All recipes

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Hutzelbrot (Swabian dried-pear Christmas loaf)

In Swabia and Franconia, Hutzelbrot is baked in early December and sliced through Advent and Christmas, traditionally on St Thomas's Day, 21 December. Hutzeln are dried pears, and they are the heart of the loaf: soaked overnight and simmered, then mixed with figs, prunes, raisins, hazelnuts, walnuts and candied peel, bound with only enough spiced yeast dough to hold everything together. The result is dark, moist and dense, closer to fruit than to bread, fragrant with cinnamon, aniseed and cloves. Slice it thin and eat it plain, spread with butter or a nut butter, with coffee or a hot fruit tea. The loaf is naturally egg-free: the yeast dough, made with the sweet pear soaking water, is the glue, and the sticky fruit holds it moist for weeks. Chef's tip: wrap the cooled loaves tightly and leave them for 3–4 days before slicing; the common mistake is cutting it on day one, when it crumbles and the flavours have not settled.

900 min

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Aachener Printen (Aachen spiced gingerbread slabs)

The bakeries of Aachen have made Printen for centuries, and from late autumn through Christmas the city's shop windows fill with these narrow brown slabs. Unlike soft German Lebkuchen they are firm and snappy, sweetened with dark sugar-beet syrup and studded with little crunchy bits of rock sugar, and they carry a big blend of spices: cinnamon, aniseed, coriander, cloves, cardamom and allspice. The dough rests overnight to develop flavour, then is raised with potash, which gives the dense, crisp texture. Dunk them in coffee or tea, or serve with baked apples. Printen never contained egg: the thick beet syrup is both sweetener and binder, gluing the flour into a stiff dough that sets hard in the oven. Chef's tip: let the syrup cool to lukewarm before mixing in the flour; the common mistake is adding it hot, which starts cooking the flour and gives a tough, rubbery dough.

1465 min

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HeidesandBrown butter slice-and-bake cookies

The name means 'heath sand', after the pale sandy soil of the Lüneburg Heath in Lower Saxony, and the texture lives up to it: these little rounds crumble the moment you bite. Browning the butter first gives them a nutty, toffee-ish flavour that plain shortbread lacks. German families bake them in Advent alongside Vanillekipferl and cinnamon stars, but they are just as good with afternoon coffee in any season. There is no egg in the dough, only butter, sugar, flour and a splash of milk, and the log is rolled in coarse sugar so every slice has a glittering edge. Chef's tip: let the browned butter set back to a soft, spreadable paste before you cream it; if you beat in butter that is still liquid, the dough turns greasy and the cookies flatten in the oven.

60 min

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GurundiCrunchy coconut biscuit bars

Walk past a school gate or a motor park in Kano, Kaduna or Jos and you will hear hawkers calling out gurundi, the hard coconut biscuit bars sold in little plastic bags. They are toasty, sweet and very crunchy, packed with coconut and a hint of nutmeg, and children buy them with pocket money to eat on the walk home. At home they go into lunch boxes or out with a cup of tea or a cold bottle of zobo. Fresh grated coconut is traditional; desiccated coconut makes it simple anywhere. Chef's tip: once the bars are golden, turn off the oven and leave them inside with the door ajar for 15 minutes to dry right through; taking them out too soon is the usual mistake, and they go soft by the next day.

52 min

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BethmännchenMarzipan almond balls

Frankfurt am Main claims these little domes as its own Christmas sweet, sold by the bag at the Römerberg Christmas market and in the city's cafés through Advent. The story goes that they were made for the banking family Bethmann, with four almonds for the four sons, and one was dropped when a son died; whatever the truth, they now carry three. The marzipan is mixed with a little rosewater and powdered sugar, then glazed with egg yolk so the tops bake golden while the inside stays soft. Serve them with tea or a mug of hot spiced apple juice. For an egg-free glaze, brush with a little cream or milk instead; the colour is paler but still pretty. Chef's tip: bake them on the middle shelf and watch from the 10-minute mark, because the almond tips scorch before the marzipan is golden if your oven runs hot.

