I'll be home for Christmas

 

 The Christmases of my childhood seem bathed in that vintage glow that comes with looking at old photographs. The time I went sledgeriding with my Dad down the hill before they built the houses on it, my parents and their Christmas Day walk, my Grandmother who sat in the living room with the heating on full watching It's A Wonderful Life until James Stewart became suicidal and she decided the film was much too depressing, the Boxing Day lunch we used to have at the pub. The 80s simply seem much quieter, even though I know I'm seeing things through rose tinted glasses. The past few weeks have been quite chaotic with many things to finish and deal with and through all of the most difficult times I've dreamed of my trip back to Derbyshire, free at last of all the pressure. The moment to lock the front door and head to the airport has almost arrived but I find myself overwhelmed by a mixture of emotions in anticipation of everything still to come and even sad after saying goodbye to friends I see almost every day here. I know that it will get easier the moment the plane takes off, knowing that it's my favourite time of the year with Christmas just a week away and the build up I so love. So as we're changing countries it seems appropriate to finish with some photos from another Christmas market, this time in Potsdam and a recipe for something traditionally found on the festive dinner table, red cabbage. Thank you so much for all your comments and support, especially the last week. They mean a lot to me and help keep me going. I'm headed for London next week for a couple of days to enjoy the special atmosphere and decorations. I look forward to sharing my experiences there with you and in the meantime, enjoy the last week before Christmas and take care.

Dramatic sky over Potsdam

In the Dutch quarter

Not soap but marzipan

A lot of Lebkuchen hearts

Ajouter une légende

Braised red cabbage with chestnuts (adapted from the New York Times cookbook)

1 large red cabbage

12 chestnuts

1 small onion, finely chopped

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

3 sharp flavoured cooking apples, peeled and cut into thin slices

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C. Strip away any marked leaves from the cabbage and cut into quarters, removing the tough central core. Finely shred each quarter and leave to one side.

2. With a sharp knife, make an incision in each chestnut, beginning and finishing on either side of the "topknot". Place the chestnuts in a small baking dish and place them in the oven for around 10 minutes or until they've split. Remove and let them cool a little before peeling them.

 

 3. Heat the vinegar and apple slices together in a large ovenproof saucepan and when everything begins to simmer, tip in the peeled chestnuts and shredded cabbage. Cover, turn the heat down and leave to cook for around 10 minutes, stirring from time to time.

4. Place the saucepan in the oven, cover the with tinfoil so the cabbage doesn't burn  and bake for half an hour.

The sweetest thing

Today hasn't been the easiest of days. The whole overground train network is down after a computer system failure with many people stranded and a few unlucky ones stuck in tunnels. Lack of information meant I waited 25 minutes on a cold platform before giving up and cancelling all other arrangements. Still, it wasn't all bad; stopping off to do some Christmas shopping and finding time to braise a red cabbage (recipe coming up soon). We're down to the last of the sweet stuff and between you and me, I'm relieved. After a day of excess on Tuesday with all those cookies and then snow topped spice cake for breakfast yesterday I'm off sugar for the rest of the week in an attempt to detox a little in time for the festivities. That doesn't mean I can't write about it though. The mince pies turned out great thanks to my friend S. who suggested using Pflanzenfett instead of shortening for the pastry as you can't get it over here. I can't say it tastes exactly the same but it brings the necessary lightness and crispness which you can't achieve with all butter.

The orangettes couldn't be simpler and will make everywhere smell of warm citrus fruit and chocolate, the very essense of Christmas, no? Thanks to the lovely Susan of Bricolage and Giulia Geranium (two of my favourite blogs so please check them out) for giving me the idea to make them.

Mincemeat

Until a few days ago, I never understood the mania for making mincemeat yourself. I'd always found really good shop stuff which we added some extra brandy to and even an article in the Guardian about the virtues of the homemade variety failed to convince me. In Berlin though finding mincemeat isn't all that easy; I was delighted to come across some at Galeria Kaufhof by Wilkin and Son, although at more than €3 a jar, you might curb your mince pie ambition. Yet when I used it in the cheesecake I was somehow disappointed with the flavour and decided to take the plunge and make my own. It turned out to be amazingly simple; if you've got plenty of time, combinig the ingredients overnight to let the flavours blend might be a good idea but it's not essential. I also noticed that with the homemade kind the individual ingredients are much easier to taste rather than the usual fruity mass.

