In just a matter of days it’s December, the last month of the year. What a fast year it has been. I am so glad I have the Christmas presents for the kids off the list. One less thing to worry about and I can now concentrate on the food. Every year we have a different mains for Christmas day dinner. It’s to keep the Irish as well as the German tradition. In Germany it’s common to have either, fish, goose or duck. I don’t like fish and I never tried goose so we rotate between duck and turkey each year for the last nine years.
Every country has its own food tradition in and around Christmas time. Bellies are filled and once New Year’s arrived, it’s off to the gym. I should really make an effort in the New Year going for walks but I never do. Maybe it should be a resolution for me. As you all know I am German, I though it would be nice to share with you some festive German food I have made in the past, will make and is popular in Germany. Perhaps you would like to try out some of these yourself.
Potato Salad with German Sausages
A very traditional meal that is going to be served on Christmas Eve. However in Germany we normally have our big meals at lunch time. I twisted it around a bit in our household though. So we normally have this in the evening time. The kids don’t like it and normally just have a bit of mash with the sausages (Wiener or Bockwurst). An ingredient in the potato salad that makes it very special is the gherkins. You either love them or hate them. Egg is also an ingredient that is a must of potato salad.
I absolutely love these and I have been making them for the last two years myself in a deep fryer I got from one of my friends. It tastes like donuts and is a very popular delight on any Christmas market in Germany. More so in the North of the country. I am not too sure about the South part. They are generally served in a little cone shaped bag with some icing sugar on top. If you do decide to make them, they are most tastiest on the actual day you made them. I tend to bring in some to work every year now.
Stollen
I’ll be honest, I am not a fan of Christmas pudding or Christmas cake. I just find it too rich and gooey. So I normally buy hubby a mini version of the Christmas cake as the kids don’t like it either. They happily eat Stollen. There are two versions of Stollen. You can either make/buy the butter or the marzipan version. I haven’t made Stollen from scratch before. I normally buy it in Lidl.
Weihnachtsplaetzchen/ Christmas biscuits
This goes back years and years when my granny and I used to bake Christmas biscuits in her kitchen in all shapes and sizes. The traditional “Plaetzchen” are simple butter biscuits. When they are baked, we let them cool and decorate them with icing which is made out of icing sugar and lemon juice. We then decorate them with colourful and chocolate sprinkles.
Mulled Wine
This drink has become fairly popular all over the world at this stage. It wouldn’t be my first go to drink but it’s very nice when it’s bitter cold outside and served at a stand at the Christmas market. In a nutshell it’s warm red wine with spices.
Delights: Baumkuchen/Lebkuchen/Dominosteine
Sweet delights are something that is very famous in Germany. There are so many things that you can much on with a cup of tea or coffee. In Germany it’s very common to have tea and cake around 3pm. I loved this time of day in my grannies who lived upstairs. Baumkuchen (tree cake) is one my favourite cakes to have this festive season. I haven’t had one in such a long time but my lovely friend in Germany is planning to send me one and I cannot wait! I have been eating Lebkuchen probably for the last month, since Lidl have it out on the shelves. Thankfully hubby is not a fan of it, I just have to share with the kids. Dominosteine have three layers. The top one is marzipan, middle is jelly and the bottom layer is Lebkuchen. Combined it’s delicious.
Christmas Dinner
Last but not least is the actual Christmas dinner. Dumplings has to be my favourite side dish with the duck or turkey. Recently I actually discovered a recipe how to make them myself and it’s fairly easy. So I am really looking forward to that now even though it’s less than a month away. Another popular side dish with the meat is red cabbage. It’s normally just me eating it because hubby doesn’t like it.
Anything that you would fancy here?
