Cherry and Almond Crumb Torte for Birthdays

Cherry Almond Crumb Torte

This is a great torte to make for a Kaffeklatsch or as a birthday cake.  Each summer we used to pick cherries, wash and pit them and freeze them and use them in cakes like this.

This recipe is an old recipe from an Air Force wife and mom named Jan Tremain.  I found it in a magazine called LADYCOM in the 1990's.   She writes that her family lived in Weilbach, an hour from the Rhein-Main Air Base.

2 cups flour
pinch salt
2/3 cup finely ground almonds
grated peel of a lemon
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 butter set out a room temp about 15 minutes before using
2 pounds of sour cherries

1. Stir flour, salt, almonds, lemon peel and sugar together in a large bowl.  Cut in butter with a fork or pastry blender.  With hands, knead until well-mixed.  
2.  Put half the kneaded mixture into the fridge.  Press the remaining mixture onto the bottom and sides of a 9 or 10 inch springform pan, forming a crust.
3. Spread the drained cherries over the bottom crust.  Take remaining mixture from fridge and sprinkle over the cherries to make a streusel topping.
4.  Bake on middle oven rack at 375 degrees for 60 minutes.   Remove to a rack; cool.  Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

Mrs.Bauer's Christmas Stollen

My mom kept this paragraph that explained the history of the word stollen and the Christmas tradition.   We would include a copy of the paragraph when we gave the stollen as gifts.

This is the legend of how stollen got it's name:  One winter in the 1850's in Dresden, Germany there was a coal mine cave in that trapped many miners underground for many days. The miners were rescued and they had stayed nourished by sharing the loaves of fruit and nut bread in their lunch pails that their wives had baked.  The bread contained raisins, citron, butter, and leavening, was baked for its nutritional value and flavor. It also "aged well" and stayed great tasting after weeks, unlike other bread.  The word "Stollen" is the old German word meaning "mine shaft."  Stollen became a traditional delicacy baked and eaten during the winter holidays.   

These were directions that my dad photocopied from a Goleta Bakery stollen that they once ordered from Goleta, CA.   I added my observations to these directions. 
1.  Always keep tightly enclosed in original wrapping otherwise the bread will dry out.  We wrap ours in foil and then in an airtight plastic bag. 
2.  Europeans let the stollen "age" it at room temperature for one or two weeks, but stollen taste great right away too.  
3.  In Europe, stollen is always served sliced medium thin, plain and without previous heating. In other places, like in the U.S., I have seen people enjoy stollen toasted and  buttered. It make a delicious treat anytime of the day when served with coffee or tea.  

 Mrs. Bauer's German Stollen

A colleague of my dad's figured out the measurements while watching my mom make stollen.  Here is the recipe.

1/2 to 1 pound of butter at room temperature

7 1/2 cups flour mixed with 1 cup sugar and 3/4 tsp salt

8 packages of yeast or 6 cakes of yeast or 16 tsp.of yeast in 1 1/2 cups very lukewarm water with 1 Tbsp. sugar.

1 1/2 cups scalded milk (I put the milk in a glass measuring cup and microwave it for 2 to 3 minutes.  I let it cool to warm if it is too hot so as not to burn the yeast.)

1 grated lemon peel, 1 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1 1/2 tsp cardamom,1 pkg. white raisins and 1 pkg. currants, 1  8 oz. container of candied citron chopped fine, 1 8 oz. container candied orange peel (optional), 1 1/4 cups almonds silvered or chopped fine

1. Let the butter soften at room temperature or melt the butter in a microwave.

2. Prepare the yeast by adding 8 packages of dry yeast, 1 Tbsp. sugar to 1 1/2 cups of lukewarm water.  Be careful the water is not too hot.  Set this mixture in a warm, still place, cover with a clean cloth and allow the yeast to bubble and rise.   I took off the cloth and this is what the yeast, warm water and sugar mixture looks like:

3.  Put all the dry fruits, seasonings, nuts and lemon peel in a separate bowl and mix together.  I like to let this mixture soak in about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of rum overnight.  One time I let it soak for over 1/2 a year because I didn't get around to making more stollen at Christmas the year before!  My brother calls this mixture "stollen gorp"  because it looks like a special trail mix.

4.  In a large non-metal bowl mix the flour, sugar and salt together.  My Joe says that the yeast doesn't rise as well in metal bowl.  Also, make sure the salt is mixed in because the yeast also doesn't rise as well if it touches high concentrations of salt.  Add the butter and yeast to the dry ingredients. Then add the milk and dried fruit and nut mixture.  Fold out on a floured surface and knead, adding flour until the dough is soft and doesn't stick to your hands.  Put the dough back in the bowl, cover with a towel and let rise until double in size in a warm quiet place.  This takes about an hour.

