Classic German Baking Book Review

I love to bake, and am a big fan of European baked goods. I would also consider myself somewhat of an experienced baker. So I was excited to receive this book and check out some of the recipes.

After flipping through the book I was surprised at the lack of recipe pictures. Considering this is a German recipe book geared toward an American kitchen (or at least geared towards people who might not be familiar with German recipes.) I found this quite annoying. 

Maybe it's the photographer in me, but I want to see what these things are supposed to look like! I want to be inspired to bake and I just wasn't feeling it. I mean, I'd venture to guess that most people (myself included) don't know what a  Schlesische mohnrolle is supposed to look like!

I was also a little annoyed at all the pictures of Berlin. Now, I like travel pictures, and I've been to Germany, and while it is a beautiful country, this is a cook book. Not a travel book. I don't think it's really appropriate to have a cake recipe paired with a picture of a strange mural somewhere. 

This is also not a book for a beginner baker. Most of the recipes are complex and take lots of planning. Which I don't exactly have a problem with, but I know that can be a deterrent for some people. 

On a positive note, the author does do a good job explaining each of the recipes, there is a section at the beginning explaining the uses of different ingredients in the book (and some you might not be familiar with, like baker's ammonia.)

I do also like her commentary about each recipe. The author explains a little about each recipe, where she got the recipe, the different ingredients in it, and other random facts. It injects some personality into the book. And it's kind of nice knowing the recipe might've come from the author;'s grandmother instead of just a random recipe from the internet. 

So overall, I was disappointed with the book. The lack of pictures and overall complexity of most of the recipes was disheartening.

I received this book from Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review.

Favorite Pinterest recipes

It's no secret that I love to cook and bake, and Pinterest is one of the first places I check when I am looking for a recipe. 

I've actually found quite a few great recipes and thought I would share some of my favorites!



These quesadillas are a favorite quick and easy dinner. I haven't made these for a while, but everyone loves them! I shred the chicken so it goes farther and don't use the green onions.
I haven't made frozen hot chocolate in quite a while, but this is SO good! Definitely a great summer treat!
This chow mein is so good! It tastes better than Panda Express and so much healthier! I added some sliced carrots the last time I made this and it was great!
This was so good! Definitely will make again! I halved the recipe (there was only 3 of us eating it) and while I made less than half of the full amount of sauce, it was still WAY too much! So if you are making the full recipe, you can easily make just half the sauce! But otherwise very good!
If you've never made chocolate ganache before, you need to give it a try! This recipe was so simple and it turned out so good!
This chocolate chip coffee cake is one of the best things I have ever baked. It is just SO good! I want to try making a blueberry version, but haven't yet. The blog this recipe is from is one of my favorite and my other source for great recipes. Literally every recipe I have tried from there has turned out great!
I really really like lemon curd, and was surprised at how easy it was to make! I have tried the Trader Joe's brand of lemon curd, but it was a little sweet. I liked being able to adjust this to my preference. I used one extra lemon (I had little ones) and I strained the curd after cooking it to get the zest out. Mine was a little tart (which I liked) because I didn't want it overly sweet.
Cilantro lime rice. We make our own burrito bowls Chipotle-style every once in a while and this rice is great! I used about double the cilantro and lime though because this recipe just doesn't call for enough!
I use pecans when I make this, but these vanilla and cinnamon candied nuts are pretty addictive!
Barbeque chicken sandwiches are one of my favorite quick and easy dinners; and this recipe is great!
These vanilla bean scones are SO good! My sister has been requesting them for a little while now, I'll have to make them sometime soon!
I was never really much of a pancake fan (I always preferred waffles) but these are the best pancakes ever! I definitely recommend trying them! My favorite way to eat them is with homemade lemon curd ;)
You can check out the rest of the recipes I've tried and liked here!
What are your favorite Pinterest recipes?

Poppy seed muffin recipe

I have always really liked poppy seed muffins. I have tried SO many recipes over the years and have never really found one I liked, so I kind of threw some ingredients together, did some revising, and came up with this recipe!

The ingredients. With the exception of the yogurt, which I forgot to include in the picture!

The wet ingredients. Looks so delicious. (Totally being sarcastic here.)

 Add dry ingredients to the wet and combine.

Poured into muffin tins.

All baked and ready to eat!

