Chocolate Truffles

Want to gift something home made that looks pretty and tastes equally good too? How about some truffles? Last year I baked the rich Indian plum cake and gifted them to all the german friends we had made over time. Not only were they stunned with the gesture, they were equally appreciative of our christmas tradition and relished the same. In return, one of the families gifted us with home made truffles. While we live in the land of Lindt and Nestle, the world famous European chocolates, I was taken aback by how delicious home made truffles tasted. Honestly, as I mentioned, we need no reason to make them at home cause when it comes to chocolate, we do get the best. But curiosity got hold of me and I was more than tempted to give a shot to making them myself. 

This is a german recipe which I have tried from one of the many german magazines that I have begun to buy. What surprises me is the use of our spices in so many german christmas preparations. While cinnamon and cardamom are used on a regular basis in our Indian cooking, germans tend to use them more in their christmas baking. 

These truffles are easy to make, taste real good and when wrapped in delicate film with a catching ribbon to go, it does make for a great christmas gift. While the original recipe called for the truffles to be dusted with cocoa powder, we found it to be bitter, hence I used dessicated coconut to roll them in. 

Ingredients:

• 1 vanilla bean
• 175 ml whipped cream
• 2" cinnamon sticks
• 2 cardamoms
• 1 star anise
• 150gm white couverture chocolate
• 250 gm milk couverture chocolate
• 80 gm soft butter
• a bowl of desiccated coconut

Method:

1. Slit the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds carefully. In a thick bottomed vessel, mix the cream along with the vanilla seeds and bean too(after you have scraped the bean do not discard it). Add the cinnamon sticks, cardamoms and star anise. Bring the mixture to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and keep it aside so that the spices are infused into the cream well.
3. Meanwhile chop the white and milk chocolate into smaller pieces with a sharp knife. Place them in a deep bowl(preferably glass)
4. Strain the infused cream. Discard the spices, and bring the cream once again to a boil.
5. Pour the hot cream into the chopped chocolate. Keep stirring till the cream and chocolate are melted and mixed together well.
6. Wrap the bowl in a cling film and refrigerate it for 5 hours.
7. After 5 hours, add the melted butter to the chocolate mixture and stir well. If the mix is too hard, use your hands. Refrigerate it for another hour.
8. Line a flat tray with butter paper. Remove the chocolate mix. Scoop out small mounds of the mass and roll it against your palms to form small sized truffles. Roll the truffles in the dessicated coconut and arrange them on the tray. Use up all the chocolate mix. You should be able to make around 60 truffles.
9. They keep well for up to a week in the refrigerator. Before serving, bring them to room temperature.

Note: If you are unable to find couverture chocolate you can replace it with ordinary chocolate.

Choco Almond cookies

So the big fluffy flakes finally fell upon us or rather whole of Germany. Too bad for the kids who were eagerly waiting to go sleighing. The hubby and I have been taking turns falling ill with the normal fever and cold. I guess we are growing old hence our bodies are taking time to adjust to the onset of winter. For me this is just the wrong month to be even lying in bed. With the umpteen jobs to be done, I really had to get better soon. It was hard convincing the kids though that we needed to stay indoors. We had to be content watching the snow flakes fall gently. 

Today's batch of cookies is the one I first began my advent baking experiment with. According to the kids, they rate number one in the entire batch of baking I have done so far. The reason being the secret ingredient - CHOCOLATE. You really can't separate the two, Kids and chocolate, can you? Not only did the experimental batch get over soon, over the next few days, as they munched on the different varieties, a small question would be heard every now and then "When are you going to bake the chocolate ones again?". Bake I did, only to promptly store them all in my new christmas tins and hide them from the hungry mouths. This mommy needs a break, truly!! and the cookies will come out of hiding just in time for Christmas!! :D

Ingredients:

• 100 g dark chocolate
• 30 g cocoa powder
• 100 g hazelnuts with skin, powdered
• 100 g almonds with skin, powdered
• 50 g almonds peeled and chopped into fine bits
• 200 g powdered sugar + for rolling the dough(optional)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tsp clove powder
• 2 egg whites
• 1 tsp almond essence
• Halved almonds to garnish

Method:

1. Grate the chocolate fine.
2. Beat the egg whites till creamy(not until they are stiff peaks).
3. In a bowl mix the cocoa powder, powdered hazelnut and almond, chopped almonds, powdered sugar, cinnamon and clove powders. Add the grated chocolate and mix very well.
4. Add the beaten egg whites and almond essence. Knead well to form a tight dough. If the dough is not tight enough add more almond powder ( I didn't need any).
5. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours.
6. Line a baking tray with baking paper. 
7. On a clean surface, sprinkle some sugar and roll out the dough. With the help of a knife cut into small squares( 1" x 1"). Place halved almonds on each square and line them neatly on the baking tray.
8. Preheat the oven to 200 C.
9. Bake the cookies on the middle rack for 8 to 10 minutes(At 8 minutes they are chewy which Ms A loves and a little more time makes them crisp and nutty which the remainder of us like).
10. Remove, let cool. Once completely cool, store them in an air tight tin.