39 min

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MandelhörnchenMarzipan almond crescents

Look along the glass counter of almost any German bakery and you will find these: fat crescents of almond paste, crusted in toasted flaked almonds, with both horns dipped in dark chocolate. Inside they stay soft and chewy, almost like a macaroon, while the outside crunches. People buy one to eat with a coffee on the way home rather than keeping them for a festival, though they turn up on Christmas plates too. They need no flour, so they are naturally gluten free. Chef's tip: take them out when the almond flakes are golden but the crescents still feel soft; overbaking is the common mistake, and they set hard as they cool.

39 min

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MohnkuchenPoppy seed crumble cake

Bavarian and Austrian bakeries, Saxon ones especially, cut Mohnkuchen from huge trays into thick, dark slabs that are eaten at the Sunday Kaffee und Kuchen table and at village fêtes. Under a sandy butter crumble sits a deep layer of ground poppy seeds cooked in milk with semolina and lemon, nutty and slightly bitter-sweet, on a thin shortcrust base. Some families add a splash of rum to the filling; it is written here without, and you can stir in 2 tablespoons with the lemon zest if you like. Whole seeds are the most common slip: they stay hard and gritty and never thicken the filling, so buy ready-ground poppy seed or grind it in a spice grinder. Chef's tip: let the filling cool before spreading it; hot filling melts the base and the cake splits from it when cut.

95 min

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Russischer ZupfkuchenChocolate shortcrust cheesecake

Despite the name, Russischer Zupfkuchen is a West German invention, a 1990s café-counter hit that spread from a baking-powder company's recipe card into every coffee-and-cake afternoon from Hamburg to Munich. A crisp cocoa shortcrust holds a pale, creamy quark cheesecake, and torn pieces ('gezupft', plucked) of the same dark dough are scattered on top, where they bake into crunchy chocolate islands. Serve it cold, in tall wedges, with filter coffee. Cutting it warm is the common mistake: the filling slumps and the base cracks, so chill it for several hours first. Chef's tip: keep a third of the dough frozen for 15 minutes before tearing it; firm pieces hold their rough shape and don't sink into the filling.

105 min

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AmerikanerIced soft cakes

Amerikaner are a fixture of German bakery counters and children's birthday parties: soft, domed little cakes baked flat-side up, then turned over and iced on the smooth base, half in white lemon icing and half in chocolate. A pinch of custard powder in the dough gives their tender, slightly vanilla crumb. Children can ice them themselves at a party. They contain milk, egg and gluten. Chef's tip: ice the flat bottom of the cakes, not the domed tops; that's what gives the shiny, even finish.

35 min

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Quarkbällchen (German quark doughnut balls)

Quarkbällchen fill the trays of German bakeries all year and reach their peak at Fasching, the carnival season, and families in Berlin, Saxony and beyond make them at home for children's afternoon Kaffee und Kuchen. The quark dough needs no yeast, so they are quick: crisp and golden outside, soft and cake-like inside, with a light tang. They are rolled in sugar rather than drenched. They contain milk, egg and gluten. Chef's tip: keep the oil at 170 °C so they cook through; hotter oil browns them before the centre is done.

40 min

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Nigerian fruit cake

No Lagos wedding or Christmas table feels complete without a dark, heavy fruit cake, often stacked in tiers and covered in icing, with slices wrapped in napkins for guests to take home. The crumb is dense and moist, coloured almost black with browning (burnt-sugar caramel), and packed with raisins, currants and cherries warmed by nutmeg and mixed spice. Many families soak the fruit for weeks in brandy, stout or red wine; this version plumps it in orange juice instead, with a spirit given only as an option. Serve thin slices with tea, or ice it for a celebration. Bake it hot and fast and you get the classic failure: a cracked, burnt crust over a raw, sunken middle, so keep the oven low. Chef's tip: wrap a double band of brown paper around the outside of the tin and tie it with string; it slows the edges so the middle catches up.

150 min

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ErdbeerkuchenStrawberry flan

When strawberry stands pop up on every country road in June, bakeries from the Rhineland to Saxony fill their windows with Erdbeerkuchen, and families bake one for Sunday afternoon Kaffee und Kuchen. A light sponge is baked in a fluted flan tin with a raised rim, spread with a thin layer of custard or jam, covered with halved strawberries and set under a clear red glaze, then served with whipped cream. The mistake most people make is filling the base while it is still warm, which makes it soggy. Chef's tip: brush the cooled base with a little melted white chocolate or jam first; it seals the sponge against the fruit juice.

