New Years with Berliners!

The Christmas holiday is now over, and it's on to New Years!

New Years in the bakery is... ummm... what words can I use to describe it?  Crazy, insane, ridiculous, unbelievably busy...
These just don't do it justice...

My day tomorrow consists of the following:
Work from 12 midnight (technically tonight) to about 8am (tomorrow).
Work again at 6:30pm (tomorrow) until about 8-9am (Saturday morning).

Whaaaat? Why?

Did you know that on New Years A.K.A. Silvester, it is traditional to have Berliners (filled doughnuts)?  In Germany, that is the case!  Considering that we pretty much provide the entire city of Bremerhaven with their Berliners, we are buuuuuussssyyyyy!

Last year, I think we made about 60,000.  Can you imagine?!

This is the reason for the 14 hour shift from Friday night into Saturday morning.  It consists of ONLY Berliner making!

Our selection:

• Viktoria (my favorite!)- In Dunkin Donuts language this means French Cruller

• Traditional jelly-filled with glaze
• Egg liquor-filled with glaze and chopped almonds
• Pudding-filled with a chocolate glaze
• Passion Fruit-filled with a white chocolate glaze

Yuuuuum!

7.99 Lobster on Christmas Eve

Oh hello there Mr. Lobster.  I'm going to eat you on Christmas Eve to make me feel better.

He sure did!

I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas, and that you were able to enjoy it with the people you love!  Trust me on this, it's really the most important part of the holiday regardless of whether you're celebrating big or small.  

Frohe Weihnachten!

All I Want for Christmas

This year, as you may know, this is what my Christmas is consisting of.

See those amazing looking decorations on the tree?  They were given to me by a wonderful colleague of mine, who knew that I was deprived of decorations for my tree.  Can you see the pink cake in the middle?  That one is my favorite.

And those presents under the tree...  they are from some amazing people I like to call my family...

So I'm not completely void of Christmas this year... I have my tree, Skype, gifts from family members, work A.K.A. Christmas baking (of course), and a lobster sitting in my freezer.    It'll have to do.  I'll just have to avoid things like the song, "I'll Be Home For Christmas" and extremely joyful, heartfelt Christmas movies that remind me of home.  Let's just say I'm an emotional mess because a Christmas card from my Aunt caused me to burst into tears...

Moving on... Did you know that in Germany Christmas is technically on the 24th?  They open presents on this day and celebrate with their families on this day.  The 25th and 26th are the 1st Christmas day and the 2nd Christmas day.  Interesting...

I, however, have always loved the story that Santa comes Christmas Eve (the 24th) brings the gifts, eats cookies, drinks milk so that when you wake on Christmas morning (the 25th) you are surprised to find the gifts under the tree and all you cookies gone.  It never gets old.

The last few days at work have been pretty easy going.  With everything prepared for Christmas, we haven't had crazy days.  However, this will end tomorrow and continue until next week (New Years).  The schedule is already out for New years, and I begin the 30th at 6:30pm and will work through the night until about 8/9am New Years Eve.  Crazy... I know...  This is all for Berliners, the wonderful tasting filled doughnuts that are traditional to New Years.  Last year, we made about 60,000... who knows what the number will be this year...

With that, this song never gets old... and a family favorite.

An Experience It Was...

Remember this post?  Remember how desperate and frustrated I sound?  I was equally desperate and frustrated when I got a letter in the mail stating I have to go to court for this incident.

Are you serious?  Court, for apparent trash on the street...

I've done my fair share of mischief.  Unfortunately, I've done some not so intelligent things, I've been in trouble, and I've dealt with the consequences.  There, I said it...

This, is not that... I did nothing wrong and therefor should have no consequences to deal with.  Case closed... in my head at least.

This week, on Monday, I made my appearance in court.  Court is not such a joyful experience in general.  Court in Germany?  It made my stomach churn the entire day.  Thankfully, a friend from work accompanied me in hopes that I wouldn't totally lose it.

When I walk in the door of the court room, I come face to face with my two old neighbors.  So they are the reason I'm here today???  I BAKED YOU GINGERBREAD COOKIES FOR CHRISTMAS LAST YEAR!  And this is how you repay me?!

I had to sit alone in a row, while the judge spoke, asking me questions about who I was and where I was from.  Being in a room with other people while they talk about you in a foreign language is something so unnerving, I really can't explain.  The judge then went on to say something, I can only think was about my rights and the law that I "apparently" broke.  He then asked me a question and asked if I understood.

Of course not.

I desperately turned to my friend, only to find that I couldn't understand what it was they were asking or wanted to say.  The judge, naturally, got frustrated, as did I... and that's when the tears began...

Thankfully, my friends knew the situation and clearly explained my point of view.  I was asked to approach "the bench" and look at the picture of the trash and explain what was mine and what wasn't.  None of it was mine.  While looking at the picture, a tear drop fell from my eye onto the judges desk.  That may have been the kicker right there.  He knew how ridiculous this was.

After my neighbor testified against me, he was asked to leave, and that's when the judge rolled his eyes and said that this was stupid and there are a lot worse things than leaving trash on the street.  Also, he went on to say that I really have no reason to lie, and that I do not have to pay any money.

JUSTICE!!!!!!!!!

