Christmas Stollen

I may have consumed my fair share of questionable food while living in Germany (currywurst, I'm talking to you), but one thing I absolutely loved - and still love - is Christmas stollen. Stollen is a yeasted, bread-like fruitcake. It's chock full of yummy nummies like rum-soaked raisins, marzipan, almonds, cinnamon, rum-soaked raisins, candied orange peel, vanilla, and rum-soaked raisins. Did I mention rum-soaked raisins? They sell all sorts of varieties of stollen in Germany, including almond (Mandelstollen), marzipanstollen, and nut (nuss-stollen), and I enjoyed them all, especially with a warm cup of gluhwein. 

We bought a stollen pan way back in 2001, and we've been making our own Christmas stollen ever since. It's one of our treasured traditions, and it's the next best thing to enjoying a slice in an open-air Christmas market.

There are a few steps involved, but that's part of the fun...it's definitely not your everyday-kind-of-bread!

First, you scald some soymilk in a small pan.

Blend together the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast.

 Add the rum-soaked raisins...

...3 flax-eggs...

...and the scalded milk. Dab some Earth Balance into the dough as it's mixing.

Keep on mixing....

Gather your mix-ins. I like to use sliced almonds and craisins in addition to the rum-soaked raisins. Add to the mixer and continue kneading with the dough hook until well-blended.

 Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover and let it rise in a warm place for about 3 hours.

After the dough has risen, press it into a greased stollen hood.

Place on a cookie sheet, and bake for 45 minutes.

My picture is fugly, but just trust me - it's really, really good!

Let cool on a rack, then slice and devour.

I love my stollen smeared with Earth Balance, but it's also mighty tasty when it's naked and unadorned, too.

Fröhliche Weihnachten!

Vegan MoFo Day 27: Germany, Part 2

I think I got a wee bit carried away writing about Sulzfeld in my last Germany post. I promise to keep it short 'n sweet this time :)

This was the coolest hotel EVER. We spent Valentine's Day weekend 2003 in Baden-Baden in the Black Forest. This is Hotel Der Kleine Prinz. It was so expensive we could only afford to stay one night, but it was so cool. We had afternoon tea at the hotel and then visited the Friedrichsbad Roman-Irish Baths. Later that night, we got gussied up and visited the Casino Baden-Baden. People were gambling here in evening gowns and tuxedos. Very James Bond-ish!

This is a picture we took from our car as we were driving through the Alps on the way to Austria...

This is Schloss Neuschwanstein in Hohenschwangau. King Ludwig II of Bavaria lived here, and it's the castle that inspired Disney's Snow White castle.

A view from inside the castle...

This is downtown Garmisch-Partenkirchen. This town hosted the Winter Olympics in 1936.

 Here's my hubby (the man in the yellow hat...hehe) at Checkpoint Charlie in Berlin.

This is a photo of Heidelberg. We took a day-trip here to meet up with my hubby's cousins, who were traveling through the area. Lots of cool bridges and architecture here!

This is a picture of the Falterturm ("crooked tower") in Kitzingen. Legend has it that there is a golden ball at the top of the tower that contains the heart of Vlad Dracula, and the tower is leaning toward the cemetery across the street where he's supposedly buried. Pretty cool, huh?!

Of course, one of my favorite memories of Germany is going to all the winefests. Here's a picture of the Kitzinger Weinfest. It's a tad blurry, but hey, I was at a winefest. I think that explains everything.

Here's my Dad, my hubby, and me in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Rothenburg was about an hour's drive away from Sulzfeld, and we visited often. It is such a cool place!

The town gets all decorated for the Easter and Christmas holidays, especially. We took this photo around Easter in 2002.

And finally, a photo of Fortress Marienberg in Würzburg. Würzburg was the largest city close to Sulzfeld, about a 30-minute drive away. I remember once attending a formal dinner in the Fortress for my hubby's military unit. They served cold cucumber soup as an appetizer. Let's just say that it didn't go over so well, although I personally thought it was delicious :)

Let's face it - German cuisine is often all about the meat. I say, let them eat tempeh! Smoky Tempeh & Greens Stew from Appetite for Reduction, more specifically!

 You want some broetchen with that? How 'bout some Fancy Biscuits from How It All Vegan! instead?

Germans also love their cabbage. Here's some Cabbage and Fennel Salad with Apples and Raisins, along with some baked marinated tempeh and mashed carrots and turnips. Das ist gut!

