German Apple Cake

German Apple Cake 

I was away recently, traveling through Germany and the Czech Republic, which means two things.

First, it was a great trip and I had a good time, learned a lot, saw a lot and met a lot of nice people.

Two, I gained weight.

Of course I gained weight. That’s what happens on a vacation.

Is it just me or does everyone add a few pounds this way?

I gained weight even though I walked probably 6-8 miles each day. Think of what would have happened if I taxi-ed all over the place!

But when you’re in a place that’s famous for its Apple Kuchen, schlag, dark beer and potatoes, well, you’re gonna gain weight. Especially if you like Apple Kuchen, schlag, dark beer and potatoes.

Which I do.

Okay, so I have to lose four pounds that got added on over 22 days.

But how do I do that when I felt absolutely compelled to try out recipes for Apple Kuchen?

Like the kind we had at a marvelous little coffee house in Potsdam.

The cake was tender and vaguely lemony, with a layer of soft baked sliced apples and crusted with mocha-brown crumbles of streusel.

Perfect.

Like this:

German Apple Cake

Streusel:

• 1/4 pound unsalted butter

• 1/4 cup granulated sugar

• 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Place the sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and nutmeg in a bowl and mix until well blended. Pour in the butter and blend it in. Let stand for 4-5 minutes, then crumble the mixture using your fingers. Set aside.

Cake:

• 1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 tablespoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel

• 2 large eggs

• 1 cup milk

• 2 tart apples (such as Granny Smith), peeled, cored and sliced

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make the streusel and set it aside. Lightly grease a 9-inch springform pan. Melt the butter and set it aside to cool. Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and lemon peel in the bowl of an electric mixer. In another bowl, combine the eggs, milk and melted butter. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry ones and stir only to combine: do not overbeat. Turn the batter into the prepared cake pan. Top with the apple slices. Cover with the streusel. Bake for about 45 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove the outer ring from the pan and let the cake cool completely.

Makes one cake

Bones and Vegetable Soup

A friend of mine, who is not Jewish, asked me how to make “real Jewish chicken soup.” I gave him my recipe, which he said was similar to his mother’s Italian version (except mine included dill).

But when I saw him a few days later he was dismayed about the soup. He said it tasted better than delicious but that when it was cold it got all gelled up and jiggly. His mother’s soup never did that.

Ah. Gelled liquid. The sign of great soup. Soup made with bones. Bones with collagen that melts slowly and surely and enriches the broth, giving it abundant, old fashioned flavor. Soup broth the way it’s supposed to be.

Memorable.

My friend was thrilled he hadn’t made a mistake. He smiled when I told him his soup was probably better than his mama’s.

Robbie’s success got me to thinking about making some soup of course. And fortunately I had just the right ingredients: chicken bones. Almost four pounds of them, from KOL Foods.

KOL Foods produces Glatt kosher poultry, beef and lamb and brings a new level of humanity to the way they treat their stock. For any meat to be kosher, the animals must be slaughtered in a particular — humane — way. KOL Foods upped the standard. Their animals are raised humanely too, with an eye toward sustainability. The chickens, turkey and ducks are free-roaming and fed an organic, GMO-free, vegetarian diet; they are not given arsenic, antibiotics or hormones.

The company has an eye for your budget too. Poultry can be expensive and kosher poultry even more so.

Hence the chicken bones, which the company sells in packages for shipment and are a lot cheaper than whole chickens or parts. The bones deliver a delicious broth and there’s enough meat on them to make a filling dish. My almost 4 pounds of bones yielded more than 3 cups of cut up meat.

This is the soup I made with them: rich, rib-sticking, comforting and wonderful. The liquid gels when it’s chilled. The way it’s supposed to.

