Sweet Recipes From Austria

From Recipes From All Nations by Countess Morphy, 1946.

Apfel-Strudel (Apple strudel)

There are various recipes for making the batter for strudel, some in which a little butter is used, some in which oil takes the place of butter, and some which include yeast. The recipe I give is the one most commonly used in Austria.

Ingredients: Just under ½ lb. of flour, 1 whole egg, 1 tablespoon of oil, a pinch of salt, a little water.

For the filling: Peeled, cored and sliced apples, currants, raisins, breadcrumbs fried in butter, sugar, melted butter.

Method: Put the flour on a pastry board and make a well in the centre. In this, put the egg, the oil and a pinch of salt. Mix first with a knife, then knead with the hands, adding a little water gradually. Work for 15 to 20 minutes, taking the dough in the hands and beating on the board. When it shows bubbles and no longer adheres to the hands, put it on a floured board, cover with a basin and let it stand for 1 hour. Put a large clean cloth on the kitchen table, sprinkle it with flour and roll out the dough. Lift the dough and, with the back of the hands under it, pull and stretch it carefully until it reaches the size of the cloth and is very thin and transparent. This is not an easy thing to do, and practice and experience are required to do this pulling without breaking the very thin paste. Lay the paste on the cloth and carefully trim off the pieces hanging over the side of the table. Now brush the paste over with melted butter, sprinkle with the fried breadcrumbs, the sliced apples, the raisins, currants and sugar. Lift the two corners of the cloth with both hands and roll the paste into a long thin sausage. Bend it and place carefully on a well-greased tin, brush over with melted butter or fat, and bake till it is a nice golden colour. Sprinkle with sugar, cut in thick slices and serve hot. There are many different varieties of strudel fillings. It can be filled with different kinds of fruit or with sour milk or cream mixed with yolks of eggs, sugar, raisins and currants.

Topfen Knödel (Sour milk or cream quenelles)

Ingredients: ½ lb. of solid sour milk or cream, 1 ½ ozs. of butter, 2 eggs, 3 tablespoons of sugar, a pinch of salt, flour, butter, breadcrumbs.

Method: Cream the butter, then add the yolks, beating and mixing thoroughly. Mix in the sour milk or cream and the sugar. Finally add the whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Add sufficient flour for the mixture to be firm enough to roll into small balls. Poach them in boiling water for 5 minutes. Have ready a frying pan with melted butter and breadcrumbs, put the quenelles in this, shake the pan, so that they will be evenly coated and slightly browned. Remove from the pan and sprinkle with sugar. The sugar in the mixture is often omitted and the quenelles are merely sprinkled with sugar when they are done.

Wiener Gugelhupf (Vienna Gugelhupf)

This cake is also made in Alsace and Germany, but the Viennese claim it as one of their national cakes.

Ingredients: 12 ozs. of flour, 4 ozs. of butter, 1 oz. of castor sugar, about 1 oz. of yeast, 3 eggs, just under ½ pint of milk, 4 ozs. of raisins and currants, about 2 dozen Jordan almonds.

Method: Dissolve the yeast in a little warm milk. Put the flour in a salad bowl or round terrine, make a well in the centre, put in the eggs, the melted butter, the sugar and the dissolved yeast, stir all well together and finally add the raisins and currants. Pour the mixture into a fancy fluted cylinder mould, which should have been well buttered and in which the almonds, blanched and sliced, have been strewn, filling the mould ¾ full only. Put the mould in a warm place, cover, and let the dough rise till it comes to the top of it. Now place the mould on a thick baking tin, and put in a moderate oven and bake for about 1 hour. When sufficiently baked it should come out of the mould quite easily. Stand on a wire tray and sprinkle with a little castor sugar.

Kaiser-Schmarn (Emperor schmarn)

Ingredients: ½ lb. of flour, ½ pint of fresh cream, a sprinkling of sugar, 4 eggs, ½ ozs. of raisins, a pinch of salt, butter.

Method: Beat the yolks of eggs and cream, add the flour, the raisins, a little sugar (optional) and finally the whites of eggs beaten to a stiff froth. Melt a little butter in an omelet pan and, when hot, pour in the mixture and proceed as in making an omelet but without folding. When slightly

browned on both sides, put on a hot dish and, with two forks, roughly pull to pieces and sprinkle with sugar flavoured with vanilla.