I am as happy as a clam.  Thankfully the judge realized the situation, and saw how crazy this all was.  Some people honestly have nothing better to do than to sit at their windows and find things that others are doing wrong.

In the end, all is good and I can write this off as an experience... certainly one that I never thought I would have to do.

Baumkuchen

Baumkuchen is one of the more traditional cakes in Germany... Not to say that the other cakes aren't traditional, because let's face it... just about all baked goods in Germany are traditional... But, Baumkuchen is the official symbol of our profession...

Baumkuchen translates literally into "tree cake."  Get it?? The cake has tons of little layers inside that are created from the way the cake is made.  This cake is known for its intense flavor because each little layer is essentially baked and therefor has a nice crust on top... which gives off the enormous amount of flavor.

Check out these layers...

See what I mean?

Yes, I know what you may be thinking... it's time-consuming and probably one of the more expensive cakes... and you're right... but the flavor is worth it all.

Traditionally it's made with a special machine...

However, it can be made without a machine and just your oven!  Lucky for us!

Our recipe in the school was: Baumkuchen Champagner Torte:

250g Butter

80g Sugar

80g Marzipan

Cardamom, Salt

Mix together with and electric mixer.

200g Yolk

Add to the butter mixture, and mix until combined.

400g Egg white

150g Sugar

Beat until peaks form.  (Literally translated from German: "beat until snow"-- good visual!!).  Then, fold into the butter and yolk mixture.

Split the mixture in half.

70g Flour

70g Wheat starch (actual translation from "Weizenpuder" I also read that corn starch is a good substitute)

Fold into one half.

40g Flour

30g Wheat starch/ corn starch

50g Cocoa powder

6g Baking powder

Fold into the other half.

200g Marzipan

100g sugar syrup

30g Distilled Champagner (we didn't have this in school so we used Grand Marnier

Mixed until smooth.

Here's the good part!!!! You can use pretty much whatever pan you would like.  We used a typical cake pan or spring form pan.

Heat your oven on broil... you want it hot and you want the heat coming from the top.

Spooning a little bit at a time, start the layering process.  Here is the pattern you will follow:

2 layers chocolate

1 layer Marzipan mixture

2 layers light

1 layer Marzipan mixture

Each layer will need to be baked in the oven until baked through (just a few minutes).  This is important! Especially for the first 2 layers so that the cake stabilizes.  Some groups in class didn't bake their layers through, and the cake completely fell apart.  It can be a matter of 10-15 seconds, so watch your cake!  Also, the more even your layers are, the better the turn out.... you will see that once the cake is finished all errors can be seen (i.e. a burnt layer, or and uneven layer) don't let this scare you into not making the cake but be sure to take care when spreading each layer.

In any case, the cake will turn out fantastic... and taste even better!  I know it's time-consuming, but the turnout is way worth the effort.  Once you cut into that cake and show everyone the inside, you'll seriously be the talk of the town!

When everything is cooled and taken out of the pan the cake is traditionally topped with chocolate coating or a Fondant glaze.  Your choice!

Please enjoy, and I want to hear and see your results!

  

'Tis The Season!

I got my Christmas Tree!!!! Despite being 100% alone this year for the holidays, I will still celebrate with a tree.  I've never not had a tree for Christmas and this year is no exception.

Since I am in the food industry... more specifically the baking and pastry industry... we are not allowed to take off for the holidays.  It's our busiest season, and most important season.  How else do you all expect the people of Bremerhaven to get their Christmas Stollen, Baumkuchen and Lebkuchen?

For most people, this isn't a huge deal because they can spend the afternoons and nights with family.  For me, a little bit bigger of a deal... I don't have family in Germany and most of my close friends are traveling back home on "break."  When I actually think about it, I do get pretty upset knowing I'll be by myself on Christmas, because it's largely celebrated in my family.  Usually, my mom makes a big brunch with a ham (that my cousin Maggie has a habit of dropping on the floor) and casseroles and desserts.  We head over to my Aunt Katie's on Christmas Even for food and drinks.  It's really a ton of fun, and something I have always looked forward to.  The women stay in the living room drinking wine, dancing and singing our own renditions of Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas," and the family favorite "Midnight Train to Georgia," by Gladys Knight and the Pips, while the men all head downstairs into the "man cave" drinking too much whiskey or Vodka or whatever it is that they do down there...

Regardless, I have my tree... but no decorations...

I found red ribbon... There's a start!  Now I can make a bow!  So I watched a video online of how to make a Christmas bow.

It's small, I realize... but it's a tree at least!

Now onto my next idea.  What do I do best?  Bake.  So I thought I would make Meringue, and pipe out nice icicle-looking ornaments.  Success!

Start with equal parts egg white and sugar.  I'm not talking about cups here people!  If you haven't started, now would be the time to switch to baking in weight.  Grams and kilograms... I'll never go back...

I used 3 egg whites.  **Tip: One egg is about 50g, one egg white is about 30g and one yolk is about 20 g.

So 90g egg whites, and 90g sugar... beat that until it forms hard peaks.

Then fold in about 45-90g of powdered sugar.  Fill your piping bag with your desired tip (I used a star tip) and pipe away!  Dry out in a 80-100 degree Celcius oven (170-210 degrees Fahrenheit) for about 5 hours.

To sum it up:

2 parts egg white to 3-4 parts sugar.

Let's see how they turn out!