Elsaesser Flammekuche / Tarte Flambee

Flammekuche or Tarte Flambee is a very typical dish in the Alsace region of France. The Alsace is an area that has been going going back and forth of being either the territory of Germany or France. And the dialect of Alsace reflects that strongly, by being a mix of German and French words in one sentence.

While living in Offenburg Germany, we went over to Strassbourg often, which is the main city in Alsace. Food options over there are endless and as there are many vineyards there's also a lot of vine festivals. Flammekuche is often enjoyed with "New Wine" as a snack or just as a nice light meal with some salad and a nice glass of white wine.

To make a traditional Flammekuche you will need

* 215g Flour
* 1/8tbsp Salt
* 2tsp Oil or Lard
* 125ml Water
* 200g Sour Cream or Creme Fraiche
* 200g Onion (sliced in rings)
* 100g Speck (cured/smoked bacon) thin slices cut in stripes

Making the crust

Put the flour on your work surface and make a little well in the middle, then add the salt, oil (or liquid lard) and water int he well and at the same time, using a fork, mix the water, oil and flour. After taht knead the dough so it is soft and silky and not sticky (if it feels sticky add a little flour.

Add Toppings

Separate the dough into two pieces and roll into two very thin rounds (or just roll into one big pie or square for a bigger tarte). Cover the crust generously with the Creme Fraiche (Sour Creme), distribute the thinly sliced onion and then the Speck on top if the Creme Fraiche. Season with some freshly grated black pepper and if you like with some cumin seeds.

Bake

In the very hot oven (preheated to 450 F) bake the Flammekuche until the crust is nice and crispy and the Creme Fraiche is bubbly.

Enjoy!

If you add the cumin, the onions will be easier to digest. Also you can make a sweet version of this as dessert. Just switch out the onion for thinly sliced apples and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Blackforrest Cake

Here is my miniature version of Blackforrest Cakes.... Delicious!

Cherry Cake

As you all know by now, I always love to cook and bake with whatever I find in my fridge. So over the weekend I got some nice ripe cherries and I remembered a cake my Grandmother used to make. She'd make a basic pound cake and drop cherries into it. We'd call it the "SpuckKuchen" loosely translated that would be "Spitcake", because she never pitted the cherries and you'd spit out a mouth full of cherry pits after a slice of cake. LOVELY!

Anyway, I thought I thought I'll do something like that but to spare everyone biting in a pit or having to swallow cherry pits as not to be rude, I removed the pits beforehand. Below you'll find what you need for this cake.


100g Butter
100g Sugar
125g Flour
2 medium Eggs
1/2tsp Baking Powder
1 medium Lemon
sprinkle Salt
100g Cherries, pitted
Serves: 8 -10
Preparation Time: 30
Cooking Time: 35
Oven Temperature: 180C/350F


Step 1: Cream Butter with Sugar, Eggs and Lemon
In a bowl whisk the soft butter until you can see little peaks form, mix in the sugar and a sprinkle of salt, add the eggs, one after the other until the mixture is lighter in color and fluffy, add the finely grated zest of the lemon and 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice.

Step 2: Add Flour
Sift the flour and mix it well with the baking powder. Add the flour little by little to the creamed butter mixture with a rubber or silicone spatula (mixing it in with a mixer will make it rubbery).

Step 3:
Prepare two 11 cm / 4.5 inch spring form pans or one 9 inch pan 

Fill half of the batter evenly into the two pans, then add half of the cherries, maybe pushing them down in the batter a little bit. Add the remaining batter on top and add the rest of the cherries.

Bake in the lower half of the pre-heated oven for about 35 minutes, or until wood pick comes out clean.

Let cool and enjoy!

Cherry Cake

Tiramisu

I got some small spring form pans today and decided to make some Tiramisu . I always make a very easy version, non of that separating eggs stuff... throw the egg in the mascarpone just like that and mix. Comes out like magic every time.

The delicious little things are now in the fridge cooling and setting up for a bit. Tomorrow, they'll go into work with me to get their cute little pictures taken, so I can show them to the world, before they'll get eaten.

It's tough to be a Tiramisu!

Here's how I made it (for two 4.5 inch spring form pans or you can just use one 8 inch):

1 container of Mascarpone (8 oz)
1 egg yolk
1 package ladyfingers
(use Schar Gluten-Free Ladyfingers if you need to be GF)
1 cup coffee
Amaretto to drizzle
1 Tbs Vanilla
2 Tbs Sugar

1/2 cup hot Water
1/2 packet of Gelatin

Cocoa Powder

Layer the ladyfingers on the bottom of the spring form pan, so that most of it is covered, drizzle with coffee and some amaretto, so that they are soft but not completely soaked. Set aside.

Mix the mascarpone, egg yolk, vanilla, sugar and a little bit of amaretto until it's nice and fluffy. Dissolve he gelatin in the hot water and stir for a few minutes until completely dissolved and it's cooled down a bit. Slowly mix with the mascarpone mixture a little bit at a time. Once mixed in, pour half of the mixture over the ladyfingers.

Then add another layer of ladyfingers, drizzle with coffee and amaretto as before, then add the remaining mixture on top to cover.

Put in the fridge for about 3 to 4 hours or overnight. Remove from the forms and cover with Cocoa powder. Decorate and serve.

Bon Appetit!

Finally

I got some new pastry molds to work with, these will look so nice. Different shapes of pastry rings for the different flavors of cheesecake.

I'm also going to try a mini tiramisu in these, which should look and taste just awesome.

Look for pictures soon.