German Fest Recipe Tutorial: Apple Cake (Apfelkuchen)

As I said on my Facebook page, the last couple of days have been pretty hard for our family. We celebrated my dear sweet mother-in-law’s 67th birthday yesterday, and today we celebrated the four year anniversary of her leaving us. I decided to show my love for her through something she loved so much and loved to share with her kids and everyone around her… Food.

Photo Courtesy of Aleta Sanford

I can’t remember a time (up until the very last) when she wasn’t in the kitchen, whipping up something fabulous. Whether it was one of the many yummy desserts she made or a pot of her famous potato soup, she loved cooking. She even made my wedding cake (and the other three cakes we had)!

She was an amazing woman. She danced in the ballet prior to having kids. She traveled all over Europe and then landed in the US to raise my wonderful sister-in-law and my terrific husband.

Photo Courtesy of Aleta Sanford

And she loved her grandbabies. Absolutely adored the ground they walked on. And they loved their BooGoo. Loved everything about her and still do.

Photo Courtesy of Aleta Sanford

Anyways. I’m going to get pigfaced here before I even begin.

One of the first German foods my mother-in-law made me was her Apple Cake (or Apfelkuchen). I am not a big apple fan. I just never really liked apples. I’m a weirdo, ok?

OK Get all your ingredients together and preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease up a spring form pan and put it on a cookie sheet with sides. Trust me, you’ll need that pan.

You’ll also need a couple of key ingredients. One is Dr. Oetker’s Vanilla Sugar, which you can get on Amazon.com and you’ll also need what the recipe calls Lemon Essence. You can get it at Amazon.com also, but I found that a very SMALL amount of lemon extract will do the same.

Beat your margarine (mutti always used margarine in recipes, never butter) and sugars until combined and fluffy.

Scrape the sides of the bowl and add your eggs, one at a time and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds after each addition. Also add your lemon essence or extract.

OM NOM NOM

Add your flour, alternating with milk.

Ahhh my good ole mixer and me.

And beat a little more.

Pour your batter into the prepared pan and glory in its wonderfulness.

Get your apples ready. Or peel one and then have your hubs push you outta the way to finish them “The right way”.

He’s so damned cute. What you can’t see is that his tongue is sticking out lol.

Fan out the apples in a decorative fashion, or just push them in wherever. Doesn’t really matter. Well it would to my mother-in-law lol.

Melt some butter and stare at it longingly.

Then pour it over the batter and apples. EHRMERGERD.

Put it in the oven. And wait. The waiting is horrible. Because soon your house will be filled with apple-y goodness and your mouth will start watering.

Take the cake out of the oven and pop the ring. Let cool (or serve warm, it doesn’t matter)

Cut it into wedges and sprinkle with powdered sugar and consume mass quantities.

This is seriously the most fabulous cake ever. Serve it with a good cup of German coffee and enjoy.

Please let me know if you try this recipe. It would mean a lot!

Recipe

Apple Cake

Topping

1/2 c butter or margarine

3 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced

Cake

2 sticks butter or margarine

1 c Sugar

1 pinch salt

1 pkg Vanilla Sugar

2-3 drops lemon essence or extract

3 eggs

2 c Flour

2 tsp baking powder

3-4 tsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease spring form pan and place on cookie sheet.

Beat softened margarine. Add sugar, vanilla sugar, salt and lemon extract. Add one egg at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each egg.

Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients alternating milk and flour until all is combined.

Spoon into pan, arrange sliced apples on top and pour over melted margarine.

Bake 45 minutes until golden brown.

Recipe Corner: Baklava

My favorite time of year is just after fall hits… When it’s still warm enough outside to get out and do yard work in your capris and shirt sleeves but not warm enough to heat up the inside when you bake, creating an inferno-like situation. As soon as this happens I whip out a piece of paper and begin my fall/winter baking lists.

Right at the top of the lists is Baklava. I got this recipe a few years ago from my Scentsy lead and I’ve been making it ever since. It’s addictive… You think about it at weird times during the summer when it’s incredibly too hot to have the oven on for 55 minutes and stand at a stove for 20… You dream about it… You salivate like Homer does when he talks about donuts.

So I will show you how to make my heavenly baklava. It’s easier than you think, so don’t be daunted. Embrace that which is baklava. It will change your life forever. As always, recipe will be after the tutorial!