Schlosser Buben (Locksmith’s boys)

Ingredients: Large dried plums, blanched almonds, a dough made with flour, eggs, sugar and white wine (quantities according to number of plums) and a pinch of salt. Castor sugar mixed with grated chocolate.

Method: The plums should be soaked for about 12 hours, and boiled till soft. The stone is removed and a blanched almond is put in its place. Each plum is surrounded by dough and they are baked in butter till a good colour and, while still hot, are rolled in the sugar and grated chocolate.

Nuss Torte (Nut cake)

Ingredients: 3 tablespoons of grated chocolate, 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs soaked in a little rum, 2 tablespoons of flour, 4 eggs, 6 tablespoons of sugar, 6 tablespoons of ground nuts or almonds, cream or milk, butter.

Method: Beat the butter and sugar to a cream, add the chocolate and mix thoroughly, then add the ground nuts, the breadcrumbs, the flour and finally the whites of egg beaten to a stiff froth. This cake should be thoroughly beaten or it is apt to be heavy. When well beaten, pour into a cake tin and bake in a slow oven for about ½ of an hour, when the cake should have risen. When done, turn out of the mould and let it stand till cold. Cut the cake carefully into 1 or 2 layers, and fill with a mixture of ground nuts worked to a smooth paste with a little warm milk or cream, butter and sugar. Cover the cake with a layer of this mixture, sprinkle with chocolate and with very finely chopped nuts.

Österreichische Dalken (Austrian dalken)

Ingredients: 6 ozs. of flour, 4 eggs, 2 tablespoons of castor sugar, ¾ pint of milk, a pinch of salt, butter.

Method: Work all the ingredients thoroughly together in a basin with a wooden spoon, and add the milk gradually. Let it stand for 15 minutes. Butter some small moulds usually used for poaching eggs, and put 2 tablespoons of the mixture in each. (Do not put any water in the pan containing the moulds.) Place in a moderate oven. The batter rises, and as it does so the edges curve inwards towards the centre, owing to the rounded sides of these particular moulds, thus forming little tartlets. When the under part is browned and the tartlet is well shaped, turn and slightly brown the upper part. When done, they are filled with apricot or greengage jam and fresh cream.

Wirre Gedanken (“Troubled Thoughts”)

Ingredients: Just under ½ lb. of flour, the yolks of 4 eggs, 3 tablespoons of castor sugar, 5 tablespoons of white wine or water, a pinch of salt, frying oil or good fat.

Method: Work the flour and eggs with a knife, then add the other ingredients and knead for about 20 minutes. The paste should be light but quite firm. Mould into an oblong shape, cover with a basin and let it stand for ½ an hour. Now cut very small pieces from the paste and roll them out on a floured pastry board as thinly as possible into rounds of about 3 inches. With a sharp knife make 4 small incisions in each round. Thread the handle of a wooden spoon in and out of these incisions. Have ready a small deep saucepan of boiling oil or fat. Dip the “Troubled Thought” in the hot fat, holding it with the wooden spoon. After about 1 minute, slip the spoon out as the “Troubled Thought” will be sufficiently cooked on one side, turn it carefully and cook

the other side to a light golden colour. Have ready a plate with icing sugar and dip them in this while still hot, coating them equally all over. They should be very light and crumbly.

Omelette Gefüllte mit Saurer Sahne (Pancakes with sour cream stuffing)

Pancakes are made in the ordinary way and spread with the mixture described in recipe for Topfen Knodel (see page 273). The mixture should, of course, be poached in the same manner before being used.

Salsen-Schnitten (Jam slices)

Ingredients: A few slices of white bread, apricot, greengage or currant jam, red wine, spices, the yolks of 1 or 2 eggs, breadcrumbs, butter or fat.

Method: Cut slices of bread, remove the crust, spread the bread with the jam, and cover with another slice of bread. Moisten these sandwiches with a little red wine, in which sugar and spices have been boiled for a few minutes, brush over with yolk of egg, coat with white breadcrumbs and fry in hot butter or fat to a golden colour.

Morphy, Countess. Recipes of All Nations. H. Joseph. 1946.

Countess Morphy

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