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Pastries from Central Europe
Published
2023-12-27T18:07:00.0000000Z in RecipesComing from Reichenberg (todays Liberec) and studying in Vienna, my father (and grandmother) brought a lot of recipes with him which we have been enjoying in my family as I grew up. Unfortunately most of these are hard to come by in Sweden as we are totally stuck with cinnamon and cardamom buns it seems. You may occasionally find them in some specialty bakery shop but if you want to rely on having them within reach you will have to make them yourself. Here's a list of my favourites. Recipes will come in separate posts eventually.
Mohnstrudel
Mohnstrudel is a pastry with minced poppy seeds, with a bittersweet taste. A very simple version you can make home quickly is one with premade puff pastry dough.
Striezel/Stollen
In my family we (sometimes) make the Christmas-special braided Stollen (we just call it Strietzel) with candied orange peel, lemon zest, rum (preferably Stroh) and more.
Vanillekipferl
Vanillekipferl is a simple but very delicate and sweet cookie containing almonds and vanilla. Typical Christmas cookie.
Germknödel
In my childhood we often went on ski trips to Austria in the winter and that's mainly were I have had this steamed knödel stuffed with plum jam, served with lots of melted butter (not Vanilla sauce!) and topped with minced poppy seeds and powdered sugar. Yum!
Kaiserschmarrn
Also when skiing in Austria you can usually have this treat in some of the mountain huts. Easily shared with others. Not necessarily because you would want to. It's usually made from left over pancakes in my family. Fried in lots of butter and served with for instance plum jam and powdered sugar.