’mbriachelle!!

(Wine donuts?*) = best. Italian. Cookies. ever. And. SO. Easy!!!

At least in Germany, you can buy what the Americans call biscotti everywhere (we know them as cantuccini in Europe) – every supermarket has them, and indeed even Starbucks sells them. And then there are amarettini – the tiny round super light almond tasting cookies that crumble beautifully on your tongue and which make a superb raspberry Tiramisu. I don’t know if you get them in the U.S., but the fact that Word underlines the word above suggests that maybe not.

But that’s it – those are the staple Italian cookies we know in this country. And while they are both absolutely wonderful, it is a mystery to me why we have not yet started importing ’mbriachelle in industrial quantities. They are SO GOOD. And SO EASY to make.

My parents, who routinely escape to Rome once a year to forage the bookstores (my mom) and the food markets (my dad) brought back a couple of bags of cookies last year, among them these sugary loops, and they were gone within minutes. That good.

So when my roommate Allie asked me what she should bring back from Rome for me (because she is an awesome roommate) I just vaguely said cookies, not even thinking of ’mbriachelle. But when she came back and brought two bags of cookies -- chocolate cantuccini and mbriachelle -- I immediately recognized the shape of the ’mbriachelle. THOSE were the ones I wanted, and I had completely forgotten about them! We tried to limit ourselves to eating one per day in order to make them last longer. And yet, the day came – the day there was only one left.

I assume you can get them at Centro Italia in Berlin (though I didn’t actually check), but I wanted them immediately. Delayed gratification is not exactly my forte. So I googled the word on the label (’mbriachelle) and found this Italian food blog: http://lacucinadiesme.blogspot.de/2013/01/mbriachelle.html. And – google translate is your friend! – I actually got a pretty decent translation of the recipe! (My favorite line: “it ggiungere the flour until the consistency is similar to that of potato gnocchi.”)

Turns out, the secret ingredient is red wine! Who would have thought? (Well, the translation above might have been a clue to you. But I had no idea!). The ingredients sound suspicious at first – half a cup of olive oil? Seriously? And, not very surprisingly, the cookie dough does not taste all that great. Actually, it is disgusting. But, put them in oven, wait for thirty minutes, and you will be in heaven. I promise.

So, here we go (this is adapted from the original recipe above, so I take no credit):

Makes about 20 cookies, I think

½ cup of extra virigin olive oil

½ cup of red wine

½ cup of sugar

About 2 cups of flour or more (use less at first and then more until you get the right consistency)

½ teaspoon baking powder

granulated sugar for garnish.

 In a large bowl, blend together the olive oil, red wine and sugar with a whisk.

Then start adding the flower, little by little, until you get the consistency of potato gnocchi, throwing in the ½ tsp of baking powder at some point (Right… well, I just added enough flour until it wouldn’t stick to my fingers anymore. You could also mix the baking powder into the flour before you add it to the wet ingredients.)

Pour some sugar on a plate.

Form the mbriachelle – mine were about ½ inch thick – into circles. Coat the top in sugar , then place them on the tray.

 Bake at 375 F (180 C) for about 25 minutes.

(To quote Esme: The wine donuts can be stored for several days tightly sealed in a tin, but I assure you that they do not last long!)

Buon appetito!

*google translate suggested wine donuts as a translation, and I haven’t found a better one. But they are not actually donuts – they are baked, not fried. Their shape vaguely resembles that of donuts, though. And the wine part is correct.

Culinary adventures in Berlin - introduction

Dear friends,*

*so etwas ähnliches wie eine deutsche Übersetzung siehe unten.

I have decided to start a food blog! If you are my friend, chances are – you like food. Or I will have talked to you about food at some point. Over the years, I have found that some of my closest friendships started out because of a shared passion for… food. I may have tricked you into being friends with me by offering you baked goods. I may have imposed my own culinary traditions on you (hot cross buns!). Or, dear American friends, I may have implored you to bring back packed brown sugar or peppermint extract for me. After all, eating is communal, and I firmly believe that the best conversations happen at a table filled with good food (and wine).