1 stick (8 tablespoons) melted butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. almond extract*

2 1/2 cups flour

2 1/2 tsp. baking powder

3/4 tsp. baking soda

3 tablespoons poppy seeds

8 oz. vanilla yogurt*

1/2 cup milk

*You can also use lemon extract and lemon yogurt if you want lemon poppy seed muffins. Vanilla extract or plain yogurt is fine too!

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Then line muffin tins with muffin liners. I get 18 muffins.

2. Melt butter, then let it cool to about room temperature. Then add the sugar and stir together.

3. Add the eggs and extract and combine.

4. In a separate mixing bowl whisk together: flour, baking soda, baking powder, and poppy seeds. Add dry ingredients to wet as well as the yogurt and milk. Stir just until combined. It's okay if it's a little lumpy, as long as there are no huge chunks of anything, you're fine. You do not want to over-mix muffins. Over-mixing will put too much air into the batter and create a dry muffin. 

5. Spoon batter into the muffin tins and bake at 375°F for 10 minutes, then after 10 minutes, lower the temperature to 350°F and bake for another 7-10 minutes. 

Starting out at a higher temperature will create the nice domed tops on the muffins. (This also works well for cupcakes!)

Enjoy!

Browned butter chocolate chip skillet cookie

Skillet cookies have been on my list of things to bake for quite a while. I revised my chocolate chip cookie recipe to make this delicious browned butter chocolate chip skillet cookie.

1 stick (8 tblsp.) butter

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cup flour

1 tsp. baking soda

About a cup of chocolate chips

1. Preheat over to 350°F.

2. Make browned butter in a medium sized skillet. Set aside for about 5 minutes to cool.

3. Add sugars to browned butter and mix together. Then mix in the egg and vanilla.

4. Add flour and baking soda and stir.

5. Mix in the chocolate chips.

6. Flatten dough with the back of the spoon so it covers the bottom of the skillet.

7. Bake for 10-13 minutes. (I overcooked mine slightly. You want it to be a little doughy looking still.)

8. Remove from oven and top with ice cream, chocolate syrup, and caramel if desired. 

Enjoy!

The best chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe

I love chocolate chip cookies. Who doesn't? After trying so many recipes over the years, I came up with this one and it's definitely my favorite! They're soft, chewy, and chocolatey. What's not to love?

 The ingredients.

Cream the butter, shortening, and sugars. 

Then add the eggs and vanilla.

 Add your flour and baking soda.

Mix together.

 The best part...the chocolate!

Stir all those right in! 

Voilà!

3/4 cup shortening

3/4 cup butter (softened)

1 1/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 brown sugar

3 eggs

2 1/2 tsp. vanilla

3 3/4 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt*

1-2 cups of chocolate chips

*I always bake with salted butter, because that's just what we always have, so I omit the salt. If you are baking with unsalted butter, add the salt.

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Cream together shortening, butter, and sugars.

3. Mix in eggs and vanilla and mix.

4. Add flour, baking soda, and salt (if using.) and mix well. 

Consistency is something I always watch for when I make cookies. If there's too much moisture in the dough, the cookies will melt and turn out flat and crispy. And if there isn't enough moisture in the dough, the cookies will be dry and crumble. Sometimes I have to add a little water (about a tablespoon) to the dough (I live in a really dry climate.) The dough needs to be able to pull away from the sides and hold together when mixing and not be sticky. 

5. Add chocolate chips and stir together. I usually use a mix of semi sweet and milk chocolate. I use about 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips. I know some people like really chocolatey, and others don't like too many chocolate chips. Use what you prefer.

6. Drop rounded balls of dough onto the cookie sheets and bake for 9-12 minutes. You want to pull them out of the oven when they are just done because they will finish baking on the sheet. 

This recipe will make about 5 dozen if using a medium sized cookie scoop.

Enjoy!

Christmas cookies

I spent this past weekend doing some baking. I made sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies. As far as Christmas baking goes, I still have to make some fudge and nanaimo bars, and then either my mom or I will be making a pumpkin pie and an apple pie for Christmas.

Hannah helped by cutting out the cookies.

We made regular gingerbread men as well as some ninjas!

Michael, my mom, Hannah, and I decorated the cookies. It was quite fun decorating cookies with everyone. There were some very strange cookies and conversations!

Michael's cookies.

My cookies.

Hannah's cookies. Hannah made the 10th doctor, and she tried to make a silence, but it looks more like Voldemort! Haha!

My mom's cookies. The gingerbread guy had a little accident. 

Have a great week!