Recipe adapted from a mix of those by David Lebovitz and Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess.

Makes 600g

2 medium sized cooking or sharp apples (boskop/russets/canadiens gris are good), peeled and cut into quarters

juice and zest of an unwaxed lemon

125g raisins

125g sultanas

50g glacé cherries, roughly chopped

50g blanched almonds, chopped into thin slivers

2 tablespoons brandy

125g soft, dark sugar

1/2 teaspoon mixed spice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 x 300g jam jars

In a large saucepan, dissolve the sugar in the lemon juice over a low heat. Add the chopped apples and all the other ingredients, except for the brandy. Simmer gently for about half an hour until the mixture has become very soft and slightly liquid. Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little before stirring in the brandy. Spoon into sterilised jars (see note below) and cover the tops with a wax disc.

To sterilise jars you can either put them in the dishwasher and remove them when clean but still warm or otherwise wash them in soapy water, dry thoroughly and place in an oven at 180°C for 5 minutes.

Mince pies (from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess)

Makes around 24

300g plain flour, sifted

75g shortening/ Trex or Pflanzenfett in Germany

75g cold, unsalted butter

juice of 1 orange

a pinch of salt

600g mincemeat (see recipe above)

some icing sugar to dust over

1. Sift the flour into a small bowl and using a teaspoon, add small dollops of the shortening and butter. Rub in a little with your fingers and place the bowl in the freezer for 20 minutes.

2. Mix the orange juice and salt in a little jug and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.

3. When the time is up, tip the flour and fat into a food processor and pulse until you have crumbs like rolled oats. Drizzle in the orange juice a little at a time through the funnel and continue to pulse until the mixture is just beginning to stick together. Remove the dough from the food processor and on a floured work surface, knead it a little with your hands until it forms a ball. Divide into two discs, wrap in plastic and chill in the fridge for another 20 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 200°C.

5. When the time is up, roll each disc out as thinly as possible but not so thin that it breaks or won't support the filling. Using a 6-7cm round cutter, cut out circles in the pastry and gently place each one into the pie mould, pressing down a little so they're even. Fill each one with a generous teaspoonful of mincemeat as nobody like a dry mince pie. When you've cut out enough circles for the base, roll the pastry out again and cut out the tops using a star shaped cutter, placing each one lightly on top of the mincemeat.

6. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, checking that they don't burn. Leave the pies in the tins for a minute or two as it makes them easier to remove and transfer to a cooling rack. Dredge with icing sugar before serving.

Orangettes (from Smitten Kitchen)

3 large organic oranges

water for boiling

250ml water + 225g sugar for the syrup

400g dark chocolate (I used 70% Lindt)

1. Slice the tops off the tops off the oranges and with a shap knife, score the peel from one end to the other and remove. Cut the peel into thin strips and trim the edges to make them neat.

2. Place the strips a large pan of boiling water for 5 minutes, drain and throw the water away as it will contain bitter juices. Boil a fresh lot of water and place the strips in it for another five minutes. This step removes the bitter taste.

3. Make the syrup by mixing together the 250ml water and 225g sugar and bringing it to a gentle simmer, Tip in the peels and cook for about an hour, checking back from time to time that the pan hasn't run dry.

4. Remove and transfer to a wire rack to cool and dry out. I placed a piece of baking parchment underneath to collect the sticky drips.

5. When they're cool, melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in the microwave, stopping to stir every 30 seconds with the latter. Using a fork, dip each strip of peel in the chocolate and leave to set on a baking tray covered with parchment. When the chocolate has set, store them in a metal tin.