55 min

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Nigerian doughnuts

Long before chain doughnut shops reached Abuja, Nigerian bakeries and roadside hawkers in Onitsha, Enugu and Lagos sold these plump, unfilled rings and rounds, wrapped in paper and still warm, and mothers fried them by the trayful for birthday parties. The dough is enriched with milk, egg and butter and scented with nutmeg, so the crumb is soft and bready rather than cakey, and each one is rolled in sugar while hot. Contains wheat, milk and egg. A common mistake is frying in oil that is too hot: the outside goes dark brown while the centre stays doughy, so keep it at 170 °C and test the first one. Chef's tip: after cutting, let the rounds rise a second time on floured baking paper, then lift each one on its square of paper into the oil so it keeps its puffy shape.

120 min

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Shuku shuku

In old Lagos bakeries and in Yoruba homes before Christmas and Eid, shuku shuku are rolled by the tray: grated coconut and sugar bound with egg yolks and a little flour, rolled in more flour and baked until the outside is golden and crunchy and the middle stays chewy and sweet. Children snack on them after school and they keep well in a tin for visitors. Contains egg, coconut and wheat. The mistake is baking them on a high heat so they colour before the centre sets; a moderate oven gives an even, toasty crust. Chef's tip: freshly grated coconut gives the moistest balls, but if you use desiccated, soak it in 4 tablespoons of warm milk or water for 10 minutes first.

40 min

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IruFermented locust beans

In Yoruba towns from Ibadan to Ogbomoso, iru is the smell of a good stew: a spoonful of the dark, fermented locust beans melted into efo riro, ofada ayamase, gbegiri and ewedu changes the whole pot. Making it is women's work passed down over generations, done in the dry season when the yellow pods of the African locust bean tree (igba) ripen. The seeds are boiled for hours, rubbed free of their black hulls, boiled again and wrapped warm in leaves for two or three days, when a sticky bacterial ferment covers them. Iru woro is left whole; iru pete is mashed. Expect a powerful ammonia-and-cheese smell, a soft, sticky texture and a deep savoury, almost meaty taste once cooked. Common mistake: fermenting too cool; below 30 °C the beans go sour and grey instead of developing the rich, sticky coat. Keep them in a warm oven with only the light on, or in a cooler box with a hot-water bottle. It is ready when the beans are dark brown, sticky and covered in fine white threads. Chef's tip: dried locust beans are sold at West African shops; fermented soybeans make a fair substitute.

480 min

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Postre MassiniCustard sponge with burnt sugar top

Montevideo's birthday cake of choice since the early twentieth century, the Massini is two thin layers of sponge sandwiching a thick filling of whipped cream folded with egg-yolk custard, crowned with a thin glassy crust of torched yolk and sugar. Bakeries across Uruguay sell it on Sundays. Traditional versions sometimes add a sweet fortified wine to the custard; this one is alcohol-free. The custard is cooked to a safe 71 °C. The common mistake is assembling with warm custard, which melts the cream into a puddle. Chef's tip: if you don't have a blowtorch, put the sugared top under a very hot grill for a minute and watch it closely.

80 min

Paraguayan Baking

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Ají amarillo pasteYellow chilli paste

In Lima's markets ají amarillo is sold fresh all year, and most Peruvian cooks keep a tub of this paste in the fridge the way others keep tomato purée: it is the golden base of causa limeña, ají de gallina, papa a la huancaína, chupe and the sauce for tiraditos. The chillies are seeded, de-veined and blanched in three changes of water, which tames the heat and the raw grassiness, then peeled and blended with oil into a thick, silky, saffron-orange paste. It tastes fruity and sunny, almost like apricot and passion fruit, with a rounded, medium heat. Abroad, buy whole frozen ají amarillo from Latin grocers; dried ají mirasol, soaked, gives a darker, earthier paste. Common mistake: skipping the peeling; the thin skins leave papery flecks and a bitter edge. It is ready when it is completely smooth and holds a soft peak like thick hummus. This is a low-acid paste: keep it in the fridge for a week or freeze it, never on the shelf. Chef's tip: freeze it in an ice-cube tray; one cube is about a tablespoon, just right for a pot of ají de gallina.