For the Baklava you’ll need a 9x13 inch pan. Grease it up good with cooking spray. You’ll also need a roll of fillo dough and a moist tea towel to keep it moist. This is very important. If you don’t keep the dough moist, it will crack and tear and just be a bear to work with. I also have over there a bowl with a silicone brush, some real butter and a knife. And what’s not pictured… Pecans and cinnamon. Oh and you’ll need the recipe… And your cellphone if you just can’t seem to be separated from the stupid thing (like me).

Finely chop or kinda ground your nuts. You can use walnuts, but I use pecans because I don’t care for walnuts anymore. Add your cinnamon, stir it around til the pecans are coated.

Add one (two sheet) layer of fillo dough, slather it with melted butter. Repeat until you have like eight sheets layered with butter in between.

Sprinkle your pecans on. Top with two sheets of buttered fillo dough and continue with one of the pecans, two more of the fillo, until you have all the pecans gone. Finish up with a layer around 6-8 layers thick.

Like this. Cover the top with melted butter.

Here’s the tricky part. Using a sharp knife, cut the baklava into squares. Cause believe me. It’ll be too hot right out of the oven, then too sticky after you put the syrup on. This way it’s already cut and all that yummy syrup can seep into the cracks. If you want to be fancy and cut your stuff into squares, you can go right ahead and do that. But I’m not fancy, and this stuff is a PAIN in the butt to work with. Trust me. LOL

Now you put the baklava in the oven and wait and wait and wait and wait. You may die waiting. And your house will smell FABULOUS!!! Like you want to bottle it up and get high off it fabulous.

While you’re salivating over the smell of the baklava cooking, you can get your syrup going. You’ll need a heavy saucepan, honey, vanilla, white sugar, and water.

Combine all that and simmer for 20 minutes.

Get your baklava out after the 50 minutes has elapsed and it’s golden brown and beautiful. Revel in its loveliness.

Then CAREFULLY and SLOWLY pour the super hot syrup over the baklava. You’ll have to do it in stages… And be careful not to float the tops off the baklava. Or if you do… You can just eat them…

Then you wait until it cools slightly. I usually wait until I think the fear of incinerating my tongue has passed. This year it wasn’t to be. I ended up burning the crapholies out of my tastebuds, but man it was so worth it! Tasted soooo good.

So here’s the recipe:

Breazy’s Best Baklava

1 pound ground nuts (pecans, walnuts, etc)

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 sticks (or three) melted butter

1 pkg fillo dough, thawed and brought to room temp

Syrup

1 c Water

1 c white sugar

1/2 c honey

1/2 tsp vanilla

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray bottom and sides of a 9x13 pan.

Grind nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll fillo dough. Cover fillo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have eight sheets of layered dough. Sprinkle 2-3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. Continue until all the nuts are gone. Top layer should be about 6-8 layers thick.

Using a sharp knife, cut into diamond or square shapes all the way to the bottom of the pan. Bake for about 50 minutes until the baklava is golden and crisp.

Make sauce while baklava is baking. Boil sugar and water until sugar is melted. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.

Remove baklava from oven and immediately spoon sauce over it. Let cool. Freezes well. Leave it uncovered as it gets soggy if it’s wrapped up.

 

Now I haven’t frozen it yet. I’ve been tempted. But I don’t know whether it should be before it’s baked or after it’s baked? I’m just so scared of ruining some lol. It just costs soooooo much to buy a pound of pecans.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as my family and I do. If you make it and use a different kind of nuts, like hazelnuts or cashews, let me know!

Nini’s Perfect Pumpkin Bars

When I was younger, these bars were ehhh… I didn’t really care for pumpkin… In bar or pie form. I don’t know why. But now that I’m older I CRAVE these bars and pretty much anything pumpkin in origin from September 1st on LOL
These are no exception. My mom has been making them since I was little. It was a recipe she got when she worked in law enforcement and I have to say they’re the bomb.

Nini’s Perfect Pumpkin Bars

Day Two: Here I've waited my whole life for you, and now you don't even want me. 

