>Real food, not cookies

>Add rectangular cookie cutters to the list, folks, because just like coconut extract, those apparently don’t exist either.  I spent the better part of today in search of said cookie cutters and wound up going home with nothing even remotely rectangular shaped.  I searched Williams-Sonoma, Sur La Table (where two sales associates find it necessary to ring up one customer), Crate and Barrel, Sears, Bed, Bath and Beyond and World Market.  How is it that I searched two of the most well-known baking retail locations, yet neither of them had a rectangular shaped cookie cutter?  What if someone wanted to make sugar cookies, of all 32 flags of the countries participating in the World Cup, for their boyfriend?  As if making cookies and icing from scratch isn’t enough, now I have to make my own cookie cutter?  Pft!  By the way, you can get Ateco rectangular cookie cutters on Amazon – they’ll be here on Thursday!

Despite not being able to find the cookie cutters, I did discover this sweet, little market tucked perfectly behind Bed, Bath and Beyond: World Market, ever heard of it?   Their foreign candy selection made me happier than finding $20 in my coat pocket.  Mathematically speaking, it would go a little something like this: dark chocolate Toblerone + 15 different kinds of Haribo = one happy girl

In case you were busy (like me) searching for things that don’t exist in the real retail world, Germany won today, 4-nil.  And to celebrate, Thom and I had a German feast fit for a King and Queen:

Don’t make fun of my salt’n’peppa shakers.  I let Thom make the bretzeln (German pretzels), as he is much better at it than I.  But I volunteered to make the kartoffelklosse (potato dumplings) because I had never made them before.  And guess what?  They’re simple, and delicious, and healthy, and, and, and.. Thom’s belly loved them.

Kartoffelklosse

2 lbs russet potatoes

1/4 c. non-dairy milk (or cow’s milk)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp nutmeg

3 egg yolks

1/2 – 3/4 c. unbleached flour

– Peel potatoes and boil for roughly 30 minutes

– Strain, smash and mix in the milk, salt and nutmeg

– Refrigerate until cold – roughly 1 hour

– Remove from fridge, mix in egg yolks and flour – if dough is still sticky add flour 1/4 c. at a time

– Roll into balls and boil in water for 10 minutes (if they’re not floating by the time 10 minutes has passed, allow them to boil for 15 minutes, but no longer)

*Store your leftover egg whites in a container and use them for an omelet or scramble the next morning.

Bretzeln

2 TSP yeast

2 c. water

1 TBS brown sugar

4-5 c. unbleached flour

*Also set out oil, baking soda and sea salt

In bowl:

– Dissolve yeast in 1/3 c. hot water – until foamy or 10 minutes

– Mix in the rest of water, sugar and flour – stir/knead until elastic

In separate bowl:

– Oil bowl with 1 tsp oil, roll dough around in bowl

– Cover with damp towel, let dough rise until doubled – roughly 30 minutes

– Knead, let rise again for 20-30 minutes

On stove:

– Boil 4-8 c. water, add 1 TBS baking soda per cup of water (add after water is boiling)

– Dip pretzels in soda water for 10 seconds, remove, place on cookie sheet and sprinkle with salt

Bake at 450 for 10 minutes

Yom nom nom, I am in a total food-coma right now.  If you’re reading: HI POPS! I miss you!