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Germany

Germany, in Central Europe, is an economic powerhouse known for Berlin’s edgy vibe, Munich’s Oktoberfest, and the Rhine Valley’s castles. From the Brothers Grimm to BMW, it blends fairy-tale charm with precision engineering, leading in autos, tech, and renewables. Its history—unification, division, and reunification—shapes a federal system and progressive outlook. Germany’s forests, beer culture, and Christmas markets add a cozy layer to its modern might.

Germany

Featured Dishes from Germany

Arme ritter

Arme ritter

Germany's version of french toast, except the bread is soaked in milk before the eggs

Aufschnitt

Aufschnitt

Lunch meats—also known as cold cuts, luncheon meats, cooked meats, sliced meats, cold meats, sandwich meats, delicatessens, and deli meats—are precooked or cured meats that are sliced and served cold or hot. They are typically served in sandwiches or on a tray. They can be purchased canned, pre-sliced, usually in vacuum packs, or they can be sliced to order, most often in delicatessens and charcuteries. Most pre-sliced lunch meats are higher in fat, nitrates, and sodium than those that are sliced to order, as a larger exposed surface requires stronger preservatives. As a result, processed meats may significantly contribute to incidence of heart disease and diabetes, even more so than red meat. A prospective study following 448,568 people across Europe, showed a positive association between processed meat consumption and mortality caused by cardiovascular disease and cancer. Similarly, a prospective study in the US following half a million people flagged a similar association between death and increased processed meat consumption. The World Cancer Research Fund International guidelines on cancer prevention recommend avoiding all processed meats.

Bauernfrühstück

Bauernfrühstück

Bauernfrühstück is a warm German dish made from fried potatoes, eggs, green onions, parsley, and bacon or ham. Despite its name, it is eaten not only for breakfast but also for lunch and dinner. It is similar to the somewhat simpler English bubble and squeak. The ingredients are mixed in a pan and fried as an omelette. It is usually accompanied by a green or tomato salad or gherkins, and rye bread. Similar dishes are found in other countries, too. In France, for example, as omelette à la paysanne (with sorrel), in Spain as a tortilla de patatas or in Sweden as pyttipanna.

Brezel

Brezel

A pretzel or Bretzel, pronounced [ˈbʁeːtsl̩] ⓘ or [ˈbʁɛtsl̩]) is a type of baked pastry made from dough that is commonly shaped into a knot. The traditional pretzel shape is a distinctive symmetrical form, with the ends of a long strip of dough intertwined and then twisted back onto itself in a particular way (a pretzel loop or pretzel bow). Today, pretzels come in various shapes, textures, and colors, but the original soft pretzel is still one of the most common pretzel types to date. Salt is the most common seasoning, or topping, for pretzels, complementing the washing soda or lye treatment that gives pretzels their traditional skin and flavor acquired through the Maillard reaction. Other toppings are mustard, cheeses, sugar, chocolate, cinnamon, sweet glazing, seeds, and nuts. Varieties of pretzels include soft pretzels, which should be eaten shortly after preparation, and hard-baked pretzels, which have a long shelf life.

Brötchen

Brötchen

A bread roll is a small, oblong individual loaf of bread served as a meal accompaniment . Rolls can be served and eaten whole or are also commonly cut and filled – the result of doing so is considered a sandwich in English. Rolls are common throughout Europe. Even in the same languages, rolls are known by a variety of names. Some European languages have many local and dialectal terms for bread rolls. These include German language diminutives of Brot (bread) in most of western and central Germany (where they are called Brötchen) and in Switzerland (where they are called Brötli). Other German language terms include Rundstück ("round piece") in Hamburg and Schleswig-Holstein; Weckerl or more specific Semmel in Austria, Saxony and southern Bavaria; Weck and Weckle in much of Baden-Württemberg, Franconia and Saarland; Schrippe in Berlin and parts of Brandenburg. Some of these names reappear in other European languages as well, for example as zsemle in Hungarian, or rundstykker ("round pieces") in Danish and Norwegian. In the Netherlands they are called broodje.[citation needed] "Small bread" is also found as Italian panino, which also commonly denotes a stuffed small bread roll. The Kaisersemmel reappears in Italy as the Michetta or Rosetta. In Swedish, a bread roll is a (frukost) bullar ("(breakfast) buns"), franskbrödbullar ("french bread bun") or simply fralla ("bun"), comfort food eaten with butter and any kind of topping (marmalade, cheese, ham, salami) for special weekend breakfasts. The Doppelweck or Doppelbrötchen is a type of bread roll originating from the Saarland which consists of two rolls joined together side-by-side before baking.[citation needed]

Butter

Butter

Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment, and used as a fat in baking, sauce-making, pan frying, and other cooking procedures. Most frequently made from cow's milk, butter can also be manufactured from the milk of other mammals, including sheep, goats, buffalo, and yaks. It is made by churning milk or cream to separate the fat globules from the buttermilk. Salt has been added to butter since antiquity to help preserve it, particularly when being transported; salt may still play a preservation role but is less important today as the entire supply chain is usually refrigerated. In modern times, salt may be added for taste. Food coloring is sometimes added to butter. Rendering butter, removing the water and milk solids, produces clarified butter, or ghee, which is almost entirely butterfat.

Cereal

Cereal

Breakfast cereal is a category of food, including food products, made from processed cereal grains, that are eaten as part of breakfast or as a snack food, primarily in Western societies. Although warm, cooked cereals like oat meal, corn grits, and wheat farina have the longest history as traditional breakfast foods, branded and ready-to-eat cold cereals appeared around the late 19th century. These processed, precooked, packaged cereals are most often served in a quick and simple preparation with dairy products, traditionally cow's milk. These modern cereals can also be paired with yoghurt or plant-based milks, or eaten plain. Fruit or nuts are sometimes added, and may enhance the nutritional benefits.

Chia pudding

Chia pudding

Chia seeds are the edible seeds of Salvia hispanica, a flowering plant in the mint family (Lamiaceae) native to central and southern Mexico, or of the related Salvia columbariae, Salvia polystachia, or Salvia tiliifolia. Chia seeds are oval and gray with black and white spots, having a diameter of around 2 millimetres (0.08 in). The seeds are hygroscopic, absorbing up to 12 times their weight in liquid when soaked and developing a mucilaginous coating that gives chia-based foods and beverages a distinctive gel texture. There is evidence that the crop was widely cultivated by the Aztecs in pre-Columbian times and was a staple food for Mesoamerican cultures. Chia seeds are cultivated on a small scale in their ancestral homeland of central Mexico and Guatemala and commercially throughout Central and South America.

Eier

Eier

Humans and their hominid relatives have consumed eggs for millions of years. The most widely consumed eggs are those of fowl, especially chickens. People in Southeast Asia began harvesting chicken eggs for food by 1500 BCE. Eggs of other birds, such as ducks and ostriches, are eaten regularly but much less commonly than those of chickens. People may also eat the eggs of reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Fish eggs consumed as food are known as roe or caviar. Hens and other egg-laying creatures are raised throughout the world, and mass production of chicken eggs is a global industry. In 2009, an estimated 62.1 million metric tons of eggs were produced worldwide from a total laying flock of approximately 6.4 billion hens. There are issues of regional variation in demand and expectation, as well as current debates concerning methods of mass production. In 2012, the European Union banned battery husbandry of chickens.

Eierkuchen

Eierkuchen

Thin crepe-like pancakes, serve with fruit, jam, Nutella, sugar, cinnamon

French toast

French toast

French toast is a dish of sliced bread soaked in beaten eggs and often milk or cream, then pan-fried. Alternative names and variants include eggy bread, Bombay toast, gypsy toast, and poor knights . When French toast is served as a sweet dish, sugar, vanilla, or cinnamon are also commonly added before pan-frying, and then it may be topped with sugar (often powdered sugar), butter, fruit, or syrup. When it is a savory dish, it is generally fried with a pinch of salt or pepper, and it can then be served with a sauce such as ketchup or mayonnaise.