With this, I am done with the german cookie recipes. Next on my to bake list is the rich plum cake and my heart desires to make the mangy kidiyos and neuris. Keeping my fingers crossed to achieve all of the above.

Ginger cashew cookies

I do not know if the season of advent stresses you out, but it does to me. So much to do, so little time. I am kind of waiting to tick of all the jobs on my to do list. These were the next batch of cookies I made last week. Husband loved them, the kids were kind of neutral, maybe because they preferred the Zimtsterne and butter cookies to these. I will be baking more of them the following week.

Ingredients:

• 100 g brown sugar
• 70 g butter
• 2 egg yolks
• 150 gm finely chopped cashew nuts
• 70 g all purpose flour sieved
• 100 g finely chopped candied ginger
• 1/2 tsp dry ginger powder

Method:

1. Beat well the sugar and butter together.
2. Add the yolks of the egg one at a time and continue beating.
3. Add the finely chopped cashew nuts, candied ginger, flour, and ginger powder.
4. Knead together to form a smooth dough.
5. Wrap in a cling foil film and refrigerate for half an hour.
6. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 170 C
7. Form small sized balls(roughly a medium sized marble), flatten them slightly to look like above and place them in neat rows on the tray.
8. Place a cashew nut on each of the cookie.
9. Bake the cookies for around 10 to 12 minutes till they are golden brown. Be careful not to burn.
10. Remove them and let them cool well. Store in an air tight jar. 

Notes:

• When you remove the cookies out, they will feel soft. They are supposed to be that way. As they cool, they get hard.
• The above batch makes about 50 cookies.

Zimtsterne - German cookies

I am doing a happy jingle today. Cause I got these cinnamon stars just right!! Or rather the icing, PERFEKT!! The last time I made them was over 2 years ago. Then, I referred to an english version of the cookies. Since then, I have come a long away. It shows in the cookies themselves. Being able to read and also understand the german language(especially recipes) has helped me tremendously!! 

While I thought there was only one recipe with almonds for the Zimtsterne, the Advent baking book of mine told me something else. There were different kinds of recipes for the same star, some with different spices, some with a different kind of icing, and others with a mix of nuts(which today's recipe is). 

To tell you the truth, I do not know why these cookies are called Zimtsterne. Zimt means cinammon and sterne means stars. The sterne part is explainable, but zimt ?? As you dig into these cookies, you get the slightest hint of spice, what is dominant though is the nutty, chewy texture of almonds.I guess some things just remain at that with no explanation..:-)
Coming back to the recipe, I followed the ingredients mentioned in my book, a mix of hazelnut and almond powders. For the method, I went against what I read in both the book and the internet. As we go along, will tell you why I decided to do it differently.

Ingredients:

For the cookie dough:

• 2 egg whites
• 150 gm powdered sugar.
• 150 gm almonds with skin, powdered 
• 150 gm hazelnuts with skin, powdered 
• 1/2 tbsp cinnamon powder
• 1/2 tbsp orange peel
• salt to taste

For the icing:

• 1 egg white
• 100 gm powdered sugar.

Method:
For the cookies:

1. Beat the egg whites and powdered sugar together till you get soft snowy peaks.
2. In a bowl, mix the hazelnut and almond powders along with the salt, cinnamon and orange peel.
3. Add the beaten egg mixture slowly to the above and knead together to form a dough(pictured above).
4. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate it for an hour.
5. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
6. Sprinkle powdered sugar on a clean surface and flatten the dough to 1/4" thickness(or less). 
7. Cut out stars and neatly arrange them on the tray(pictured above).
8. Bake for 20 minutes at 150 C. 
9. Take them out and let them cool. 
10. Prepare the icing by beating together the egg white and the powdered sugar. The mixture should be thick.
11. Apply the icing on the cookies with the help of a spoon(I used the back of a small baby spoon to spread out the icing on each star pictured above).
12. The icing should set in about 20 to 30 minutes.
13. Store the cookies in an air tight jar. Can be kept for upto 2 weeks.

Notes:

1. 99% of the recipes apply the icing before baking the cookies. Why I decided to try this method was with the past experience of having done the same and not resulting in pretty cookies. A comment from fellow blogger Shireen as to how she did it and stumbling upon a video which supported her theory I decided to give this method a try. Since the above icing is nothing but royal icing, the cookies taste equally good and you can keep them for upto 2 weeks.
2. If you would like to bake the cookies along with the icing,  after step 7, apply the icing on the stars and bake them at 150 C for 20 minutes. Take care that the icing does not get brown. 
3. If you would like to prepare zimtsterne with almonds, then simply skip the hazelnut powder and use 300 gm of almond powder instead.

