Name: Patricia Simon
Class Year: 1968
Country of Residence: Germany
Why is this recipe great? What’s its backstory?
When I was just out of college and in Germany, I met this young student who was eventually to become my husband. His father was a master baker, and I wanted to impress him with my (very scanty) baking skills. I made chocolate cookies, the kind you roll a ball of dough in powdered sugar before baking. Father-in-law’s judgment: “They taste very nice. Don’t be upset how they look”!!! So I decided to find a German recipe that would be easy enough for me to manage but still meet his aesthetic standards. Voila!
I always have the necessary ingredients at home and can whip this cake up in a wink if we have unexpected guests.
Cherry Crumble
Serves 6-8. Takes approx. 10 min prep + 30 min. in the oven.
Ingredients:
- 250 g flour
- 1 level teaspoon baking powder
- Grated peel of a lemon
- 1 egg yolk
- 150 g sugar
- 150 g butter
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 large jar of sour cherries, drained
- 1 package vanilla sugar
- Powdered sugar to “dust” the finished cake
Instructions:
- Heat the oven to 200°.
- Mix the first 7 ingredients with a hand mixer on low, then squeeze the dough into crumbles with your hands. Put half of the crumbles (or a little more) into a 24 cm spring form and press it down to form a crust.
- Spread the cherries on top, sprinkle the vanilla sugar over them, and then put the rest of the dough (as crumbles) on top. Bake for ca. 30 minutes until golden brown.
- Can be served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream. If you want to be fancy, you can reduce the cherry juice with sugar to a syrup to pour on top of the cake.
Source:
Inspired by local German traditional recipe.