Oatmeal and Marzipan Cookies

I made these cookies for Christmas. It wasn't planned in fact, but after seeing the original recipe at Anudivya's Blog A little Bit More, with very creative and healthy recipes, many of which are modified recipes made healthy by - which appear to me to be - such drastic reductions of sugar and fats that it always leaves me amazed. I love oatmeal cookies and had been wanting to make them on my own, but as it always is with me, since I get the lovely Brandt oatmeal Hobbits which I like a lot, I never really bothered to try making these on my own. But, when I saw these not only healthy and but also tempting cookies she had made, I knew I had to try these.
That I would add dried currents was clear to me right from the beginning. But, since I was in the mood of using ingredients more appropriate for Christmas, the idea of using marzipan came into my mind and I did it with wonderful results.

Oatmeal and Marzipan Cookies

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Adapted from Anudivya's recipe at ...and A little Bit More...

Preparation time: 20-25 minutes
Baking time: 30 - 35 minutes
Temperature: 150°C (convection: 120°C)

Ingredients:
3-4 tbsp butter / margarine (if you wish to roll out the dough and use cookie cutters, 4 tbsp will be required)
5 tbsp sugar (measured) - increase quantity to taste
150 g oat flour (I ground wholegrain tender oats flakes - DE: Kölln blütenzarte vollkorn Haferflocken)
120 g almond meal
100g raw marzipan* (marzipan rohmasse, with no additional sugar) - optional
1 packet of vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)
80 g dried currents (DE: Korinthen)

Method:

• grease baking sheets, lay on baking trays and set aside
• if using oat flakes, grind them in a coffee mill or dry grinder
• combine all ingredients together except for currents with your hands or using a mixer
  
• add currents and combine with your hands to make one large ball
• either
  
• make small balls out of it and press down** with the palms to flatten
• or, roll out with a rolling pin and cut out cookies using cookie cutters
• place on the greased baking sheet
• bake for 30-35 minutes (if using oat flakes, which are precooked, 25 minutes are enough)
• let them cool down before picking up the cookies, to avoid crumbling
  

NOTE:
* Raw Marzipan as a term, according to Deutsche Lebensmittelbuch, a part of LFGB - the German book of Food Law, can only be used if the product does not contain more than 35% sugar and those with higher amounts of sugar have to be named differently. Go to Niederegger for more details.
** If using wholegrain oat flakes the balls will not melt down on their own, due to coarse structure and low amounts of butter, flatten them with hands into shape

These cookies don't look so fancy as the previous ones, but these are the kinds i could gobble up any time of the day any time of the year! I actually stuck to the recipe of Anudivya for the use of sugar, and these were only very mildly sweet, although I also had marzipan in it and that must have made them sweeter than her recipe. But, these weren't even half as sweet as the other cookies I had made.
Anudivya, these were my favorite cookies among all the lovely ones I made this time. It was actually for the first time that all the cookies I made for Christmas actually got eaten as well and are almost all gone. In the last few years of experimenting with a number of cookies I have learned the tastes most appreciated at my home. I admit, that includes myself too. :D
This is going to be one recipe I will be using quite often, for sure. I wish to try making my own marzipan, without bitter almonds, which aren't as healthy for toddlers, although sunny boy has almost crossed that age. And that would make the recipe even more interesting.
If you haven't baked enough cookies already and are in the mood for them, then do try this one. I bet, you won't be disappointed!
Now, before I end this post and before I forget to mention, I must add that I made these cookies together with sunny boy and he enjoyed it a lot. So, if you wish to bake cookies with your 3 year old, then these are the best cookies I can recommend you. I admit, the currents did cause us some difficulty while cutting them out with the different cookie cutter shapes sunny boy wished to use, but then we are there to help them. And it was huge fun for both of us.

Stollen and to all of you A Very Happy New Year 2009 !!