All about cake

One of things I dread most during the holiday season in Britain is visiting someone and being offered a slice of Christmas cake. Often dry or dense fruit cake covered with a layer of shop bought marzipan and some thick fondant icing like concrete. Even the smallest piece sits in your stomach like a lead weight and unlike in Germany you can't refuse it and say you don't really like such cakes but have to smile over every forkful and compliment your hostess. Thankfully there are lighter alternatives which also have the advantage of not needing to be made weeks in advance. If you do have your heart set on a fruit cake though, might I suggest a Dundee cake like the one P.K made? She recommends the recipe from Delia Online here for a lighter kind of cake.

Here are my suggestions for three different cakes to serve at Christmas.

When I saw Nigel Slater's mincemeat cheesecake recipe, my first reaction that it couldn't possibly work. Surely the flavours wouldn't blend well with the cream cheese or it would simply overwhelm everything else. Yet I couldn't resist the urge to test it and to my surprise it's a real winner. The buttery taste of the base with digestive bicuits, the creaminess and then the fruit make it something special and a little more original than just simply bringing out another batch of mince pies. A couple of points though; the recipe calls for 300g of digestive biscuits for the base but I found it didn't need half that amount and even then it came out much thicker than I'd normally like so I'd suggest using about a third. The second point is that you might not want to serve this cake to your, er, German friends. One student told me it was different which is of course a polite way of saying it isn't really your cup of tea while another friend compared the taste of mincemeat to Worchester sauce which is certainly original (although saying that, the other person who tried it really loved it.)

Mincemeat cheesecake (from a recipe by Nigel Slater in the Guardian)

For the base

100g digestive biscuits

65g unsalted butter, melted

For the filling

600g full fat cream cheese

100g brown sugar

4 medium eggs

zest of a small orange

a teaspoon vanilla extract

300g sour cream

1 jar of mincemeat (around 310g, I found that the 200g in the original recipe wasn't enough) or better still, make your own. I'll be posting a recipe for homemade mincemeat this week but Delia's is also wonderful

For a 26cm springform tin lined with baking parchment to prevent the base from sticking

1. Melt the butter in saucepan or in the microwave. Place the biscuits in a food processor and pulse a few times until you have fine crumbs (alternatively you can place the biscuits in a strong plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin). Mix the butter with the crumbs and transfer to the springform tin. Pat the crumbs down a little but not too strongly (to avoid having a thick crust). Place the tin in the freezer for 20 minutes to set.

2. Preheat the oven to 140° and begin making the filling. In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar together until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, blending in thoroughly before adding the next one. Mix in the vanilla extract and orange zest, then the sour cream. Finally stir in the mincemeat gently until only just incorporated.

3. Remove the springform from the freezer and place it on a baking tray. Pour in the cheescake mixture and bake for one hour. The middle will probably feel a little wobbly but that's perfectly normal. After one hour, switch off the oven and leave the cheesecake in there with the door closed for another hour.

4. Take it out of the oven, let it stand in the tin until cool then transfer to a plate and leave overnight in the fridge. If you don't do this, your cheesecake will not set properly. Grate a little more orange zest and scatter some biscuit crumbs over the top if you like.

Few things seem to represent Christmas as much as cranberries. Their rich, gleaming colours and sourness so perfect for jam and cakes. I've seen the upside down cake with them in quite a few places, most recently on Barbara's blog but was keen to have a plain cake with them inside which proved more difficult to find. Joy the Baker has a lovely recipe for a cranberry streusel coffee cake which would be perfect for teatime or after a large main course as a lighter dessert. The streusel with brown sugar and oats is irresistable and it's amazingly airy and light.

Cranberry streusel coffee cake from Joy the Baker (recipe here)

My favourite festive cake of all though is this snow topped spice cake from Nigella Lawson. I posted the recipe last year but you can find it again here. This morning I took it into my morning class since this is my last week at work before my holiday and was really pleased how much everyone liked it. It's spicy enough with cinnamon, ginger and cardamom and sweet with lemon icing but manages to be as light as a feather and satisfyingly squidgy in the middle. Best of all, it's incredibly simple. This will be the one I'm making for my family at Christmas.

