We have an elderly man in town that is just BEYOND kind. Considers it his duty to help everyone and expects nothing in return. He found out our mower went down when he overheard a conversation about us asking a mowing company in town if the could fit us in. He showed up at our house and mowed it 😭 Absolutely REFUSED payment, so my mother who works at the local store has been paying for his purchases, saying, "The one who runs the register controls the card reader." LOL!
Then he stopped by the other day with the BEST watermelon in this tupperware container for us.
He's a German immigrant who moved to America when he was 11. I think it would be really cool to make him a German treat. I think he'd be touched, he's very proud of his German roots.
Does anyone have some German desserts ideas or recipes to share?
by Maleficent_Froyo7336
36 Comments
Pfeffernusse. One of the best spice cookies I’ve ever made.
Pfeffernusse. I know they/it is more of a Christmas time cookie, but…
I know I love a good strudel!
Zimtbrezeln are great to give as a thank you or for a (kids) party. Very snackable
Lebkuchen! I like to roll mine in sugar and give them a little stamp before baking.
My grandmother used to bake nussstrudel every Christmas as well. Always a hit.
That is so amazing of you (and him!).
I had to think hard and Hildabrötchen might also be an idea. They‘re shortbread-ish sandwich biscuits (like jammie dodgers) with a jelly layer (usually apricot or red currant) in the middle and a dusting of icing sugar.
They would be less christmassy than Pfeffernüsse or Lebkuchen (though stores will start stocking them again in a bit over a month‘s time 😅)
Poppyseed and nut rolls are a very nice thing, if you don’t want cookies. They are basically a flattened cinnamon roll (about 10-15cm wide) with a filling made of crushed poppy seeds or nuts and a THIN sugar glaze (not that gloppy white stuff, translucent). they also have a little bit of a browned crust, not pale like some cinnamon rolls.
They are called Nussschnecken or Mohnschnecken.
Nussecken are great – shortbread base, apricot jam layer, caramelized hazelnut topping. Cut into triangles, corners dipped in chocolate. ☺️
Maybe Streuseltaler – yeast based dough with butter springles on top
You could also consider adding pudding or berrys inbetween, you get that at every backery in Germany. There is also a similar thing with poppy seeds.
Most of the other suggestion would be to christmasy for my taste.
Something like this: [https://www.einfachbacken.de/rezepte/streuseltaler-wie-vom-baecker](https://www.einfachbacken.de/rezepte/streuseltaler-wie-vom-baecker)
Lebkuchen or a stollen. King Arthur flour has a good sounding and easy stollen recipe. I haven’t made it yet but, was surprised at how easy it looked.
I was thinking about stuff he still might know from his time in Germany (so a bit more classical stuff), and season appropiate:
[Frankfurter Kranz](https://mydinner.co.uk/frankfurter-kranz/)
[Gitterkuchen / Linzer Torte](https://www.gittaskitchen.com/how-to-make-an-austrian-linzer-torte/) (I only found english recipes for Linzer Torte, not for Gitterkuchen. Also, I always thought they are the same thing just with different names, but TIL that original Linzer Torte has cloves in the dough, and that’s something we never did. So maybe that is the main difference.)
[Donauwelle](https://www.kitchenstories.com/en/recipes/german-donauwelle-cake)
[Bienenstich](https://www.simplyrecipes.com/bee-sting-cake-recipe-5705238)
[Kalter Hund](https://redcurrantbakery.com/kalter-hund-no-bake-chocolate-biscuit-cake/)
A lot of traditional German cake recipes are a bit complicated (I’m looking at you, Bienenstich!), but there is a very simple, delicious apple cake my MIL used to bake – just a batter and apple slices. Something like this:
https://share.google/zULKdO2NpiZHQY8PO
Something I would get from a bakery that hasn’t been listed yet is the ‘Amerikaner’. It’s kind of like a little sponge cake with either icing or chocolate!
