Fruchtzwerge

Two truly scrumptious recipes. Trust me. And to be sure, the frommage frais in it don't obligatorily have to be past their date.

Fruchtzwerge. Bäh, findet Mama, und wie sich herausstellt, Tara auch. Darum sitzen zwei Pack in unserem Kühlschrank und verfallen vor sich hin, denn erfahrungsgemäß sind Verfallsdaten auf Milchprodukten dieser Art sehr flexibel, und außerdem, man weiß ja nie, vielleicht findet sich ja noch ein Nutzen, bevor sie definitiv verrottet sind.

Und so kommt es denn eines schönen Kuchen backenden Tages auch tatsächlich. Ein gut aussehendes Rezept aus einem BBC book takes to looking suspiciously dry, after I've started baking. Seriously. 3 parts dry, and 1 part wet ingredients, i.e. butter? NEVER! The Fruchtzwerge save the day, and voila! Here we go, sharing a new family favourite.
And while we're talking recipes, I wouldn't be a friend if I didn't share our new family favourite pancakes .

So. Get baking and get back to me with praise.

Fruchtzwerg Rosinen Pfannkuchen

(sind eine Variation der Yoghurt Pancakes aus diesem herausragenden Buch, wenngleich dort Joghurt benutzt wird)

Whack together, then bake:
1 egg
120ml milk
120g self raising (wholemeal) flour
2 pots of fruity frommage frais
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 handful of raisins

If for some odd reason you have any left over, it appears that they can be frozen (flat, between layers of waxed/greaseproof kitchen paper) and defrosted in the toaster.

Give me more, says Tara, "ma(s)!" throughout the whole afternoon. It's even important enough for her to come out with a tiny and incredibly cute "peese!" That's unheard of!

All mine!!! *Scoff*

For the equally simple, if a tad more elaborate

Family Favourite Strawberry Fruchtzwerg Cake

(the dry starter recipe can be found in this book, which also has a cake in it with real live flowers. What do you expect!)

You need:
175g softened butter
2 eggs
6 pots of fruity (strawberry?) frommage frais
175g sugar
175g ground almonds
175g self raising flour
1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1 small pot of fruit puree (z.B. Apfelmus) or compote (with pieces)
450g strawberries, sliced
handful of dried cranberries (or why not try fresh? Or blueberries? Or raspberries?)

You blend together all the dry ingredients, the butter, the eggs and 4 of the 6 frommage frais, and fill half of that mix into a round tin.
Smooth that first layer, then put a layer of sliced strawberries on top, and fill any gaps with drops of fruit puree / compote.
To the other half of the batter, you add the remaining 2 frommage frais and the berries, pour it over the layer of strawberries, smooth it down, and stick in the oven at 180 degrees for ca. one hour. If it looks too dark before its time is up, reduce heat or cover the cake tin with something as long as that something is heatproof.

Make sure you SHARE-SHARE!

Oh, and before you think we're up to nothing but than eating, let me brief you: We've seen TanteClaudia off, cleaned the house and gone through an ebay frenzy, been busy playing, and most recently tidied the shed. There are pictures, most notably of the way-too-large spiders (make that a 5cm diameter with legs folded up in a natural relaxed position) who I've had to howdoIputhis take care of.

The Battle of the Shed - Mummy versus The Spiderazzos