Baking Stollen or Christstollen at Christmas time is an age old custom and has a long tradition in Germany and some neighbouring countries, like the Netherlands (Kerststol). The shape of the Stollen is supposed to remind one of the swaddled baby Christ.
One of the cities well known for this tradition is Dresden and it was one of the first cities where this tradition of baking Stollen for Christmas has been recorded in different chronicles and earliest records date to as early as the 15th Century. Dresdner Stollen is also famous here in Germany and is considered to be one of the best recipes of Stollen.
Thanks to Ulrike of blog Küchenlatein I got to know that Dresdner stollen is a protected designation of origin (PDO) and can only then be called so when it is baked in and around Dresden. But what I could find out after asking bakeries who then call their stollen 'Dresdner Art' (i.e., made in a way like the Dressdner Stollen) is that is that there really are general guidelines which say when a stollen can be referred to as 'Dresdner Art' or something similar.
I had almost given up the thought of baking Stollen this time, but then finally decided on trying it out. It is my very first time. One can so easily get Stollen here that I hardly had the motivation to do it until now. Although, the thought has been on my mind since a couple of years now. Every bakery is offering Stollen during Christmas time. The supermarkets start selling them much earlier, in fact, as well as many of its new reincarnations - the cookie sized stollens. This Christmas I had not bought any Stollen, or for that matter bought a single Stollen at all. The Stollen season at the shops will also be over as soon as the new year starts. So, I thought "let me not break the tradition of eating Stollen at this time of the year and make my own" ;)
After searching through a couple of recipes in the net I saw this recipe (in German) which found my liking and got an instinctive "OK".

Stollen 'Dresdner Art'

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Based on the recipe from www.weihnachtsbaeckerei.com (in German)

Preparation time: 1 day + about 1-1/2 to 2 hours
Baking time: 60 minutes

For 2 loaves

Ingredients:
500 g raisins (I used 300 g only + 100 g each of chopped dates and apricots)
200 g candied orange peel (orangeat)
100 g candied lemon peel
150 g peeled and chopped almonds
100 ml water
70 ml rum (i replaced it with 50 ml water)
600 g wheat flour type 550 (I used a mixture of types 405 and 550) - divided (300 g + 300 g)
some flour to roll the dough
1-1/2 cubes (60 g ) fresh yeast
25 g sugar
250 ml milk - divided (150 ml + 100 ml)
2 egg yolks (size Medium)
2 level tsp salt (I used only one)
1/2 tsp Lebkuchen spice* (or gingerbread spice) - I prefer using only cinnamon
1/4 tsp organic orange peel flavouring (orange oil + maltodextrin)
200 g raw marzipan
300 g butter - divided (200 g + 100 g)
150 g confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
1 packet bourbon vanilla sugar** (= vanilla extract + sugar + ground vanilla bean)

Left: before folding the Stollen; Right: Stollen, after folding it (method: see below)

Method:

• a day before, soak the raisins, candied peels and chopped almonds in the rum and water in a closed container at room temperature
• the next day, in a large and deep bowl add 300 g flour, make a well in the centre, crumble the fresh yeast and add 150 ml cold milk and sugar (25 g), stir to dissolve and knead everything together into a smooth but stiff dough
• let the dough in the bowl rise (proof) at a warm (but not too warm) place covered with a wet dish towel
• once the volume is doubled, add the remaining (300 g) flour, milk (100 ml), egg yolks (2), salt (1 tsp), the gingerbread spice and orange peel flavouring and knead everything together for a while
• add marzipan slowly and knead it together
• knead 200 g butter into the dough (don't let it get warm!)
• followed by the soaked raisins, peels and nuts until you get a soft and uniform dough
• let it rise (proof) for another 20 minutes at a warm place
• roll out the dough on a floured surface into a rectangle, don't knead!
• fold it twice, first lengthwise (longer side) and then breadthwise (shorter side)
• let the dough rise (proof) for another 20 minutes
• divide the dough into two halves now
• For each dough follow as given below:
• gently roll out the dough (each half) into a rectangle of 30 x 20 cm² with a rolling pin
• make one half lengthwise (30 x 10 cm²) thinner than the other
• with the lower side of the hand (holding the hand vertically and straight) make a groove (depression) in the middle
• at the groove fold the thinner side over the thicker one to get the typical shape of a Stollen
• put both the stollen over a baking sheet (I didn't use any, just nicely sprinkled flour on the try)
• let them rest for 10 minutes
• bake in a preheated oven at 200 °C (Gas: 2; Convection: 160 °C) for 45 minutes
• bake at 175 °C (Gas:3; Convection: 150 °C) for another 15 minutes
• In the mean time
• melt the butter in a small pot at the lowest temperature on the stove top and switch off heat as soon as it is done, don't let it get too hot
• mix vanilla sugar with confectioner's sugar
• once the stollen are done, brush their tops with the melted butter
• sprinkle with the sugar generously
• once it has cooled down a bit, carefully turn it up side down and put the sugar on the lower side as well generously
• ideally one should let it stand for a week or two before cutting it
• stollen, if stored properly in a cold and dry condition, can be easily kept for months.
• while serving make 1 cm thick slices and serve with spiced tea or coffee or to German Glühwein (hot wine punch)

*Lebkuchen spice: it is usually a mixture of ground cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds, mace. ginger and allspice. It is similar to gingerbread spice.
**To make your own vanilla sugar just put a scraped vanilla bean into an airtight glas jar of plain table sugar and close it tightly. In a few days time you will have a wonderful vanilla flavoured sugar, grind the vanilla bean and add to the sugar, if desired.

