SleepyWitch
12-22-2006, 08:19 AM
I'll be at my parents place over Xmas, so won't have internet access.
(they do have internet but my dad would strangle me if I spent Christmas on Litnet :) )
Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/winter solstice/.... to all of you :)
Glühwein (Spicy Mulled Wine)
At Christmas many German town centers have street markets with stalls selling cookies, arts and crafts, wooden toys and other festive items. Almost every street corner seems to boast Bratwurst and Glühwein stalls. It's amazing how revived one can feel after a small glass of warm, spicy red wine. Below is a basic recipe, but in Germany, stalls will offer you additional flavorings such as elderberry cordial or a shot of dark rum. Heat your Glühwein in a large saucepan on the stove or in a large jug in the microwave, but don't let it boil or the alcohol will evaporate. If you want a less alcoholic drink, then mix in apple juice or water. But don't drink more as a result!
Ingredients
1 bottle full-bodied red wine
1 small lemon
16 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4-6 tablespoons sugar
Preparation
Pour the wine into a large saucepan. Cut the lemon in quarters. Stick the cloves into the rind of one quarter. Slice the rest thinly.
Add the quarter and slices to the pan with the cinnamon and sugar.
Heat slowly until hot, but do not allow to boil. Serve in heatproof glasses or small cups. If you are worried about the glass breaking, stand a metal teaspoon in the glass before adding the hot liquid.
Serves 6.
you can also add star anise, I think
http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/images/Gluehwein.gif
Glazed Christmas Rounds
(Elisenlebkuchen)
20 to 24 pieces
If the abbots in Franconian monasteries had been stricter, the finest of German gingerbreads would not have been invented. Nuns and monks started to use holy hosts (Eucharist wafers) to produce gingerbread according to their own secret recipes. But the word and the formula spread quickly, and soon a whole new industry of specialized gingerbread bakers (Lebküchner) developed in and around the city of Nuremberg, which became the world gingerbread capital and remains so today. It was no coincidence that Nuremberg played this important role. The city was at the center of many important medieval trade routes, including an old spice route, so the necessary ingredients were available.
Only gingerbread made in Nuremberg can legitimately be labeled Nürnberger Lebkuchen. The finest of those gingerbreads are the flourless Elisenlebkuchen, the masterpiece of the trade since the early nineteenth century.
In Germany, precut edible paper, also called rice paper, is readily available, especially around Christmas. In the United States, you can find sheets of it in baking supply stores.
Elisenlebkuchen come glazed with sugar or chocolate, or plain. This recipe glazes one half of the rounds with sugar glaze and the other half with chocolate glaze. If you want only one kind of glaze, double the desired glaze ingredients.
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
Pinch of ground mace
Pinch of ground cloves
Pinch of ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Zest of 1 lemon, preferably organic
1 1/4 cups shelled unpeeled almonds
1 1/4 cups chopped hazelnuts
1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) candied orange peel
1 1/4 cups (6 ounces) diced citron
20 to 24 edible paper disks (3 to 3 1/2 inches in diameter)
Sugar glaze:
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons hot water
Chocolate glaze:
4 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
Beat the eggs with the sugar until foamy. Add the mace, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, salt, and lemon zest.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grind the almonds and the hazelnuts very finely in a food processor and combine with the eggs. Chop the orange peel and citron very finely and add them to the mixture.
Place the edible paper disks on a baking sheet and spread with the mixture about 1/2 inch thick, leaving about 1/4 inch all around. Bake for 20 minutes. The rounds should still be moist and soft. You can check this by gently pressing on the bottom (paper) side. Place the rounds on a cake rack and glaze while warm.
For the sugar glaze, mix the confectioners’ sugar with hot water until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add just as much water as needed for a thick but spreadable consistency. Coat the rounds with the glaze and let it dry completely.
For the chocolate glaze, melt the chocolate and the butter in a double boiler or in a metal bowl set over a pot with boiling water. Stir constantly until smooth. Cool slightly, then spread the glaze evenly over the rounds and let it dry completely.
Store in an airtight, preferably metal, container. They keep for up to a month.
