Cremeschnitten Classic Recipe
The Cremeschnitten classic recipe is based on filo or phyllo dough and will be filled with vanilla cream. These creamy pastries are a German specialty and you can buy them practically in every German bakery.
Trader Joe’s Phyllo Dough is crafted with flour, water and just a touch of oil, using a lengthy, painstaking process that involves repeatedly rolling and stretching a single very large and very thin sheet of dough. As it is rolled and stretched, it becomes thinner and thinner. When it’s reached the ideal thickness or better thinness, its rolled into a cylinder, frozen and packaged.
Walmart has fillo dough too and probably other supermarkets as well. Grocery store brands such as Athens, Apollo, and Pepperidge Farms are all good. But you need to use the filo dough for pastries. For the vanilla cream we use vanilla pudding and gelatin to make it firm.
If you like not to use the Cremeschnitten with filo dough check out this recipe – Cremeschnitten without fillo dough. This recipe is for experienced bakers, if you are a baking beginner we recommend not to make the filo dough Cremeschnitte. Happy Baking!
Ingredients Cremeschnitten
2 packages filo dough for pastries
800 ml milk
200 g sugar
vanilla flavor: 1-2 tsp pure liquid vanilla or 1 package vanilla sugar Dr Oetker
– How to make Vanilla Sugar
2 packages Dr Oetker Vanilla Pudding
– How to make Vanilla Pudding –
7 slices gelatin (transparent, unflavored, unsweetened) or gelatin powder
(1 tablespoon Knox of unflavored gelatin powder = 1 sheet of Perfectagel gold gelatin sheets_
500 ml heavy cream
4 tbsp dark rum or rum flavor
Cake ring rectangle shape
German Baking Mix for a Streusel Crumble Cake
Baking Instructions Cremeschnitten
– Place filo dough on a baking tray and with a fork pinch it several times.
– Place in pre-heated oven on 390 C and bake until the dough is light brown.
Do the same with the second filo dough.
Filling
– Make the pudding per instructions if you use the pudding from Dr Oetker or make it from scratch – Go to the recipe: How to make vanilla pudding
– Soak gelatin in cold water.
– Place cooked pudding in a bowl and add the gelatin, rum and vanilla flavor.
– Place the bowl in cold water and stir it until the creme is cold.
– Beat heavy cream until firm.
– The pudding needs to get firm (with the help of the gelatin), so when it does fold in the whipped cream.
– place a rectangle cake ring around a filo dough; you can place the dough also in a suitable cake form and cut it so it fits, a casserole form can work too. A baking tray won’t work because it is too flat.
– Fill the vanilla cream on top of the filo dough.
– Cut the second filo dough vertical and then in 14 rectangles of the same size.
– Place the rectangles on top of the cream.
– Place in the fridge for several hours until the cream is firm so you can remove the ring.
– Before serving dust with powdered sugar. You might want to make smaller pieces by cutting the cake with a sharp knife.
How to make Filo Dough
Share the Recipes:
Swabian Pretzel Rolls – Laugen Weckle from Swabia
The Swabian Pretzel rolls are our favorite when it comes to the German baking culture! They taste best when freshly baked with some butter. There are US stores who sell the pretzel rolls but they are not quite the same. Some are too sweet and the brown crust is different. We found an authentic and proven recipe for you, you just need Natron which is part of the lye that makes the brown crust. Happy Baking!
Ingredients Swabian Pretzel Rolls
680 g all purpose flour (in Germany it would be Type 405, see below) – Find German Flour Here –
– Click here to go to All About Flour –
30 g fresh or dry yeast (1 package is for 500g)
approx. 400 ml water
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
coarse salt to sprinkle – Find it Here –
For the Lye
2 liter water
60 g Natron
10 g salt
In Germany Natron is safe and non-toxic – Find it here on Walmart –
Baking Instructions Swabian Pretzel Rolls
– Mix yeast with flour, salt, sugar and water. Amount of water depends on the quality of the flour, you might need less or more. So don’t add full amount of water. Start with half then add more as needed.
