Marzipan-Honey Cupcakes

So I had a whole jar on honey that had never been used... and I have all this Marzipan left over from Christmas time...

What to make??  Well, I can think of a few things, but let's be honest... Cupcakes always work out.

I started with a simple honey cupcake recipe, and tweaked it a little to add the marzipan:

Honey-Marzipan Cupcakes

150 g butter (I generally use in every cupcakes recipe half of the amount of butter called for and substitute the rest with oil.  Why?  It makes the cupcakes more moist)

100 g Sugar

2 Tablespoons Honey

2 Eggs

150 g Flour

1 Teaspoon baking powder

100 g Marzipan (I am totally giving a guess-timate on this, I am notorious for eyeballing in baking.  I know! I'm sorry, it's a big no-no in baking.)

Mix the butter, sugar, and honey together with an electric mixer.  In a separate bowl, and with your hands, combine the marzipan and eggs until smooth.  Add the eggs to the sugar/honey/butter mixture a little bit at a time.

Sift together the flour and baking powder and add slowly.  If the mixture is too thick you can add milk one tablespoon at a time until reached the desired consistency.

Divide among your baking cups and bake at 180 degrees C for about 12-15 minutes.

I had never made honey OR marzipan cupcakes before... I really enjoyed the combination of the two together.  

Wait! What about the icing?  I used a cream cheese icing... and it was fabulous. Although, I encourage you to use your preferred icing!

My "real" German Class...

Once again, German class in school defeats me.  There's nothing like this class in particular to put a damper on my German learning process.  Every time...

Once again, we read a story.  A pointless story that made no sense whatsoever.  As we all read it aloud in class, the teacher was discussing the story with us, and I had no idea what was happening in this story.  Everything was way too complicated for me to understand.  How is that possible that I can read this story and understand nothing?  The teachers turns to me and asks me if I understand the story.  I, of course, respond by saying "no, not at all."  She reassured me in saying that she would clear it up for me after she was finished discussing the story to the class.  I thought, "Okay good.  Maybe she will explain it to me in an easier way that I can understand."
After she was finished, she came over to my desk and gave me her fantastic advice on how I can understand.  She said, "Now I want you to read each paragraph separately, and then turn to your neighbor (who by the way was working on her own assignment for this story) and explain to her what each paragraph is about."

Are you kidding me?  Is this your amazing advice that will automatically help me understand the story?  If it was as simple as re-reading each paragraph don't you think I would have done that in the past 20 minutes?  What do you plan on doing right now?  I bet you will go back to your desk, sit down, and do nothing until the end of class.  And that, my friends, is exactly what she did while I was left to look up every other word in my translator in order to understand the story.  I really could have burst into tears right at that moment, but instead I just looked at her like she was insane.

Would you like to know what the story was about?  It was about an old woman who sat by her window and watched the street.  She saw a man across the street and he winked at her.  She winked back.  There was a kid somewhere in this story who was crying.  There was no dialog, no interesting facts, no interesting points, or lessons learned...

Mürbeteig is correct!

Those who guessed:


Mürbeteig
Muerbeteig
Short Bread
Shortcrust
Butter Cookie


Were.... Right!

Basically everyone that guessed had the correct answer in some form.  The difference between the German answer and the English answer is that in German, there is only one answer... and in English there are many that all mean the same thing.


Basically there are three different kinds (and I need to know this especially because of my test tomorrow on it!).  Two different kinds are shown in this picture: Ausrollfähiger (dough that is rolled out and cut) and Spritzmürbeteig (softer batter-like dough, where it can be piped into designs)... the third, not shown, is called Streusel.


Teegebäck is obviously served with tea and coffee.  The large sized cookies are generally for coffee.  Generally speaking these cookies aren't quite finished because usually they will be decorated with chocolate coating, marmalade, powder sugar, and so on...


The black and white cookies, are called Schwarz-Weiss (Black-White).  They were really fun to make.  To do so, you make two doughs, one regular and one with cocoa powder to give the dark color.  Then, you roll out the dough and layer the two colors on top of each other and create designs.  However, the better the measurements the better the cookies will turn out to be!  