Another one of my faves is a ‘Schweineohr’. Basically a really big palmier, I think.
I discovered Streussel recently, but I’m not German, so don’t know if it’s 1 thing or a name for a type of thing.
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Sachertorte, linzer cookies, baumkuchen (I know it’s traditionally cooked on a spit, but some do it in small layers one on top of the other in the oven using the broiler).
Check out Taste of Home, 31 German Dessert Recipes from Oma’s Kitchen. Many of them look really good. Raspberry Kuchen called to me.
My husband is Jewish, his father was from Poland, and his mom’s family were Polish Jews, too. At holiday dinners, we always had traditional Jewish food and sometimes had Schaum Torte for dessert. The Jews adopted recipes from all over.
Nussecken!! Easy, traditional, and absolutely delicious. You could even substitute the apricot jams to whatever is seasonally convenient where you are 🙂 last time I made it with raspberry and it was to die for
If he might like cardamom, knerken are delicious! https://recipes.fikabrodbox.com/knerken-german-cardamom-snap-cookies/
Honestly? Chocolate chip cookies!
My favourite is Vanillekipferl, they’re really easy to make too. I like making them in rounds with a dollop of jam in the middle instead of the classic crescents. And because they use egg yolks, my mum always used to make Nussmakronen from the whites – two biscuits for the price of one.
Alternatively Mohnkuchen with a streusel topping. It’s a bit old fashioned, I didn’t like it as a kid although I do now, and I remember it being my Opa’s favourite so could be a good point of nostalgia.
Hm.. the thing with Kekse/Cookies in Germany is that self-made Kekse are soo x-mas coded. So if you don’t mind gifting them in summer, you have a wide range to gift. Especially the spiced ones people here recommend. But i would add Vanillekipferl, Ochsenaugen (basically like linzer cookies but I think with marzipan), Makronen (either nuts or coconut, oblaten and eggwhite-heavy), Zimtsterne, Anisplätzchen (basically egg whites, sugar and some anise spice takes some time though- looks kinda like white macaron shells) or in general any kind of cut sugar cookies (I think the american tradition is heavily influenced by the German on this one so i think the most classic cut or piped cookies you may know are probably very traditional here).
The Kekse people tend to eat all year around are usually bought from companies like Leibniz, Dr. Quent, Bahlsen, de Beukelaer or Lambertz. Those are mostly different kinds of butter cookies with or without a filling or topping or other specialty cookies. Here you could do basically any Spritzcookie or light crispy Butter cookie. I would recommend Russisch Brot (crispy alphabet cookies) because for me it revokes childhood nostalgia but I know it can be quite challenging.
Bakeries tend to sell especially Nussecken or Heidesand cookies all year around where I live, but I wouldn’t count Nussecken as Kekse personally. Heidesand though can also be multi-coloured and maybe rolled in nuts before slicing, if you like that.
If you want to gift traditional german baked goods in summer you can do different kinds of topped yeasted cake goods as someone mentioned here before. Round sweet yeasted disks topped with either fresh fruit or custard and then added streusel on top and then glazed for one (Streuseltaler) , or a sheet cake of yeasted dough with various possibilites. The last one is i think the most german thing ever. I never saw such a variety of baked yeast cakes anywhere close to that… You can basically make a sweet yeast dough (brioche dough would be fine) and then top it with butter and sugar (Butterkuchen/Zuckerkuchen), a mixture of honey+buttet+almonds (Bienenstich, can be sliced horizontally and then filled with creme patissiere/diplomat creme or german buttercream)
Or imo the most german grandma cake: Streuselkuchen with or without fresh fruits or poppy seed filling (Mohnstreusel) or custard (Puddingstreusel). In this year’s time you can do a cherry Streuselkuchen with fresh cherries (Kirschstreusel/Kirschkuchen) or even peaches (peaches is less traditional though). I actually URGE you to do this as a sheet cake and then cut some slices and fill your container with little squares. It keeps not as long as cookies.
