to mop up that delicious cream sauce, I prepared some mashed potatoes…

…and some French green beans with bits of bacon…

…and some more slightly caramelized apple slices.

This recipe was a resounding success at our house, the whole family adored everything about their late lunch. And I loved how quickly this wonderful recipe came together and how much it reminded me of the time that we spent in Normandy about three years ago and the absolute incredible food we enjoyed there. What is not to love about Norman food, it is simply and undeniably fabulous.

To see what fabulous dishes of Chicken, Apples, and Cream à la Normande the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group prepared, please click here.

Gingerbread Biscotti - Lebkuchen Biscotti

These hard Italian cookies called Biscotti were traditionally made with hazelnuts and aniseed but today are flavored with a wide variety of nuts, dried fruits, chocolate and lemon or orange rind. They are hard and crunchy because they are twice-cooked (‘bis’ is Italian for twice and ‘cotti’ for cooked). This makes them ideal for dipping into dessert wine or coffee, especially espresso. Recipes for Biscotti date back as far as the 13th century in Italy. Since the flavor of these twice-baked Italian cookies deepens over time, you can make them in advance and store them for a few weeks in cookies tins in a cool and dry place.

The Biscotti are oblong-shaped almond cookies or biscuits, made dry and crunchy through cutting the loaf of dough while still hot and fresh from baking in the oven. They are also known widely by the name Cantuccini.

For this recipe, I wanted to add a festive twist and substituted the usual spices with a Gingerbread Spice Mix (Lebkuchengewürzmischung). These Biscotti smell wonderful while baking and are the perfect treat at this time of year as they are not overly sweet and do not contain a lot of butter. They are studded with delicious and healthy almonds and have a delicate Christmassy flavor that pairs oh so well with an afternoon hot beverage of your choice.



Recipe for the Gingerbread Biscottis
(Lebkuchen Biscottis)

Ingredients for the Cookies

• 200 grams (7 ounces) whole almonds but do feel free to use hazelnuts if you prefer or other nuts
• 250 grams ( 8.8 ounces/2 cups) plain/AP flour, plus extra for dusting
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 200 grams (7 ounces) super fine white baking sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp of Gingerbread Spice Mix (Lebkuchengewürzmischung)*
• 1 vanilla pod, seeds only
• 1 tbsp Amaretto
• 25 grams (0.8 ounce/2 tbsp) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs (L), free range or organic

Preparation of the Cookies

1. If you prefer to have the skins off the almonds, place the almonds in a pot of boiling water, boil for about one minute, carefully pour them through a sieve, place them on a kitchen towel and squeeze the almonds out of their skins. As a matter of personal preference, I always leave the skins on the almonds when baking Biscottis.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, sugar, Gingerbread Spice Mix and vanilla seeds until well combined.
3. Transfer the dry ingredients to the bowl of your mixer and add the Amaretto, butter and eggs then beat the wet ingredients into the flour mixture until the mixture is well combined and comes together as a dough.
4. Add the whole almonds and combine well. Divide the dough into four equal parts.
5. Wrap each dough piece in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for abut thirty minutes and up to a day. If you leave the dough in the refrigerator for a longer period of time, the spices will definitely loose some of their “punch”.
6. Dust your work surface with the remaining flour. Take the first batch of dough out of the refrigerator and using the palms of your hands, roll the Biscotti dough into a cylinder shape on the dusted surface. Flatten the dough a little to form an oval cylinder if you wish. Repeat with the three remaining parts of the dough.
7. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
8. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (unbleached if possible or use Silpat baking mats).
9. Transfer two logs of the dough to a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, or until the logs have spread and doubled in size. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool a bit.Repeat with the remaining two logs of dough.
10. When the logs have cooled but are still warm, slice each about 1cm (½ inches) thick, you should cut on the diagonal, using a very sharp knife.
11. Place each Biscotti slice onto a baking sheet or onto cooling racks that you place onto the baking sheets thereby allowing for the hot air to circulate around each Biscotti cookie slice and return the baking sheets to the oven for a further 10 to 15 minutes, or until crisp, golden-brown and cooked through. 
12. Transfer to cooling racks and cool completely.
13. When the Biscottis have completely cooled down, place them in cookie tins, they keep well for quite some time and they make superb gifts! And since they are the perfect crunchy companion to a cup of coffee, why not give some Biscottti together with a bag of your very favorite (maybe locally roasted) coffee beans as a gift this year

If you cannot find Gingerbread Spice Mix (Lebkuchengewürzmischung) in you stores or online, you can prepare it using the following recipe:

Ingredients for the Gingerbread Spice Mix

• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp ground allspice
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground anise seed
• 1/2 tsp ground star anise

Preparation of the Spice Mix

1. Sift the ground spices through a fine sieve to remove any lumps.
2. Mix them together thoroughly and place in an airtight container to store.