Snow topped spice cake (slightly adapted from Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess)

For the cake

4 large eggs, separated, plus 2 extra large egg whites
125ml vegetable oil
125ml water
2 tbsp runny honey
100g dark muscovado sugar
75g ground almonds
150g plain flour
2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
pinch of salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp all-spice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
zest of 1/2 an orange
100g caster sugar

For the icing

juice of 2 lemons

150g icing sugar, sifted

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

2. Whisk together the yolks and oil, then add the water, honey and dark muscovado sugar. Add the almonds, flour, baking powder, bicarb, spices and zest, folding in gently.

3. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until stiff and then gradually add the pinch of salt.

4. Fold the whites into the cake mixture, and pour into a greased and lined Springform tin. Bake for 45 minutes, or until the cake is springy on top and beginning to shrink away from the sides. Let the cake cool in its tin on a rack for 25 minutes before turning it out.

To make the icing; sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add the lemon juice. Stir until smooth. Add more sugar/juice as necessray, depending on how thick or runny you like your icing. Spread on the cake with a palette knife and leave to set. The cake keeps well for a few days and also freezes (uniced) beautifully.

The big baking post

Dear reader,

As we speak, a large pot of homemade mincemeat is cooling on the stove, soon to be laced with brandy and left overnight for the flavours to blend. Commissioned by my boss to bake 2 dozen mince pies, I feel a little nervous, especially since I don't have the proper sized tin, only a muffin mould and cutters which are too small. Since the begiing of December I have made around 200 German Christmas cookies or Plätzchen. Last week I made a mincemeat cheesecake and on Sunday the flat smelled of oranges and freshly baked gingerbread as I prepared a snow topped spice cake and some orangettes. In the small hours of this morning I made Dan Lepard's cranberry chocolate snow cookies as the sky was turning the loveliest pink and orange. They were so good that I ate at least 12 of them, yes really, me who was always so self-righteous about only ever eating one transformed into a quivering wreck who raids the biscuit tin. If there was ever a case for baking overdose, it could well be me and it's not even Christmas yet.

Still, as Mae West once said, too much of a good thing can be wonderful. In the spirit of seasonal excess, I'll be posting a series of recipes, hopefully every day until Sunday, beginning with this post on Christmas cookies. I've never really been a fan of shop biscuits or boxes of chocolates, however expensive they may be. There are always the caramels, liqueurs and coconut ones which I hate left at the bottom and it always seems too much. Yet a little bag of homemade goodies makes a lovely gift, much nicer than a boring voucher or another CD and I guarantee that your friends will really appreciate the time and effort you've put in for them. I made all the Plätzchen below over about four days but you might not have the time or energy for that which I quite understand. The Spekulatius are by far the simplest and quickest, followed by the cranberry and chocolate snow cookies then the vanilla crescents, Linzer Augen and mini Stollen. The Lebkuchen and cinnamon stars are the fiddliest and most time consuming, although also the most popular. Whichever you choose, I'm sure they'll be most appreciated.

Vanilla crescents (recipe from Mingou I posted here)

Keep in a metal tin for 4-6 weeks in a cool place

Linzer Augen (recipe from Mingou I posted here)

Keep in a metal tin for 4-6 weeks in a cool place

Spekulatius

I bought my patterned form from Karstadt but any large department store in Germany should stock nice ones. If you can't find it, just use ordinary cutters in the shape of your choice.

Makes around 80

500g flour

250g butter

250g natural cane sugar

a pinch of salt

2 eggs

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat the oven to 200° or 175° fan assisted. Place all ingredients in a large bowl and mix until you have a smooth dough.

2. Roll the dough out to around 5 mm thick and cut out shapes or if using a form press the dough onto the pattern evenly with a rolling pin or your hands. Place on a baking sheet covered with parchment.

3. Bake for around 10 minutes then remove carefully and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Keep in an airtight container for 4-6 weeks

Zimtsterne (cinammon stars). Recipe from the December issue of Meine Familie und ich.

I chose a different recipe from previous years in order to avoid serving raw egg white so I could give it to kids and older people. It's basically pretty similar but this time the icing is applied before baking.