40 min

Peruvian Basics

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MohnschneckePoppy seed rolls

Every German bakery counter has a tray of Mohnschnecken next to the cinnamon and nut snails, and they are bought by the bag for Saturday breakfast and afternoon coffee. A soft, buttery yeast dough is spread with a thick filling of ground poppy seeds cooked in milk with sugar and lemon, rolled up, sliced and baked, then brushed with a thin lemon glaze. The usual mistake is using whole poppy seeds straight from the jar: they must be ground (or bought ground, as "Mohn gemahlen") or the filling stays gritty and bland. Chef's tip: cool the poppy filling completely before spreading it, because a warm filling melts the butter in the dough and the spirals unroll in the oven.

65 min

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Eba (gari swallow)

Students in hostels, office workers at lunchtime buka and families from Warri to Lagos all lean on eba, because it is ready in about five minutes from a bag of gari, the toasted granules of fermented cassava. Stirred into hot water, gari swells into a smooth, firm, slightly tangy dough that you pinch, roll and dip into egusi, okra, ogbono or efo riro. Yellow gari has been fried with a little palm oil and gives a richer, golden eba; white gari is sharper and paler. Chef's tip: pour the gari onto the water, never the water onto the gari, and wait a minute before stirring so every grain soaks evenly.

7 min

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Amala (yam flour swallow)

Amala gets its dusky brown colour from elubo, yam that has been peeled, sliced, sun-dried and milled, which gives it a faintly smoky, earthy taste. Ibadan's amala joints serve it from morning to night, soft and steaming, wrapped in leaves or cling film, with ewedu, gbegiri and stew; it is pinched off with the fingers and dipped, never chewed for long. Making it takes five minutes and a strong arm: the flour goes into boiling water and is stirred and turned against the side of the pot until it is perfectly smooth and stretchy. Lumps are the usual mistake, so add the flour off the heat and stir hard from the first second. Chef's tip: use a sturdy wooden spatula (omorogun) and press the dough against the pot rather than just stirring it round; that is what makes it silky.

15 min

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Tuwo masara (stiff maize swallow)

On the Plateau and throughout the north, a pot of white maize flour turned stiff with a wooden paddle is the daily partner to miyan kubewa (okra soup), miyan kuka and vegetable soups. Tuwon masara is smooth, slightly springy and mild, with a faint sweetness of corn. The secret is to start with a thin cooked paste and only then add the dry flour, which keeps it lump-free; dumping all the flour into boiling water is the mistake that gives raw, gritty pockets. Chef's tip: use a sturdy, flat wooden spoon and press the tuwo hard against the side of the pot when you turn it.

30 min

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Usi (Urhobo starch swallow)

Bright yellow-orange and wobbly, usi, often just called starch, is the pride of Urhobo cooking in Delta State, and in Warri and Ughelli it is the only proper partner for banga (palm-nut) soup or owo soup. It is made from cassava starch cooked with water and a little palm oil, stirred hard over a low heat until it turns from a chalky white paste into a translucent, glossy, elastic mass. It tastes very mild; it is a vehicle for rich soups, and its smooth stretch is the point. Look for cassava starch (wet or dried) in African shops. Banga and owo soup are usually made with fish, so serve usi with a meat-free banga for a vegan meal. Chef's tip: keep the heat low and never stop stirring; a high flame is the mistake that scorches the bottom and leaves raw, white lumps.

20 min

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Tuwo shinkafa (soft rice swallow)

Across Kano, Kaduna and the wider Hausa north, the evening meal very often means a dome of tuwon shinkafa beside a bowl of soup. Short-grain rice is cooked well past the point most cooks would stop, then beaten with a wooden spoon until the grains collapse into a smooth, faintly sticky mass that still shows a few soft grains. It tastes mild and clean, which is exactly its job: you pinch off a piece, dip it into miyan kuka, miyan taushe or an okra soup and swallow. It also turns up at naming ceremonies and weddings, wrapped in plastic or leaves and carried home by guests. Chef's tip: wet the bowl or cup you mould it in, and the balls slide out glossy and round instead of tearing.

40 min