Fruit juice

Fruit juice

Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such as clam juice. Juice is commonly consumed as a beverage or used as an ingredient or flavoring in foods or other beverages, such as smoothies. Juice emerged as a popular beverage choice after the development of pasteurization methods enabled its preservation without using fermentation . The largest fruit juice consumers are New Zealand (nearly a cup, or 8 ounces, each day) and Colombia (more than three quarters of a cup each day). Fruit juice consumption on average increases with a country's income level.

Gekochtes ei

Gekochtes ei

Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such as clam juice. Juice is commonly consumed as a beverage or used as an ingredient or flavoring in foods or other beverages, such as smoothies. Juice emerged as a popular beverage choice after the development of pasteurization methods enabled its preservation without using fermentation . The largest fruit juice consumers are New Zealand (nearly a cup, or 8 ounces, each day) and Colombia (more than three quarters of a cup each day). Fruit juice consumption on average increases with a country's income level.

Ham

Ham

Ham is pork from a leg cut that has been preserved by wet or dry curing, with or without smoking. As a processed meat, the term ham includes both whole cuts of meat and ones that have been mechanically formed. Ham is made around the world, including a number of regional specialties. In addition, numerous ham products have specific geographical naming protection.

Honig

Honig

Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several species of bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants or the secretions of other insects, like the honeydew of aphids. This refinement takes place both within individual bees, through regurgitation and enzymatic activity, and during storage in the hive, through water evaporation that concentrates the honey's sugars until it is thick and viscous. Honey bees stockpile honey in the hive. Within the hive is a structure made from wax called honeycomb. The honeycomb is made up of hundreds or thousands of hexagonal cells, into which the bees regurgitate honey for storage. Other honey-producing species of bee store the substance in different structures, such as the pots made of wax and resin used by the stingless bee.

Hoppel poppel

Hoppel poppel

A breakfast scramble made with meat, potatoes, onions, eggs, a traditional way to use leftovers

Hörnchen

Hörnchen

Croissants, filled with chocolate, cream, butter

Hot chocolate

Hot chocolate

Hot chocolate, also known as hot cocoa or drinking chocolate, is a heated drink consisting of shaved or melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and usually a sweetener. It is often garnished with whipped cream or marshmallows. Hot chocolate made with melted chocolate is sometimes called drinking chocolate, characterized by less sweetness and a thicker consistency.

Jam

Jam

Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the method of preparation, type of fruit used, and its place in a meal. Sweet fruit preserves such as jams, jellies, and marmalades are often eaten at breakfast with bread or as an ingredient of a pastry or dessert, whereas more savory and acidic preserves made from "vegetable fruits" such as tomato, squash or zucchini, are eaten alongside savory foods such as cheese, cold meats, and curries.

Joghurt

Joghurt

Yogurt is a food produced by bacterial fermentation of milk. Fermentation of sugars in the milk by these bacteria produces lactic acid, which acts on milk protein to give yogurt its texture and characteristic tart flavor. Cow's milk is most commonly used to make yogurt. Milk from water buffalo, goats, ewes, mares, camels, and yaks is also used to produce yogurt. The milk used may be homogenized or not. It may be pasteurized or raw. Each type of milk produces substantially different results. Yogurt is produced using a culture of Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus bacteria. Other lactobacilli and bifidobacteria are sometimes added during or after culturing yogurt. Some countries require yogurt to contain a specific amount of colony-forming units (CFU) of bacteria; for example, in China the requirement for the number of lactobacillus bacteria is at least 1 million CFU per milliliter. Some countries also regulate which bacteria can be used: for example, in France, a product can only be labeled as "yaourt" or "yoghourt" if it has been fermented exclusively by Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus, a requirement that aligns with the international definition of yogurt in the Codex Alimentarius on fermented milk (CXS 243-2003.

Kaffee

Kaffee

Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially available. There are also various coffee substitutes. Typically served hot, coffee has the highest sales in the world market for hot drinks. Coffee production begins when the seeds from coffee cherries are separated to produce unroasted green coffee beans. The "beans" are roasted and then ground into fine particles. Coffee is brewed from the ground roasted beans, which are typically steeped in hot water before being filtered out. It is usually served hot, although chilled or iced coffee is common. Coffee can be prepared and presented in a variety of ways (e.g., espresso, French press, caffè latte, or already-brewed canned coffee). Sugar, sugar substitutes, milk, and cream are often added to mask the bitter taste or enhance the flavor.

Käse

Käse

Cheese is a type of dairy product produced in a range of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk . During production, milk is usually acidified and either the enzymes of rennet or bacterial enzymes with similar activity are added to cause the casein to coagulate. The solid curds are then separated from the liquid whey and pressed into finished cheese. Some cheeses have aromatic molds on the rind, the outer layer, or throughout. Over a thousand types of cheese exist, produced in various countries. Their styles, textures and flavors depend on the origin of the milk (including the animal's diet), whether they have been pasteurised, the butterfat content, the bacteria and mold, the processing, and how long they have been aged. Herbs, spices, or wood smoke may be used as flavoring agents. Other added ingredients may include black pepper, garlic, chives or cranberries. A cheesemonger, or specialist seller of cheeses, may have expertise with selecting, purchasing, receiving, storing and ripening cheeses.

Krabbensalat

Krabbensalat

Leberwurst

Leberwurst

Liverwurst, leberwurst, or liver sausage is a kind of sausage made from liver. It is eaten throughout Europe, as well as North and South America, notably in Argentina and Chile. Some liverwurst varieties are spreadable. Liverwurst usually contains pigs' or calves' liver. Other ingredients are meat , fat, and spices including ground black pepper, marjoram, allspice, thyme, ground mustard seed, and nutmeg. Many regions in Germany have distinct recipes for liverwurst. Adding ingredients like pieces of onion or bacon to the recipe make each variety of liverwurst very important to cultural identity. For example, the Thüringer Leberwurst (Thuringian liverwurst) has a Protected Geographical Status throughout the EU. Recently, more exotic additions such as cowberries and mushrooms have gained popularity. The word liverwurst is a partial calque of German Leberwurst ( pronounced [ˈleːbɐˌvʊʁst] ⓘ) 'liver sausage', and 'liver sausage', a full calque.

Milch

Milch

Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest solid food. Milk contains many nutrients, including calcium and protein, as well as lactose and saturated fat. Immune factors and immune-modulating components in milk contribute to milk immunity. Early-lactation milk, which is called colostrum, contains antibodies and immune-modulating components that strengthen the immune system against many diseases. The US CDC agency recommends that children over the age of 12 months (the minimum age to stop giving breast milk or formula) should have two servings of dairy (milk) products a day, and more than six billion people worldwide consume milk and milk products. As an agricultural product, dairy milk is collected from farm animals, mostly cattle. In 2011, dairy farms produced around 730 million tonnes (800 million short tons) of milk from 260 million dairy cows. India is the world's largest producer of milk and the leading exporter of skimmed milk powder. New Zealand, Germany, and the Netherlands are the largest exporters of milk products. Between 750 and 900 million people live in dairy-farming households.

Muesli

Muesli

Muesli is a cold Swiss breakfast dish, the primary ingredient of which is rolled oats. Traditionally, it is set to soak in water overnight ("overnight oats") and eaten the next morning with fresh fruit, nuts, lemon juice, and cream sweetened with honey. Additional ingredients, such as other grains, seeds, and dried fruits are sometimes added, and other citrus juice may be used. Yogurt, milk or other milk products, or milk substitutes are now commonly added to both homemade and commercially packaged muesli recipes. Developed around 1900 by Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital, it has become a common breakfast cereal dish. In Switzerland, it is also consumed for supper as Birchermüesli complet – muesli with Café complet (milk coffee, accompanied by Butterbrot (bread, butter and jam)). In addition to being prepared raw, muesli can be toasted. Muesli can also be processed further by adding sweetener and oil to bind the ingredients together and baked to produce granola.