Bones and Vegetable Soup

3-4 pounds meaty chicken bones

12 cups water

2/3 cup barley

2 onions, sliced

1/2 cup dried mushroom pieces, soaked, softened and chopped

3-4 carrots, sliced

2-3 stalks celery, sliced

2 parsnips, sliced

8 sprigs fresh dill

6 sprigs fresh parsley

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 15-ounce can white beans, rinsed and drained

1 small zucchini, diced

1 cup frozen peas

Place the chicken in a soup pot and cover with the water. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to a simmer and for the next several minutes, discard the debris that comes to the surface. Add the barley, onions, mushrooms, carrots, celery, parsnips, dill, parsley and salt and pepper. Simmer, partially covered, for one hour. Add the beans, zucchini and peas and cook for another 50-60 minutes. Remove the bones and cut off bits of chicken; place the chicken meat back into the soup. Discard the bones.

Makes 8 servings

Frozen Dough Foldover Cookies

I don’t usually talk so much about desserts, at least not as a daily matter, but I looked back at my posts this week and noticed they were all sugar-loaded.

Is my body telling me something?

I did just call my dentist for an appointment …

Somehow it was dessert week at any rate, starting with Tangerine Tart and then Spice Cake. Yesterday I mentioned that it would have been my mom’s 100th birthday and I had a triumphant breakthrough with a cookie-cake recipe of hers (Nut Roll) I could never get right until now. And during the week, thinking I might not do the Nut Roll well enough to blog about it, I made some of my mom’s foldover frozen dough cookies. The ones I would have written about if not the Nut Roll.

I haven’t made these cookies in a while. All I can say is that the recipe yielded 84 cookies. I gave 4 away. There are 6 left.

So guess how many cookies Ed and I ate, just the two of us?

They are quite delicious is all I can say.

Frozen Dough Foldover Cookies

1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour, approximately

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 pound unsalted butter

1 cup dairy sour cream

1 large egg white

lekvar (prune and apricot), apple or pumpkin butter or jam

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer and mix briefly to add the salt. Add the butter in chunks and mix on low-medium for a minute or so until the mixture is crumbly. Add the sour cream. Mix until a smooth dough has formed. It might be slightly sticky. If very sticky add a tablespoon more of flour. Knead the dough on a well-floured surface and shape into a cylinder. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Using small chunks of dough at a time, roll the dough thin (about 1/16th-inch) and cut into 2-inch squares. Place some lekvar in the middle. Bring up opposite sides corner points of the dough to the middle and press to seal the dough. Place the cookies on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Brush the tops of the cookies with some egg white. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned.

Makes about 7 dozen

Potato Latkes

What do you do when you have finished preparing potato latkes for a Hanukkah party and you’re sitting in your family room watching TV and your husband comes in with a handful of the latkes you just made and says “I’m taking a down payment on our Hanukkah party on Saturday night.”

And you’ve cleaned up the kitchen and everything and you thought you were done with latkes and the entire house smells from fried so you had to make a kitchen bouquet (1/4 cloves, 3 broken cinnamon sticks, tablespoon or so cardamom pods, orange peel, water) so that anyone who comes to the house even the next day (like the UPS delivery man or the guy who is coming to repair the oven) isn’t blasted with stale fried smell?

Why, you get up the next day and make more latkes. Otherwise there won’t be enough. Because I know what happens when people see potato latkes. You can’t eat just one.

And so I did.

These:

Potato Latkes

• 4 large peeled baking potatoes

• 1 large onion

• 2 large eggs

• 3 tablespoons potato starch

• 1 teaspoon salt or to taste

• freshly ground black pepper to taste

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• vegetable oil for frying

Shred the potatoes and onion in a food processor. Squeeze out as much of the liquid as possible (I put portions of the shreds in a kitchen towel and squeeze until they are practically dry). Place the shreds in a bowl. Immediately mix the eggs in (this helps keep the potatoes from browning). Add the potato starch, salt, pepper and baking powder. Heat about 1/4” vegetable oil in a heavy pan over medium-high heat. Shape latkes by hand, squeezing liquid out if there is any, and place them in the hot oil, leaving space between each one so that they brown well and become crispy (if they are too close they will “steam” and become soggy). Press down on the latkes to keep them evenly shaped. Fry for 2-3 minutes per side or until the pancakes are golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels. Makes 12-15

Almond Crusted Winter Squash and Noodle Kugel

Almond Crusted Winter Squash and Noodle Kugel

One of the tumblr blogs I follow asked readers what their favorite comfort food was.

