It’s been a while since I participated in Waiter! There’s something in my… This month the passionate cook asks for hot puds. The small portions from our Ham & Leek Cobbler yesterday longed for dessert. For my always hungry teenaged boys I served

Mini lemon curd sponge puddings

They didn’t last long, very delicious.

 
 
For the 3 ^rd time Anna of Anna’s Cool Finds asked for A taste of terroir.

I already mentioned that I live in the northernmost Bundesland of Germany, Schleswig-Holstein: The land between two seas, between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea. Until 1864 the northern part Schleswig belonged to Denmark, where the writer and lyricist Theodor Storm was born. One of his favourite dishes were Förtchen, in Danish Æbleskiver. He liked the German version so much, that he wrote a nursery rhyme about Futtjes, low German for Förtchen.

 
 
You need a special pan to bake Förtchen. My grandmother had a pan with 7 indentations for a gas stove, my mother in law has a large pan for a coal-fired stove like this. Meanwhile you can buy pans with plain bottoms for electrical stoves. I borrowed this pan for baking Förtchen

 
 
There are different batters for Förtchen in all regions of Schleswig-Holstein. This cookbook from 1920 has 5 different recipes for Förtchen. The book recommends a mixture of lard and butter. My grandmother always baked them with yeast and raisins, so did I.

The Förtchen are done if they look inside like this.

Link to the Æbleskiver recipe in German language

 
 
Annarasa chose „Festive Bread“ for the 15 ^th edition of Bread Baking Day. I baked a Pandoro for the Culinary Advent Calendar. Fortunately the festive season means the time around and including the Christmas and New Year holidays. So I baked a

New Year Pretzel

A pretzel is the symbol for infinity, it is understood as a good luck charm or blessing. In some regions of Germany sharing the New Year Pretzel with others promises luck and well-being.

-=========	REZKONV-Recipe – RezkonvSuite v1.4
Title:	New Year’s Pretzel
Categories:	Baking, Yeast
Yield:	1 Recipe

Ingredients

H			PREFERMENT
250	grams		Wheat flour 550, US: AP
200	grams		Milk ca. 30° C
7	grams		Dry yeast
			Or
25	grams		Fresh yeast
H			FINAL DOUGH
475	grams		Preferment
250	grams		Wheat flour 550, US: AP
5	grams		Baking malt
5	grams		Gluten
75	grams		Sugar
100	grams		Butter
100	grams		Egg, 2 large eggs
5	grams		Salt
1			Lemon, the peel, finely groung
H			GLAZING AND DECORATING
1			Egg, about 50 grams
			Hail sized sugar

Source

Backtag 1/2003

	Edited *RK* 12/31/2008 by
	Ulrike Westphal

Directions

For the preferment stir all the ingredients together and let rise for at least 40 minutes.

Final dough:

Prepare a smooth dough with all ingredients and let rest for 30 to 40 minutes.

Form a pretzel

Cover with a cloth and let rise well.

Mix egg with a pinch of salt and glaze the pretzel, Sprinkle with haile sized sugar.

Bake about 20 minutes in a preheated oven at 190 °C

=====

Already December 30 ^th and I haven’t post my gift from Second Annual Season’s Eatings
in English. Katie from Thyme for Cooking had this brilliant idea to organize a spice exchange.

I got a parcel from Judith, a retired teacher living now in Virginia, obiously with no blog. Originally she comes from Louisiana and so she send me

Cajun Seasoning,

manifactured in Baton Rouge and a recipe for Seafood Gumbo. Although we live in Schleswig-Holstein, the land between the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, my three gentlemen aren’t fond of seafood, especially of shrimps and crabs. Judith recommended also a chicken and sausage version, I cooked on December, 22 ^th as a Slow Cooker version.

Chicken & Sausage Gumbo

It was the first time I made a chocolate coloured roux, but it was worth the effort. Thank you Judith, we enjoyed it. I already thanked you by email, but obviously it ended in the spam or nirvana.

Katie, this was fun again, I can’t wait for the third edition, thanks a lot.

Boaz from Grainpower chose coloured breads for the 14 ^th editon of Bread Baking Day. The only limitation is that whatever gives the bread colour must be natural. No problem, I like the colour which

Hokkaido Pumpkins

give to the bread crumb. The whole family liked the

Pumpkin Seed Bread

I have already baked breads with pumpkin puree but neither this nor this had this wonderful colour.

Unfortunately I had to take a picture from the whole bread with artificial light.

The recipe is easy. I made a preferment from 125 g all-purpose flour (Weizenmehl 550) , 150 g water, 1/8 tsp dried yeast. About 16 h later I added 250 g pumpkin puree, 375 g all-purpose flour, 30 g toasted pumpkin seeds, 1 tsp. dried yeast and 10 g salt. Knead until the dough comes together and adjust the water or flour amount if necessary. Let rest until doubled in volume, form a boule and proof until a finger print doesn’t come out quick. Bake on a baking stone at 220°C for about 40 minutes until the internal temperatur reaches at least 90 °C.