Now, I'll begin with what all went wrong or what I did differently with purpose :D :

1. I didn't use any Rum (alcohol), I don't do it as a rule since a few months, unless it is really a small amount and cannot be done without. The reason is sunny boy. Against regular belief, about 95% of the alcohol remains in the food, even if you cook it for long. I was shocked when I read it in the "Eltern" (German for Parents) magazine the first time about a year back. since then I don't use any alcohol in any form in food. No more wines for us for the coming few years. But, both me and hubby don't mind that at all.
2. I didn't use the Lebkuchen spice. I dislike it even more than cinnamon, which I have begun to like a little bit after many years of eating it in different sweets, but Lebkuchen spice (gingerbread spice) , no that has to wait till I begin to like it a bit. I used cinnamon and orange oil instead, as oranges are something I very much associate to Christmas too.
3. I made a big blunder while preparing the dough. I by mistake used 250 g butter instead of 200 g while kneading the dough. It made the stollen much too soft. I was totally puzzled as to how it could be, until I checked the recipe and my ingredients to find the mistake. I tried to add a little bit more of flour (about 50 g) and just about managed to keep the whole thing together. Next time I'll actually use much much lesser than 200 g and take maybe 100 g only. It is more than enough in my opinion.
4. I used a lot of flour to shape the stollen because of the blunder (too much butter)

As you can see, the Stollen has kind of melted down because of too much butter in it and does not have that typical raised shape it is supposed to have in the centre. But, the big consolation is that it has turned out so lovely! I love the flavour of this Stollen. I guess, for some of you a christmas sweet means the spices, but I have not been able to befriend myself with them as yet. And I found this packet of orange peel flavouring from a Reformhaus, which found its use here and gave it a wonderful flavour and made a very pleasant combination with cinnamon -you see, I did use some spice. :) And Hubby gave the best compliment I could have from him. He said it tastes better than what we buy, and we have been buying all kinds of them in all these years and I'm quite particular about what I buy when it comes to Stollen. I don't buy just anything. And he even said "good.... too much butter is tasting good" All I could was laugh at that. :D

My Verdict: I liked the use of marzipan in the original recipe, which is not always the case for stollen. The butter was a bit too much, but, partly it was my mistake and can be easily reduced, as a stollen is a dense bread and doesn't have to be soft or for that matter fluffy. The amount of sugar you put on top of it is all up to you. I found replacing a small part of the raisins with apricots and dates made a wonderful change and I will surely keep it like that the next time as well. The absence of rum in the raisins made them more delicious to our taste, but it is a matter of taste again. All in all, a wonderful recipe!

Stollen, brushed with butter, before sprinkling sugar on it

I'm sending this not-so-perfectly shaped but tasty Stollen to Zorra's Bread Baking Day # 15 hosted this time by Annarasa.

Wising you All  
A Very Happy New Year 2009 !  
May it bring lots of joy, good health, peace 
 and love in your lives!

Some more Stollen recipes:

Zorra's Christstollen at 1x Umrühren bitte
Jude's Stollen at Apple Pies, Patis & Pâté

Merry Christmas!

Frohe Weihnachten!
Wishing you a Merry Christmas!
May this christmas be as special and unique as you are!
May it bring you joy and happiness!

This is our very first christmas tree ever and we are so happy to have finally bought one this year. Since three years we are thinking of buying one, but every time we thought that sunny boy was too young. But, now is just the right age for him. We went together to a nearby place where they were selling them on the weekend and decorated it in the evening - me, Rishab and hubby. It was such a pleasure. When I took the photo, I didn't notice that hubby had already switched off the lights, as it was already quite late and time to go to bed. But, I think it looks good even without the lights. I have brought some basic decoration and we will increase our stock of christmas ornaments every year, little by little. :)

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas time!

