CHRISTKINDL
Vintage postcard from chicks57/flickr
Since I am half German (my mother is from a small town in Baden-Wuerttemberg), I grew up with a lot of German traditions.
(Three above photo's: taken by my mom of her hometown, in Southern Germany)
What I remember most, and still enjoy every year, is Lebkuchen. Lebkuchen is a type of spiced/ginger bread; it is made to be plain, iced or coated with chocolate. It has a unique flavor - I'm not sure if you didn't grow up with it you'd like it. My Tante Gretel still sends us tins of Lebkuchen over from Germany every year.
Lebkuchen for sale in Nuremberger/from: kit-tay/flickr
Tins of Lebkuchen from German Deli
Lebkuchen ingredients from Rondo Foods
A German Christmas decoration I have lots of is the Steinbach nutcrackers. I don't have this many though! I tend to find the best deals on Steinbach nutcrackers and ornaments at Tuesday Morning.
At the German market in Manchester/perseverando/flickr
Above 4 nutcrackers from Old World Nutcrackers
We also grew up having a Steinbach incense smoker. I have recently started collecting these as well. I have to rotate what I bring out each Christmas or it looks WAY over the top. You buy the incense and put the put the lit cones inside the smokers and it looks like they are smoking a pipe, and your house smells like the Black Forest!
Both smokers above from Old World Nutcrackers
Christmas Erzgebirge Pyramids: Do you remember these? I do. You put slender candles in the holders, and the heat from the flame would make the fan at the top rotate. I remember as a child being amazed. I'll take mine out for my kids again this year. Last year they didn't think it was as neat as I used to, kind of an anti-climatic moment!
But any true German knows that the heart of the home is in the kitchen. Baking. These are the smells I remember most. Especially mom's Apfelkuchen. My brother and I used to give her a hard time and call it "awful cookin".... I know these things will come back to me in spades with my children.
:flickr.jpg)
APFELKUCHEN
This recipe comes from my Tante Helga, and she gave it to my mom when she got married in the 1960's, then my mom gave it to me when I got married in the 1990's. Apfelkuchen is a german apple cake, an everyday cake best served with coffee or for breakfast, it's not a special occasion cake.
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 stick, room temperature butter
1/2 cup sugar
Sift together, then add to the butter mixture:
1 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
First, cream the butter with the sugar, you can do this by hand. Add the eggs, then the vanilla, and beat a little more by hand, until it is thoroughly incorporated. Mix the flour and baking powder together in small bowl, then add this to the butter mixture. Mix well.
First, cream the butter with the sugar, you can do this by hand. Add the eggs, then the vanilla, and beat a little more by hand, until it is thoroughly incorporated. Mix the flour and baking powder together in small bowl, then add this to the butter mixture. Mix well.
Dough will be sticky. Spread out with floured hands into buttered pie pan. Make it look like a pie shell, but it will be much thicker. (Save a little dough so you can make "strips" to criss-cross on top of Kuchen). Bring the dough up to the sides of the pie pan a little, and pat evenly with floured-fingers. Start layering 4 very-thinly sliced tart apples on top of the dough (We like Golden Delicious Apples). Sprinkle with a little sugar and cinnamon. With saved dough, roll out between floured hands to shape like a long cord. Make strips to cover Kuchen, in a criss-cross fashion. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.
Make powdered sugar icing: about 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar with 1-2 tablespoons VERY hot water.
Stir well and drizzle on strips as soon as the Kuchen comes out of the oven. Drizzle it over the strips only (you don't want to drizzle it on the apples). You can also use different shaped pans, doesn't have to be in a pie-pan. This recipe can be doubled.
To see another one of my Tante Helga's FANTASTIC (and quite famous!) German recipes, go here.
Apfelkuchen photo courtesy of dive-angel (Karin)/flickr
