Rote Gruetze - red fruit jelly

                Rote Gruetze - Red fruit jelly

This is a very popular dessert in Germany. I think it has something to do with also preserving the fruits in the Harvest months for at least a couple of days. Usually you are using red fruits for this. I like to get the sour cherries from the Glass but if you want to use fresh cherries, you will have to cook them a bit first to get them soft. Same with Rhubarb. If you want to use this fruit, you need to cook it in water for a some minutes. I like to use Strawberries, Raspberries and Blackberries in this. I tried Pomegranate but they are a bit to chewy for it due to the tiny pit. If you use the fruits like me, sour cherries from the Glass, then you don't need to cook them upfront. I also use the Cherry juice to make the Jelly. You can also just buy Cherry juice from the store. 

This is what you need:

- 2 lbs of fruits of your choice (Raspberries, Strawberries, Cherries, Blackberries,       Blueberries) 

- 1 l of fruit juice (1 Qart)

- 1/4 cup cornstarch

- Sugar as needed (cherry juice is usually sweet already)

This is how you do it:

In a big bowl put the cherries without the juice and the strawberries. In a pot, pour the 1 l fruit juice, sugar as needed and the cornstarch and let it get to a boil. Once its starten thickening, add the hot juice over the fruits. I usually let that cool down now a big before I add the Raspberries and Blackberries or Blueberries because they don't need a lot of heat and they will fall apart. So, once it's luke warm, I add those fruits. Stir good and let it cool down completely to let the cornstarch set.

You can enjoy that plain, with some vanilla ice cream or vanilla sauce. 

Guten Appetit

Obstboden - Fruit cake

  

                   Obstboden - Fruit Cake

This is the base for a fruit cake very popular in Germany. Once you have this baked, you can top it with whatever fruits you like or are seasonal. Usually that fruit cake is topped with the clear glaze you can find on my blog already. 

This is what you need:

- a round pie pan, around 28 cm in Diameter

- 75 gr Butter unsalted and soft

- 75 gr Sugar

- 1 pinch Salt

- 14 gr. of Vanilla sugar or 1 TSP Vanilla extract

- 2 Eggs

- 150 gr. Flour

- 1 TSP Backing Powder

- 2 TBSP Milk 

This is how you do it:

Put Butter in a bowl and whisk it with the Mixer or Kitchen Aid until its foamy-creamy. Slowly add the sugar, Vanilla sugar (or Vanilla extract) and the pinch of salt and mix it. Then add 1 Egg to the mixture and let it incorporate first and then the 2nd Egg. Combine the Flour and the Baking Powder and stir it. Slowly add a bit of the dry ingredient to the wet and let it mix it up first. Now add the 1st TBSP of Milk to it and mix it up. Then add more of the Flour and then again Milk until all ingredients are mixed up and you have a smooth dough. 

Prepare the pan with oiling or buttering it and then you can either add Flour or fine Breadcrumbs and spread it out in the baking pan so the cake doesn't stick to it. Pour in the dough and bake it 20-25 min in a 350 Degree oven. Make the toothpick test to see if the cake is done. 

Take out the cake and let it cool on a rack in the pan. When its cool, turn the pan around and let the cake slide out. This is going to be the top end. Kind of like an upside down cake thing. 

Once its cooled, you can add the fruits and the glaze and you have a great and refreshing cake for hot summer days. If you fruits are really juicy, you can add a thin layer of white chocolate on the cake first so the sponge is not soaking all the fruit juices up and getting soggy. Enjoy

Guten Appetit

Warm chocolate Pudding

                           Warm Chocolate Pudding  

Warm Puddings like chocolate or vanilla are a big thing in Germany. Especially when its getting to the colder months, its a warming soul food. Most Germans use Instant packs where you just add Milk and Sugar, but here in the USA you can't get them every where. So I had to find a way to make it myself. I am pretty content with my findings. For americans it might not be sweet enough. Well, then just add more sugar to it.

This is what you need:

- 40 gr. of Corn Starch

- 40 gr. Sugar (or sugar substitute)

- 40 gr. unsweetened Cocoa Powder

- 500 ml Milk

This is how you do it:

Pour the milk in a pot and heat it up. In the meantime, mix in a bowl the corn starch, cocoa and sugar. When the milk starts to boil immediately take it from the heat and whisk the dry ingredients into the milk. The cocoa will foam first a bit, just keep stirring until its smooth. Put it back on the heat and let it bubble up one last time to thicken. Now your pudding is done and you can enjoy it warm or cold.

For Vanilla Pudding you use instead of the cocoa powder either Vanilla extract or a Vanilla bean. Also add 1 Egg yolk and stir good so you don't end up with scrambled eggs. That gives the yellow color and helps thicken it.

Guten Appetit