German Walnut Coffee Ring Nuss Kranz Recipes

GERMAN WALNUT COFFEE RING: NUSS-KRANZ

Steps:

• FOR THE DOUGH: Sprinkle yeast over the water in large bowl of electric mixer. Add 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Let stand until yeast is soft (about 5 minutes).
• Add the remaining sugar, milk, salt, vanilla, and butter.
• Add 2 cups of the flour, mix to blend, then beat at medium speed until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes). Beat in egg yolks, one at a time. Stir in about 1 1/4 cups more flour to make a soft dough. You can use a wooden spoon or hands to mix also.
• Turn dough out onto a board or pastry cloth coated with some of the remaining 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour. Knead until dough is smooth and satiny and small bubbles form just under surface about 10 to 12 minutes, adding just enough flour to prevent dough from being sticky.
• Turn dough in a greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel; let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk about 1 hour. Punch dough down. Cover with inverted bowl and let rest for 10 minutes.
• Roll dough out on a floured surface to make a 16-inch square. Spread with Spiced Walnut Filling, leaving a 1/2-inch margin on all edges. Starting at one side, roll up jelly-roll fashion; pinch to seal edge. Cut roll into 1-inch slices.
• Place slices, on edge, in a well-greased, 10-inch angel food cake pan; overlap slices, pulling every other one to outside edge of pan (slices between should be pulled to inside edge of pan). Let rise until almost doubled in bulk (40 to 50 minutes). Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Bake until coffee cake is richly browned (35 to 40 minutes). Let stand in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Then remove pan sides and tube; transfer cake to rack. While warm drizzle with Powdered Sugar Icing and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon ground walnuts (reserved from filling). Let cool to room temperature before slice to serve.
• FOR THE SPICED WALNUT FILLING: Preheat oven to 350°F Spread walnuts in a shallow pan. Bake until they are golden brown and smell fragrant (10 to 12 minutes) Let cool slightly, then place all the walnuts in food processor (or half the walnuts at a time in blender); process or whirl until finely chopped. Set aside 1 Tablespoon chopped walnuts for decoration. In a medium bowl combine sugar and cinnamon. Mix in the remaining chopped walnuts, butter, and vanilla. Then blend in egg.
• POWDERED SUGAR ICING: In a small bowl combine sugar, butter, and vanilla. Gradually blend in water until icing is smoothly mixed and of a good consistency for drizzling.
• California Culinary Academy.

GERMAN COFFEE CAKE WITH NUTS AND CHOCOLATE ( NUSSKUCHEN )

Steps:

• Note: Time for cooling is not included.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180C). For best removal of cake: Thoroughly grease pan with melted butter. Put it in the fridge for 5 minutes. Remove, fill with 2 tablespoons flour, shake pan over the sink until evenly dusted with flour. Discard any loose flour. Keep dusted pan in fridge until filling.
• Mix flour with baking powder.
• Beat egg whites with a pinch of salt in a large clean bowl with clean beaters until stiff but not dry. Set aside.
• In another large bowl beat soft butter and sugar until creamy white and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beat until light in color and increased in volume, about 3 minutes.
• Put nuts and chocolate into bowl with the butter and egg yolks and mix a few seconds on low until just blended.
• Sift flour over mixture. Don't mix. Put 1 cup of egg white on flour.
• With a rubber spatula fold flour and the cup egg white into nut mixture, this will be rather stiff, but it does not need to be blended completely.
• Give rest of egg white on nut mixture and fold it in until completely blended. (If you try to mix in flour without egg white first and then fold in all of egg white at once, the flour mixture will be too firm to do this, therefore the two steps.).
• Fill batter evenly into pan.
• Bake in the middle of the oven for 60-75 minutes. If it browns too much reduce heat by 15 degrees and cover loosely with parchment paper.
• Test doneness by inserting a wooden skewer into the middle of the cake. If only melted chocolate but no crumbs stick to it the cake is done. Remove from oven.
• Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then carefully lay it on the side and let cake slip out of form. You may cut with a thin knife along the sides between cake and pan to make sure it will come out.
• Best eaten while still a little warm but will keep several days. Dust with a little powdered sugar before serving if you like. Cut into 1/2 inch slices. Serve with a dollop of sweetened whipped cream.
• Note: Using fresh unsalted butter, freshly ground nuts and a really good-quality chocolate are keys in making this cake really good. I usually make it with hazelnuts, and think this tastes slightly better than with walnuts :).

GERMAN CHRISTMAS NOUGATKUGELN (NOUGAT BALLS)

Steps:

• Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler over just-barely simmering water, stirring frequently and scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching. Remove the bowl from the heat.
• In a separate bowl, combine the confectioner's sugar and cocoa powder. Use a wire whisk to break up lumps. Mix in the vanilla and coffee. Stir in the nuts, and, if necessary, add additional coffee to make the mixture smooth. The mixture should be fairly thick.
• Allow the mixture to cool enough to handle. Shape the mixture into 1/2- to 3/4-inch diameter balls. Dip the balls into the melted chocolate. Chill until firm.