Makes around 60

4 egg whites from medium sized eggs

a pinch of salt

350g icing sugar

500g ground almonds

1 tablespoon cinnamon

1/2 tablespoon zest from an unwaxed lemon

icing sugar for rolling out

1. Beat the egg whites with the salt until stiff then fold in the icing sugar. Beat at maximum speed on your hand mixer for another 10 minutes. Put 5 tablespoons of egg whites to one side.

2. Mix the almonds with the cinnamon and lemon zest. With a large whisk, gently blend in the egg whites and leave to cool for 30 minutes.

3. Divide the dough into small portions and roll each one out between two sheets of plastic in order to avoid having a super sticky dough that remains glued to the worktop (I'm talking from experience). It should be around 5mm thick. Using a star shaped cutter, regularly dipped in icing sugar, cut out the cookies and place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment, gathering up the remaining bits and rolling out again until you have no dough left over. Brush the reserved egg white mixture over the stars and leave to dry for an hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 150°C (fan assisted 130°C). Bake the stars for 12-14 minutes and transfer to a rack to cool. They should be slightly golden and chewy inside.

Keep in a metal tin for 2-3 weeks

Elisen-Lebkuchen (Recipe from the December issue of Meine Familie und ich)

Elisen-Lebkuchen are a little different from the normal Lebkuchen because there is no flour but a mix of nuts and spices instead. The cookies are pretty easy to make but decorating them takes a long time. However, all my friends loved them the best so maybe it's worth making the effort.

Makes around 60

4 medium sized eggs

1 teaspoon lemon juice

150g icing sugar

2 teaspoons Lebkuchengewürz or mixed spice if you don't live in Germany

200g ground almonds

200g ground hazelnuts

a pinch of salt

1 tablespoon zest from an unwaxed lemon

60 Backoblaten or wafers, 0.5cm (see here for more info or you can skip them if there aren't any in your supermarket)

250g bittersweet or dark chocolate, depending on your preference

chopped almonds for decorating

1. Preheat the oven to 160° or 140° for fan assisted ones. In a large bowl beat together the eggs, lemon juice and icing sugar vigourously by hand or with a mixer for around 10 minues or until thick and creamy. Add the Lebkuchengewürz, ground almonds, hazelnuts, salt and lemon zest and blend with a metal spoon.

2. Distribute the wafers on a baking sheet covered with parchment and place one heaped teaspoon of mixture on each Oblaten. Bake for around 15 minutes. Remove and leave to cool.

3. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave, stopping to stir every 30 seconds if you're using the latter. I found that melting all the chocolate at once wasn't such a good idea because it started to set before I'd finished decorating so do smaller amounts one after the other if possible.

4. Brush each Lebkuchen with melted chocolate and scatter some chopped almonds on top.

Keep in a metal tin for 4-6 weeks. Place a slice of apple inside that you change regularly and don't close the tin completely so the cookies stay soft.

Chocolate cranberry snow cookies from a recipe by Dan Lepard in the Guardian here. So easy and delicious!

Mini Stollen ((Recipe from the December issue of Meine Familie und ich)

Makes around 80

For the dough

250g flour, plus more for rolling out and the worktop

1 pack of dried yeast or half a cube of fresh

1 tablespoon milk, slightly warmed

70g sugar

125g low fat quark/curd cheese/fromage blanc

a pinch of salt

one medium egg

80 raisins

50g candied orange peel

50g candied lemon peel

a little lemon juice

Extra

100g of butter for brushing on top

100g icing sugar for decorating

1. Sift the flour into a large bowl and form a well in the centre. In another bowl mix or crumble the yeast with the warm milk and 1/2 teaspoon sugar and pour into the well. Mix with some of the surrounding flour. Leave for 30 minutes.

2. When the time's up, add in the quark, salt, egg, remaining sugar, raisins, candied orange and lemon peel and the lemon juice and knead until blended. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 30 minutes.

3. Roll out the dough on a floured worktop until 2.5cm thick. Cut into rectangles 10cm wide and 20 cm long. With the edge of your hand make an indentation in the middle then fold both sides (lengthways not widthways) over one another so that you have a long Stollen shape.