– Knead until you get a smooth dough. Place in a bowl, cover with kitchen clot, let rest for 30-60 min.
– Sprinkle flour on a smooth surface or a wooden baking board. Form the rolls (see the video how this is done properly as it is a special technique). One roll should weigh 75-80g.
– Let formed rolls raise for another 30 min. Form them, if needed, again.
– Pre-heat oven to 220 C (convection 190 C) or 420 F / 375 F.
– Place parchment paper on baking tray.
Make the Lye
– The rolls are added into the lye before baking.
– Bring water to a boil, add the salt, remove pot from heat and add the Natron. Watch out, the water will get very foamy! Place pot back on heat.
– By using a slotted spoon place 3 or 4 rolls into the lye and let boil for 1 min, turn them.
– Remove with slotted spoon and place on the baking tray.
– With a sharp knife cut the roll crosswise on top.
– Sprinkle with coarse salt. If the surface should be too dry brush some of the lye on top, then sprinkle with salt.
– Bake on medium rack for 20-22 min.
Makes a Great Gift! The German Breakfast Box
Tip:
If you want to freeze the rolls don’t use the coarse salt. Add it before you will bake the rolls.
From the same dough you can also make pretzels, pretzel sticks or pretzel knots.
What is Natron?
A naturally occurring mixture of sodium carbonate de-cahydrate (a kind of soda ash) and around 17% sodium bicarbonate (also called baking soda, NaHCO3) along with small quantities of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate. But it is not the baking soda as you find it in American super markets. It is a bit different. In the USA they use the food grade lye and Amazon carries it. It can be the alternative.
We found food grade lye on Amazon – Find it Here – It’s good for making pretzels
Video in German – How to make Pretzel Rolls and Sticks
– Find Imported Pretzel Rolls and Pretzel Here –
Video shows how German rolls get the typical form, it’s called “Rundschleifen” in German
Share the Recipes:
German Potato Goulash – Kartoffelgulasch
Here’s another yummy German dish that is quite popular: You will love the German Potato Goulash dish. It doesn’t contain beef but sausages and potatoes. This Eintopf or stew is seasoned with paprika, marjoram and caraway seeds, and tastes delicious when served with some fresh bread and butter. It’s very easy to make. Happy Cooking!
Ingredients German Potato Goulash
(serves 4)
6 bigger potatoes
75 g Speck (bacon)
1 tbsp lard or avocado or olive oil
2 smaller onions
1/2 green or red pepper
2 tbsp tomato paste
salt to taste
1 tbsp mild paprika seasoning
marjoram, caraway seeds to taste
1/2 l beef or vegetable broth
– How to make Beef Broth –
1 German pickle – optional
2 tbsp sour cream
3 sausages (Frankfurter, Wiener sausage)
Cooking Instructions German Potato Goulash
– Peel potatoes and onions. Chop onions fine, Cut potatoes in smaller cubes.
– Heat lard/oil in a pan, add onions, saute for 1-2 min, then add potatoes. Reduce heat to medium.
– Fry for about 5 min.
– Add tomato paste, mix well.
– Spice with salt, pepper, paprika, marjoram and caraway seeds.
– Add the broth.
– On low heat let simmer covered for 10-15 min.
– Cut pepper in half, remove seeds, cut in cubes. Add to the goulash.
– If you like add the chopped pickle as well.
– Cook for another 10 min.
– Add the sour cream, cut sausages in slices and add to the Goulash.
Serve in 2-3 minutes when sausages are warm.
You Might Like these Gravies from Maggi and Knorr (from Amazon)
Share the Recipes:
German Rotweinbraten – Braised Beef in Red Wine
German Rotweinbraten or Braised Beef in Red Wine is a German dish that is wonderful for the festive/holiday menu. The beef will be marinated for almost one day in a red wine marinade that makes the meat tender, and adds a subtle red wine taste to it. Serve it with your favorite side dish. The best combined with German Spaetzle (speciel pasta) and red cabbage. Happy Cooking!
