One sunny spring sunday Luna Lapin went out into the garden to admire the spring flowers. It had been a long and cold winter and she enjoyed the warming rays of sunshine on her fur. the pretty colours of blossoms and new leaves and the mild spring breeze tickling her nose.

She was so happy to be out in the fresh air again after the long and dreary winter days when she had been locked inside the house, but even more happy  that she could finally wear her new spring dress (which she had already finished sewing in January) and which had been winking teasingly at her ever since.

Luna was playing with her bunny china pincushion: a heirloom from her mum, actually the only heirloom she had after she had lost her whole family long, long ago.

She was stroking the little bunny absentmindedly and suddenly remembered everything that had happened: She saw her three sisters playing in front of the house in the sunshine and heard her mum rattling the pans in the kitchen. Luna had hopped over to the big meadow to pick some flowers for her mum (her mum had loved flowers) when suddenly she felt something was wrong.

She ran home as fast as her legs could do but then suddenly remembered what her mum had told her time after time: “Luna, if you sense danger, duck, hide under a bush oder a plant, keep still and don’t move! It may save your life one day”.

So Luna hid under a hazelnut bush and froze. Only her delicate whiskers were moving whilst her eyes (wide open) were looking over to her home. And then she saw it: The fox had grabbed her mum and was carrying her away. She wasn’t making any noise and her limbs were dangling from the foxes mouth. Luna was too shocked to even look away. She watched until the fox had disappeared.

Hours later, after sitting under the hazelnut bush paralysed, she finally ventured outside. She found her home deserted, no trace of life, her sisters toys still lying on the ground and her mum’s sewing on the table.

Luna couldn’t bear the view and left the house but grabbed the pincushion as she ran out and put it into the pocket of her apron. She had never returned to the house she was born in ever since.

****

A bee tickled Luna’s nose and with a sigh she returned to the present, shaking her head vigorously so that her long ears made flapping noises.

She put the pincushion back into her pocket and was just about to go back inside when she heard a noise. A tiny noise, very tiny. Whatever caused it, couldn’t be far away or must be really, really small.

Luna got up and followed the noise. She had very good ears and it didn’t take her long to find out where it came from. It took her longer to find out what or rather who made the noise but finally Luna discovered the culprit: There on the soft moss under the heather lay a teeny tiny mouse. She was half hidden under a hazelnut twig (oh, the memories!) and sobbing unconsollably.

 

Luna slowly approached her, uttering soothing sounds. When the Mouse finally noticed her she raised her head and said one word whilst she was sobbing heartbreakingly: “The cat!!”

 

To be continued……

Next time: the horrible story of the cat

Hi ya, I know you’ve missed me because it’s been a while. To make amends I will give you two recipes today so you can fill more tins for christmas. 😉

Advent, the four weeks preceding christmas takes a very important place in the German christmas agenda. As mentioned before, we do not put up our trees before christmas but there’s one item that can be found in many, many houses before christmas time: the Advent wreath.

Considering how long we’ve been celebrating christmas the wreath is a fairly new addition as its history only started in 1839 when a protestant teacher took in poor children into his house and took care of them. Like all children they couldn’t wait for christmas to come around and kept asking him how long it was till christmas. The teacher took an old coach wheel and put 20 small white candles and 4 big red candles on it. Each day, starting with the 1st of december he lighted one white candle and on sundays he lighted a red candle so the children could easily see how christmas was approaching.

This tradition spread , first only in protestant circles but finally in 1925 the first advent wreath was hung up in a catholic church at Cologne. Traditionally, the wreath is made from green twigs like fir, boxwood or cypress which like the form of a circle symbolise infinity. The number of candles was reduced to four – I suppose for reasons of practicality.

There is a photo at my parents’  house showing me and my brother as toddlers looking at an advent wreath but my mum preferred the wooden carousel things with four candles. We had relatives living near Dresden where this craft has a long standing traditon (“Erzgebirge”) and though they were beautiful (and we really loved Mary and Joseph running their rounds when the candles were lighted) I returned to the traditional green wreath when I moved to uni. So brace yourself, here’s a picture of a very young Betti with her first advent wreath.

I’ve made many wreathes over the years but here’s one from a few years ago which I especially loved.

But now the serious stuff: BAKING!

Today’s recipes consist of one very traditional and one modern recipe. We will be doing Vanillekipferl and Chestnut Coins.

Let’s start with the Vanillekipferl. Kipferl is the south german/austrian name for cookies that look like mini croissants. They haven’t been part of the baking my mum did for christmas but my grandmother, who originally came from the area that is now the Czech Republic used to bake them. No need to tell you that I loved them as a child!

VANILLEKIPFERL

You will need:

• 50g of ground hazelnuts
• 50g of ground almonds
• 300g flour (plain)
• 100g caster sugar
• 1 pinch of salt
• 200g of margarine
• 2 egg yolks

To roll them in:

• 5 sachets of vanilla sugar (preferably the one containing real vanilla)
• ½ cup of icing sugar

How to:

Prepare a dough from all ingredients. Wrap in cling foil and put into the fridge for at least two hours. Preheat the oven to 170C. Take a portion of dough, form a roll (about 2cm thick) and cut into pieces of approx. 5cm length.Bend each piece slighty and pinch the ends a bit until they look like tiny croissants.

Bake for about 10-12min, then take out and let cool down for a few minutes.

Meanwhile mix the sieved icing sugar and the vanilla sugar on a plate and roll the still warm (!) Kipferl until they are completly covered in sugar. Be very careful as they break easily and you don’t want to eat too much. 😉

Store in a tin in a cool place.

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Recipe no. 2 is something I discovered a few years ago in a baking journal. I do love chestnuts and so I gave it a try.

 

CHESTNUT COINS

You will need:

• 3 egg whites
• 250g icing sugar
• 1 sachet vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinamon
• 1 pinch of cardamom
• 350-400g ground almonds
• 100g chestnuts (cooked and peeled)
• 60g flour (plain)
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1 1/4 teaspoons cocoa

How to:

Beat eggs whites stiff. Slowly add sieved icing sugar.

Put 4 tablespoons of egg white aside in a cup. Add vanilla sugar, cinamon and cardamom to the reimaining mix. Add ground almonds until the dough is only slightly sticky.

Purée the chestnuts and add to the dough along with flour, orange zest and 1 teaspoon of cocoa.

Form 4 rolls (2,5cm thick), wrap in cling foil and put into the fridge for about two hours.

Preheat the oven to 100C (convection).

Take the rolls from the fridge and cut into slices approx. 1 cm thick. Put on a tray and use your fingers to flatten them a bit.

Take 2 teaspoons of the remaining egg white-sugar-mix and mix with the remaining cocoa.

Cover the coins with the light egg white-sugar-mix, then put of droplet of dark mix on top and form a spiral with a toothpick (or a heart if you are an artist).

Bake for about 15 mins. Let cool down and store in a tin.

And now …. Enjoy baking!