kinderpunsch & kipferl...

I've just spend a fabulous morning with Petra making traditional Vanillekipferl and Kinderpunsch....mmmm if only you could smell the delicious aroma coming from my kitchen right now! Well, not only is it the kitchen, it has permeated throughout the whole apartment....mmmm...soooo good, a mixture of vanilla sugar and spices....ohhhh it's wunderbar!

As with learning the art of German cookie baking, Petra has now taught me the ways of the Kinderpunsch....and isn't it a glorious colour! Can't wait til the kiddo's are home...hopefully there will be some left for them!

I thought I'd pop in a link to find similar recipes to those that we used, for anyone who is keen...
Vanillekipferl and sorry the recipe for the Kinderpunsch is in German, but you get the general gist of it....
vary the amounts depending on how much you want to make, its basically fruit tea - a red variety, apple juice, about 15 cloves (nelken), 1 cinnamon stick (zimt), one lemon juiced, one orange juiced and brown sugar to taste, plus you can use a little orange and or lemon zest if you like.

It tastes so yummy - probably just as good cold if you're on the sunny & warm side of the world, a bit like iced tea! If you want to make the adult version, just add a bottle of red wine to the mix & .....

.....enjoy! 

Alison x

Baking up a storm with my Bavarian Bestie...

So this morning Petra came over laden with groceries and recipe books intent on showing me just how easy it was to bake my favourite German Christmas cookies or as she called them Weihnachtsplätchen. A mouthful isn't it... so I'm just going to stick to calling them cookies or biscuits!

She had brought with her the recipe book that belonged to her Oma (Grandma), her collection of cookies cutters, all ingredients we needed and a big warm smile - cheered me up to no end on such a bleak, wet and miserable day. We had a bit of a chat and a laugh, exchanged some stories of our lives over a cuppa and then set about creating a big mess on my kitchen table. Yes, when I say table I mean table...no bowl needed to blend the ingredients together. German style is to plonk it all on the table and kneed, kneed, kneed like there is no tomorrow! I looked at the mixing bowl I had previously gotten out for her to use to mix the ingredients - obsolete! Seriously. Well, why not. Who needs to use mixing bowls anyway.

After I had got over the initial shock of the mixing of ingredients on the table, we rolled out the dough and cut out our shapes. All along sharing stories about Christmases of past at home, food we eat to celebrate and baking we've learnt from our mums or in Petra's case her aunt...so nice to share a story or two.

The kids will be over the moon with their Friday afternoon treats, especially Sean...Spitzbuben are his favourite. Although I'm not sure he will believe that I actually made them & that they didn't come from the bakery down the street!

Petra's recipe book that belonged to her Oma and the recipe that Petra has used 'forever' to make Weihnachtsplätzchen. How special is that? Now I have a copy of it too and whenever I use it I will think back to this time here in Munich when I baked Christmas cookies with my Bavarian Bestie! 

Alison x

Getting Crafty...

The kids had a day off school today...another one! Next week they get two more days off school... it feels like they actually don't spend a lot of time at school! 

So anyway, today in Germany it is know as Buß und Bettag. Supposedly a day of prayer and repentance, to change one's direction and turn to God as the church year comes to and end and we move towards Advent. The school used today as a professional development day.  Many families traditionally use this day to begin Christmas preparations, like starting their special baking. So we used it as a Lets Stay in our Pyjama's 'Cause it's Too Cold to Go Outside Day and a Christmas Crafty Day! 

I had spied some lovely paper snowflake cutouts as Christmas decorations in a magazine recently and wanted to recreate the look on our windows. This is our result so far (I seem to be a little hooked on cutting out snowflakes, I think it may have therapeutic benefits!)...so here they are, our small but growing collection of snow flakes...

...and then after all that hard work (we still have more to do, well I do...this is only just the beginning as we count down to Christmas) we enjoyed a little afternoon snack. I love this time of year when all the bakers and grocery shops stock these wonderful little treats...

...They are so cute. Lucky me...this Friday Petra is going to share her baking knowlege with me and teach me a thing or two about baking Christmas cookies German style!

Next week, when the kids have another two days off school, I think I'll try to con Emma into the kitchen with me and bake some of mums wonderful biscuits she makes. First up Italian Spice Biscuits...they were one of my favourites. I feel happy just thinking about them!

Alison x
ps. I'm not known for my Christmas Craftiness...so this was a H U G E day for me! But I liked it, it was fun.xx