Ingredients German Rotweinbraten
750 ml red wine like Merlot, it has to be dry or semi-dry
3 of each: bay leaves, cloves, star anise
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 kg beef roast (shoulder)
salt and pepper
2 tbsp olive oil
3 big carrots
2 leek
3 parsley roots
2 tbsp clarified butter
Cooking Instructions German Rotweinbraten
– In a pan bring red wine with spices to a boil, let cool off until it is semi-warm.
– Place beef in a ceramic bowl and cover it with the red wine.
– Marinate it for 23 hours in the fridge (covered).
– Remove from the fridge 1 hour before you cook it.
– Pre-heat oven to 80 C or 200 F and place a fire proof form in the oven.
– Remove beef from marinade, pat it dry, season with salt and pepper to taste.
– In a large pan brown it in hot oil evenly on all sides for about 7-8 minutes.
– Remove form from oven.
– Put meat into the form, and place in the oven.
– Cook it for 3.5 hours.
– When done set meat aside and keep warm, cover it with foil, in oven on a very low temperature.
– Drain the liquid and make the stock.
German Maggi Hunter Schnitzel Sauce
– Just add Mushrooms! – Get it Now.
Make the Sauce (Gravy)
– Mix some potato starch with some cold water (never use hot water because it will clump). The amount of potato starch depends on how much stock you have. Start with a little amount, brin g to a boil, if it has not thickened add some more.
– Add it to the stock. Alternatively you add 2 tbsp tomato paste. The gravy should not be liquid.
– Bring to a boil, reduce heat.
– 15 Min. before the beef is done, wash vegetable, peel it and cut it Julienne style (long, small stripes).
– Saute vegetable in hot clarified butter or just butter for about 2 minutes; spice with salt and peppe to taste.
– Place the vegetable on a plate and place the beef on top.
– Cut beef in slices and serve with the sauce.
Side Dishes
Bread or Potato Dumplings, mashed potatoes or Spaetzle, Brussels Sprouts or red cabbage.
Additional Recipes for Red Cabbage and Spätzle
Find the Red Cabbage Recipe here
Find the Spaetzle recipe here
Contains German Rolls Contains German Spätzle
Share the Recipes:
Dresden Cheese Cake Eierschecke
The Dresden Cheese Cake Eierschecke is a cake specialty from Dresden, mainly from Saxon and Thuringia. The photo below shows the famous and beautiful cheese store and restaurant “Pfunds” www.pfunds.de. where they sell this cake (see the photo below, showing the cheese chop).
THE HISTORY
Schecke is a cake that is made on a baking tray out of a yeast dough and it is topped with apples, quark or poppy seeds. Tt also has a glaze that is made out of egg, cream, sugar and flour.
Back in the 14th century the Schecke was the name for men clothing and consisted of 3 parts (upper, belt, and lower part). The cake had been named after these men clothes.
The Cake consists of 3 Parts:
The upper layer is a creamy egg yolk with butter, sugar and vanilla pudding; the middle part is mainly a mix of quark, egg, butter and vanilla pudding; the lower part is a dough made out of yeast or a normal mix. That is the Dresdner Eierschecke.
The cake is cut in rectangle pieces or like a tart. You can add raisins, almonds, Streusel or a chocolate glaze. Here is the recipe for you on how to make this cake from scratch. Happy Baking!
Ingredients Dresden Cheese Cake Eierschecke
For the Dough
65 g Butter
50 g sugar
1 egg
1/2 package baking powder, 0.3oz
200 g flour
For the Filling
50 g butter
1 egg
75 g sugar
500 g quark – Alternatives for Quark –
– Make your own Quark – click here –
500ml milk
1 package vanilla pudding, Dr. Oetker – Find it here –
Top Layer
3 eggs, separated
75 g sugar
100 g butter and some butter for greasing the form
Every Year from Nov 1 – Dec 18
Baking Instructions Dresden Cheese Cake Eierschecke
– Combine all dough ingredients in a bowl, mix well.
– You get a crumbly dough. Knead the dough until it is smooth.
– Grease a spring form 10 inches or layer one with parchment paper.
– Fill the dough into the spring form. Spread even.
Make the Filling
– Mix all ingredients for the filling.