5.  After the dough has risen, fold it out onto the floured surface again and divide the dough into the desired number of stollen loaves.   I usually make three or four loaves.  Pat the dough pieces
to make a rectangle and then fold the long edge over so the edge is along the middle of the rectangle.  Curve the ends slightly to make a crescent shape or keep the dough as a narrow rectangle. Put the loaves on greased cookie sheets and let rise a final time in a warm, quiet place.

6.  Bake about 40 to 50 minutes in a 325 degree oven until lightly brown and until the loaf sounds hollow when you tap on it.  Brush the warm stollen with melted butter and sprinkle with vanilla sugar. Next, allow the stollen to completely cool.  It is best to wrap the loaves tightly in tin foil and then put in an airtight plastic bag.  My mom says the stollen tastes better as it ages.  

7.  Sift powdered sugar over the top to look like snow before you serve the stollen.  Slice the stollen and serve with coffee or tea.  A lot of Americans like to put butter on the stollen and eat it like toast for breakfast but traditionally stollen is eaten un-toasted without butter.  One time I didn't put enough of the dried fruit and spice mixture in the dough and the stollen was more bread-like than normal.  

3 Christmas cookie recipies to save forever: Vanille Kipfel, Spekulatius and Lebkuchen

Vanille Kipfel

In English these are called Almond Crescents.  These are my family's favorite Christmas cookie. My mom taught me how to make them when I was a kid.  They are fun to make with family and friends because you shape the cookies between your palms and it is good to have extra hands to help.

Dough:
2 cups flour (you can start with 1 3/4 cups of flour and then add the rest at the end as you are collecting all the dough into one ball.) 
1 cup ground almonds   (I grind the almonds in a blender so they are like coarse almond meal)
1/2 cup sugar
1 pkg. vanilla sugar (My mom used to use Dr. Oetker's  packaged vanilla sugar but she also showed me how to scrape out a vanilla bean and put the hollowed bean and the beans insides a container of sugar and make vanilla sugar over the course of a few months.  One bean for each two cups of sugar.) 
some salt
1 1/4 cups butter, cold
Extra vanilla sugar or powdered sugar for dusting the cookies

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  You don't have to grease a baking sheet because the cookies will spread out too much if you grease it.  Blend the flour, almonds, sugar, salt and vanilla sugar in a bowl. Cut the cold butter into small pieces over the dry ingredients.  Mix the butter into the flour mixture with your hands.  Roll the butter and flour mixture between your fingers over and over to mix the butter evenly into the dry ingredients.  Work theses ingredients together quickly into a smooth dough.

To make the crescent shape, I pinch off a small amount of dough and shape it into a ball using my palms. The dough ball should be smaller than golf ball.  I then roll my palms together back and forth to make the ball into a cylinder or log shape.   I push the ends in if they are tapered too much.  I then form the cylinder into a crescent with my fingers and put it on the baking sheet.  My mom's friend, Emily, made very small delicate looking crescents, whereas my mom made bigger more hearty looking cookies.   It is fun to do with others and see how people have different styles of shaping these cookies.

Bake on the middle rack in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until light golden in color. Let cool slightly before removing the cookies from the baking sheet otherwise they will break.  I put the cookies face down in a shallow bowl of vanilla sugar a few at a time and then turn them over to coat both sides of the cookies.  I then take them out of the sugar to make room for the next few.  Some people use powdered sugar instead of granulated vanilla sugar.


I like these cookies a lot. 
Spekulatius
500 g. flour
1 pkg. baking powder
250 g butter or margarine
250 g sugar
2 eggs
150 g almonds
zest of a lemon
5 g cinnamon, 2 g nutmeg, 1 g cardamom, 1 teaspoon cocoa powder

Bake for 10 minutes at medium heat.

or 
this recipe, but it has only cinnamon as the added spice 
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
2 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking powder

In a large bowl, mix the butter with the sugar until creamy.  Beat in the egg until fluffy.  In another bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon and baking powder.  Gradually add dry ingredients to creamed mixture, mixing at low speed until well blended.  Cover and chill at least 2 hours.   To cut out with cookie cutters, roll well chilled dough on a floured board to 1/16 thickness.  I usually decorate the top of the cookie with a few blanched almonds before baking.  Bake in a 350 degree oven until edges begin to turn dark, about 6 to 8 minutes.

Lebkuchen (or German Honey Cookies)

heat slightly in a large saucepan:
1 1/3 cups honey and 3/4 cup (or less) sugar

add and melt
3 Tbsp. butter

Sift together and add:
about 2 cups flour, 1 tsp. baking powder and 1/2 tsp. baking soda

add:
1/2 cup almonds
1/4 cup chopped citron and 1/4 cup candied orange or lemon peel
1/4 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cardamom
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves

add:
1 1/2 to 2 cups more flour to make a sticky dough.  You can chill the dough overnight or roll it out right away.  Use cookie cutters to cup out shapes or roll the dough to fill a buttered jelly roll pan. Bake about 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  Cut into squares and ice with lemon glaze made with powdered sugar and lemon juice.