PG

Nürnberger Elisenlebkuchen

Nürnberger lebkuchen is a speciality made during Christmas time and originating from Nürnberg in the state of Bavaria, Germany. It is now a protected name and can only be used for Lebkuchen actually originating from there, when sold. A comparatively newer variant of this lebkuchen is the Nürnberger Elisenlebkuchen, which are baked without any flour. And this is one fact which makes them so interesting for me. Need I mention why? They are gluten free!
But, another reason for this is that I don't like the lebkuchen found in the markets usually. They taste too much of cinnamon and you might know that I prefer it with only little cinnamon. So, that means I have to bake them myself.
And going through this book I got as a gift from a friend of mine, I found this lovely recipe of these exquisite Nürnberger Elisenlenbkuchen. The recipe couldn't have been more perfect for me. After having baked my first round of cookies already, I felt confident enough to try these myself as well.

Nünberger Elisen-Lebkuchen

Recipe by PG of My Kitchen Stories

Based on the Book: Dr. Oetker's Weihnachts Bäckerei (Dr. Oetker Verlag)

Preparation time: 20-25 minutes
Baking Temperature: 130-150°C (convection oven: 120°C) ; gas - position 1
Baking time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

75 -100 g candied orange and lemon peel, finely chopped
125 g almonds meal
2 eggs
200g fine crystal sugar
1 pack vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
1 pinch ground clove or cinnamon (I only used cinnamon)
a few drops rum flavouring or 2 tbsp rum
1 tbsp lemon peel or a few drops lemon flavouring
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp baking powder
75-125 g ground hazelnuts (depending on the size)
30 small paper thin round wafers* ( communion wafers / host, called Oblate in German), to place the batter on
or
spread ground nuts (almonds or hazelnuts) on the baking sheet (almond or hazelnut)

Icing:

white:
150 g powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
1-2 tbsp warm water or lemon juice or a mixture

Chocolate:
75 g dark chocolate icing
or
75 g dark chocolate
10 g coconut fat

Method:

• mix together finely chopped candied orange and lemon peel with almonds and set aside
• beat the eggs in a deep bowl at highest speed to get a fluffy and creamy mixture
• add vanilla extract or sugar and slowly sprinkle the sugar into the mixture while beating, which takes about a minute
• fold in the aromas, cinnamon and lemon peel
• add baking powder to the almond mixture and fold it slowly into the egg mixture (you can use the egg beater at the lowest speed)
• fold in so much ground hazelnuts so that the batter is still easily spreadable
• spread baking sheets over baking trays and grease them
• if using hosts/wafers then place them on these sheets
• if using ground nuts then sprinkle slightly on the sheet to have a thin layer to prevent the cookies from sticking to the sheet
  
• using two spoons place spoonfuls of the cookie mixture on each of the wafers or on simply on the sheet to make around 30 cookies
  
• bake in preheated oven (requires about 5-10 minutes) at 150°C (convection oven: 120°C) for 25-30 minutes
• for the white sugar icing mix so much water or lemon juice with the sugar to make a thick paste and
  
• for the chocolate icing melt the ingredients in a double boiler / water bath and stir
  
• spread the icings on the still hot cookies, by dipping the cookies in the icing or by pouring it on the cookies with a spoon

*NOTE: the wafers are not always gluten free, so one needs to either make the without the wafers or use wafers made with a substitute like rice flour. I made the majority of these without the wafers and only a small part with the wafers.

As you can see here, these haven't turned out perfect. I have no clue as to why these got wrinkled on top or when. It did not affect the flavour or the taste, as they taste fantastic. I made both the coatings for them, sugar and chocolate. But, hubby didn't want any, so I also left a part of the cookies plain. And they actually taste wonderful! But, again each one of us has found his favorite, while sunny boy always chooses the ones with sugar coating (surprisingly, as chocolate in general is his favorite) and I like the ones with chocolate and hubby plain. I'll be making another round soon and let me see if I can figure out why the surface got wrinkled, maybe the oven wasn't hot enough or I had opened it once. Or that I used the mixer at lowest speed to fold in the almond meal.
But, it was utter pleasure to bite into these chewy and flavourful orange and lemony cookies or to be precise, lebkuchen, as these are a special type of cookies made for Christmas. And I'm so happy to have tried these and I will surely make them again.

These cookies go to Susan's Eat Christmas Cookies (part 2) at Food Blogga , the round up is here.