NOTE: you will end up with about 3 1/3 tbsp Gingerbread Spice Mix,so you can use it also for baking delicious Gingerbread!

Gingerbread Spice Mix (Lebkuchengewürzmischung)  is called for in many German recipes. Similar to some spice mixes in the US, like Apple Pie Spice or Pumpkin Pie Spice, the Gingerbread Spice Mix is a combination of baking spices that are very familiar. Cinnamon, cloves, allspice and nutmeg, but also coriander and cardamom, which are not common in American spice mixes. This mix of spices is what makes many baked treats found in Germany at Christmastime so memorable.

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Have a wonderful Advent with lots of wonderful Christmas cookies! - Eine schöne Adventszeit mit vielen wunderbaren Weihnachtskeksen!

Christmas Stollen Bar Cookies - Stollenkekse

The traditional German Stollen Cake (Stollen) is meant to resemble the baby Jesus in swaddling clothes.


Stollen was invented in the City of Dresden, and now is the subject of an annual festival in its honor, this candied fruit peel-studded cake has been around since 1474 and was originally known as “Striezel”.

Usually, Stollen that you can find in stores is fairly sweet but the wonderful thing about making your own is that it is up to you how much sugar and fruit you put into it. This long cake actually started life as a very different confection. The dough itself only became enriched with butter in 1647, when Pope Innocent VIII gave his official permission to include butter in the recipe during what was then a time of fasting. The slightly sweetened bread dough is nowadays enriched with almonds, citrus peel, marzipan and with those most Christmassy of spices, cinnamon, anise, coriander, cloves, allspice and cardamom.

To make baking easier while still enjoying the delicious seasonal taste of Stollen, why not bake this traditional cake a bit differently and prepare Christmas Stollen Bar Cookies (Stollenkekse) instead. Just use a square baking pan and there is no need to recreate the shape of a swaddling blanket for these delicious Christmas cookie treats.

Recipe for Christmas Stollen Bar Cookies
(Stollenkekse)

Ingredients for the Cookies

• 175 grams (6.1ounces) super fine white sugar
• 75 grams (2.6 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 125 grams (4.4 ounces) good quality cream cheese (I use Philadelphia cream cheese), room temperature
• finely grated zest from one organic orange
• ¾ tsp Stollen Spice Mix*
• 1 egg (M), free range or organic if possible
• 250 grams (8.8 ounces) AP/plain white flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 75 grams (2.6 ounces) blanched ground almonds
• 100 grams (3.5 ounces) plumped up raisins or dried cherries (you can also soak them in a bit of cognac or rum or even applejuice for about 20 minutes before using without the soaking liquid in this recipe)
• 50 grams (1. 7 ounces) shelled natural pistachios (unsalted)
• 50 grams (1.7 ounces) slivered almonds
• 275 grams (9.7 ounces) good quality baking marzipan (such as "Niederegger" or "Dr. Oetker")
• some unsalted melted butter for brushing the warm baked cookies
• a generous amount of powdered sugar to dust the cookies just before serving

Preparation of the Cookies

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. In the bowl of your mixer, beat together the sugar, butter, cream cheese, orange zest and Spice Mix until smooth, then beat in the egg. 
3. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and almonds.
4. Add the flour mix to the butter mixture (you should have a soft dough)..
5. Stir in the raisins and pistachios and slivered almonds.
6. Cut the marzipan into small pieces and add to the dough (best done with a spatula).
7. Line your square baking pan and press the dough evenly into the pan (bst done if fingers or ooset spatula).
8. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden on top. Transfer to a cooling rack.
9. Leave in the pan to cool, then, while still warm, brush generously with melted butter and leave until completely cooled before wrapping well.
10. Just before serving, dust heavily with powdered sugar and cut into bars. NOTE: If wrapped really well, these cookies will keep for about two weeks in a cool, dry place. Just make sure to heavily dust the cookies with powdered sugar just before serving and not before wrapping.

If you cannot find Stollen Spice Mix in the stores, you can make your own following this easy recipe.

Stollen Spice Mix

• seeds from one vanilla pod (you can also use about 2 tsp pure vanilla sugar instead)
• one pinch ground cinnamon
• one pinch ground anise seeds
• one pinch ground coriander
• one pinch ground cloves
• one pinch ground allspice
• one pinch ground cardamom

Preparation

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Store in air tight container.
Use this mixture in recipes that call for Stollen Spice Mix.

