This braided super-soft, fluffy and moist brioche crescent is a traditional Austrian pastry, typical for Easter. It’s about four times the size of a regular crescent and therefore a little (or huge) treasure.   This fluffy Easter crescent is a pastry with tradition: In some parts of Upper Austria, where I grew up, godparents would give this oversized brioche crescent to their godchildren on Easter Sunday. Easter Crescent aka Giant… continue reading »

If you want to bake a real-deal apple strudel, you are right where you belong. This homemade Viennese-style apple strudel is filled with apples, toasted breadcrumbs, chopped walnuts, raisins (if you like them), and cinnamon-sugar. I use my homemade super-thin strudel pastry recipe for this strudel, which makes delicious thin layers of crust. Yum!   I’ve been making apple strudel for a few decades (read more here). No, I’m not… continue reading »

This is an old and easy family recipe for paper-thin strudel dough. You only need a few ingredients and it takes about 1 ¼ hours to make (incl. 1 h resting time) from scratch. This recipe yields a flakey pastry with several layers of dough, which you can fill sweet (e.g. apple strudel) or savory.   As you might already know, I’ve been stretching strudel dough since early childhood. In kindergarten,… continue reading »

Kaiserschmarrn is my all-time favorite. Also known as emperor’s mess, it is a fluffy and light, giant pancake, which is torn into bite-size pieces after baking.   The name is composed of the words Kaiser (emperor) and Schmarrn, which refers to a shredded dish in Austria. But be careful: Schmarrn is also a colloquialism to nonsense.   The dish is named after the Austrian emperor Kaiser Franz Joseph I. (1830-1916)… continue reading »

AAAAAAAAHHHH. I can’t find any words for this Austrian plum cake. It’s super easy to make and yet the fluffiest, most delicious cake ever. I lack words to describe its genius, you can tell.   Late summer and this cake are tightly linked together, at least for my taste buds. If I have a bite of this juicy, slightly sweet cake, I can almost feel pleasantly warm days and crisp… continue reading »

Nockerl are the perfect side dish for traditional Austrian beef goulash. In fact, I can’t remember having beef goulash with a dark and thick gravy without a side of these Nockerl. Nockerl are Austrian-style gnocchi, more or less, but way easier to make. You simply stir together a batter, which you’ll drop into boiling salted water by the spoonful. That’s it. Isn’t this fantastic?   Before I tell you a… continue reading »

I am back!!! I didn’t post anything on the blog for quite a while. In fact, there has never been a break that long. BUT, and there always is a but, I had a good reason for this: We moved back to Europe. Yes, we recently moved from Boston to Vienna. After having spent the past 3.5 years in Cambridge, we now live in our new/old city again.   If… continue reading »

Hands down, this is the best iced coffee drink you’ll ever have. It combines ice cream and coffee – do I have to talk it up any further? Well, I don’t think so – but I’ll do so anyways. If you are strolling through the streets of (Li’l) Vienna, you will notice the cute little traditional cafés all over town. I am not talking about chains here. I am talking… continue reading »

Yummmmmm! Growing up half an hour from the city of Linz, I can’t understand why I neglected this traditional Austrian torte for such a long time. Being Austrian, I should be a connoisseur of amazing pastries – especially if we are talking about one of Austria’s signature dishes that is known around the globe. Shame on me! Shame on me even more with Linz being the closest city around until… continue reading »