Obst

Obst

In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering (see Fruit anatomy). Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propagated using the movements of humans and other animals in a symbiotic relationship that is the means for seed dispersal for the one group and nutrition for the other; humans, and many other animals, have become dependent on fruits as a source of food. Consequently, fruits account for a substantial fraction of the world's agricultural output, and some (such as the apple and the pomegranate) have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings.

Orangensaft

Orangensaft

Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. As well as variations in oranges used, some varieties include differing amounts of juice vesicles, known as "pulp" in American English, and " bits" in British English. These vesicles contain the juice of the orange and can be left in or removed during the manufacturing process. How juicy these vesicles are depend upon many factors, such as species, variety, and season. In American English, the beverage name is often abbreviated as "OJ". Commercial orange juice with a long shelf life is made by pasteurizing the juice and removing the oxygen from it. This removes much of the taste, necessitating the later addition of a flavor pack, generally made from orange products. Additionally, some juice is further processed by drying and later rehydrating the juice, or by concentrating the juice and later adding water to the concentrate.

Quark

Quark

Quark or quarg is a type of fresh dairy product made from milk. The milk is soured, usually by adding lactic acid bacteria cultures, and strained once the desired curdling is achieved. It can be classified as fresh acid-set cheese. Traditional quark can be made without rennet, but in modern dairies small quantities of rennet are typically added. It is soft, white and unaged, and usually has no salt added. Quark and its dryer variant Tvorog is traditional in the cuisines of Baltic, Germanic and Slavic-speaking countries as well as amongst Ashkenazi Jews and various Turkic peoples. Dictionaries sometimes translate it as curd cheese, cottage cheese, farmer cheese or junket. In Germany, quark and cottage cheese are considered different types of fresh cheese and quark is often not considered cheese at all, while in Eastern Europe cottage cheese is usually viewed as a type of quark .

Rheinisches Zuckerrübenkraut

Rheinisches Zuckerrübenkraut

Sugar beet syrup from Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany

Rollmops

Rollmops

Rollmops are pickled herring fillets, rolled into a cylindrical shape, often around a savoury filling. The filling usually consists of onion and sliced pickled gherkin. Rollmops are often skewered with a cocktail skewer. Rollmops are usually bought ready-to-eat, in jars or tubs. The brine additionally consists of water, white vinegar, and salt; it may also contain sugar or other sweetening agents, onion rings, peppercorns and mustard seeds. Rollmops can be eaten cold, without unrolling, or on bread. After the jar has been opened, they will usually keep for two to three weeks if kept cool or refrigerated. Rollmops are sometimes served with Labskaus.

Rosinenbrot

Rosinenbrot

Raisin bread or fruit bread is a type of bread made with raisins and flavored with cinnamon. It is "usually a white flour or egg dough bread". Aside from white flour, raisin bread is also made with other flours, such as all-purpose flour, oat flour, or whole wheat flour. Some recipes include honey, brown sugar, eggs, or butter. Variations of the recipe include the addition of walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans or, for a dessert, rum or whisky. Raisin bread is eaten in many different forms, including being served toasted for breakfast ("raisin toast") or made into sandwiches. Some restaurants serve raisin bread with their cheeseboards.

Saft

Saft

Juice is a drink made from the extraction or pressing of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables. It can also refer to liquids that are flavored with concentrate or other biological food sources, such as meat or seafood, such as clam juice. Juice is commonly consumed as a beverage or used as an ingredient or flavoring in foods or other beverages, such as smoothies. Juice emerged as a popular beverage choice after the development of pasteurization methods enabled its preservation without using fermentation . The largest fruit juice consumers are New Zealand (nearly a cup, or 8 ounces, each day) and Colombia (more than three quarters of a cup each day). Fruit juice consumption on average increases with a country's income level.

Schwarze johannisbeere konfitüre

Schwarze johannisbeere konfitüre

Blackcurrant jam

Tee

Tee

Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of Camellia sinensis, an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and northern Myanmar. Tea is also made, but rarely, from the leaves of Camellia taliensis. After plain water, tea is the most widely consumed drink in the world. There are many different types of tea; some have a cooling, slightly bitter, and astringent flavour, while others have profiles that include sweet, nutty, floral, or grassy notes. Tea has a stimulating effect in humans, primarily due to its caffeine content. An early credible record of tea drinking dates to the third century AD, in a medical text written by Chinese physician Hua Tuo. It was popularised as a recreational drink during the Chinese Tang dynasty, and tea drinking subsequently spread to other East Asian countries. Portuguese priests and merchants introduced it to Europe during the 16th century. During the 17th century, drinking tea became fashionable among the English, who started to plant tea on a large scale in British India.

Weißwurst

Weißwurst

Weißwurst [ˈvaɪsvʊɐ̯st] ⓘ, literally 'white sausage'; Bavarian: Weißwuascht) is a traditional Bavarian sausage made from minced veal and pork back fat. It is usually flavored with parsley, lemon, mace, onions, ginger and cardamom, although there are some variations. Then the mixture is stuffed into pork casings and separated into individual sausages measuring about 10 to 12 centimetres in length and 3–4 cm (1+1⁄8–1+5⁄8 in) in thickness. As they are not smoked or otherwise preserved they are very perishable. Weißwürste were traditionally manufactured early in the morning and prepared and eaten as a snack between breakfast and lunch. There is a saying that the sausages should not be allowed to hear the noon chime of the church bells. Even today, most Bavarians never eat Weißwürste after lunchtime (though it is perfectly acceptable to have a lunch consisting of Weißwürste).

Aachener Printen

Aachener Printen

Aachener Printen are a type of Lebkuchen originating from the city of Aachen in Germany. Somewhat similar to gingerbread, they were originally sweetened with honey, but are now generally sweetened with a syrup made from sugar beets. The term is a protected geographical indication, meaning that all manufacturers must be located in or near Aachen. Aachener Printen were at least partially created due to the numerous pilgrims who wanted to visit the Aachen Cathedral. The Printen were probably inspired by Couque de Dinant, a pastry from Dinant that was usually baked in the form of figurative representations or artistic braids. Gebildbrot came to Aachen in the 15th century with immigrant blacksmiths and quickly found popularity among the city's bakers. They made a soft dough sweetened with honey, which they pressed into elaborately carved baking molds depicting saints and other figures. The Aachener Printen became what they are now in 1806, when the French emperor Napoleon blocked the British trade routes and with them Aachen's supply of cane sugar and honey, the most important ingredients for the pastry. The bakers replaced the sweeteners with sugar and syrup from local beets. An original baker named Henry Lambertz then came up with the idea of rolling out the dough over raised molds. The robust cookies can be efficiently produced in large quantities and are ideal as travel provisions, which is why their reputation has spread far beyond Aachen. The Lambertz-Gruppe, founded in 1688, is Aachen's oldest and largest manufacturer of Printen.

Apfel im schlafrock

Apfel im schlafrock

Pastry-wrapped apple baked with cinnamon, sugar, nutmeg

Apfelkuchen

Apfelkuchen

An apple pie is a pie in which the principal filling is apples. Apple pie is often served with whipped cream, ice cream , custard or cheddar cheese. It is generally double-crusted, with pastry both above and below the filling; the upper crust may be solid or latticed (woven of crosswise strips). The bottom crust may be baked separately ("blind") to prevent it from getting soggy. Tarte Tatin is baked with the crust on top, but served with it on the bottom. Originating in the 14th century in England, apple pie recipes are now a standard part of cuisines in many countries where apples grow. Apple pies are an unofficial symbol of the United States and one of its signature comfort foods.

