Italian Apple Cake
Thanks to a friend in Italy, I got a hold of this delish apple cake. It is the best I have had so far.
I am not a big fan of the german Yeast dough fruit cakes, including the apple cake. This one is nice
and moist and has plenty of apple bits for every bite.
This is what you need:
- 2 big or 3 small eggs
- 10-12 TBSP Sugar
- 12 TBSP Oil
- 12 TBSP Milk
- 1 TSP Vanilla Extract
- 1 TSP Cinnamon
- around 12-20 TBSP Flour (dough should be still sort of runny from the spoon)
- 7 gr Baking Powder
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 apples, diced
- 1 Apple finely sliced
This is how you do it:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celcius)
Add the eggs and the sugar into a bowl and whisk it with the kitchen aid or the hand blender until it's nice and creamy and almost white in color. It also will double in volume (about 5-10 min).
Now add the Oil and the milk and stir it well. Add the Vanilla extract and the pinch of salt. Now take it out of the kitchen aid and fold the Flour and Baking Powder with a Spatula in 2 batches under the dough.
Fold in the Cinnamon and the 2 diced apples with the spatula.
Lay on the bottom of your round baking sheet a layer of waxed paper. Cut off excesses. Do not butter the sides of the baking sheet. The dough needs to be able to rise up and not slip down. Add the dough into the baking sheet. Now layer in a nice pattern the remaining sliced apples.
Place the cake in the oven and bake for 40-45 min or until tooth pick comes out clean.
Let it cool completely before removing from the sheet and dusting it with powdered sugar.
Enjoy und Guten Appetit
Polpette di Zucchine - Zucchini Balls
I found this recipe somewhere on the internet in italian. I will gladly translate it for you since I made it and its super delish.
This is what you need:
- 800 gr Zucchini (2-3)
- 100 gr fine grated Parmigiano reggiano
- 30 gr (or more) Bread crumbs
- 1 TSP Thyme
- 80 gr Ricotta
- 1 Egg
- Salt and Pepper
- Semolina (Pasta Flour) to coat them
- Oil to fry
- I added to this recipe some red Pepper flakes
This is how you do it:
Cut off the ends of the washed Zucchini and grate them finely. Add some salt and put them in a fine Colander over a bowl, on top, lay a plate and something heavy. Let the Zucchini drain the water for at least 15 min.. After their drained, put them on a clean kitchen towel and squeeze remaining water out of them to get them as dry as possible.
Now to the Zucchini, add the Ricotta. Stir. Then the egg and stir. Then the Parmesan cheese and the bread crumbs. Season with salt, pepper and the Thyme and, if you want, the red pepper flakes. Since my daughter just got diagnosed with Lactose intolerance, I had to use Lactose free Parmesan cheese. And I couldn't find Lactose free Ricotta, so I blended Cottage cheese until it was smooth. Unfortunately, that was a bit more watery then the original Ricotta. So I had to add a lot more Bread crumbs to get a nice dough.
Form this dough in neat balls and coat them in the Semolina Pasta Flour. If you can't find that in your Grocery Store, just use Flour.
Fry them in a pan with plenty oil to cover them until their golden brown.
Enjoy and Guten Appetit
Italian Plum Streusel Cake
This is a classic cake in Fall. When we harvest the Plums. Everyone loves it. There are 2 different ways of making this cake. The most traditional is the yeast dough. I am not a big fan of it since I
think its very dry. I prefer this recipe here, what is a greek yogurt/oil dough. It keeps it a bit more moist.
This is what you need:
For the botttom dough:
- 125 gr whole milk greek yogurt
- 4 TBSP Oil
- 4 TBSP milk
- 80 gr Sugar
- 7 gr Baking powder
- 200 gr Flour (or until you have a smooth kneading dough)
- 700 gr pitted italian Plums (you can use the other ones too if you can't find the italians)
For the Streusel:
- 125 gr soft unsulted Butter
- 125 gr Sugar
- 200 gr Flour (or until they get nice crumbly)
This is how you do it:
Preheat the oven to a 400 Fahrenheit (200 Grad Celcius)
Combine all the ingredients of the bottom dough and knead until its a nice and smooth dough. Use a round baking pan and butter it well. Put the dough on the bottom, squeezing with the flat side of your hand until its covering the whole bottom and lift it up on the outside a bit to create a "border wall".
Now just sit the Plums nicely on top of the dough, pushing them just a tiny bit into the dough.
In a separate Bowl, mix the softened Butter with the Sugar and Flour and knead until you have little nice doughy crumbles. Spread as much of those crumbles (Streusel) on top of the cake as you like.
Bake the cake for around 20-25 min..
Enjoy pure or with some fresh whipped whipping cream.
Guten Appetit
Zwetschgenknoedel
Plum Potato dumplings
It's slightly sweet, but not overwhelming. It can be eaten as a dessert or as a snack in between or as dinner.
This recipe here is not completely complete. I will have to work on the exact measurments.
Be a bit patient with me.
This is what you need:
- 5 small golden Potatoes (around 250 gr)
- 1 Egg
- 2 TBSP Sugar (leave that out when you do the regular side dumplings)
- pinch of salt
- 2 TBSP Potato Starch (or Corn Starch)
- around 250 gr Flour
- Plums, pitted and cut in 4th
- Bread crumbs, cinnamon, sugar, Butter for the coating
This is how you do it:
Cook the Potatoes without salt and in the skin until soft. (I use a Tupperware microwave safe bowl where I add just a tiny bit water and put them Microwave for 10 min). Them them completely cool off.
Once the Potatoes are cooled, peel and strain them through a masher to get them fine as for mashed Potatoes. Add the sugar, salt, Potato Starch and the egg. Add spoon by spoon the Flour until you have a nice and smooth dough. It should not stick much any more.
Roll it out to a sausage and cut them in 2 inch pieces. Take one piece, add the Plum in the middle and then add another piece on top and form it to a ball. Roll it in Flour so they don't stick.
In a big pot, bring water to a boil and add just a pinch of Salt. Once the water is boiling, add the Potato dumplings and let them sit in the hot but NOT boiling water until they start floating to the top. You might want to stir them once in between so they don't stick to the bottom. That will take roughly 15-20 min.. Just be sure that the water is not boiling while the dumplings are in.
In a big frying pan, add 2 TBSP Butter. Let it melt slowly. Then remove from the heat and add around 1 cup breadcrumbs, 2 TSP Cinnamon and around 1 TBSP Sugar. You might add a bit more if you think that wouldn't be enough. I made 7 small dumplings. I still had left overs.
Addons: I had the half of the dough left. I put it in the fridge and will use it with more Plums, once I bought more lol.
I like to serve it with Vanilla Sauce. You can also use Plum Marmalade as a side. Or eat them just plain as they are.
Guten Appetit