These Christmas Stollen Bar Cookies have all the wonderful flavors of German Stollen without being overly sweet. The cubed marzipan keeps them nice and moist and they will even improve in taste after a few days. They are utterly delicious when served with a nice cup of tea or coffee and they make wonderful gifts. And they are so very easy to make, there is no need to buy a specialty Stollen Baking Pan. Also, this recipe does  not contain candied fruit peel such as candied lemon peel (Zitronat) or candied orange peel (Orangeat) which a lot of people do not enjoy eating in their baked goods. For an added splash of color, I used bright green pistachios. These nuts look wonderful and taste fabulous in these Christmas Stollen Bar Cookies and they are a nice compliment to the ground almonds in the cookie dough.

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Have a wonderful Advent with lots of wonderful Christmas cookies! - Eine schöne Adventszeit mit vielen wunderbaren Weihnachtskeksen!

French Fridays with Dorie - Creamy Cauliflower Soup sans Cream

Today the recipe for the French Fridays with Dorie group is a Creamy Cauliflower Soup sans Cream.

Cauliflower is incredibly versatile and can be used in any number of recipes such as in soups, gratins, salads and pickles. You can steam, fry, stir-fry or eat the florets raw in salads or eat as crudités with dips. Or serve the cauliflower as a vegetable accompaniment to meat and poultry dishes or as fritters. And if you choose to roast cauliflower in the oven,  it really does concentrates the flavor of this terrific vegetable. Usually it is rather inexpensive and local, so there is more than one reason to try out and cook with this classic vegetable.

When shopping for cauliflower,it is best to choose a firm, compact, creamy-white head with fresh leaves. You should try to avoid buying one with limp, yellowing leaves or spotted brown curds. In Europe, cauliflower is in season from February to May and again from August to December and a good, undamaged head will keep loosely wrapped for over a week in the fridge. To prepare the cauliflower, all you have to do is to trim off the leaves, cut off the core and separate the individual florets.

Dorie´s simple recipe calls for the preparation of a nice basic creamy soup (onion, garlic, celery, cauliflower) that can be dressed up any which way – I prepared a Parsley Pesto and drizzled some on the soup just before serving. Once properly puréed, the soup is naturally creamy without the further addition of cream.

To see how the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group prepared this Creamy Cauliflower Soup sans Cream, please click here.

Happy Saint Nicholas Day! - Alles Gute zum Nikolaustag!

6. December 2012

Christmas Market - Weihnachtsmarkt

Yesterday we went to our favorite indoor Christmas Market (Weihnachtsmarkt) in the City of Bonn. There you can buy all kinds of Christmas merchandise and gifts, especially traditional things such as crib figurines, toys, wood carvings, nutcrackers, candles and lambskin shoes to place underneath your Christmas tree. Many are difficult to resist - as will be the glass of delicious mulled wine you are offered or the grilled sausages that are very welcome on a crisp winter day.

There are beautiful decorations such as these red stars …

…and little wooden snowmen and Saint Nicks…

…and the widely popular colorful wooden nutcrackers in many different sizes.

Then there are wooden so-called “smoking men” (you can place a little incense cone inside and it will "smoke" - hence their descriptive name)…

…and some more smoking men…

…then there are countless wooden decorations to choose from.

There is the famous hand-made lace from the well-known City of Plauen, you can choose from countless lace table runners, table clothes or ornaments.

There are tiny wooden music boxes…

…and more carved gifts for the collectors..

…and tiny wooden churches...

…and the famous Angel Orchestra.

You can also choose to buy beautifully glazed Polish ceramics from the City of Bunzlau…

…like these Christmas trees…

…or these Christmas tree ornaments…

…or these snowmen..

…more beautifully painted ornaments…

…and some more.

Who can resist this hair…

…or these wooden painted stars.

These snowmen from another pottery would look great on any front porch (you can place candels inside to make them "light up").

I absolutely adore these lovingly carved wooden figurines.

There was also some music…

…and some more amazing lace…

…love these delicate snowflakes…

…and equally delicate stars.

And who would not want to take a look at these delightful wooden figurines depicting different winter scenes.

Christmas Markets such as this one are always fun and worth more than one visit! This particular Market lasts only for about a week and the wooden sheds are all indoors, that is in a rather huge glass-domed hall with actual chestnut trees, a bit like a huge winter garden - quite special and I always look forward to visting the Market with the family each and every year!