Apfelstrudel

Apfelstrudel

Apple strudel is a traditional Viennese strudel, a popular pastry in Austria, Switzerland, Bavaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Northern Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and other countries in Europe that once belonged to the Austro-Hungarian Empire (1867–1918). Strudel, a German word, derives from the Middle High German word for "swirl", "whirlpool" or "eddy". The apple strudel variant is called strudel di mele in Italian, strudel jabłkowy in Polish, jablečný štrúdl in Czech, strudel de mere in Romanian, jabolčni zavitek in Slovenian, štrudla od jabuka or savijača s jabukama in Croatian,almásrétes in Hungarian, strudel da mëiles in Ladin and Apfelstrudel in German.

Apfeltaschen

Apfeltaschen

Apple fritters, pastries with a sweet apple filling

Arme ritter

Arme ritter

Germany's version of french toast, except the bread is soaked in milk before the eggs

Babka

Babka

A babka is a sweet braided bread which originated in the Jewish communities of Poland and Ukraine. It is popular in Israel and in the Jewish diaspora. It is prepared with a yeast-leavened dough that is rolled out and spread with a filling such as chocolate, cinnamon, fruit, or cheese, then rolled up and braided before baking. Babka developed in Poland and next in the Jewish communities of Central and Eastern Europe in the early 19th century.[citation needed] Extra challah dough was rolled up with fruit jam or cinnamon and baked as a loaf alongside the challah. Chocolate was not originally used, as it was not generally available; the chocolate babka was likely a mid-20th century American development. Its name (though not necessarily the dish itself) may be related to a type of Easter cake popular in Poland and Ukraine known as baba or the diminutive babka, which means "grandmother", related to the Yiddish bubbe. Although the Polish and Ukrainian babka are mutually synonymous with their Jewish counterparts, the appearance and preparation of each babka is drastically different. The Eastern European babka is known for its tall, stout, fluted sides formed in a traditional pan, and reminiscent of a grandma's skirt. In comparison, the variant introduced by émigrés to New York consists of strands of rich yeasted dough interwoven and baked in a loaf tin.

Bärentatzen

Bärentatzen

Bear claw shaped cookies made with nut or almond flour, chocolate and spices such as cinnamon, clove and lemon zest

Baumkuchen

Baumkuchen

Baumkuchen is a kind of spit cake from German cuisine. It is also a popular dessert in Japan. The characteristic rings that appear in its slices resemble tree rings, and give the cake its German name, Baumkuchen, which literally translates to "tree cake" or "log cake". It is disputed who made the first Baumkuchen and where it was first baked. One theory is that it was invented in the German town of Salzwedel, which is further popularized by the town itself. Another theory suggests it began as a Hungarian wedding cake.[citation needed] In Ein neues Kochbuch (lit. "A New Cookbook"), the first cookbook written for professional chefs by Marx Rumpolt, there is a recipe for Baumkuchen. This publication puts the origin of Baumkuchen as far back at 1581, the year the cookbook was first published. Marx Rumpolt had previously worked as a chef in Hungary and Bohemia.[citation needed] Traditionally, Baumkuchen is made on a spit by brushing on even layers of batter and then rotating the spit around a heat source. Each layer is allowed to brown before a new layer of batter is poured. When the cake is removed and sliced, each layer is divided from the next by a golden line, resembling the growth rings in a tree cross-section. A typical Baumkuchen is made up of 15 to 20 layers of batter. However, the layering process for making Baumkuchen can continue until the cakes are quite large. Skilled pastry chefs have been known to create cakes with 25 layers and weighing over 100 pounds (45 kg). When cooked on a spit, it is not uncommon for a finished Baumkuchen to be 3–4 feet (0.91–1.22 m) tall.

Bayerische Crème

Bayerische Crème

Bavarian cream, crème bavaroise or simply bavarois is a French dessert consisting of an egg-based cooked custard and gelatin or isinglass, into which whipped cream is folded. The mixture sets up in a cold mold and is unmolded for serving. Earlier versions, sometimes called fromage bavarois, did not include eggs or any actual cheese. One recipe using isinglass also calls for crumbled amaretto cookies, chocolate and other flavorings. One contemporary French recipe for "bavarois" is a savory preparation with a neufchâtel-type cheese and leeks, and is not a sweet dessert. Bavarian cream is a classic dessert that was included in the repertoire of chef Marie-Antoine Carême, who is sometimes credited with it. It was named in the early 19th century for Bavaria or, perhaps in the history of haute cuisine, for a particularly distinguished visiting Bavarian, such as a Wittelsbach, given that its origin is believed to have been during the 17th and 18th century when French chefs cooked for the Wittelsbach princes, a German family that ruled Bavaria from the 12th century until 1918. In the United States, Bavarian creams first appeared in Boston Cooking School books by D. A. Lincoln in 1884, and by Fannie Farmer in 1896. From 1884 to 2022, there were over 95,000 references to Bavarian cream in US and Canadian newspapers, featuring recipes, commentaries and reviews. Of those references, over 14,000 were in the 1930s, which seems to have been the peak decade of popularity. Most references were in the states of New York, Pennsylvania and California (7000-8000 each), while the fewest were in Alaska and Guam (fewer than 50 each).

Beignet

Beignet

Beignet is a type of deep-fried pastry of French origin. It is commonly made from pâte à choux, but can also be made using rice flour (rice beignets) or yeast-leavened batters. Beignets can be served in a variety of preparations, the most common being dusted with confectioner’s sugar. The pastry is popular in French, Italian, and American cuisines. A traditional way beignets are prepared is using choux pastry dough. Otherwise known as the French-style beignet, this type of dough is typically made using butter, milk or water, sugar, flour, and salt. Choux pastry is versatile and is prepared differently by culture. The pâte à choux method is also the style of beignets that were introduced to New Orleans by French immigrants in the 1700s. Variations often include banana or plantain – popular fruits in the port city – or berries. Other variations include savory fillings such as meat and cheese fillings.

Berliner

Berliner

A Berliner or Krapfen is a German jam doughnut with no central hole, made from sweet yeast dough fried in lard or cooking oil, with a jam filling, and usually covered in powdered sugar. Sugar was very costly until the 16th century, and early doughnuts were usually stuffed with savory fillings like cheese, meat and mushroom. When imports from Caribbean sugar plantations made sugar more affordable, fruit preserves gained in popularity. In 1485, the first German-language cookbook to be published in printed form Kuechenmeisterei was published in Nuremberg and remained in print at least until 1674 with 20 editions . It was one of the first cookbooks printed using the Gutenberg press and contains the first known recipe for a jelly doughnut, called Gefüllte Krapfen made with jam-filled yeasted bread dough deep-fried in lard. It's unknown whether this innovation was the author's own or simply a record of an existing practice. The yeast dough contains a good deal of eggs, milk and butter. For the classical Pfannkuchen made in Berlin the dough is rolled into a ball, deep-fried in lard, whereby the distinctive bright bulge occurs, and then filled with jam. The filling is related to the topping:[citation needed] for plum-butter, powdered sugar; for raspberry, strawberry and cherry jam, sugar; for all other fillings, sugar icing, sometimes flavoured with rum. Today the filling usually is injected with a large syringe or pastry bag after the dough is fried in one piece.

Bethmännchen

Bethmännchen

Bethmännchen is a pastry made from marzipan with almond, powdered sugar, rosewater, flour and egg. It is a traditional cookie usually baked for Christmas Day and is widely available in chocolate shops around Frankfurt. It is a special commodity sold in Frankfurt's Christmas market, one of the oldest Christmas markets in Germany which dates back as far as 1393. The name comes from the family of Bethmann. Legend has it that Parisian pastry chef Jean Jacques Gautenier developed the recipe for banker and city councilor Simon Moritz von Bethmann in 1838. Originally the Bethmännchen were decorated with four almonds, one for each son of Simon Moritz. After the death of his son Heinrich in 1845, the fourth almond was removed. However, this story is unlikely, since Simon Moritz had died already in 1826.

