Tag Archives: Germany

In a Vase on Monday: A Winter Solstice Posy

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It is the shortest day of the year, but also a Monday, so I am joining Cathy at Rambling in the Garden again for her Monday meme. Every week Cathy invites us to join her in putting some materials from our gardens into a vase and sharing it. Not easy at this time of year, so I dared to cut a flower off my newest Hellebore. 😉

My little pottery church tealight holder came from a Christmas market many years ago. And the tiny pottery vase was bought at another Christmas market one year, actually with snowdrops in mind. It contains a winter Hellebore flower, a Heuchera leaf and some silvery artemisia foliage to signify spring, a Scabiosa bud for summer, and an Allium seedhead and some Sporobulus grass for autumn. 😃

My thoughts are with all those separated from their families this Christmas. Wishing you all a wonderful, peaceful and happy Christmas, however you are celebrating!

🎄⭐️🤗

 

 

Vegan November 2020: Sweet and Simple Buns

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As November is traditionally Vegan Month I thought a traditional recipe from Bavaria might go down well. These are simple buns, made with a yeast dough, sweetened slightly and served dusted with sugar/icing sugar.

They have various names here, depending on where you live, but my Man of Many Talents knows them as ‘Rohrnudeln’ – oven noodles! His Grandmother used to make them and they were a filling treat for hungry boys.

Here is my vegan recipe for them.

Sweet Buns

  • 300g strong flour (2 1/2 cups)
  • 100g plain flour (3/4 cup). (or all plain)
  • 50 g (raw cane) sugar (1/5 cup)
  • 1 packet instant yeast (7g or 2 1/4 tsps)
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tbsp vegetable oil
  • 150 ml lukewarm water (5 oz)
  • 150 ml lukewarm soya (or other non-dairy) milk (5 oz)
  • A little soya milk or cream and melted vegan butter/margarine for brushing
  • Extra sugar (caster sugar or icing sugar) for sprinkling

Sift the flour, salt and sugar into a bowl and add the yeast. Stir in the water and soya milk. Mix and then knead briefly until it is a soft ball of dough. Place in a clean bowl, brush all over with a little vegetable oil, cover and leave in a warm place to rise for about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F)

Punch down the dough and roll out into a long sausage shape. Cut into twelve equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Place close together into a greased ovenproof dish (my dish is about 24 x 20 cm … 9×8 inches?) and leave to rest another 15 minutes. Then brush with milk/melted butter or margarine and bake for 25 – 30 minutes.

When golden brown, remove from the oven and brush with milk and butter again, and immediately sprinkle caster sugar over them. Leave to cool a little before serving, dusted with more sugar/icing sugar as desired.

They remind me a bit of doughnuts. 😃 They are best eaten fresh, and taste very good with custard, but on the next day try slicing them and spreading jam over them! 😉

Enjoy! 😃

Cheerful Tuesday: Under the Plum Tree

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I ran out of time yesterday to cut flowers for the Monday meme ‘In a Vase on Monday’ hosted by Cathy at Rambling in the Garden. But when we arrived at our friends‘ garden for an afternoon visit (in glorious September sunshine 😃) they had this on their garden table beneath a tree laden with ripe plums.

We had a lovely afternoon and I was able to pick some plums for a crumble today. 😉

The flowers were picked from a strip of wild flowers sown by the farmer on the edges of his field… a project sponsored by the government (EU?) to attract pollinators.

Have a lovely Tuesday!