Applecake

Apfelkuchen! There, it needed to be said. How does one take the most simple of ingredients and, with equally simple preparation, produce the most delightfully down-to-earth treat ever? Apfelkuchen, or Applecake, is the answer.

With the plethora of apples spilling over the shelves of any market you go to at this time of year, and their rainbow of colors and patterns, we have been seduced into making all sorts of treats. Whether it's apple pancakes (see our previous post), apple crisp, quartered apples smeared with peanut butter, overnight muesli with fresh apples, or just sinking your teeth into a crisp, juicy, sweet or tart, flavorful (insert your favorite kind of) apple, we're on it!

This recipe was so quick to throw together and was met with such great reviews that Jen is considering throwing it into the Thanksgiving mix this year... And you know we take these decisions pretty seriously.

So you start with three bowls. One small one to mix together the brown sugar and butter topping - don't forget to bring your butter to room temperature in advance! (Bonus: If you are avoiding dairy you can totally use Earth Balance, or your dairy-free butter of choice, and almond milk. Voila!) One medium bowl for your eggs and milk. One large bowl (or oversized measuring cup) for your dry ingredients.

We like to keep in mind, the simpler the recipe, the more important the quality of ingredients. Which is really a win-win situation.

We reduced the amount of sugar called for by 2/3 cups, since we had sweet apples instead of tart and we like the flavor of our awesome ingredients to take center-stage over the sugar. We were a bit concerned, with the science of baking and all, that the texture might suffer.... We actually considered that this might be our first fail. But fail, we did not!

It certainly helped a lot in the preparation process that Jen has this crazy contraption that peels and slices apples all in one whirl (Tara will have one someday too, see the video on our sauerkraut recipe and prepare to be amazed), but grab a friend and a couple of paring knives and we're sure that part of the prep process will fly by with good conversation.

Once you've mixed the wet ingredients into the dry, you'll find that it is a pretty thick batter that needs to be spread evenly with a spatula, and that's ok. Then, if you are as OCD as we are, you will lay out your apple slices in a perfect mosaic pattern and realize you have way too many apples for that and dump the rest on, spreading evenly with your spatula. Last, dot your very moist, not crumbly and dry at all, topping all over the top.

The recipe suggests to eat this warm out of the oven, and we are not arguing. But this is a fairly large cake, good for a crowd, and if there are four of you it is likely you will have leftovers. Eat them for breakfast. Yes, we're serious. This is a sturdy, pastry-like cake and with our reduction in sugar it is perfectly but not overly sweet. Great for dessert AND breakfast (or lunch!), as Rob and GK would attest to. Go on, ask them!

We also had a moment of thinking that the delicious sour cream sauce from the apple pancakes would be sooo good with this cake. Not that it needs anything else. But come on, that sauce?!

Oh, one last thing... We used vanilla almond milk, which was divine. It is completely acceptable to use any plain milk of your choosing, but we strongly suggest throwing in a teaspoon of vanilla extract or scraping some vanilla beans into the mix. We think that flavor really took it over the top and the recipe might be a bit plain without it.

Happy mixing!

Chilled Raspberry Pudding

We have another pretty, fresh seasonal berry-filled dessert to share with you which has a unique texture thanks to the addition of tapioca, and it is truly bursting with flavor. 

Grandma's recipe called for Port, something neither of us had ever tried before much less purchased. We opted for the bottle below as it was the cheapest and we didn't want to spend a lot on something we weren't sure we would care for left over. Port is a heavy, sweet dessert wine (makes sense in this context!) and it really wasn't too bad if you're into that kind of thing. We kinda like it. Would it be a sin to say it might even be good over ice, kinda like Sangria without any work (or fruit)? At least the cheap stuff?

Anyways... When you check out the recipe you'll see it calls for quick-cooking tapioca. We like to make things more difficult for ourselves though, both for the sake of authenticity and to help educate ourselves and our readers. And it just really is kind of a fun challenge to test our skills in this way. So we bought the real stuff, which had to be soaked overnight. We did not have to adjust the recipe in any other way and it worked great! Those little suckers soaked up so much raspberry goodness, contributing to the overall effect of raspberry flavor bursting in our mouths!

The recipe also calls for frozen berries, but we are still at the tail end of raspberry season down here in So. Cal. and we love to use fresh ingredients whenever possible. Just look at those beauties!

We decided to reduce the amount of sugar in both the pudding and the whipped cream, which we think turned out to be the perfect amount, really allowing the flavor of the berries to shine. You can always adjust the sweetness to suit your own taste. This may actually be necessary as some berries are more tart and some are more sweet.

The last little experiment we tried was to use an immersion blender to make the whipped cream, and holy schnitz! It was whipped in like 2.5 seconds! In fact, Tara wasn't convinced it was possible for cream to whip that fast and perhaps overwhipped the cream. It was a bit dry... So, moral of the story: If you want to try this method, please believe your eyes no matter how impossible what you see may seem.

Otherwise, the pudding firmed up nicely and was really so very tasty. We like to think it's kind of a healthy dessert, if such a thing exists. After all, tapioca is all natural and derived from cassava root and the main ingredient is raspberries, those brilliant antioxidant and vitamin rich little delights. And a bit of sugar in moderation keeps us happy. Happy is healthy.

We have to say, we are just so impressed with Grandma's Cookbook - we haven't had a dud yet! (Knock on wood. Seriously. Please?)

Adieu,

Strawberry Bavarian Cream

Willkommen to Ms. Shnitzel’s first ever blog post!  

We decided to start on a sweet note for a couple of reasons.  First of all, this dessert is just too pretty to hold back!  More importantly, strawberries are still in season here in California (depending on what source you choose to believe, but our strawberries were absolutely perfect).  That season will sadly soon be over, so we wanted to showcase this delightful fruit while we still can. 

Did you know that strawberries are not technically berries?  We know, shocking.  But Google it, it’s true!  Berry or not, this dessert which was so aptly described by Jen as “a strawberry cloud” in her mouth was a hit with all four of the mouths that tasted it. 

And now, on to the recipe.  We decided to cut the original recipe in half and we're glad that we did.  Our adaptation made six generous portions, and it should be noted that the “cloud” texture really comes through after that first night in the fridge.  The cream is still delicious over the following few days, but it definitely loses some of it's fluffy texture and the strawberry liquid starts to separate from the cream.  It can obviously be stirred back in, but be warned: it’s not quite the same.  So eat it up, and keep how many people you are serving in mind to determine which recipe proportions to use.

If you were looking closely, you might have noticed a discrepancy in the proportion of sugar we used.  No, it’s not because we have a super-sweet-tooth... quite the opposite actually.  When we got to the sugar, we were so busy taking photos that we forgot to cut it in half and thought we were using less sugar than the recipe called for!  Fortunately for us, it was still delicious and not overly sweet, but feel free to cut back to ½ cup if you are following our adaptation.

Now, start hulling your (non)berries!

Schnitzel Notes: 

* mint is a really nice touch of flavor, chiffonade your garnish and throw it in! 
* we used a stick blender and roughly pureed to leave chunks of strawberries
* this could work with frozen strawberries in a pinch...let us know if you try it?
* try this as a fruit dip with your fruit of choice..YUM!