One of the easiest to make and best tasting cheesecakes

Traude's Cheesecake Recipe

My mom had a German friend named Traude.  This is her recipe. It is one of the easiest cheesecakes to make.  It is light and fluffy not heavy and dense.  It doesn't have a crust.  The bottom layer is a cream cheese based layer and the second layer is a sour cream based layer.   You could put a third layer of fruit and then a fourth layer of a fruit glaze over the fruit if you want to.

First layer:
Mix together in a bowl
one pound of cream cheese (at room temperature)
three eggs (at room temperature)
2/3 cups sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. almond or vanilla extract (optional) You can also use a zest of a lemon if you like.

Beat these ingredients until thick and fluffy.  Pour into a buttered 9" inch pie dish.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.  Cool for 20 minutes before adding the second layer.

Second layer:
Mix together
1/2 pint sour cream=1/2 pound  (I asked: how much is 1/2 pint? There is that easy-to-remember rhyme "A pint is a pound the world around."
2 Tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract (optional)

Spread this mixture onto first layer and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cool thoroughly before adding fruit if you want to add fruit.

My mom used to sometimes put canned mandarin oranges, or pineapple and those candied cherries on the cake and not glaze the cake at all and it looked great.  She would also sometimes prepare a glaze from packaged powder or you could use this recipe:

glaze for the fruit:
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. cornstarch
1/2 cup fruit juice

Bring these ingredients to boil.  Simmer for 5 minutes.  Pour glaze over the fruit.  Cool and then refrigerate cake before serving.

A dish using Cheese, Canadian bacon, English muffins...

Add to this List of Best Songs to get Everyone Dancing

I started making this list over 20 years ago.   I love the phrase "irresistibly danceable."  I read those words in a TIME magazine article about music and dancing from India.  I used to organize swing dances, ballroom dances, line dances and square dances for ages 12 to 112.  I love to see the generations mix.  Dancing changes the atmosphere in the room.  Even the cartoon character Snoopy says:  "to live is to dance and to dance is to live."

Newer
Titanium  by David Guetta  (this has been my favorite song for about a year now.  Irresistibly danceable!)

Older
Gloria                         

Rock Around the Clock       
A-B-C

Stray Cat Strut

RESPECT

Dancing in the Street 

Browned Eyed Girl    (Van Morrison)
Rock and Roll High School        (the Ramones)

Billy Jean, Thriller, Bad, Beat It   (Michael Jackson)

Eat it                        (by Weird Al)

LaBamba
Shout                       (Isley Brothers)

Twist and Shout       (Chuck Berry, the Beatles)

Celebration

YMCA                     (One of my friends jokes that she doesn't think a couple are really married unless the DJ plays YMCA at the reception.)

I’m walking on Sunshine by Katrina on the Waves

Maria                       (by Blonde or Santana)

Barbara Ann            (and any other Beach Boys songs)                            

The Hand Jive          (from “Grease”)

Walk Like an Egyptian            (The Bangles)

Johnny Be Good                     (Chuck Berry)

Believe                        (by Cher)

Back in the USSR       (The Beatles)

Carry on My Wayward Son    by Kansas

Cotton Eyed Joe

Wipe out                                    by the Surfers (1963)

Group and Line Dances
The Chicken Dance

The Macarena

The Electric Slide

a Conga Line song  (like Gloria Estafan’s “The Rhythm is going to get you" and

“Turn the Beat Around”)

a song that causes the dance floor to form a Soul Train

Slow and sweet

Always on my mind

You are my special angel

Blueberry Hill             Fats Domino

Teen Angel

Cheesecake made with Ricotta Cheese

This is a recipe from the April 1976 issue of Sunset magazine.

Ricotta Cheesecake

Serve it with fresh strawberries, or add raisins or currants to the cheesecake filling.

I have made this without a crust and also used this lemon crust recipe.

Lemon Crust:
Blend
1 1/2 cups crushed lemon cookie (or vanilla wafer) crumbs with
2 1/2 Tbsp. melted butter
Press over bottom and sides of a 9-inch cake pan with removable bottom; Bake the crust in a 350 degree oven for 6 minutes;  cool before adding the filling.

Filling:
3 eggs
1 1/2 pounds ricotta cheese
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup each sour cream and corn starch
1 tsp. each baking powder and vanilla
3 Tbsp. melted butter
2 tsp. grated lemon peel
1/2 cup raisins or currants

Blend eggs, cheese, sugar, and sour cream until smooth.  Blend cornstarch and baking powder;  add to cheese mixture with the vanilla, butter, and lemon peel.  Stir in raisins, if used.  Spoon filling into prepared crust.  Bake in a 325 degree oven for 60 minutes or until center appears set.  Cool on a rack; cover, and refrigerate.  Makes 16 servings.