But while I love enjoying the fruits of my labor with my friends, there is another reason why I love being in the kitchen. One of my favorite lines of the movie “Julie and Julia” is when Julie comes back from her dull office job and tells us that “I love that after a long day when nothing is sure, and when I say ‘nothing’ I mean nothing, you can come home and absolutely know that if you add egg yolks to chocolate and sugar and milk, it will get thick. It’s such a comfort.” Baking is routine, it’s something I know how to do. Sometimes the world out there is scary. And then it’s a comfort to come back to the kitchen, turn on NPR, and just bake. When you are kneading yeast dough, nothing else matters. And when you put the bread in the oven, get a small stool and sit down in front of the oven so your back can enjoy the heat of the oven while you smell the fresh yeast bread, and you read a good book… you know that life is good.

But I am digressing. This blog is my attempt to bring the two aspects together, and to keep in touch with all my dear friends who share my passion for baking (and cooking) but sadly, do not live in Berlin or worse yet, live on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. And of course, my Berlin friends as well – I need your help cleaning up the results!

So, here is what I will do: Whenever I am so inclined, I will choose either a European, or an American recipe (“ethnic food” will be covered under the American category because yours is much better). The European recipe will be dedicated to my English-speaking friends. I will do my best to avoid or translate metric measurements, and I encourage your comments on the recipe’s workability!

The American recipes will be auf Deutsch. There is an excellent resource for U.S. recipes with German ingredients and measurements (usa-kulinarisch.de - das Rezept für carrot cake with cream cheese frosting truly is the best in town!), but there is always more to be discovered, especially in the ethnic food category.

And here is where the interactive part comes into play: Dear American friends, if you have recipes you think I should try or that Germany should know about, send them my way! Especially all things Mexican, Indian, or Asian, but really, just send me your favorite recipes.

Ebenso dankbar bin ich für alle Rezeptvorschläge auf Deutsch (der beste Gugelhupf? Pflaumenkuchen? Flammkuchen? Etc.!)

Okay, enough said. I shall start off by introducing my favorite Italian cookies so far (and because it is a European recipe, it will be in English.)

Much love,

Ulrike

 ---

*Auf Deutsch!

Liebe Freunde,

Voilà, da ist er – mein Blog! (Der dritte Versuch? Glaube ich!).

Hauptsächlich ist dieser Blog ein kreatives outlet rund um meine Essensphantasien. Die Idee dahinter ist folgende: Ab und zu, je nach Zeit und Lust, poste ich entweder ein europäisches oder ein amerikanisches Rezept. Die europäischen Rezepte übersetze ich für alle amerikanischen bzw. Englischsprachigen Freunde auf Englisch, die amerikanischen/mexikanischen/indischen/etc. (“ethnische” Rezepte fallen einfach unter die Kategorie “amerikanische”, das ist mein kulinarischer Imperialismus) veröffentliche ich auf Deutsch.

Vor allem will ich den Blog nutzen, um mit Freunden rund um das Thema Essen im Austausch und Kontakt zu bleiben. Dafür brauche ich eure Hilfe! Also, vor allem Rezepte: Dein Lieblingskuchen? Das Rote-Grütze-Rezept deiner Oma? Das Gulasch deiner Mutter? Der Gugelhupf deiner Tante? (hmm, vielleicht sollte ich “ethnische Küche” umdefinieren…) Dein Lieblingsrezept für Käsekuchen? Ich nehme alles! Das gleiche gilt für meine amerikanischen Freunde. Aber euch kommt eine noch wichtigere Rolle zu: Ich brauche eure Hilfe beim Essen! Also, Vorschlag: Ihr schickt mir ein Rezept, ich koche es und lade euch dazu ein, die Resultate zu verzehren. Sound good?

Alles Liebe,

Ulrike