Delicate butter cookies

I have begun experimenting with german goodies on a small scale. Last year as I was attending a german course, to help myself get acquainted with the language I decided to read and understand recipes. Call it strange, but I love reading cookbooks and I thought what better way to try understanding a new language. Over time the first cook book I purchased was Backin im Advent(Baking in Adevnt). As the need for the google translator decreased I found myself getting excited at the prospect of just being able to understand simple recipes. 

The germans use their ovens a lot and I do mean A LOT!!! If I am right, the use of their cooktop(our cooking range) is minimal. Most of my local friends are surprised that most of us Indians may or may not have an oven in our homes. If they were to see the teeny tiny one I have in India, it surely would give their hearts quite a flutter..:D 

The first year we celebrated the season of advent in Germany I was amazed at the variety of christmas goodies. Cookies of different sizes, shapes and colour, truffles, pralines, gingerbread men and to go along with it the warm spiced glühwein. Even more surprising was that almost all the households baked their own treats. I found that very hard to believe cause that meant the germans baked REAL GOOD.

(For the commotion from the trio behind me, I did a pretty good job with the pictures!! Note to self: No more food photography when the family is home)

This year I have decided to along with the german trend of baking my christmas sweets. It's healthier and much easier. I will be baking the traditional Indian plumcake and if time permits the much loved kidiyo..:-) 

Coming back to my experiments, this particular book has more than 100 recipes. Surely I am not going to bake them all. I shortlisted around 10 of them and decided to try them when and as time was available. Depending on how good they went with the family, I would then prepare them on a larger scale. Last week I tried the first recipe, Almond Choco cookies, about 50 of them. In less than 24 hours they were over. I vowed that I would be baking them next only a few days before Christmas cause at the rate the family went I think I should camp next to the oven!!!

The next in line were these butter cookies. If not for repeated pleas to slow down you wouldn't be seeing this recipe too..:D Trust me, they are so good, you won't regret baking them.

(The autumn sun which shows itself rarely rending its glow on the buttery cookies)

Ingredients:

• 250 gm white flour/maida
• 100 gm sugar
• 1 tsp candied orange peel
• 125 gm cold butter(it shouldn't have melted)
• 2 egg yolks
• cookie cutters

Method:

1. Sieve the flour. Cut the butter into small sized cubes.
2. In a bowl mix together the flour, sugar, orange peel and cubed butter. Add the egg yolks, mix and knead well to form a soft dough*. 
3. Wrap the dough in cling film and refrigerate it for 2 hours.
4. Line a flat baking tray with baking paper. Heat the oven to 170 C.
5. On a clean platform, sprinkle a little bit of flour. Roll out the dough(roughly 3 to 4mm thick). With your cookie cutters cut the shapes and place them on the baking tray. Do not crowd the tray.
6. Keep shaping the cookies till you finish the dough.
7. Bake them for 15 to 20* minutes till golden yellow.
8. Remove them and let them cool.
9. ENJOY.

Note:

1. When you begin kneading it kind of resembles bread crumbs. Keep going with your fingers and the dough comes along beautifully.
2. The baking time is dependant on your oven. The original recipe called for 10 minutes baking time. In that time my cookies were looking exactly the same as when I had placed them in. The perfect timing for my batch was 18 minutes. What I would suggest is for you to keep watch as they are baking and use your judgement to remove them out.
3. The above recipe makes 45 to 50 cookies.

May's Christmas Cake.

The cake's baked and yes, it is named after me. I know I am late in baking the X'mas cake, but am glad that nevertheless I managed to bake it before a week. I hunted around quite a bit for the perfect recipe. There were so many to choose from, so finally what I did was use my judgement based on all that I had read and turned out with my very own X'mas cake. It has turned out awesome, am afraid that it will not last beyond 2 days, let alone christmas. Knowing my family, I luckily baked two....one to distribute to friends and the other for us!! Hopefully they do not start digging into the second one....

     I thought I would do the posting tonight itself, lest I forget what went into the recipe. To begin with, I soaked the raisins and peel in rum for a good whole two months!! Yes, they went into soaking in October..:) Here's how they looked after soaking in all the rum.

So here's how I went about.