I thought about it for awhile because there are so many, I couldn’t make up my mind. Like challah and butter; baked, crispy-skinned Russet potato; apple pie; fried chicken wings. Snacks like potato chips and popcorn.

You’ll notice most of these are starch. Even the chicken dish I chose is wings and therefore mostly crunchy, flour-crusted skin.

And of course, there’s kugel: egg noodles, boiled until they’re tender, then crisped in the oven, either plain or with all sorts of stuff inside. Like this recipe for Almond Crusted Winter Squash and Noodle Kugel. 

What makes this kugel such a comfort?

Not just the soft noodles, but the sweet crunchy crust. You get to feel them both in your mouth at the same time, with one bite.

And there’s color too, because I’ve included white cottage cheese, dark red cranberries and orange winter squash, so when you cut a piece it looks pretty on a plate.

Notice please, that you can sort of cut down on some of the less healthy aspects by using Greek style, plain (non-fat) yogurt instead of dairy sour cream and non-fat cottage cheese instead of the full-fat kind.

Kugel is a year ‘round treat. But it’s usually a must for Hanukkah. Sure is for us.

Almond Crusted Winter Squash and Noodle Kugel

• 5 tablespoons butter, melted

• one pound medium egg noodles

• 3 cups diced winter squash (such as butternut or acorn)

• 1 cup dried cranberries

• 2 cups cottage cheese (nonfat is fine)

• 1-1/2 cups nonfat Greek style plain yogurt (or use dairy sour cream)

• 6 large eggs, beaten

• 1/3 cup sugar

• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup chopped almonds

• 2 tablespoons brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease a 9”x13” baking dish using some of the melted butter. Cook the noodles according to package directions, drain and place in a large bowl. Add the squash, cranberries, cottage cheese, yogurt and remaining melted butter and toss the ingredients to distribute them evenly. Beat the eggs, sugar and cinnamon together with a hand mixer at medium speed for about 3 minutes or until thickened. Fold into the noodle mixture. Place in the prepared baking dish. In a small bowl, mix the almonds and brown sugar. Sprinkle on top of the kugel. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the top is crispy and brown. Makes 8-10 servings

Hummus with Zatar

I come from a talkative and political family, a family who discussed lots of different stuff at the table over dinner. I was the youngest child, but was still included, encouraged to have my say.

I remember that we yakked about all sorts of things from what happened at school to when we were going shopping for new socks to why we had to take polio vaccinations to whether the government should put fluoride in the drinking water.

On the drive back from college one year my parents, brother and I discussed the merits of Medicare.

On that same trip — during the 1960s — we drove through Tennessee to visit my father’s sister and we were all aghast at the signs in the restaurants saying “we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” We knew what that meant and found it horrifying.

It prompted a family discussion about civil rights.

We were a lively bunch and, thinking back, a thinking bunch too. We actually cared about issues and people and what kind of country we were living in.

My parents and brothers always talked about the importance of voting. Not just because we were people who were passionate about issues, but because it is so important to exercise a right that so many people don’t have. And to voice your opinion.

Every vote counts. My one vote among the millions makes a difference. To the total tally and also to me, because if my candidates win I can feel proud to be part of the victory. And if they lose, well, it won’t be because of me.

Please vote everyone. You are too important not to.

I will be hosting an election night get-together, something I do every four years. My guests are friends and family who feel the commitment to vote as strongly as I do (including one of my brothers).

We’ll be having sandwiches (smoked fish, cream cheese, bagels) for dinner so we can eat in the family room and watch TV for hours.