4. Place on a baking sheep covered with parchment and leave for another 30 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 180° or 160° fan assisted. Bake the stollen on the middle shelf for 15-20 minutes.

6. Melt the butter and brush generously over the top of the stollen while it's still warm. The more butter you use, the longer it will keep and the better it will taste. Dredge a thick layer of icing sugar as a finishing touch and cut into 1cm thick slices.

Keep in a metal tin for 1-2 weeks

The finished cookies, ready for giving out. Tomorrow I'll be back to talk about cake and give you an update on my mince pies. Wish me luck!

The sky this morning

Sugar and spice

I often think I could be someone you'd love to hate:

• I go to bed early and never stay out late, even at weekends
• I'm bright and cheerful in the mornings without needing coffee or having the alarm clock on snooze for an hour.
• I rarely drink alcohol and have never taken drugs or smoked.
• I love to exercise and work out almost every day.
• I like the normally unpopular things like anchovies, stinky cheese, raisins in cheesecakes, brussels sprouts, cabbage and spinach.
• I'm always early for appointments and the first to arrive at parties.
• I never forget to floss.
• I never eat at the cinema because the noise distracts me.
• I only watch original versions of films and love reading subtitles.
• My flat is a mess 90% of the time and if you're brave enough to open any of my cupboards, things tend to fall out.
• My favourite seasons are autumn and winter and I don't like summer.
• I cry easily at films.
• And last but not least, I love Christmas. The whole smaltziness, kitsch and overblown occasion that it is. The twinkling of the lights, the smell of cinnamon and chestnuts, coming home laden with bags stuffed with presents, buying a poinsettia, listening to classic songs by the Carpenters, Bing Crosby, Andy Williams and Nat King Cole, watching the Snowman and It's a Wonderful Life on Christmas Eve then bursting into tears. The build-up part is my favourite so I try to make the most of every spare minute; baking Christmas cookies for friends, going out for walks in the evenings wrapped up warm to see the decorations and visiting the Christmas markets. Yesterday I finished work early and headed over to Gendarmenmarkt and then to the one at the Opernpalais. It made me realise how much I love this city in winter. Instead of the usual mulled wine or waffles I paid one final visit to the charmingly old fashioned Opernpalais for coffee and cake which will close at the end of the year. The room was packed with people savouring their spectacular Viennese style Torten, large bowls of soup and hot chocolate piled high with cream. A sad farewell to a Berlin institution which offered a welcome relief to Starbucks; I'm going to miss that place.

Scandinavian design on the way to the market

Stormy weather over Gendarmenmarkt

Anyone for a cocktail?

Alpaca wool

The market at the Opernpalais

Opernpalais café

Just part of the amazing range of cakes

Dusk on Bebelplatz

Fairy lights at Potsdamer Platz

As promised in my last post, here's my version of Julia's recipe for the Swedish spice cake. Her original recipe uses unsweetened bilberries which you should also choose if you're lucky enough to find any. In Berlin there were plenty in jars but sweetened which I hate so I replaced them with fresh cranberries. Julia also used lait ribot which you can easily find in Brittany but I replaced it with buttermilk, although any kind of fermented milk would be fine. My icing came out too thin and was more of a syrup but the cake was still moist and delicious and should definitely be an addition to the Christmas coffee time.

Mjuk pepparkaka or Swedish spice cake (original recipe in French here)

Ingredients

100g soft butter, unsalted

2 eggs

100g brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

2 tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp ground cloves

220g white spelt flour

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100ml buttermilk

100g unsweetened cranberries

1. Grease and line your cake tin (it should hold up to 1.5l). Preheat the oven to 150°C.

2. Melt the butter.

3. Beat the eggs and sugar vigourously for five minutes until thick and frothy.

4. Add the spices, flour, bicarb of soda followed by the buttermilk, melted butter and cranberries, beating in slowly.

5. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake in the oven for 50 minutes to 1 hour.

6. Decorate the cake with icing and berries.

For the icing

Combine 200g icing sugar, a tablespoon of lemon juice and 25ml of water. Heat up to 40°C and pour over the cake. The icing will set as it cools.