Ingredients:

• 500 gms raisins
• 300 gm citrus peel
• 250 gm candied cherry
• 500 ml rum or brandy
• 300 gm butter
• 4 eggs
• 1 and a half cup flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup apricot or plum jam
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp dry ginger powder
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg powder
• 1/2 cup dates
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or almonds

Method :

1. Combine raisins, peel and candied cherries in a medium sized bowl. Pour in brandy or rum and leave at room temperature overnight, a week, a month or more..:)
2. Grease a loaf pan or round tin with 2 layers of parchment paper. Drain soaked fruits reserving the liquid. 
3. Sift flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and baking powder into a bowl. Preheat oven to 150 degree celcius.
4. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat until combined.
5. Add the flour mixture and jam. Beat until well combined.
6. Stir in the soaked fruits and almonds or walnuts. Mix well.
7. You can divide this mixture into two tins(as I have done) or bake a whole cake. Spread the mixture into prepared tin. Bake in oven for 90 minutes or till a wooden pick comes out clean.
8. Allow cake to cool in pan. When cooled, remove cake from pan. Peel off parchment paper. Brush reserved liquid all over the cake. Wrap with parchment paper followed by aluminum foil. Seal cake in food storage bag and allow to age till christmas..:) Brush cake once a week with rum or brandy.

Note: As of now, quarter of our cake is over. So it looks like, I will be following step 8 to the cake which is reserved for presenting.

The above picture is after applying the rum marinade. This cake is wrapped and stored in the fridge till christmas. Will post some more pictures in a week, once the cake is cut.

Linking this post to the december carnival on  The Key Bunch. Come and see what all the fun is about!!!

Christmas Cake Blondies.

    
How does the spirit of Christmas feel in your home?? This side it is getting crazier by the day..... Decorating, choir practices, ensembles, entertaining, plays and not to forget baking!!! So, without any story telling, here's what I prepared over the weekend in anticipation of my cousin's visit. The recipe is from the christmas collection of Good Housekeeping magazine.

You need :

• 2 cups mixed dried fruit, bigger pieces chopped(raisins, currants, sultanas, apricots, figs, citrus peel, candied cherries)
• 1 cup rum or brandy
• 1 and a half cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 150 gm unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips( I used white chocolate cut into small pieces)
• 3/4 cup chopped almonds or walnuts.

Method:

1. Marinate dried fruits in rum, stirring now and then, for at least 6 hours or overnight (I soaked for 24 hours).
2. Preheat oven to 175 degrees celsius. Meanwhile grease and dust a 9 inch square baking tin.
3. Drain fruit and reserve marinade; set aside.
4. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
5. Cream together butter and both kinds of sugar until pale and thick, about 6 minutes with an electric whisk. Beat in egg, then yolk; whisk for 1 minute. Mix in chocolate chips, nuts and fruit. Fold in flour mixture until just combined -DO NOT BEAT!
6. Spoon into prepared tin and bake for 40-50 minutes or until top is golden brown and centre done but just moist.

7. Cool tin on wire rack for at least 30 minutes, before cutting into 16 squares. To serve, pour reserved rum marinade over as sauce and garnish with chopped dried fruit.

Eat like a German...Zimtsterne

Snow has fallen, X'mas trees decorated, lights are up......and I am sure, the german homes have begun baking too( I do get the aroma of freshly baked cookies when walking by some homes). As I had mentioned in my previous post, I am keen on preparing a few german goodies. The supermarkets are all loaded with oh so many baking ingredients, it would be a pity if I never tried out something different.  When this particular recipe came up on the Live like a german website, I thought it would be the ideal cookie to start with.

     Zimtsterne or Cinnamon stars are classic German Christmas cookies. The mixture of almond and cinnamon dough are rolled out and cut into star shapes and maybe topped with white sugar icing. I was a apprehensive when trying these out, cause it was my first time with cookies. To my surprise they turned out awesome(though they didn't look as good, got to improvise on it though..)

Ingredients :

• 300g almonds with skin
• 3 egg whites
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 250g powdered sugar
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• Powdered sugar for rolling
• 1 tbsp vanilla sugar or few drops vanilla essence

Method :

1. Grind the almonds with skin to a fine powder.
2. Beat the egg whites along with the lemon juice till very stiff.
3. Gradually add the sugar, mixing well until fully dissolved.
4. Reserve three fourth of this mixture aside.
5. To the remaining mixture, fold in the ground almonds, cinnamon and vanilla essence.
6. Cover and allow to sit in a cool place for 30 minutes.
7. Heat the oven to 150 degrees celsius. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Sift powdered sugar over a working surface.
9. Roll out half the dough to approximately quarter inch thick.
10. Cut into stars using a star shaped cookie cutter.
11. Place the stars on the baking tray. Brush them with the set aside egg white mixture. Take care that it does not dribble down to the sides.
12. Bake stars on the lower and middle racks for 25 minutes, switching the sheets about halfway through baking time.

The above recipe makes 36 cookies. If you have a family like mine who gobbles up the cookies the moment they are out from the oven, then you need to definitely bake more or time your baking accordingly.