Vegan MoFo Day 24: Germany, Part 1 - Sulzfeld

During the first 2+ years of our marriage, my hubby and I lived in Germany. My hubby was serving in the US Army, and he spent a total of 3 years stationed in Kitzingen and Würzburg.

We were engaged when my hubby got his orders, so he shipped off to Europe while I stayed behind and started my first job out of college. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been for him to pack up, say goodbye to his family, and move halfway across the world, especially when he was only 23 years old. I mean, I know people do stuff like that all the time, but I thought he was very brave :) I'm proud of you, honey! And I'll know if you've read my blog if you say thank you!


My hubby moved into a cute little apartment in Sulzfeld am Main, a small town on the outskirts of Kitzingen. The apartment was actually the ground-floor of a large family home owned by the Bürgermeister of Sulzfeld. This turned out to be a very good thing, indeed. When you're living in a foreign country, it's helpful to know someone who can look out for you and assist when necessary. Plus, we always felt cool at the Sulzfelder Strassenweinfest, when Gerhard would wave to us like we were part of the "in" crowd :) Oh, come on, if Buddy Cianci waved to you at the Bristol 4th of July Parade, you'd feel cool, alright?

(By the way, I don't expect anyone but native Rhode Islanders to understand that reference!)

Sulzfeld was an incredible town to live in. The town itself is enclosed by a stone wall that dates back to...well, a really long time ago. I can't remember, darn it! I wish I had written stuff like that down. I want to say it may have been as early as the 1100's or as late as the early 1400's. But still...that's crazy old! 

The town has cobblestone streets and medieval towers in the walls, y'all! It's also smack in the middle of the Franconia wine region, so we were surrounded by tons and tons of vineyards and wineries. Some of our neighbors even had little vineyards in their backyards! (Some of these same neighbors also chose to mow their lawn in a tiny Speedo, but I digress).

Our apartment was in the house in the center of the photo below.

It's amazing! We lived on Weingartenstrasse, which translates to "wine garden road." Isn't that cute?! Here are some views from our stone patio...you can see the Main River in the background of some of them.

My hubby took this picture on Christmas Day 2001. Isn't it beautiful? I only wish I was there to see it with him :(

My parents took this picture when they visited in March 2002. They named the gnome Gerhard after our landlord, the Burgermeister.

The view on a rainy day. It rained a lot in Germany. I remember it once rained for about 6 weeks straight. That was...wet.

Another snowy picture. So beautiful!

This one looks like springtime! See how our neighbor has some grapes growing in his yard? Yeah, that's the Speedo guy.

Oh, Sulzfeld, I miss you so much. I miss going for long walks in the vineyards above our apartment...

I began running in Sulzfeld. That will always hold a special place in my heart! We would run up and down the slippery cobbled streets, up and down the vineyard roads, and on the bicycle path. 

We'd always stop at the local bäckerei on the way home and buy a big loaf of bread and some cherry yogurt. We'd run back home, smear our bread with fresh cherry jam, and sit on our patio with a big cup of coffee, gazing at the valley below. It was pretty awesome.

I also miss how gorgeous you looked in autumn, when the leaves started changing...

I miss being able to walk down the road and have a gazillion wineries at my disposal :)

I don't really miss my cramped galley kitchen, though.

But I'll never forget you, Sulzfeld. It's where I spent my first Christmas as a married lady!

One of my favorite things to eat in Germany was pfefferlingen mit spaetzle. This is a dish of chanterelle mushrooms, cooked in a delicious mushroom gravy, and spooned over egg noodles. It was amazeballs. There's no other word for it. When I was thinking of German food, this is the first thing that came to mind. But spaetzle is not the easiest thing to make - you need a spätzle press and time to fiddle with making the dough, and I have neither (I also didn't have any chanterelle mushrooms, incidentally). So, what's a girl to do? Make a total cheater's version of pfefferlingen mit spaetzle and enjoy it anyways. And you know what? I did, and so did my hubby!

I cooked up a combo of some brown rice penne and rotini and tossed it with the Mushroom Sauce from Vegan with a Vengeance. This sauce is so scarily reminiscent of pfefferlingen sauce, it's not even funny. We loved it! I added some green beans and karottesalat, and I swear, we were transported back to that little walled town.

I can't wait to revisit some other parts of Germany. We'll be going to Berlin, Rothenberg, and Kitzingen, so stay tuned!