– Make the pudding per instructions. Half of the pudding will be added to the filling. Let the pudding cool off until it’s warm, place plastic foil on top, to prevent skin build up.
– Fill the cream on the dough.
– Preheat oven to 300F.
Top Layer
– Separate eggs, then beat egg whites until firm.
– For the topping beat egg yolks, sugar and butter until creamy.
– Ad the remaining pudding; mix well, then add the firm egg white and carefully fold in the cream.
– Place it on top of the filling.
– Bake for 50-60 min on 190 C (convection) 375F
– After 30 min cover the cake with parchment paper or aluminum foil, so the top won’t get brown.
– Let the cake cool off in the form, then release carefully.
Serve with whipped cream…
And a cup of German coffee… Click here ….
Baking Ingredients You Need (From Amazon)
Share the Recipes:
German Lentil Soup – Authentic Recipe
The German lentil soup is a classic among all German soups. We tried out several options: Using lentils from a can and dried ones. We came to the conclusion: Dried lentils are the best. You can reduce the cooking time when soaking them the evening before in water, and let them sit over night. Just just need to boil them the other day in the same water.
In Germany these recipes such as Lentil Soup or Split Pea Soup are called “Eintopf” which means literally “One pot”. The fact that all ingredients are cooking in one pot at the same time, makes cooking easy. Just stir frequently and, if you use sausages, add the sausages five minutes before the soup is ready. I found out that the Frankfurter sausages from Boars Head taste like the ones from Germany. It is also easy to make a vegetarian dish by not using the bacon and sausages. Happy Cooking!
Ingredients German Lentil Soup
(serves 4)
2 cups dry green or brown lentils
2 medium sized potatoes
1 medium sized onion
2 carrots
2 thin slices of German Speck (Bacon or smoked ham)
1/4 celery root
2 celery stalks
1-2 tsp avocado oil or butter mixed with olive oil
Purified or spring water as needed
2 tsp mustard, preferably German
Thyme and/or marjoram to taste
2 bay leaves
salt, fresh ground pepper to taste
2 tbsp parsley, chopped
2-3 tbsp White Wine Vinegar (or to taste) – careful, don’t add too much!
4 Wiener or Frankfurter Sausages such as from Boars Head
Cooking Instructions German Lentil Soup
– Wash dried lentils, then soak them in water the day before. They should be covered with water. Let sit covered over night.
– Peel potatoes and cut them into small cubes.
– Cut celery root, stalks and carrot in small pieces.
– Chop onion, cut ham in small cubes.
– In a medium to big sized pot heat oil, add onions and saute for 1 minute.
– Use lentils with the soaking water, add to onions. Fill up with water if you don’t have enough (lentils soak up the water, so you need to add some, lentils should always be covered with water).
– Add potatoes, carrots, celery, and bay leaves. Add some more water if needed.
– Bring to a boil, let simmer (covered with a lid) on low heat for about 1 hour until lentils are very soft. Do the test, if they are not soft, let them cook longer.
– While the soup is cooking, add mustard, vinegar, herbs, salt and pepper to taste.
– Stir frequently so it won’t stick to the bottom of the pan. Add some water if the soup gets too thick.
– 10 minutes before the soup is ready add the sausages to warm them in the soup. Of course you could boil them separately but the typical way is to cook them in the soup.
– If you want cut the sausages into pieces, and add them to the soup until they are cooked.
– Add parsley before serving.Serve the lentil soup with fresh farmers bread and butter. In Southern Germany the soup is combined with the Southern pasta specialty “Spaetzle”. In this case you would cook the Spaetzle separately and serve them with the soup.
– Recipe for Lentil Stew and Spaetzle –
TIPS
- For a vegetarian version: Instead of using ham and sausages just cook lentils with the vegetable.
- Add some tomato paste.
- Instead of oil use lard.
- Add vinegar before serving or use it as needed at the table. Helps to better digest the lentils.
- If you don’t soak the lentils the day before the cooking time will be on low heat (simmering) up to 3 hours.
