Baked Cauliflower with Bread Crumb Topping

Ingredients
1 head cauliflower
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbs Parmesan cheese
Oregano
Garlic salt

Steam or cook cauliflower until tender - about 20 minutes.  Remove from heat

Mix breadcrumbs, melted butter, cheese, oregano and garlic salt

Place breadcrumb mixture on cauliflower

Bake in oven for 10 to 15 minutes


This recipe is pretty close to Omi Beck's.  Very delicious.

Honey Oatmeal Bread

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup butter
5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick cooking oats
2 teaspoons salt
2 packages active dry yeast
2 eggs
1 egg white
1 tablespoon water

Place water, honey, and butter in small saucepan.  Heat over low heat until mixture is very warm (120 - 130f).  Mix 5 cups flour and remaining dry ingredients.  Gradually add liquid mixture and eggs.  Slowly add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time until dough is right consistency.

Let rise about an hour.

Punch down, form loaves, let rise about one more hour.  Brush loaves with mixture of water and egg white, sprinkle with oatmeal.  Bake at 375 for 30 to 40 minutes.

Mary (Beck) Vansyoc's homemade bread

Blueberry Sheet Cake

Blueberry (Blaubeeren) Streusel Kuchen

Ingredients:

Dough:

1 pkg. active dry yeast

¼ cup warm water
2 egg yolks
1whole egg
¼ cup sugar
1 cup milk
½ cup butter
3 cups all purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground mace
Grated rind of one lemon

Filling:

1 quart blueberries

Streusel topping:

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ cup sugar
½ cup ground almonds (optional)
2 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)
½ cup butter

Directions:

Cake: 

Sprinkle yeast into warm water.  Let stand for a few minutes, then stir until dissolved.  Using electric mixer, beat egg yolks and whole egg until thick and lemon colored.  Gradually beat in the sugar.  Scald the milk and melt the butter in it and cool to luke warm.  Add 1 cup of flour and yeast to the egg mixture and beat well.  Add the milk, salt, mace, lemon rind, and remaining flour and beat for 5 minutes.  Cover and let rise until doubled in bulk.  Punch down.  Place on a lightly floured board and roll out lightly and quickly to about ¼ inch thickness.  Place on floured or greased baking sheet.  Cover and let rise again until ½ inch thick.   Spread blueberries over top of dough.

Topping:

Sift together all dry ingredients.  Work in butter until mixture is crumbly.  Sprinkle over cake.  Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes.

Variations:

Use other fruits such as sliced apples or cherries

Apfel Streuselkuchen

Apfel Streuselkuchen (Apple Crumb Cake)

Ingredients:

Dough:

2 ½ cups flour

¾ cups sugar
½ cup milk
1 ½ sticks butter
3 eggs
1 tsp. lemon extract
1 tsp. baking powder

 

Filling:

1 20 oz. jar chunky applesauce

1 tsp. ground cinnamon (optional)

Streusel topping:

1 stick butter

1 cup sugar
1 ½ cups flour
2 tsp. vanilla

 

Directions:

Cake:  Beat butter until foamy and add sugar, eggs, and lemon extract.  Combine flour and baking powder and add to butter mixture.  Beat well and add just enough milk so dough drops heavy from spoon.  Spread dough into a buttered glass 9” x 11” baking dish and top with applesauce.  Sprinkle with cinnamon. 

Topping:  Combine butter, sugar, flour, and vanilla, working with hands or two forks.  Mix until ingredients transform into loose crumbs.  Sprinkle streusel over cake until covered.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 75 minutes or until edges of cake are golden brown.  Remove and allow to cool before serving.

 

Variations:  can use apple pie filling instead of applesauce, or other fruits such as cherries or peaches.

 

Note: this is a recipe similar to Mom’s.  She used applesauce that she canned from apples on the farm.

Spitzbuben

Spitzbuben (German jam cookies)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/8 cups butter
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 egg white
• 3 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup fruit preserves, any flavor
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions:

1.                    [Vanilla sugar can be purchased commercially in packets.  To make your own vanilla sugar, combine 1 1/2 to 2 cups sugar with a rinsed and dried vanilla bean in a pint jar. Cover and shake well. Shake occasionally for 2 -3 days. Use flavored sugar, replenishing with fresh sugar, as needed. ]
2.                    Beat butter until soft and fluffy. Mix in the confectioners' sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt until mass has a lighter color.
3.                    Beat the egg white into the creamed mixture, making sure to incorporate fully. Add in the flour and mix. Cover the dough, and chill in the refrigerator for one hour.
4.                    Take the dough out of the refrigerator, and roll it out until it is about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Cut out 2 or 3 inch circles with fluted cookie cutters. Cut smaller circles into the middle of half of the circles.  Avoid rerolling the trimmings more than once, the cookie gets tough if the dough is overworked.
5.                    Bake in a preheated 400 degrees F oven for 6 to 8 minutes.
6.                    Warm up strawberry, apricot, or raspberry jam. Put some jam on the cookies without the holes in the middle. Then put the cookies with the holes on top of the ones with jam. Sprinkle a bit of confectioners' sugar on top to make them look nice.

 

Notes:  An approximate translation of “Spitzbuben” is “Little Rascals.”  The cookies are also called Swiss sandwich cookies.  Some recipes also call for ground almond in the dough.  Instead of confectioners sugar, you can use fine granulated sugar in the dough.  Another substitution would be vanilla extract instead of the vanilla sugar.  Mom made these cookies at Christmastime.  She usually used strawberry jam.

Potato Dumplings

Kartoffelklöβe (Potato Dumplings)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lbs russet potatoes (about 2 large)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour ( or more)
• 1/8 cup cornstarch (or potato starch, much preferred, if you can get it)
• 1 large eggs
• 2 slices sourdough bread or 2 slices white bread (good quality, dense bread not supermarket foamy stuff)
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon corn oil or 1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions:

1. Trim crusts off bread and save them for another use.
2. Cut bread into 1/2-inch cubes and fry in butter and oil mixture until golden brown, transfer to paper towel to dry.
3. Cook scrubbed, unpeeled potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 45 minutes.
4. Drain.
5. Cool slightly.
6. Peel.
7. Cut potatoes into large pieces.
8. Refrigerate until cold, about 30 minutes.
9. Mash potatoes with fork or run through ricer into large bowl.
10. Mix in salt and nutmeg.
11. Add 1/2 cup flour and cornstarch.
12. Using hands, knead mixture in bowl until smooth dough forms, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is sticky.
13. Mix in egg.
14. Form dough into balls, using 1/4 cupful for each.
15. Insert bread cube into center of each dumpling; roll dumpling between palms to enclose bread cube completely and form smooth balls.
16. Working in batches, cook dumplings in large pot of nearly boiling salted water 10-15 minutes (or until dumplings rise to top).
17. Using slotted spoon, transfer dumplings to large bowl.
18. Keep covered with a damp kitchen towel as remaining dumplings are cooked.
19. You should place no more than 4-5 dumplings in your pot at any one time in order to prevent them from sticking together or touching during cooking, which will cause them to fall apart.
20. Serves: 6, Yield: 12 dumplings

About This Recipe

These are German-style potato dumplings, very popular in the South of Germany. They are traditionally served with any roast with gravy and red cabbage.  Second-day leftovers can be sliced into slabs and fried in butter.   Mom only made them on special occasions.