Laura, Colette, Karyn Beets with Orange Vinaigrette... 2 Cheese Hedgehog Kase-lgel... 2 Cream Cheese and Quark Dip Pfaelzer Spundkaes... 2 Quark Cheese... 3 Soft Pretzel Bites... 3 Oma s Bienenstitch Bee Sting Cake... 4
Beets with Orange Vinaigrette 4 to 6 servings 3 (15-ounce) cans baby beets, drained 2 tablespoons raspberry vinegar 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed orange juice 3 tablespoons good olive oil 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup small-diced red onion (1 small onion) 2 large seedless oranges, zested Segments 2 large seedless oranges Drain the beets and dice into 1/2-inch cubes. Place the beets in a mixing bowl and add the raspberry vinegar, orange juice, olive oil, salt, pepper and red onions. Zest the oranges and then segment over a bowl to catch the juices. Add the orange zest, orange segments, and any juices and mix well. Taste for seasoning and serve cold or at room temperature. Cheese Hedgehog Kase-lgel Selection of German cheeses; emmentaler, butterkase, Tilsit, allgauer ½ melon such as honeydew or muskmelon Seedless grapes Cut the cheese into cubes and insert wooden or plastic toothpicks into them. Add a seedless grape of any color to each toothpick. Cut the melon in half, clean it and place the flat side face down on a serving dish. Stick the cheese and grape picks into the round side of the melon until it s covered. Cream Cheese and Quark Dip Pfaelzer Spundkaes 4 ounces cream cheese 4 ounces Quark cheese ½ cup sour cream ½ onion Garlic 2
Pepper Salt 2 tsp paprika Mix the cream cheese, quark and sour cream together in a bowl and beat until creamy. Dice the onion finely and add to the mixture. Season with pressed garlic, paprika, salt and pepper. Allow to sit for 3 hours in the refrigerator. Serve with pretzels, vegetables, fresh bread or as a topping for baked potatoes. Quark Cheese 4 cups milk, any fat percentage I use whole milk 3 tablespoons buttermilk Heat the milk in a large pan with a tight-fitting lid to about 160 degrees F for at least 30 seconds. It is not necessary to boil the milk but it is fine if it does boil for a few seconds. Leave the lid on the milk and let it cool to room temperature. Use a very clean whisk and whisk in the buttermilk. Replace the lid and let the milk mixture sit at room temperature for about 24 hours. Once it has soured and curdled, the milk is ready to strain. Layer a sieve with cheesecloth or a loosely woven cotton towel and pour the milk into it. It may take quite a long while for the quark to drain thoroughly you can stir it to help get it through the cheesecloth and sieve. I have also let it sit in the refrigerator overnight to drain and that worked fine. Soft Pretzel Bites 1 ½ cups warm water 2 tablespoons light brown sugar 1 package active dry yeast (2 ¼ tsp) 3 ounces unsalted butter, melted 2 ½ tsp kosher salt 4 ½ to 5 cups all-purpose flour Vegetable oil 3 quarts water ½ cup baking soda (for boiling the pretzels) 1 whole egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water Coarse sea salt 3
Combine the 1 ½ cups water, sugar, yeast, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the dough hook until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes. Add the salt and flour and mix on low speed until combined. Increase the speed to medium and continue kneading until the dough is smooth and begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, about 3 to 4 minutes. If the dough appears too wet, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Remove the dough from the bowl, place on a flat surface and knead into a ball with your hands. Oil a bowl with vegetable oil, add the dough and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until the dough doubles in size, about 1 hour. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Bring the 3 quarts of water to a boil in a small roasting pan over high heat and carefully add the baking soda. It will boil over, so add slowly and be careful. Remove the dough from the bowl and place on a flat surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 4 ¼ to 4 ½ ounces each. Roll each piece into a long rope measuring 22 inches, and shape. Cut the dough into one-inch pieces to make the pretzel bites. Boil the pretzel bites in the water solution in batches. We did about 15 bites at a time. Boil for about 30 seconds. Remove with a large slotted spoon. Place pretzel bites on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Make sure they are not touching. Brush the tops with the egg wash and season liberally with the salt. Place into the oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown. Remove to a baking rack and let rest 5 minutes before eating. Oma s Bienenstitch Bee Sting Cake Cake Layer 2 eggs ¾ cup granulated sugar 1 cup flour, all-purpose 1 tsp baking powder Pinch salt ½ cup milk 1 Tbs. butter Topping ¼ cup butter 4
¼ cup granulated sugar 1 ½ Tbs. honey 1 Tbs. whipping cream 1 cup almonds, slivered ½ tsp. vanilla extract Filling 2 cups whipping cream (minus the 1 Tbs. in topping) 2 Tbs. granulated sugar 2 Tbs. instant vanilla pudding powder Cake Layer Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Into large mixing bowl, mix eggs and sugar until thick and creamy. Stir flour, baking powder, and salt together and stir into egg mixture. Heat milk and butter to just about boiling, stir and mix into batter. Pour into greased 9-inch spring-form pan. Bake about 20-30 minutes, until firm to touch and wooden toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Topping In a small pan, melt butter (1/4 cup) over low heat. Add sugar (1/4 cup), honey and 1 Tbs. whipping cream, stirring continually. Bring to boil, and boil gently for 5 minutes, stirring continually. Stir in almonds and vanilla. Set aside to cool slightly and carefully spread topping on cake immediately as it comes out of the oven. Set oven to broil. Broil cake for a few minutes until the top is nicely browned, being careful it doesn t burn. Let cake cool on a wire rack. Remove outer ring from spring-form carefully. Filling Whip cream, sugar, and instant vanilla pudding powder until stiff. Cut cake in half when cold. Spread filling on bottom layer. Place top layer on top of filling. To make it easier to serve, cut this top layer first into wedges and then place on top of tilling. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Hints If the topping gets too thick before spreading on cake, add and exra tablespoon of honey and/or cream and reheat. 5
Place the outer ring of the spring-form pan back around the bottom layer in order to neatly put the filling on the cake. Place the top layer into the pan. Let sit in fridge until needed. Then remove the outer ring. Bienenstich with the chewy topping can be difficult to cut neatly without the cream filling squeezing out. Cutting the top layer into serving sized wedges before placing them on top of the filling really helps. 6