But we’ll start with a few hors d’oeuvre. Including hummus.

I like zatar, the Middle Eastern spice blend, so I’ll make this easy hummus recipe and sprinkle the seasoning on top.

There will be popcorn for sure and leftover Halloween candy.

Plus a pie.

It’s always a comfort to share this evening with other people. I recommend it highly.

Please vote.

HUMMUS WITH ZATAR

1/3 cup pine nuts

1 15-ounce can chickpeas

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup tahini

1-1/2 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

zatar

pita chips

Toast the pine nuts until lightly browned. Set aside. Drain the chickpeas but reserve the liquid. Place the chickpeas, lemon juice, tahini, olive oil, garlic, salt, cumin, parsley and pine nuts in a food processor. Add 4 tablespoons to 2/3 cup reserved bean liquid, depending on desired texture (start with the minimum). Process until blended to the desired texture. Place the hummus in a serving dish. Sprinkle with zatar. Serve with cut up pita wedges or pita chips.

Makes 1-1/2 cups

Essie’s Soup

It’s awfully dark out there. And although it looks like the usual gloomy morning when a hurricane-is-about-to-strike, somehow this one seems more ominous. Maybe I’ve just listened to too many news and weather reports, but I’ve prepared for Sandy like never before.

Water, batteries, ice. Check, check, check. Take in the outdoor furniture. Check.

Everything is closed. Schools, stores. No government services, like garbage pickup.

Judging by the lines at the gas stations, the horns honking too often when a light turns green, the empty shelves in the supermarket and number of people using ATMs, it seems as if everyone around here in Connecticut is stressed out.

I’ve prepared just-in-case food. Just in case we lose power, which is almost a certainty. During hurricane Irene we were out of power for 4 days.

I fried chicken cutlets and cooked (and sliced) a pot roast so we could have sandwiches. Bought fresh carrots and other vegetables we can eat raw, canned tuna, and milk for cereal. Baked some cookies so we could nibble something sweet.

And made soup. One of my favorites, which we call “Essie’s Soup,” because it was concocted years ago by my cousin Essie.

When my son-in-law Jesse first tasted some he said “what’s the difference between this and cholent?” And I had never thought about that before, but he nailed it. Essie’s soup is as thick as cholent, loaded with beans and dried peas, plus a few extras like: barley, lentils, wheatberries and stuff. Sometimes I add fresh carrots, onions and celery, but didn’t this time because, to tell you the truth, I forgot.

Essie’s soup is very very thick and gets thicker the more it cooks.

There’s no particular recipe really, so I’ll give you the broad parameters in a recipe.

This is a soup I can rewarm on my portable cooktop (which I use for cooking demonstrations). I did also buy extra butane canisters. But it’s also the kind of thing you can eat at room temperature in case that becomes a necessity.

Essie’s Soup

6-8 marrow bones

2 packages Streit’s or Manischewitz packaged vegetable, split pea or lima bean soup

2 cups mixed dried beans

1 cup split peas

1/2 cup barley

1/2 cup wheatberries, farro or spelt

4 carrots, sliced, optional

2-3 stalks celery, sliced, optional

1 large onion, peeled and sliced, optional

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Rinse the bones and place them in a large soup pot. Add water to within 3-inches from the top of the pot. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and skim the surface for a few minutes. Add the entire contents of both packages of soup (including the contents inside the seasoning packet). Add the beans, peas, barley, wheatberries, carrots, celery, onion and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil over high heat, lower the heat to a simmer and cook for several hours (at least 5), stirring occasionally, until the soup is thick. Cook longer if desired. If soup is too thick, add water and heat through. Makes a lot, depending on how long you cook it, but about 4 quarts

Best Hummus Ever

Best hummus ever?

That’s what everyone told me Wednesday night at our Break-the-fast. They said it was the best hummus they ever tasted. Also the best texture; smooth but with some graininess; moist but not pasty.