Bienenstich

Bienenstich

Bienenstich or bee sting cake is a German dessert cake made of a sweet yeast dough with a baked-on topping of caramelized almonds and filled with vanilla custard, buttercream or cream. The earliest German and Swiss recipes for the cake date to the beginning of the 20th century. The dairy cream and custard filling would have required cool storage, inaccessible to most households in earlier centuries. One source for the origin of bienenstich cites a legend of German bakers from the 15th century who lobbed beehives at raiders from a neighboring village, successfully repelling them, and celebrated later by baking a version of this cake named after their efforts. The foundation for this cake is a sweet yeast dough, which is rolled out finger-thick on a baking tray. On it, before baking, a roasting mass of boiled sugar or honey, fat, cream and sliced almonds is applied. The mass is applied relatively hot, otherwise it will not be spreadable. After baking and cooling, the pastry is divided horizontally.

Bizcocho

Bizcocho

Bizcocho is the name given in the Spanish-speaking world to a wide range of pastries, cakes or cookies. The exact product to which the word bizcocho is applied varies widely depending on the region and country. For instance, in Spain bizcocho is exclusively used to refer to sponge cake. In Uruguay, most buttery flaky pastry including croissants are termed bizcocho, whilst sponge cake is called bizcochuelo. In Chile, the Dominican Republic, and Bolivia bizcocho refers to a sweet dough (masa) baked with local ingredients, similar to the bizcocho from Spain. In Ecuador the dough of a bizcocho can either be sweet or salty. The US state New Mexico is unusual in using the diminutive form of the name, bizcochito, as the name for a locally developed and very popular cookie. The word bizcocho comes from the Latin bis coctus, which means "cooked twice", that is why it was often soaked in wine, due to the low humidity it had. The Uruguayan sponge cake is frequently related to the German pastry. It is argued that it is a derivative of krapfen, which was brought by the German immigration that went to the Río de la Plata region.

Black and white cookie

Black and white cookie

Black-and-white cookies, half-and-half cookies, and half-moon cookies are similar round cookies iced or frosted in two colors, with one half vanilla and the other chocolate. They are found in the Northeastern United States and Florida. Black-and-white cookies are flat, have fondant or sometimes royal icing on a dense cake base, and are common in the New York metropolitan area. Half-moon cookies are slightly dome-shaped , have frosting on a fluffy angel cake base, and are common in Central New York and Boston, Massachusetts. The Amerikaner is a similar cookie in German baking.

Black Forest cake

Black Forest cake

Black Forest gateau, sometimes spelled gâteau , literally "Black Forest cherry torte") and called Black Forest cake in the United States, is layer cake consisting of chocolate sponge cake, whipped cream and cherry fillings and toppings. While it is most likely based on a Black Forest dessert tradition, the cake's specific origin in Germany is contested. Typically, Black Forest gateau consists of several layers of chocolate sponge cake sandwiched with whipped cream and cherries. It is decorated with additional whipped cream, maraschino cherries, and chocolate shavings. Traditionally Kirschwasser, a clear alcoholic spirit made from sour cherries, is added to the cake. Other spirits are sometimes used, such as rum, which is common in Austrian recipes. German law mandates that any dessert labelled Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte must have Kirschwasser.

Blancmange

Blancmange

Blancmange is a sweet dessert popular throughout Europe commonly made with milk or cream and sugar, thickened with rice flour, gelatin, corn starch, or Irish moss (a source of carrageenan), and often flavoured with almonds. It is usually set in a mould and served cold. Although traditionally white, blancmanges are frequently given other colours. Blancmange originated at some time during the Middle Ages from the older Middle Eastern muhallebi, and usually consisted of milk or almond milk, rice, and sugar; it was considered to be an ideal food for the sick.[citation needed]

Blitzkuchen

Blitzkuchen

A quick coffee cake

Bratapfel

Bratapfel

Baked apples, often made with a sweet filling of, for example, raisins, walnuts, cinnamon, marzipan, common during Christmas

Brownies

Brownies

A chocolate brownie, or simply a brownie, is a chocolate baked dessert bar. Brownies come in a variety of forms and may be either fudgy or cakey, depending on their density. Brownies often, but not always, have a glossy "skin" on their upper crust. They may also include nuts, frosting, chocolate chips, or other ingredients. A variation made with brown sugar and vanilla rather than chocolate in the batter is called a blond brownie or blondie. The brownie was developed in the United States at the end of the 19th century and popularized there during the first half of the 20th century. Brownies are typically eaten by hand or with utensils, and may be accompanied by a glass of milk, served warm with ice cream , topped with whipped cream, or sprinkled with powdered sugar. In North America, they are common homemade treats and they are also popular in restaurants, ice cream parlors, and coffeehouses. One legend about the creation of brownies is that of Bertha Palmer, a prominent Chicago socialite whose husband owned the Palmer House Hotel. In 1893, Palmer asked a pastry chef for a dessert suitable for ladies attending the Chicago World's Columbian Exposition. She requested a dessert that would be smaller than a piece of cake, and easily eaten from boxed lunches. The result was the Palmer House Brownie, made of chocolate with walnuts and an apricot glaze. The Palmer House in Chicago still serves this dessert to patrons made from the same recipe. The name was given to the dessert some time after 1893, but was not used by cookbooks or journals at the time.

Buchteln

Buchteln

Buchteln , Ofennudel(n), Rohrnudel(n)) are sweet rolls made of enriched yeast dough, filled with powidl, jam, ground poppy seeds or quark, brushed with butter and baked in a large pan so that they stick together and can be pulled apart. The traditional buchtel is filled with powidl.[citation needed] Buchteln may be topped with vanilla sauce, powdered sugar or eaten plain and warm. Buchteln are served lukewarm, mostly as a breakfast pastry or with tea. In the 19th century they could be boiled similar to dumplings. The origin of the buchteln is the region of Bohemia, but they also play a major part in the Austrian, Slovak, Slovenian, and Hungarian cuisine. In Bavaria buchteln are called Rohrnudeln, in Slovenian buhteljni, in Serbian бухтле/buhtle or бухтла/buhtla, in Hungarian bukta, in Kajkavian buhtli, in Croatian buhtle, in Polish buchta, and in Czech buchta or buchtička, in Lombard Buten. In Romania, in the Banat region, are called bucte.

Butterkuchen

Butterkuchen

Butterkuchen or Zuckerkuchen is a simple German butter cake baked on a tray. Flakes of butter are distributed on the dough which, after baking, form the characteristic holes. The whole cake is sprinkled with sugar or streusel. After further kneading the Butterkuchen is baked. As a variation the dough can be sprinkled with roasted almond flakes. Butterkuchen is a favourite element of Westphalian and North German coffee tables. It is also served at weddings and funerals and, as a result, is sometimes called Freud-und-Leid-Kuchen or Beerdigungskuchen ("funeral cake"). A regional variation is to sprinkle the Butterkuchen with a sugar-cinnamon mixture rather than with sugar alone. This is very similar to Moravian Sugar Cake.

Cake pop

Cake pop

A cake pop is a form of cake styled as a lollipop, and was created by Angie Dudley in 2008. Cake crumbs are mixed with icing or chocolate, and formed into small spheres or cubes in the same way as cake balls, before being given a coating of icing, chocolate or other decorations and attached to lollipop sticks. Cake pops can be a way of using up leftover cake or cake crumbs. The cake pop increased in popularity between 2009 and 2011. The cake pop peaked in popularity during the late 2010s and early 2020s due to Starbucks' famous cake pops and gender reveal parties using them to reveal their child's gender. Cake pops use many of the ingredients used in baking a traditional cake and can be made from cakes of any flavor.

