Kaiserschmarrn or Austrian torn Pancake

 2 years ago we tried Kairserchman in Vienna. It was so fluffy, comforting and delicious during the super cold Christmas days we spent there. 

Last saturday I was cold, miserable and kinda bored. It was the perfect moment to give it a go with Deb's Steamy Kitchen recipe that I had eyeballed a while ago. And yup, it was as satisfying as it looked....not hard either! Perfect for winter.

INGREDIENTS:
-4 eggs 
-2 and 1/2 tablespoons of sugar.

-1/4 tsp of salt.

-1 tsp of baking powder.

-3/4 cups of flour (1oo grams)

-1/2 cup of milk (120 ml)

-2 tablespoons of butter to fry.

-Caster sugar to sprinkle on top.

STEPS:

1. Whisk egg yolks, with sugar, salt and baking powder.

2. Now add the milk and flour and whisk till smooth. 

3. Now beat the egg whites until they fluff up like snow, for like 5 minutes.

4. Now fold the egg whites in the mix, try not to kill the air in it.

5. Now add to sauce pan with a litle butter. In medium fire add the whole thing and let it cook for 3-4 minutes. Now turn it around with a spatula and courage.

6. Now cook the other side. When it becomes gold after 3 or 4 minutes, get it out on plate and split it in pieces with your spatula (the center should still be runny).

7. Now add more butter to saucepan and golden up the bits for a few minutes...

8. That's it. Sprinkle caster sugar very very generously...

So good! So satisfying. A perfect merienda. Deb Perelman, you truly make this fallen world of ours a better place with your recipes and writings. Thank you. 

How to make Chocolate a la Taza (thick chocolate)

1st of January, tradition in Spain, chocolate a la taza. I had to learn to make this one from scratch. So easy. I followed this recipe but cut it in half for 2 people, if you want it for 4, double amounts.

INGREDIENTS:

-125 grams of chocolate with high amounts of cocoa.  

I used half of each in the photo.

-500 ml of milk.

-1 spoonful pretty heaped of cornstarch.

-1 teaspoon of sugar (or even 2!).

-1 pinch of salt to release chocolate flavours.

STEPS:

1. Heat up milk in a stove stirring constantly and bring it to a boil.

2. Once it is boiling add the chocolate that you have previously cut in pieces. Continue stirring, and lower fire until it all dissolves. Keep stirring. 

3. In meantime, dissolve the cornstarch in some milk, like 10 ml. Now bring the chocolate mix to a boil and then add the cornstarch dissolved in milk. 

4. Keep stirring and mix it everything well, put a pinch of salt and continue stirring for about 1o minutes and it will start to thicken, and now again and for the last time, this would be the third time, bring the mixture to a boil. 

5. That's it. Remove from stove and serve. You can add sugar if you want now. My husband added sugar to his chocolate, but sugar is really optional to each person's taste.

                                                                    

   

 

 

Fluffy Pancakes

My friend Corinna made some incredible pancakes this winter when we visited her in Vienna. 
How I thought: I am wasting my life! 

So I made pancakes.
And here is the winner recipe that you can find here too...and no buttermilk. This makes about 8.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of flour.
• 1 tablespoon of sugar.
• 2 teaspoon of baking powder.
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt.
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cups of milk.
• 1/4 cup of butter melted.
• Blueberries or bananas (yum)

STEPS

1. Combine the dry ingredients: sugar, flour and baking powder and salt in one bowl.
2. In another bow separetaly combine the wet ingredients: milk, egg, and melted butter. Whisk together.
3. Now combine everything in one of the bowls.
4. Now grease the pan and when you put the mix add the blueberries.
5. The first one always turns out quite bad, but the next one is good.

That's it. And if you want 12 pancakes, double the amounts. :) 

And this is a photo of Kenton and I in George Washington' house in Virgnia, Mount Vernon where we got the american flag