Dutch Treats
Source: Best of Country Cookies, Reiman Publications, 1999
1 cup butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
Filling
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 (8 ounce) can or tube almond paste, cut into cubes
Sliced natural almonds (with brown skins)
In a mixing bowl, beat butter and cream cheese to blend. Gradually add flour and salt. Form a dough, wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until easy to handle. Roll into 1-inch balls. Press 1 ball onto bottom and up sides of an ungreased miniature muffin cup; repeat to fill pan(s). Set aside. (Chill any remaining dough, then repeat after baking first batch.)
For filling, beat eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add sugar, mixing well. Beat in almond paste. Spoon a rounded teaspoonful into each cup; top each with three almond slices. Bake at 325 degrees F for 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned and filling is set. Cool for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks.
Yield: 10 dozen
Alpine Cheese Supper (Raclette)
The traditional way to serve Raclette is to place the wheel of cheese on the hearth, close enough to the fire so that the cheese begins to melt. Raclette is scraped from the wheel as it melts and served with the vegetables.
2 pounds new potatoes (12 to 14)
1 pound imported Swiss raclette cheese (or Gruyere,
Muenster, Fontina, Swiss or Monterey Jack)
Freshly-ground pepper
1 (8 ounce) jar midget dill pickles or gherkins
1 (8 ounce) jar pickled cocktail onions
Heat 1 inch salted water (1 teaspoon salt to 1 cup water) to boiling. Add potatoes. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and cook until tender, 20 to 25 minutes; drain. Keep warm. Cut cheese into 4 pieces; divide among 4 individual ovenproof casseroles. Heat in 400 degree F oven until cheese is melted, about 10 minutes.
Place each hot casserole on a dinner plate. Sprinkle potatoes with pepper, then swirl in melted cheese. Eat the potatoes alternately with pickles and onions.
Dutch Marzipan Sticks
1 pound butter or margarine
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/4 cup ice water
2 (8 ounce) cans or rolls almond paste
1 egg
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg white, slightly beaten
Pastry: Cut butter or margarine into flour with pastry blender in a large bowl. Sprinkle water over, one tablespoon at a time. Mix with a fork until pastry holds together. Refrigerate overnight.
Filling: Break almond paste into small pieces into a large bowl; add egg and sugar. Beat with electric mixer or knead by hand until well combined. Divide pastry and filling into 8 parts. Roll one pastry portion at a time into a 6 x 10-inch rectangle. (Refrigerate remaining pastry until ready to use.) Cut crosswise into 8 (1 1/2-inch wide) strips. Divide one portion almond filling into 8 even pieces, then shape each into a roll as thick as a pencil and 5-inches long. Place roll of almond filling on each pastry strip. Roll pastry around fillings to make 8 (6-inch) long cookies. Place on ungreased cookie sheet, then brush with slightly beaten egg white. Repeat until all is used. Bake at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely on racks. Store tightly covered.
Eier Kringel
1 egg
3 hardboiled egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sifted cake flour
1 teaspoon powdered cardamom
1/2 lemon rind, grated
Separate egg; beat yolk with cooked yolks which have been put through a ricer. Add sugar and butter until the mixture is well mixed and smooth. Add flour, cardamom and grated lemon rind, then knead well. Roll out about 1/8-inch thick. Cut with doughnut cutter and dip in egg white, then in granulated sugar mixed with chopped almonds. Bake in tins lined with wax paper until a delicate gold. Watch carefully as they scorch easily.
Bavarian Apple Torte
Crust
1/2 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey
1 cup all-purpose flour
Cream butter, honey and vanilla extract. Blend into flour, pat into greased 9-inch springform pan (bottom and up sides enough to accommodate filling and topping).
Filling
8 ounces cream cheese
1/4 cup honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine cheese and honey; mix well; add egg and vanilla extract; mix and pour into pastry lined pan.
Topping
4 cups Golden Delicious apples,
peeled and thinly sliced
1/4 cup almonds, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup honey
Place sliced apples on top of the filling (in circular pattern) sprinkle with almonds, and cinnamon and drizzle with honey as uniformly as possible.
Bake for 10 minutes at 425 degrees F. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees F, and bake for approximately 25 minutes more. Cool and refrigerate.
Brown Stew and Noodles
1 1/2 pounds stew beef, cubed
2 tablespoons Crisco
1 large apple, pared and shredded
1/2 cup carrots, shredded
1/2 cup water
1/2 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 beef bouillon cubes, minced
4 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 teaspoon Kitchen Bouquet
Brown meat in Crisco; drain. Add apple, carrots, onion, 1/2 cup water, salt, pepper, garlic and bouillon cube. Place in saucepan; bring to boil. Simmer about 2 hours.
Combine cornstarch with 1/4 cup cold water and Kitchen Bouquet; add to meat mixture. Stir until thick, and serve over hot noodles.
Braunschweiger Mold (T&T)
From the kitchen of Linda Kilbride, Maricopa, Arizona
1 (16 ounce) roll Oscar Mayer Braunschweiger
1/2 cup chili sauce
1 tablespoon horseradish
NOTE: Use only Oscar Mayer braunschweiger.
Mix well and pack into a decorative dish. Cream together a small amount of mayonnaise and 6 ounces of cream cheese and spread on top. Decorate with dried parsley and pimentos.
Serve with an assortment of crackers.
Braunschweiger (Homemade Liverwurst)
Its origin is Braunschweig, in the Brunswick province of Germany. As with any pate, flavor improves with a day or two of aging, and if you have a smoker, a light smoking. You can stuff the pate into pork or beef casings, tie them with string in 8- to 12-inch lengths, and adjust the stuffing in order to leave a good 2 inches at the end of each length for expansion. Simmer the links about 45 minutes in a pot of water, then dip them in cold water to keep the fat from settling along the bottom. If you have no casings, bake the pork pate in a loaf pan, as you would a French pate. You can either serve it in slices or use it as a creamy spread.
2 pounds lean pork
1 pound pork fat
1 1/4 pounds pork liver
1 medium onion, chopped
2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons cloves
1 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
If you use a process for grinding, cut the pork, pork fat and liver into cubes and freeze for an hour or two, so that they will process without mushing.
Saute the onion in a little pork fat or butter until it is soft. Sprinkle with the spices to warm them, then add the mixture to the pork and process until you have a smooth puree.
Pack the puree into an earthenware baking dish or 2 (9 x 5-inch) loaf pans and cover tightly with foil. Put the dish in a pan with an inch or two of boiling water and bake at 300 degrees F until meat is cooked but not browned (meat thermometer should read 160 degrees F to 165 degrees F), about 2 hours.
Remove baking dish from the pan of water and let pate cool in the dish. Refrigerate 1 to 2 days before using.
Makes 2 standard-size loaves or 1 large terrine.