Maybe they were all just hungry? And hummus is the first nibble of food they consumed in 24 hours, the initial tidbit to prepare the stomach before eating dinner?

But I kept it out even during dinner and by the end of the night it was gone, gone gone. Several people took a bit more to eat with the Mujadarah, Spinach Pie, Kugel, chopped salad and egg salad.

So, here’s the recipe. Try it yourself and let me know what you think. 

Btw, hummus stuffed cherry tomatoes is a good treat for Sukkot. 

HUMMUS WITH ZATAR

• 15 ounce can chickpeas

• 2 large cloves garlic

• 1/4 cup tahini

• 1/4 cup lemon juice

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

• 1 teaspoon paprika

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 teaspoon zatar

Drain the chickpeas but reserve the liquid. Place the chickpeas in a food processor. Cut the garlic into smaller chunks and add to the food processor. Add the tahini, lemon juice,   olive oil, parsley, paprika, salt and zatar. Process to combine ingredients into a rough puree. Continue to process while adding some of the reserved liquid though the feed tube until the mixture reaches the desired consistency (approximately 3-6 tablespoons).

Makes about 1-1/2 cups

The Kugel to End all Kugels

This is the kugel to end all kugels.

I mean it. I am a kugel-eating expert, if only because when I grew up my grandmother and mom made salty kugel stuffed with mushrooms and onions and it was only when I was grown, married and with kids that I had my first taste of this. That taste was a transforming moment.

My friend Susan brought this dish to my annual Break-the-fast (she got the recipe from her friend Linda and I don’t know where Linda got it).

For years after that I have tasted more kugels than you could possibly imagine (including those hard, dried up things they sell in some supermarkets) always trying to surpass that moment of culinary discovery. 

I was even a judge once in a kugel contest.

I have made some wonderful kugels since then. But this is still my favorite. I always ask Susan to make an extra one so there will be leftovers. I pack pieces of it in my freezer so I can have a little treat whenever.

Don’t even think about the calories. Just enjoy.

Susan/Linda’s Sweet Noodle Kugel

      1 12-ounce package egg noodles

      1 8-ounce package cream cheese at room temperature

      1/4 pound unsalted butter at room temperature

      1 cup sugar

      2 cups dairy sour cream

      6 large eggs

      1 teaspoon cinnamon

      1 cup raisins, optional

      2 cups crushed frosted flakes or corn flakes

      4 tablespoons melted butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the noodles in slightly salted water until al dente (not soft). Drain and set aside. In an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until thoroughly blended and softened. Beat in the sugar until well blended. Add the sour cream and blend thoroughly. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in the cinnamon and raisins, if used. Pour the mixture into the noodles and toss to coat them completely. Place in a baking dish. Combine the frosted flakes and melted butter and sprinkle on top of the noodles. Bake for about 40 minutes or until the top is crispy. 

Makes 8 servings  

Apple Cake

Sometimes simple is best. This is the time of year I buy a load of apples and bake pies and fancy cakes and gorgeous French apple tarts.

But, with all the cooking and baking I’m doing now, I also try to make a few really easy desserts that are light and fresh tasting so we can eat them even after a heavy holiday meal.

This one is a classic. Good plain, with a hot cup of coffee or tea. Or with ice cream of course.

I think I could write a whole book about different kinds of apple cake.

Apple Cake

3-4 medium tart apples, peeled, cored and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1-1/4 cups sugar

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/4 cup apple, orange, peach or mango juice

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 10-inch springform pan (or a 9”x13” cake pan). Combine the apples, 1/4 cup sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl and set aside. Place the flour, baking powder, salt, 1-1/4 cups sugar and vegetable oil in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat at medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until thoroughly blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in the juice, lemon peel and vanilla extract. Spoon half the batter into the prepared pan. Spoon some of the apple mixture on top. Repeat the layers. Bake for about 65-75 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Makes one cake