Carrot cake

Carrot cake

Carrot cake is cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter. The origins of carrot cake is disputed. Published in 1591, there is an English recipe for "pudding in a Carret [sic] root" that is essentially a carrot stuffed with meat, but it includes many elements common to the modern dessert: shortening, cream, eggs, raisins, sweetener (dates and sugar), spices (clove and mace), scraped carrot, and breadcrumbs (in place of flour). Many food historians believe carrot cake originated from such carrot puddings eaten by Europeans in the Middle Ages, when sugar and sweeteners were expensive and many people used carrots as a substitute for sugar.

Charlotte Russe cake

Charlotte Russe cake

A charlotte is a type of bread pudding that can be served hot or cold. It is also referred to as an "icebox cake". Bread, sponge cake, crumbs or biscuits/cookies are used to line a mold, which is then filled with a fruit puree or custard. The baked pudding could then be sprinkled with powdered sugar and glazed with a salamander, a red-hot iron plate attached to a long handle, though modern recipes would likely use more practical tools to achieve a similar effect. The variant charlotte russe also called charlotte parisienne, created by the French chef Antonin Carême, uses a mold lined with ladyfingers and filled with Bavarian cream. Classically, stale bread dipped in butter was used as the lining, but sponge cake or ladyfingers may be used today. The filling may be covered with a thin layer of similarly flavoured gelatin.

Chocolate

Chocolate

Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring in other foods. The cacao tree has been used as a source of food for at least 5,300 years, starting with the Mayo-Chinchipe culture in what is present-day Ecuador. Later, Mesoamerican civilizations consumed cacao beverages, of which one, chocolate, was introduced to Europe in the 16th century.

Crème brûlée

Crème brûlée

Crème brûlée , also known as burnt cream, Cambridge burnt cream, or Trinity cream, and virtually identical to crema catalana, is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hardened caramelized sugar. It is normally served slightly chilled; the heat from the caramelizing process tends to warm the top of the custard, while leaving the center cool. The custard base is generally flavored with vanilla in French cuisine, but can have other flavorings. It is sometimes garnished with fruit. The earliest known recipe of a dessert called crème brûlée appears in François Massialot's 1691 cookbook Cuisinier royal et bourgeois, but its ultimate origins are unclear.

Crêpes Suzette

Crêpes Suzette

Crêpes Suzette is a French dessert consisting of crêpes with beurre Suzette ( pronounced [bœʁ syzɛt]), a sauce of caramelized sugar and butter, tangerine or orange juice, zest, and Grand Marnier, triple sec or orange Curaçao liqueur on top, flambéed tableside. The origin of the dish and its name is disputed. One claim is that it was created from a mistake made by a 14-year-old assistant waiter, Henri Charpentier, in 1895 at the Maitre at Monte Carlo's Café de Paris. He was preparing a dessert for the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (then Prince of Wales), whose guests included a beautiful French girl named Suzette. This story was told by Charpentier himself in Life à la Henri, his autobiography, although later contradicted by the Larousse Gastronomique. Different sources (like the Larousse Gastronomique) however doubt that Charpentier, rather than the head waiter, was serving the prince, because he would have been too young. A less fantastical version emerges from Elsie Lee's interview with him in the 1950s. There, Charpentier explained at length that "his complicated version began as the dish of pancakes with fruit sauce his foster mother made on very special occasions." The addition of liqueur was common among chefs in Paris at the time.

Dominostein

Dominostein

A Dominostein is a confection primarily sold during Christmas season in Germany and Austria. It is a layered confection, related to the Mille-feuille, opera cake, Punschkrapfen, and Jaffa Cakes. Dominostein has a base of Lebkuchen (gingerbread), a middle layer of jelly (e.g. from sour cherries or apricots), and a top layer of marzipan or persipan. It is enveloped in (typically) dark chocolate.

Donauwelle

Donauwelle

Donauwelle is a traditional sheet cake popular in Germany and Austria. It is made of layers of plain and chocolate pound cake combined to have a wavy border between them. It contains sour cherries and is topped with buttercream and chocolate glaze. The cake's name comes from its wavy pattern inside and its swirled chocolate decoration, although the reason for naming it after the Danube in particular is not clear. It could refer to its popularity in those countries that the river flows through. Other names for the cake are Schneewittchenkuchen, meaning 'Snow White cake', and Schneewittchentorte, referring to its color scheme of black, white and red, like the character of Snow White in the Brothers Grimm's fairy tale.

Edible cookie dough

Edible cookie dough

Cookie dough designed specifically to be eaten raw, made without raw eggs and uses heat-treated flour.

Eiskonfekt

Eiskonfekt

Chocolate and coconut oil confection

Elisenlebkuchen

Elisenlebkuchen

Soft ginger cookies

Engelsaugen

Engelsaugen

Angel eyes cookies, thumbprint butter cookies filled with, for example, jelly, chocolate, lemon curd, common during Christmas

Erdbeerkuchen

Erdbeerkuchen

Strawberry cake

Floating island

Floating island

A floating island or île flottante is a dessert consisting of soft meringue floating on crème anglaise (a vanilla custard). The meringue used is baked in a bain-marie. It may be served at room temperature or chilled. Œufs à la neige ("eggs in snow", [øz‿a la nɛʒ]) is a similar dessert where the meringue is in egg-sized pieces and poached, rather than in one large baked piece. The earliest known English language reference to the dessert is in The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747) by Hannah Glasse. Her recipe, entitled The Flooting Island [sic], is made with sweetened thick cream, sack and lemon peel whipped into a froth, then layered with thin slices of bread alternating with jelly, piled high with the stiffened froth. Fruits and sweetmeats are arranged in a ring around the edge of the dish that is presented as a centerpiece for the table with candles all around it.

Fraisier

Fraisier

Layered sponge cake (genoise) with fresh strawberries and mousseline (pastry cream mixed with butter)

Frankfurter kranz

Frankfurter kranz

The Frankfurter Kranz is a cake specialty of Frankfurt, Germany. Preparation starts with the baking of a firm sponge cake in a ring-shaped baking tin. The cake is then sliced horizontally to divide it into two or three rings, and thick layers of buttercream icing are placed between the rings, usually with a layer of red jam (typically strawberry, blackcurrant or cherry jam). The outside of the cake is then thickly coated with more buttercream and topped with caramel-covered brittle nuts, called Krokant, toasted almond flakes and/or ground hazelnuts. Krokant is a signature ingredient in the dish. The Frankfurter Kranz is considered reminiscent of Frankfurt as the coronation city of the Holy Roman Emperors. Its round shape and the sheath of brittle are intended to represent a golden crown, and the cherries are reminiscent of rubies.

Früchtebrot

Früchtebrot

Christmas fruit bread

Gebrannte mandeln

Gebrannte mandeln

Candied almonds or Praline are nuts of French origin, that have been cooked in a special way, so they end up coated in browned, crunchy sugar. Candied almonds are cooked by heating brown sugar or white sugar, cinnamon and water in a pan then dipping the almonds in the sugar mixture. The first recipe for candied almonds is said to have been invented in the 17th century by Clément Jaluzot, the head chef of Marshal du Plessis-Praslin (hence the name praline in French). This almonds can be crushed to make praliné, used in pastries, and the sugar is caramelised, giving it a brown colour. The history of pralines is a bit mysterious, with different stories about their origin, but it is widely agreed that they are named after Marshal du Plessis, Duke of Choiseul-Praslin. There are also claims about the unofficial creator of the praline, with Chef Clement Lassagne being one of the alleged creators.