You can also make more known elaborate cakes like Donauwelle, Frankfurter Kranz, Quarkstrudel, Käsekuchen (german Cheesecake), Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, Marmorkuchen, Kalter Hund (basically layered chocolate with buttercookies), Russischer Zupfkuchen (cocoa streusel dough with a German cheesecake filling and topped with big flat cocoa streusel before baking), Nusskuchen (hazelnut cake with a cinnamon/hazelnut/chocolate glaze or even just powderes sugar), Dresdener Eierschecke (basically a 3 layered cake with streusel dough at the bottom, then a cheesecake filling with or without raisins and then meringue on top), any flavour of Sahnetorte (thin layers of sponge cake filled and frosted with whipped cream – you can fo literally any flavour, most commonly is chocolate, nuts or some kind of fruit or Eierlikör (alcoholic eggnog), Stollen (same as Baumkuchen and Lebkuchen: very frowned upon when eaten outside of Christmas season) or just some local specialties if you know specifically where he came from.
Oh and you could actually do something like a Puddingbrezel, some kind of Brezel (usually not made at home though), Schweineohr (kinda like big Palmieres and then glazed heavily or dipped in chocolate), Spritzkuchen (it is basically fried choux-pastry in donut form and then glazed), Pfannkuchen/Berliner/Krapfen/Prepped (donut without a hole and filled with a jam and then either coated granulated sugar/powdered sugar/glaze), Quarkbällchen (fried dough balls with lots of quark in batter).
If you want to really give him something that he connects to Germany and probably misses dearly if he experienced it long enough, it would probably be any kind of german bread. Maybe he gets excited if you gift him a few Brötchen (small breads) or rustic Schwarzbrot. I am not sure if you like to invest the time to make sourdough though soooo yeah. But I think, you could really surprise him with that and also make your self a little treat.
Spritzgebäck! You can even dip the ends of some into chocolate!
I had a very old German friend who, no matter the time of year, always appreciated a real butter German recipe Stollen. It’s sweet with marzipan and bits of dried fruits.
I think it would be best to make sure he doesn’t have dietary restrictions first!
Hamentashen (spelling?) looks like a pyramid or 3fold hat, theyre a shortbread cookie with hazelnut chocolate spread inside. Crowd pleaserr
There’s a lot of sweet suggestions already, but I wouldn’t discount the savoury, like pretzels, or some really nice (wholegrain) rolls.
I have no suggestions but, I have to say, you have the neighbor that we ALL want to have. ❤️
this is so sweet!!! would love if you gave us an update on what you decided to make and hopefully your neighbour’s reaction! 🙂
My vote is for Nussecken, but if you want to go a seasonal fruit route, I think Pflaumenkuchen or Zwetschgenstreusel are also very nice traditional cakes that can be unrefrigerated for a while and be cut in squares and transported in this container (that won’t work as well for Frankfurter Kranz or donauwelle – both are awesome, but they have buttercream and lack structural integrity).
Here’s a recipe you can run through a translator: https://www.rewe.de/rezepte/zwetschgenstreusel/
Zwetschgen are a type of plum, you can just use regular plums, I’m convinced nobody knows the difference anyway.
Mandelhörnchen. Beat almond paste with egg whites, roll in sliced almonds, shape into crescents, and bake. Super easy, but a little pricey with the almond paste. You can also dip the ends of some in chocolate!
Franzbrötchen! It’s a little bit like german cinnamon rolls, absolutey delicious and not too difficult to make at home.
Butterkuchen or Sandtaler?
Are Spritz cookies German or Scandinavian? Unsure, but they are always a crowd favorite! The press is fun, but you can dollop the dough and flatten it slightly if you don’t have one.
Pfeffernüsse, pfeffernüsse, pfeffernüsse! The first cookie I look for around the holidays
Lebkuchen is my favorite, but they are a little difficult to make.