In an earlier post, I told the story of my beloved Kugelhopf/Gugelhupf pan. It belonged to my Bavarian grandmother who brought the pan with her when she immigrated from Switzerland to Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Her precious recipe (a printable version is at the bottom of this post), was an important reminder of her youth and family […]
Granola
March 27, 2017 by 4 Comments
I have been making homemade granola since my college days at the University of Colorado when I would shop at one of the earliest, hole-in-the-wall whole grain, seed and nut shops. Places like Boulder had some of the first such stores, usually run by what my parents would have termed vegetarian hippies. Soon thereafter, whole […]
Custom-Made Swiss Wooden Cookie Molds
December 19, 2016 by 9 Comments
Don’t get me started on the topic of traditional cookie molds. I could wax on for hours about the beauty, history, tradition, importance (in times gone by), the craft of the carvers, the skill of the bakers and of the varieties of the cookies themselves. During my 6 years living in Switzerland, I was a […]
Marshmallows
March 10, 2016 by Leave a Comment
On a cold, rainy Sunday morning, we made plans to stay in and work by the fire that afternoon and evening taking breaks to eat homemade soup and drink hot chocolate. I got to thinking of the many fires my Dad used to build on bitterly cold weekends growing up in New Jersey and Illinois. We […]
Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Oat Cookies
July 20, 2015 by 2 Comments
When I was a kid, we had a rather long walk to school. On cold, damp days, Mom would always be pulling freshly baked cookies out of the oven when we arrived home. I don’t think she ever purchased cookies from the grocery store. Nor have I. I kept this tradition going for our children […]
Korean Bibimbap
November 4, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Understanding the food of a culture is an essential ingredient to begin to understand the culture itself. Food reflects the history and geography of a region, group or nation. Our first stop on any trip is usually a local market or a grocery store. Wandering around the incredible markets in Morocco, Japan, Spain, Greece, Italy, Switzerland, […]
Mom’s Kugelhopf/Gugelhupf
July 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment
In a previous post, I told the tale of the journey taken by my Grandmother’s Gugelhupf pan. Then, in a follow-up post, I shared Grandma Landolt’s beloved recipe. A number of people have asked that I also share my mom’s richer and denser recipe. A printable version of hers can be found below. For those of you […]
The Tale Of My Gugelhupf (Kugelhopf) Pan
July 10, 2014 by 21 Comments
Every childhood visit to my Swiss German grandparents in Pennsylvania was greeted by the smell of freshly-baked Gugelhupf. The taste and smell of this round, high-domed, dense, buttery, raisin-speckled cake baked in a decorative pan with a hole in the center penetrates every memory I have of them. My grandmother was born and raised in […]
Lamb Mhammer (Wedding Dish From Fez)
April 18, 2014 by Leave a Comment
One of the many highlights for us when traveling in Morocco, was visiting Fez. We stayed at a beautiful, restored guesthouse located in the middle of the Medina, the carless and scooter-free old town. Our phenomenal guesthouse, Riad Le Calife, was steps from the winding and wonderful market (see previous post with photographs of the […]
Sandelholzläckerli – 200 Year Old Swiss Cookie Recipe
December 11, 2012 by 9 Comments
Every holiday season I make massive amounts of numerous varieties of classic European cookies along with marzipan creations and many different flavors of chocolate truffles. After sharing a platter of Christmas goodies with my husband’s Swiss colleague, she thanked me by sending a Christmas cookie recipe passed down through her family from her great, great, […]
Commence Holiday Cookie Decorating
November 15, 2012 by 10 Comments
The holidays are approaching. I make hundreds to thousands of intricate cookies each year, largely European and family classics. These include cookies that are hand-formed, rolled, cutout and dipped along with many pressed into hand-carved wooden molds. This year I decided to include decorated cookies. No small amount of supplies are needed. Below are some […]
Mom’s Sauerbraten
November 11, 2012 by 2 Comments
The great passion in both my professional and personal life is exploring and preserving family and regional food traditions. One of the many family food legacies I treasure is Sauerbraten (sometimes called Suure Mocke in Switzerland), meat marinated in vinegar and spices and then roasted. This dish has always held a soft spot in my heart because it was […]