Germknödel

Germknödel

Germknödel is a fluffy yeast dough dumpling (knödel), filled with spiced plum jam and served with melted butter and a mix of poppy seeds and sugar on top. It is occasionally – even though less traditional – served with vanilla cream sauce instead. It is a culinary specialty of Austria and Bavaria. The dish is served both as a dessert and as a main course. Germknödel is usually a spherical or bun-shaped dessert. The dessert's main ingredient is a yeast dough enriched with sugar and fat, usually butter. The dumpling is filled with Powidl, a sweet plum jam flavoured with cloves and cinnamon. The dumpling is steamed and then served while still hot with either melted butter or vanilla sauce, and topped with crushed poppy seeds and sugar. Differences between Austrian Germknödel (Germ being the exclusively Austrian word for yeast) and the very similar German and Alsatian dish, Dampfnudel, are that Dampfnudeln are the unfilled variant and can in some regions also be steamed or boiled in salt water and served with savoury side dishes, whereas Bavarian Dampfnudeln and Austrian Germknödel are steamed (and in the end of the cooking process, as the milk has evaporated, become lightly fried) in a small amount of a mixture of milk and butter and always served as a sweet meal.

Gingerbread

Gingerbread

Gingerbread refers to a broad category of baked goods, typically flavored with ginger, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon and sweetened with honey, sugar, or molasses. Gingerbread foods vary, ranging from a moist loaf cake to forms nearly as crisp as a ginger snap. Originally, the term gingerbread referred to preserved ginger. It then referred to a confection made with honey and spices. Gingerbread is often used to translate the French term pain d'épices (lit. 'spice bread') or the German and Polish terms Pfefferkuchen and Piernik respectively (lit. 'pepper cake' because it used to contain pepper) or Lebkuchen (of unclear etymology; either Latin libum, meaning "sacrifice" or "sacrificial bread," or German Laib for loaf or German for life, Leben). Pepper is also referenced in regional names like Norwegian pepperkaker or Czech perník (originally peprník). The meaning of gingerbread has evolved over time. For centuries the term referred to a traditional European pastry, very like a modern cookie, traditionally used to make gingerbread men. In the United States the first known recipe for "Soft gingerbread to be baked in pans" is found in Amelia Simmons' 1796 cookbook, American Cookery.

Götterspeise

Götterspeise

Götterspeise is the German name for a dessert made of gelatine or other gelling agent, sugar, flavourings and food colouring, it is similar or identical to jelly or jello and other gelatin desserts. Other German names include Wackelpudding ("wobbly pudding") or Wackelpeter ( German: [ˈvakl̩ˌpeːtɐ] ⓘ; "Wobbly Peter"); green Götterspeise is also known as Froschsülze ("frog jelly"). Götterspeise is usually eaten with whipped cream or vanilla sauce. The best-known flavours are the following: The green Götterspeise is not coloured with woodruff, the latter only gives the dessert its characteristic aroma. Because the coumarin contained in woodruff is toxic, only artificial woodruff flavouring is used in the trade. A special type of Götterspeise is the triple-layered and three-coloured (red, yellow and green) Ampelpudding ("traffic light pudding"), which is made using three layers of separately cooled flavours.

Gugelhupf

Gugelhupf

A Gugelhupf (also Kugelhupf, Guglhupf, Gugelhopf, pronounced [ˈɡuːɡl̩.hʊp͡f, -hɔp͡f, ˈkuːɡl̩-], and, in France, kouglof [kuɡlɔf], kougelhof, or kougelhopf, is a cake traditionally baked in a distinctive ring pan, similar to Bundt cake, but leavened with baker's yeast. There are three main types: cocoa; plain with a hint of vanilla and lemon zest; and a marbled combination of the two. It is especially popular as a traditional cake in Central Europe. In the cuisine of the Pennsylvania Dutch it is known as Deitscher Kuche .

Halva

Halva

Halva is a type of confectionery that is widely spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa, the Balkans, Central Asia, and South Asia. The name is used for a broad variety of recipes, generally a thick paste made from flour, butter, liquid oil, saffron, rosewater, milk, turmeric powder, and sweetened with sugar. The word halva entered the English language between 1840 and 1850 from Romanian, which came from Ottoman Turkish: حلوى, romanized: helva, itself ultimately derived from Arabic: حلوى, romanized: ḥalwā, a sweet confection. The root in Arabic: ح ل و, romanized: ḥ-l-w, means "sweet". The original name for the confection was Persian: روغن خورديگ, romanized: rōɣn khordīg, meaning "oil food".

Hamantasch

Hamantasch

A hamantash is an Ashkenazi Jewish triangular filled-pocket pastry associated with the Jewish holiday of Purim. The name refers to Haman, the villain in the Purim story. In Hebrew, hamantashen are also known as אוזני המן (oznei Haman), meaning "Haman's ears". "Haman's ears" also refers to a Sephardic Purim pastry, "Orejas de Haman", thought to originate in Spain and Italy, that is made by frying twisted or rolled strips of dough. Traditionally, the dough for hamantashen was made with yeast. With the invention of baking powder during the 1840s and its wide adoption during the first half of the twentieth century, baking powder supplanted yeast, and hamantashen dough became a cookie rather than pastry dough. To shape a hamantash, a filling is placed in the center of a circle of dough, which is then either folded in half and shaped into a triangle or the sides are brought to the center to form a triangle. The oldest and most traditional filling is mohn (poppy seed paste), with powidl or lekvar (prune jam) a close second. The cookie dough variety has spawned many different fillings, traditionally sweet (although savory varieties have become popular as well). Most popular are various jams, especially apricot and raspberry, but also date, raisins, apple, vanilla pastry cream with chocolate chips, cherry, fig, chocolate, dulce de leche, halva, caramel, or cheese. The dough varies from hard like shortbread to a soft yeast dough.

Hefeküchlein

Hefeküchlein

Pancakes, similar to crumpets

Holunderküchlein

Holunderküchlein

Elderberry fritter

Honigkuchen

Honigkuchen

Spice cake sweetened with honey, similar to gingerbread

Kaiserschmarrn

Kaiserschmarrn

Kaiserschmarrn or Kaiserschmarren ( German: [ˈkaɪzɐˌʃmaʁən] ⓘ; 'Emperor's Mess') is a lightly sweetened pancake that takes its name from the Austrian emperor (Kaiser) Franz Joseph I, who was fond of this fluffy shredded pancake. It is served as a dessert or as a light lunch alongside apple sauce and contains raisins or dried cranberries. Kaiserschmarrn is a popular meal or dessert in Austria, Bavaria, and many parts of the former Austro-Hungarian empire, e.g. Hungary, Slovenia, Czech Republic, northern Croatia and western Romania, which usually use the name as a loan word or translations of it. In Slovenia, it is called cesarski praženec or šmorn. Its Hungarian name is császármorzsa or smarni; its Czech name is (Císařský) trhanec or kajzršmorn. In Slovak it is called Cisársky trhanec; Its Romanian name is șmoră.

Kalter hund

Kalter hund

A hedgehog slice is an uncooked flat, square or bar-shaped chocolate snack/dessert, similar to Rocky road but with alternating lighter and darker areas. The darker areas are chocolate flavoured. The lighter areas are crushed biscuit, rice puffs, or similar. Nuts may also be added. It usually has a topping of chocolate icing, upon which may be sprinkled coconut, hundreds and thousands, or other kinds of sprinkles or raisins . The dish goes by a variety of names. In German it is called Kalter Hund (cold dog), Kalte Schnauze (cold snout) or Kellerkuchen (cellar cake). In some languages it is named after its appearance, such as Swedish radiokaka (named for both its resemblance to old-time radios and its ability to be eaten soundlessly so as to not disturb radio broadcasts), Turkish Mozaik Pastası or Greek Mosaico. The Danish kiksekage and Serbo-Croatian keks torta simply mean biscuit cake. The Dutch name Arretjescake comes from a promotional recipe book published by Calvé and is named after its mascot character, while the Norwegian Delfiakake refers to the Delfia deep-frying fat mentioned in this recipe. The dish is derived from chocolate salami which was invented in the beginning of the twentieth century and which in turn traces its heritage to various kinds of fake sausage confectionery without chocolate from the start of the nineteenth century.