Trivia!

Trivia:


What kind of dough are Teegebäck (Tea Cookies) made from?  


I will accept answers in both German and English!

Saturday Market

Does this mean spring is here??

Yes, I think so...

This is a fantastic, little market on Hafensrasse that takes place every Saturday.  Yes, my friends, even through the winter.  I rode through this market today and couldn't help snapping a few photos because everything looked so amazing in this gorgeous spring weather.  This is one of the things I love so much about Germany because when the weather is nice, everyone wants to be outside and that means more markets!

Translated: Poppy Seed Cake A.K.A. Mohnkuchen

Okay so I promised a translation for you all!


Here is the Mohnkuchen Produktpasse translated to English.

Poppy Seed Cake

2700g Dough for a 78 x 58 cm baking tray

3500g Poppy Seed Filling

840g Streusel

Sheet Cake
1000g	Flour
400g	Whole Milk
60g	Yeast
120g	Sugar
200g	Butter or Baking Margarine
150g	Egg
10g	Salt
	Vanilla and Lemon Aroma

Poppy Seed Filling
800g	Whole Milch
650g	Sugar
350g	Butter or Margarine
1300g	Ground Poppy Seeds
250g	Egg
150g	Sweet Bread Crumbs (i.e. left over cake)
Evtl. 100g	Sultanas
	Pink of Salt
	Vanilla Aroma, Cinnamon

Streusel
240g	Sugar
240g	Butter
360g	Flour
	Big Pinch of Salt
	Lemon and Vanilla Aroma

• Dough temperature 26 degrees C
• In a spiral kneading machine,  2 minutes slow and 5 minutes fast
• Let the dough rest 15 minutes
• Weigh the dough and form the rectangular shape
• Ca. 5 minutes let fermentation start
• Roll out the dough to a sheet size
• 3500g poppy seed filling spread evenly over the dough
• Sprinkle Streusel 840g
• Bake at 210 degrees C for 20 minutes
• The cake is baked if it is light brown on the bottom
• Remove the baked cake and place on a rack
• Dust the cooled cake lightly with powdered sugar

Mohnkuchen

In class, we were supposed to create what is called a Produktpasse. This means, we were taught the correct way to present a product and production of the product. What was my product? Mohnkuchen, Mohn is German for poppy seeds. Poppy seeds in a cake? Yea, those of you in America think this is a little weird, and I've talked about this before, but it's extremely common here. Check out my Produktpasse, and maybe make yourself a little Mohnkuchen!

Photo credit

Mohnkuchen

2700g Teig für 78 x 58 cm Backblech

3500g Mohnfüllung

840g Streusel

Blechkuchen
1000g	Weizenmehl (550)
400g	Vollmilch
60g	Hefe
120g	Zucker
200g	Butter oder Backmargarine
150g	Vollei
10g	Salz
	Zitronen- und Vanillearoma

Mohnfüllung
800g	Vollmilch
650g	Zucker
350g	Butter oder Margarine
1300g	Gemahlen Mohn
250g	Vollei
150g	Süß Brösel
Evtl. 100g	Sultaninen
	Prise Salz
	Vanillearome, Zimt

Streusel
240g	Zucker
240g	Butter
360g	Weizenmehl
	Große Prise Salz
	Zitronen- und Vanillearoma

• Mehl Type 550
• Teigtemperatur 26 C
• Spiralkneter 2 Minuten langsam und 5 Minuten schnell
• Teigruhe 15 Minuten
• Den Teig abwiegen und rechteckig
• Ca. 5 Minuten angären lassen, damit er ausrollfähig wird
• Den Teig auf Blechgröße ausrollen
• 3500g Mohnfüllung gleichmäßig auf den Teig bestreichen
• 840g Streusel aufstreuen
• Backen 210 C für 20 Minuten
• Der Blechkuchen ist fertig gebacken, wenn er an der Unterseite hellbraun ist
• Den ausgebackenen Blechkuchen auf ein Gitter
• Den abgekühlten Mohnkuchen nach dem Backen leicht mit Puderzucker bestauben

UPDATE:

I will translate to English!