Good Source for German Style Sausages & Meats
Share the Recipes:
German Terrace Cookies for Christmas
The German terrace cookies for Christmas are layered cookies hence the name, like a “terrace”. It’s a simple short crust dough and you need 3 different matching sizes of cookie cutters. They stick together by using jam. It’s a classic German Christmas cookies – Happy Baking!
Ingredients Terrace Cookies
For about 25 cookies
300 g flour
1.5 tsp baking powder, preferably Dr Oetker
100 g sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar, 8g – Find it here –
150 g butter
1 egg
jam such as red currant jelly or grape jelly – any jam without seeds or fruit pieces works well
powdered sugar
cookie cutters in 3 sizes of the same design such as stars or hearts, size of 5cm, 4cm and 2.5cm, recommended are cutters with a serrated edge, called fluted cookie cutters
SEE A COOKIE CUTTER EXAMPLE HERE
Baking Instructions Terrace Cookies
– Combine flour with baking powder, add sugar, vanilla sugar, softened butter and the egg.
– Knead until you get a smooth dough that is not falling apart.
– Roll to a ball, wrap in plastic foil.
– Place for 20 min. into the fridge.
– Pre-heat oven to 175 C or 375 F.
– On a smooth surface that is dusted with flour roll the dough and cut out cookies, each cookie needs to have 3 different layers.
– Place all cookies on a tray that is layered with a piece of parchment paper.
– Bake them for about 10 min, check that they won’t getting brown.
– When done remove from oven and place on a cooling rack.
– Spread the jam starting with the biggest size, place the smaller on top, spread again jam and place the smallest on top.
– Dust with powdered sugar.
Tips
Instead of jam use Nutella or a hazelnut spread.
Top cookie could be a little star.
Instead of 3 layers make 4.
Decorate with melted chocolate lines.
Share the Recipes:
Römertopf Chicken – Baked in Clay Pot
Have you ever used a so called Römertopf or Schlemmertopf? It’s a clay pot that is used in the oven, like a Dutch oven, and you can make delicious meals like the Römertopf Chicken.
Using a clay pot for cooking is very healthy because all nutrients will stay in the food. You don’t have to use any grease or fat, so it’s a perfect alternative for a pan fried dish. Every ingredient will be placed into the pot and cooked in the oven. The meat turned out to be very tender and to be honest, it was the best chicken that I ever served. To get a Römertopf is quite worth it. Happy Cooking!
Ingredients Römertopf Chicken
1 chicken, about 2 kg that’s about 5 lb
2 smaller carrots
1 of each: leek, apple, medium size onion
salt, pepper, mild paprika – mixed
250ml white wine
Clay pot size in inches: L 13 x H 10 x W 8 – I used this pot size for the recipe
Cooking Instructions
– Wash the chicken inside and outside, pat dry with kitchen paper.
– Soak the clay pot in water for 10 min. If your pot is glazed you don’t have to. If only the lid is glazed, soak the lid only.
– Peel apple, onion and cut into coarse pieces. Cut carrot the same way.
– Mix veggies in a bowl.
– Mix the salt with spices and apply to the chicken inside and outside.
– Fill the chicken with some veggies.
– Place chicken into the clay pot and place remaining veggies around it.
– Fill up with the white wine.
– Close with the lid and place in the COLD oven. This is important. If the oven is warm or hot you risk that the clay pot will break.
– Bake on 390 F 75-90 min or longer depending on th chicken size. When you see that it’s bubbling under the skin, it’s done.
– 20-30 min before the cooking time ends remove the lid and continue baking so the chicken gets a nice crust.
– When the chicken is done let sit for some minutes, remove from the pot and serve.
GRAVY
Drain the veggies and make a gravy out of the stock.
Keep the stock in a small pan, add 1 tbsp corn starch and bring to a boil. Spice with salt and pepper to taste and add 1 splash of heavy cream.
Share the Recipes:
—> Get Our NEWSLETTER
ORGANIC SPICES
MOST POPULAR RECIPES
Herbs & More
Get Our Newsletter
Authentic German Christmas Cookie Recipes
Authentic German Soup Recipes
