An introduction to german christmas baking

It´s that time of the year again. Christmas is coming. And if you are now wondering: Huh? Christmas? We still got 4 weeks until Christmas Eve…Well, welcome to Germany. Where the Christmas season starts at the first Sunday of December. I love it! This post is a little bit about some of the typical ways to celebrate Christmas in Germany and about my grandmas cookies. You see…one of the things we do in December is bake cookies. There are tons of different Christmas cookies to make and it is just a big part of the season. It´s great for kids but not just for them. Of course they love it but there has not been one year since I moved out that I haven´t met with friends and made a huge let´s-bake-cookies-and-drink-hot-chocolate-session. And my grandma makes the best cookies! Every year we get a package filled with different types of cookies and everyone tries to get the most of their favourite type. So without further ado, let me tell you all about the wonderful thing we call Adventszeit.

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Healthy, Savory, Vegan

Coconut soup

Brace yourself – winter is coming. And that means it´s gonna get really cold. At least if you – like me – live in the northern part of Europe. Anybody else who is not affected by the typical cold, grey, windy and a lot of times rainy instead of snowy thing we call winter…well good for you.

Aaanyway, the best thing to fight winter depression for me is either hot chocolate or my favourite soup. Which would be coconut soup. This recipe is just so yummie, easy and healthy and overall just so good for you! Trust me on this one. It will cure any cold in no time. Even if you just feel like you might come down with something…eat this soup and you will feel better. The reasons for this are the not-so-secret ingredients: garlic, chili and ginger. I will spare you the detail of why they are so good for you and your immune system. Just trust me. Or go google it, that´s fine too.

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Sweet

Homemade Oreo cookies

It is still a little early to start with the traditional christmas baking we have here in Germany. But until then, I found other recipes that will help me pass the time until December 1st. These cookies for example, I stumbled upon a couple of days ago here. They looked so yummy, I decided to give it a go. I am a huge fan of making things that you usually buy at the store, such as custard or chocolate bars. I got to know oreo cookies a couple of years ago in the States and since then they made their way over to Germany. Nowadays everybody here knows about them. I like them, my brother is crazy about them and you can use them perfectly for cupcakes or cake pops. It was my first try at making the cookie itself and it came pretty close to the original.

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Sweet, Vegan

Homemade chocolate bars

Hello my fellow chocoholics, welcome to paradise. This post is for you. It might be a little longer than usual, but bear with me. This post is about something every person needs – chocolate bars. Of course you can buy them at the supermarket. But you can also make them yourself. I know, I was shocked too when I found out. And then I was thrilled. Does that mean that I get to create my own personal favourite chocolate? Heck yes. It also means that I never have to worry about Christmas or birthdays anymore. What is a better present than a homemade chocolate bar?

I have to say…it takes a while. One needs patience, a thermometer and a chocolate bar form. But if you have all of that and want to try out something new – well there you go.

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Healthy, Savory

Spinach quiche with tomatoes and goat cheese

It´s official. The semester started again. Which means that after 4 months of vacation I need to get used to getting up early, going to class, listening to the professor for 1 1/2 hours, reading a horrible amount of textbooks and studying. It also means that my time left for baking and spending time in the kitchen has been reduced. And that I have to focus on recipes that are easy to adapt to my tiny kitchen. One of those recipes is quiche. I like quiche especially because you easily change the recipe to those ingredients that you personally prefer. Once you found a good recipe for the dough it is up to you to create a filling. Basically any type of vegetable and cheese can be used for quiche, that way it never gets boring. It is not one of those recipes that you can easily prepare on short notice because the dough needs to chill for a while and the quiche itself needs about 40 minutes in the oven. But your patience will be rewarded.

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Cake, Osterbrunch, Sweet

Carrot cake with cream cheese topping

My love affair with carrot cake is fairly young. That´s because I never thought cake and vegetables could be combined together. Little did I know that carrot cake doesn´t taste like carrots at all. Instead it tastes like cinnamon and almonds and Christmas and rainbows. Well, I finally tried a piece 2 years ago and since then I love it. Especially when combined with a cream cheese topping that makes everything even more delicious. Long story short, I think carrot cake is great. And for anyone who might still be skeptical: try it, you´ll love it!

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DAS LEBEN IST SÜSS!