Recipe reprinted from "Spoonfuls of Germany" with permission from Hippocrene Books
hehe, Scher asked me to post the recipe last Christmas and I said "yeah, I'll do it later on" :) I haven't tested this recipe but I sounds good :)
http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/images/Elisen-Lebkuchen.gif
(they do have internet but my dad would strangle me if I spent Christmas on Litnet :) )
Merry Christmas/Hanukkah/winter solstice/.... to all of you :)
Glühwein (Spicy Mulled Wine)
At Christmas many German town centers have street markets with stalls selling cookies, arts and crafts, wooden toys and other festive items. Almost every street corner seems to boast Bratwurst and Glühwein stalls. It's amazing how revived one can feel after a small glass of warm, spicy red wine. Below is a basic recipe, but in Germany, stalls will offer you additional flavorings such as elderberry cordial or a shot of dark rum. Heat your Glühwein in a large saucepan on the stove or in a large jug in the microwave, but don't let it boil or the alcohol will evaporate. If you want a less alcoholic drink, then mix in apple juice or water. But don't drink more as a result!
Ingredients
1 bottle full-bodied red wine
1 small lemon
16 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
4-6 tablespoons sugar
Preparation
Pour the wine into a large saucepan. Cut the lemon in quarters. Stick the cloves into the rind of one quarter. Slice the rest thinly.
Add the quarter and slices to the pan with the cinnamon and sugar.
Heat slowly until hot, but do not allow to boil. Serve in heatproof glasses or small cups. If you are worried about the glass breaking, stand a metal teaspoon in the glass before adding the hot liquid.
Serves 6.
you can also add star anise, I think
http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/images/Gluehwein.gif
Glazed Christmas Rounds
(Elisenlebkuchen)
20 to 24 pieces
If the abbots in Franconian monasteries had been stricter, the finest of German gingerbreads would not have been invented. Nuns and monks started to use holy hosts (Eucharist wafers) to produce gingerbread according to their own secret recipes. But the word and the formula spread quickly, and soon a whole new industry of specialized gingerbread bakers (Lebküchner) developed in and around the city of Nuremberg, which became the world gingerbread capital and remains so today. It was no coincidence that Nuremberg played this important role. The city was at the center of many important medieval trade routes, including an old spice route, so the necessary ingredients were available.
Only gingerbread made in Nuremberg can legitimately be labeled Nürnberger Lebkuchen. The finest of those gingerbreads are the flourless Elisenlebkuchen, the masterpiece of the trade since the early nineteenth century.
In Germany, precut edible paper, also called rice paper, is readily available, especially around Christmas. In the United States, you can find sheets of it in baking supply stores.
Elisenlebkuchen come glazed with sugar or chocolate, or plain. This recipe glazes one half of the rounds with sugar glaze and the other half with chocolate glaze. If you want only one kind of glaze, double the desired glaze ingredients.
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar
Pinch of ground mace
Pinch of ground cloves
Pinch of ground allspice
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Pinch of salt
Zest of 1 lemon, preferably organic
1 1/4 cups shelled unpeeled almonds
1 1/4 cups chopped hazelnuts
1/3 cup (2 1/2 ounces) candied orange peel
1 1/4 cups (6 ounces) diced citron
20 to 24 edible paper disks (3 to 3 1/2 inches in diameter)
Sugar glaze:
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons hot water
Chocolate glaze:
4 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
Beat the eggs with the sugar until foamy. Add the mace, cloves, allspice, cinnamon, salt, and lemon zest.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Grind the almonds and the hazelnuts very finely in a food processor and combine with the eggs. Chop the orange peel and citron very finely and add them to the mixture.
Place the edible paper disks on a baking sheet and spread with the mixture about 1/2 inch thick, leaving about 1/4 inch all around. Bake for 20 minutes. The rounds should still be moist and soft. You can check this by gently pressing on the bottom (paper) side. Place the rounds on a cake rack and glaze while warm.
For the sugar glaze, mix the confectioners’ sugar with hot water until the sugar is completely dissolved. Add just as much water as needed for a thick but spreadable consistency. Coat the rounds with the glaze and let it dry completely.
For the chocolate glaze, melt the chocolate and the butter in a double boiler or in a metal bowl set over a pot with boiling water. Stir constantly until smooth. Cool slightly, then spread the glaze evenly over the rounds and let it dry completely.
Store in an airtight, preferably metal, container. They keep for up to a month.
Recipe reprinted from "Spoonfuls of Germany" with permission from Hippocrene Books
hehe, Scher asked me to post the recipe last Christmas and I said "yeah, I'll do it later on" :) I haven't tested this recipe but I sounds good :)
http://www.germanfoods.org/consumer/images/Elisen-Lebkuchen.gif