Wednesday, December 23, 2009

"Kalter Hund" and Merry Christmas

I LOVE cooking German and Austrian food! It just makes me feel connected again to two countries and cultures that I love!!! This year I have made a couple of German treats that I have previously never made before . . . which has been fun for me and helped me brush up a bit on my German since I have had to translate some of the recipes . . . and convert the measurements too! "Kalter Hund" . . . which interestingly enough means "cold dog" is one dessert that I had in Germany that I remember very well because of the name and because it was super rich and different from any cake that I had ever seen before . . . so this year I tried my hand at whipping up a pan and it turned out great! The cake was created to look like a mine car and is popular for kids birthdays and has a few other names including "Kellerkuchen"= Cellar cake, "Kalte Oma"= Cold Grandma, and "Kalte Hand"= Cold hand, and "Kalte Schnauze"= Cold snout . . . No matter the name . . . it tastes good! I hope that you and your loved ones will have a wonderful Christmas and have time to enjoy good food, good company and good times in the coming year! May the Christmas spirit always reside in your homes and hearts and may the joy of the Saviors birth fill your soul with love and comfort! Merry Christmas!

Kalter Hund
Recipe by : Emily
1 cup Dark Chocolate, chopped
3 cups Milk Chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup Coconut Oil (it is solid and will melt during preparation)1 cup Cream
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 package Butter Cookies, shortbread cookies, or graham crackers

1. Line a loaf pan with parchment paper (this is key to the dessert’s removal later).

2. In a double boiler, add both chocolates and melt. Stir in coconut fat and heavy cream. Whisk gently until well-blended. Add the vanilla extract and whisk again.

3. Spoon enough of the chocolate mixture into the bottom of the loaf pan to cover the bottom. Gently lay the cookies in an even layer across the chocolate. Cover with chocolate, add another layer of cookies. Repeat the process until you have reached the near the top of the loaf pan. Fill in any gaps with the remaining chocolate.

4. Cover and set pan in refrigerator for at least six hours. Better if left overnight.

To serve, slice thin (you really won’t need any more than a thin slice, I swear). The cake is best served chilled because it will melt at room temperature. Enjoy!

(The better the chocolate you use . . . the better the cake will be! You can also adjust the chocolate measurements to include more dark chocolate than milk chocolate if you like . . . just make sure you have 4 cups of chopped chocolate for the recipe)

5 comments:

ostwestwind said...

Ich liebe kalten Hund, allerdings nur 1 Stück

Greetings from Germany!

Ulrike @Küchenlatein

S. Saar said...

Made this yesterday to take to the bake sale at my son's German-language pre-school in Seattle. My husband thinks it's a little taste of home, so here's hoping it sells well & makes some other Germans happy! Easy-to-follow recipe, thank you!

ps- I had no idea where to find Coconut Oil. Turns out Whole Foods had 6 different choices.

woodchuckchuck said...

EUREKA! My sisters and I have been trying to recreate Grandmas recipe for decades to no avail. In our family we kids call this stuff "Lickerfingers" which was a mispronunciation of what Grandma call it in her German accent. I think the last time we had this was 1973! When I stumbled on your recipe I knew it was what we were looking for, only it's called Kalter Hund. Thank you so much!

Chuck in WI

ThePrussianBaron said...

In my neck of the woods we called this a KeksTorte.

Very old German recipe that was handed down in a cook book dated from the late 1890's.

Very tasty...just don't leave it out of the fridge for too long...or it melts!

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