2 c. Flour

2 c. sugar

2 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Baking Soda

2 tsp. Ground Cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Ground Cloves

1/4 tsp. Ground Ginger

4 eggs, beaten

2 c. Pureed Pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling; regular pumpkin puree)

1 c. Cooking Oil

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. In separate bowl combine eggs, pumpkin and oil until combined. Add in dry ingredients in increments to mix in thouroughly. Spread batter into an ungreased 15x10x1 inch jelly roll pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack. Frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

6oz Cream Cheese softened

3/4 of a stick of butter, softened

2 tsp. of Vanilla

3 to 3 1/2 c. Powdered Sugar

In bowl, mix cream cheese, butter and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar; beat well after each addition. If frosting is too thick, add small amounts of milk to thin it out.

You can sprinkle pecan pieces (or walnuts) over the top of the frosting. Or add it to the frosting itself. We’ve done it both ways and love it.

Cut, eat and enjoy!!!

Recipe Corner: Oh So Good Pie

This recipe was given to my mom a few years ago and has since became a quick family favorite. It’s quick, easy and as the title says: Oh So Good!

In a metal mixing bowl, beat your egg whites until they turn foamy.

After they turn foamy, add your sugar and mix until stiff peaks form.

Looks kinda like this.

Add your vanilla and mix a bit more.

Then add your Ritz crackers (yes, I said Ritz!) and fold in gently. Don’t stir like normal, you don’t want to beat out all the air in the meringue.

Then fold in your pecans. Yummmmm

Pour into an ungreased pie plate and put into the oven.

Lick the spoon, you know you want to.

This is what it looks like when it comes out of the oven. Top with cool whip and a sprinkling of pecans if you’d like.

And voila! A wonderfully sweet and salty holiday snack!

 

Oh So Good Pie

3 egg whites

3/4 c sugar

24 Ritz (a tube) crushed with a rolling pin until crushed fine

3/4 c pecans

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 carton Cool Whip for later.

Beat egg whites until stiff.

Add sugar and baking powder a little at a time while the mixer is going. Add your vanilla.

Fold in cracker crumbs and pecans. Heap into center of pie pan, it will spread out as it bakes.

Bake at 325 for 25 minutes and let pie cool completely. Add cool whip to top and sprinkle with pecans.

If any is left over, store it in the fridge.

Recipe: Pecan Pie Mini Muffins

To a person that doesn’t care for pumpkin much (except right now that’s all I can think of), this time of the year is indicative of few things. But one in particularly comes to mind. One of my mom’s most requested Fall/Winter treats… Pecan Pie Mini Muffins.

With all the richness and gooeyness of a real pecan pie in a way more transportable container, these mini muffins are what kick started my love affair with pecan pie in general. I fell in love with these, and fell in love with it’s namesake as well.

Start out with your melted butter and vanilla in your mixer bowl.

Set aside a bowl containing the flour, brown sugar and pecans.

Make sure your eggs are all whipped together and add it to the mixing bowl.

While it’s mixing, line a mini muffin tin with liners. You want to double up on liners. Why, you might ask? Because there’s very little flour in this super-rich recipe and so the butter will soak right through the muffin liners and create a huge mess when you eat them. It’s better to use two liners than not.

Oh… And eat some pecans. You have to do quality checks, right???

Combine all ingredients and let mix for a few minutes and let your mouth water.

THIS is the end result. *drool*

Using a cookie scoop, fill the muffin cups pretty full, as the muffins won’t rise a lot. You should be able to get 2 1/2 dozen out of one batch of mix.

Nice little uniformed soldiers of yumminess.

Then you need to bake, then wait to cool… Which is really hard, but believe me if you don’t wait just a little bit you’ll be missing the first two layers of skin on your tongue and the roof of your mouth.

And the end result is well worth the wait!

Yummmmm. Now onto the recipe! If y’all try this, let me know!

1 c. Brown Sugar

1/2 c. flour

1 c. Chopped Pecans

2/3 c. Butter (NO substitutes!), melted

2 eggs, beaten

1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line mini muffin pan with two liners each.

In a bowl, combine brown sugar, flour and pecans; set aside. In another bowl, combine melted butter and beaten eggs; mix well. Stir into flour mixture just until moistened. Fill greased and floured mini muffin cups 2/3 full.

Bake for 15-16 (usually around 16) minutes. Do not over bake. Remove immediately to wire rack to cool.