This, my dear readers, is a very Canadian recipe though it comes from a very German cook book. I love it when you can tweak recipes to make them your own. I should do more things like that, more experiments so to speak.
The original recipes is with walnuts, but since I had none I just used pecans. They are pretty close to walnuts but have a less walnutty flavour. I find walnuts always a bit too bitter, so pecans work much better for me.
Give me a drum roll please! Here it comes! The one and only Leipiger Lerche (Leipzig Lark) recipes is finally here. I have already shared enough cupcake recipes, like this, this, and this. But up until now I had no real occasion to make the other half of my blog title: Leipziger Lerchen. It’s like, well, actually there is nothing I can compare it with. See for yourself.
For some, making a cake can be challenging because they never baked before, or think making a cake is difficult. I encourage you to try it and maybe start with a box mix (though I am not a fan it is nice for someone who just starts). The next step after a simple cake is a) a more difficult cake (lets say with layers) or a themed cake for a specific party. It can be scary at times because it seems so complicated. Melissa from “The Party Works” was so kind to write a little post about how a themed cake can be very simple.
Almost looks like ice cream.
Making desserts for parties is always fun, especially when you have a themed party. Remember the the Lalaloopsy Cake Pops? Those were for a Lalaloopsy birthday party and a lot of fun to do (besides the amount of work of course). A while ago a cousin asked me if I would make some cupcakes for her daughter’s birthday party. The theme was Carnival. Oh my! What to do with that? I immediately thought of colours of course, fun and something different. A little bit of browsing the internet and thinking about what my cupcake cook books had in store I found the recipe.
Chocolate, fruit and whipped cream…what else do you need?
Last Sunday was crazy with two parties to attend and to cater to. The first party was a birthday part with a carnival theme (post will follow), the second party was a bridal shower. Now, we don’t really do bridal showers in Germany. We have a party for everyone before the wedding, e.g. wedding eve party. Your friends and family come together and bring gifts, have a good time, smash some porcelain for good luck and just celebrate. Since I am not too familiar with bridal showers I was wondering what to do. First question for the bride to be: What do you want?
What do you do with left over egg whites? You make meringue of course, and I am not talking about lemon meringue pie, I am talking about meringue “cookies”. It sometimes happen that I have egg whites left over, for example during Christmas baking, or Easter baking. One of my Easter recipes, which I still haven’t shared, uses 9 egg yolks. NINE! Sure, you can just toss out the egg whites but what a waste that would be.
I think there are several recipes that are the kings and queens of recipes. Croissants and puff pastry belong to that category because it is a long, time consuming, “If I do this wrong it is ruined” process. However, I wouldn’t be me if I wouldn’t try it. I said it before and I will say it again: most recipes I make I have never done before and I have no clue if they will turn out. Lucky for me they do turn out all the time. (I don’t want to brag, I am surprised myself.) So, last Monday I boldly ventured into the kings/queens land of baking recipes and took on the challenge to make french croissants simply because I have nothing else to do on a Easter Monday.
Helene’s Easter Cookies
May I introduce to you: Helene. She won the Easter Giveaway Contest and was quite excited about the cookie cutter from the beginning. They arrived in New Zealand on time and she sent me a pictures of her cookie. So I asked her if she would be so kind to write a guest post for the blog. She had the same thought and was happy to write something for me. Here is her thoughts on baking, cookies and blog entries.
The chocolate chips are hiding.
There is one more Easter treat I will share with you, however, first I have a classical cookie for you. (I know that Easter baking is a bit late now but a) I was busy and b) I am not one of those who bakes a month beforehand.) This is the first cookie I ever made in Canada. Basically, my husband urged me to make them, he’s a fan, major fan. As he said while I made them: “Best cookie evaaaa!” Love my hubby, he has his real funny moments once in a while. The Oatmeal cookie is another classic I shall say in North America. My husband likes his with chocolate chips.
German Easter Wreath
Every Thursday I am teaching German in a German Language School. My class is the Level 2, which means the kids are between 8 and 12. There is also Level 1, Level 3 and a high school class. The Level 1 teacher usually bakes a bunny (yeast dough) for her class to explain what Germans do for Easter. This time, however, she was somewhat sick and not really able to bake something. I pitched in and made the Easter Wreath.
Baking in Saskatoon 