Kandiszucker

Kandiszucker

Crystallized sugar on a thread or thin wooden stick

Karottenkuchen

Karottenkuchen

Carrot cake is cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter. The origins of carrot cake is disputed. Published in 1591, there is an English recipe for "pudding in a Carret [sic] root" that is essentially a carrot stuffed with meat, but it includes many elements common to the modern dessert: shortening, cream, eggs, raisins, sweetener (dates and sugar), spices (clove and mace), scraped carrot, and breadcrumbs (in place of flour). Many food historians believe carrot cake originated from such carrot puddings eaten by Europeans in the Middle Ages, when sugar and sweeteners were expensive and many people used carrots as a substitute for sugar.

Käsekuchen

Käsekuchen

Cheesecake made with quark

Kiflice

Kiflice

Kipferl, kifli, kiflice, or kifle is a traditional yeast bread roll that is rolled and formed into a crescent before baking. It is a common type of bread roll throughout much of central Europe and nearby countries, where it is called by different names. It is thought to be the inspiration for the French croissant, which has a very similar shape but is made with a different type of dough. Stale kipfel[which?] are used to make a sweet bread pudding called Kipfelkoch.

Kirschenmichel

Kirschenmichel

Kirschenmichel is a traditional dessert of German cuisine, especially popular in the regions Palatinate, Baden-Württemberg, South Bavaria, Franconia and the southern part of Hesse. It is kind of a pudding and similar to bread pudding and bread and butter pudding. The dessert consists of bread that is a few days old which is kneaded into a dough with butter, milk, egg and sugar. Sour cherries or sweet cherries are folded into the dough and the mixture is baked in a casserole dish. Prior to serving the dessert is topped with vanilla, cinnamon, almonds and clove and is then served hot with vanilla sauce custard. Although traditionally a dessert, it can also be found as main dish after an appetizer soup.

Knödel

Knödel

Knödel or Klöße ( German: [ˈkløːsə] ⓘ; sg.: Kloß) are boiled dumplings commonly found in Central European and East European cuisine. Countries in which their variant of Knödel is popular include Austria, Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. They are also found in Scandinavian, Romanian, northeastern Italian cuisine, Jewish, Ukrainian and Belarusian cuisines. Usually made from flour, bread or potatoes, they are often served as a side dish, but can also be a dessert such as plum dumplings, or even meat balls in soup. Many varieties and variations exist. The word Knödel is German and is cognate with the English word knot and the Latin word nōdus 'knot'. Through the Old High German chnodo and the Middle High German knode it finally changed to the modern expression. Knödel in Hungary are called gombóc or knédli; in Slovenia, knedl(j)i or (less specifically) cmoki; in the Czech Republic, knedlíky (singular knedlík); in Slovakia, knedle (singular knedľa); in Luxembourg, Kniddel(en); in Bosnia, Croatia, Poland and Serbia, knedle; in Bukovina, cnidle or cnigle; and in Italy they are known as canederli [kaˈneːderli; kaˈnɛːderli] in Italian and as bales in Ladin. In some regions of the United States,[citation needed] klub is used to refer specifically to potato dumplings. A similar dish is known in Sweden (kroppkakor or pitepalt) and in Norway (raspeball or komle), filled with salty meat; and in Canada (poutine râpée). Knödel are used in various dishes in Austrian, German, Slovak and Czech cuisine. From these regions, Knödel spread throughout Europe. Klöße are also large dumplings, steamed or boiled in hot water, made of dough from grated raw or mashed potatoes, eggs and flour. Similar semolina crack dumplings are made with semolina, egg and butter called Grießklößchen (Austrian German: Grießnockerl; Hungarian: grízgaluska; Silesian: gumiklyjza). Thüringer Klöße are made from raw or boiled potatoes, or a mixture of both, and are often filled with croutons or ham.

Krapfen

Krapfen

A Berliner or Krapfen is a German jam doughnut with no central hole, made from sweet yeast dough fried in lard or cooking oil, with a jam filling, and usually covered in powdered sugar. Sugar was very costly until the 16th century, and early doughnuts were usually stuffed with savory fillings like cheese, meat and mushroom. When imports from Caribbean sugar plantations made sugar more affordable, fruit preserves gained in popularity. In 1485, the first German-language cookbook to be published in printed form Kuechenmeisterei was published in Nuremberg and remained in print at least until 1674 with 20 editions . It was one of the first cookbooks printed using the Gutenberg press and contains the first known recipe for a jelly doughnut, called Gefüllte Krapfen made with jam-filled yeasted bread dough deep-fried in lard. It's unknown whether this innovation was the author's own or simply a record of an existing practice. The yeast dough contains a good deal of eggs, milk and butter. For the classical Pfannkuchen made in Berlin the dough is rolled into a ball, deep-fried in lard, whereby the distinctive bright bulge occurs, and then filled with jam. The filling is related to the topping:[citation needed] for plum-butter, powdered sugar; for raspberry, strawberry and cherry jam, sugar; for all other fillings, sugar icing, sometimes flavoured with rum. Today the filling usually is injected with a large syringe or pastry bag after the dough is fried in one piece.

Kugel

Kugel

Kugel is a baked casserole, most commonly made from lokshen (לאָקשן קוגל lokshen kugel) or potato (קארטאפל קוגל kartufl kugel). It is a traditional Ashkenazi Jewish dish, often served on Shabbos and Jewish holidays. American Jews also serve it for Thanksgiving dinner. The name of the dish comes from the Middle High German kugel meaning 'sphere, globe, ball'; thus the Yiddish name likely originated as a reference to the round, puffed-up shape of the original dishes (compare to German Gugelhupf—a type of ring-shaped cake). However, nowadays kugel is often baked in square pans. Litvaks (Jews from Lithuania, northeastern Poland and northern Russia) call the pudding kugel, Galitzianers (Jews from southeastern Poland and western Ukraine) call it kigel.

Lebkuchen

Lebkuchen

Lebkuchen , Honigkuchen or Pfefferkuchen ( pronounced [ˈp͡fɛfɐˌkuːxn̩] ⓘ) are honey-sweetened German cakes, moulded cookies or bar cookies that have become part of Germany's Christmas traditions. They are similar to gingerbread. The etymology of Leb- in the term Lebkuchen is uncertain. Proposed derivations include: from the Latin libum (flat bread), from the Germanic word Laib (loaf), and from the Germanic word lebbe (very sweet). Another likely possibility is that it comes from the old term Leb-Honig, the rather solid crystallized honey taken from the hive, that cannot be used for much beside baking. Folk etymology often associates the name with Leben (life), Leib (body), or Leibspeise (favorite food). Kuchen means 'cake'.

Leckerli

Leckerli

The Basler Läckerli is a traditional hard spice biscuit originating from Basel, Switzerland. It is made of honey, hazelnuts, almonds, candied peel, and Kirsch. After baking in a thin layer, the still hot dough is topped with a sugar glaze and cut into rectangular pieces. Basler Läckerli were originally created by local spice merchants over 700 years ago and are available year-round. Basler Läckerli are made primarily from wheat flour, honey, candied fruit (orange peel, lemon peel) and nuts (hazelnuts, almonds). The dough is rolled out flat, baked, then brushed over with a sugar glaze and cut into rectangular pieces (the Läckerli) while still warm.

Linzer auge

Linzer auge

Shortbread cookies flavored with nuts or jelly

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