Tibits in Basel and Hiltl in Zürich

Finally I get around to writing a new post! I have just recently moved to Switzerland to start my first job post-university. The funny thing is that towards the end of my master's program I started wondering: "Hm, should I look for work in the US or in Germany? US or Germany? US or Germany?" And now, as fate would have it, I am in Switzerland! That pretty much took care of the tough decision of choosing one of my home countries over the other (although I had been leaning towards Germany...). Now I have a new home country. Two weeks ago I went to a conference in Frankfurt, Germany, and surprised myself by looking forward to going home--home being Switzerland. 

Before I even moved to Basel I started checking out its restaurants online. I had never been to Basel save the two job interviews I went to for my new job. The first restaurant I looked up was Hiltl, my favorite vegetarian restaurant in Zürich (and one of my favorite restaurants in the world!). I thought maybe they would have a branch here, but they don't. However, they do have a branch of the Hiltl-owned Tibits. Hiltl has a neat concept in that you can choose between a menu and a vast buffet. At Tibits you only have a smaller buffet and other ready-to-eat foods to choose from, such as sandwiches and pastries. Tibits is pretty good, but Hiltl is better. The photo at the top of this post is from a lunch at Tibits. One of my favorite buffet items are the fried breaded jalapeños filled with cream cheese. Mmhmm! My favorite drink is probably the hot chocolate, although the mango lassi dusted with garam masala (see photo above) was also pretty good. 

Below are photos from a dinner at Hiltl in October last year. The first dish is the fall vegetable platter with spelt Spätzle, mushrooms in cream sauce, sauerkraut, brussels sprouts, chestnuts and stewed pears. The second dish is a selection of curries and I can't remember exactly what the third dish is. I think it is also a curry of some sort. For dessert we shared the lovely brownie with vanilla ice cream and hot chocolate sauce. Mmmmmm! Hiltl also has a wide selection of freshly squeezed juices that are really tasty. Another good thing about Hiltl is that they also have vegan dishes for those who don't eat any animal protein. I sometimes wish they offered meat because I'm sure they would come up with some really tasty meat dishes, but that is not part of their concept. 

Homemade Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls

If there's one recipe involving yeast dough that is really worth your time it's cinnamon rolls! Oh my, I had no idea homemade cinnamon rolls tasted so much better than any purchased cinnamon rolls (at least any I have ever had). 

A while back I was searching the Saveur website and found a recipe for Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls. I showed it to my sister and we immediately decided we would have to make them some time. When Christmas rolled around, my sister decided to make the cinnamon rolls for Christmas Day breakfast. She prepared the dough and filling on Christmas Eve. When I arrived at her house that day I finished the recipe up to the point where you let the cinnamon rolls rise in the pan (we actually used a glass baking dish and it worked just fine). After letting the rolls rise for a while, we put them in the refrigerator overnight. When I woke up the next morning my sister had already baked the rolls and added the remaining melted butter. All I had to do was ice the rolls. I just used 1 cup of confectioners' sugar and water instead of buttermilk. Once the icing was on, we ate the rolls right away. Wow, there is nothing more delicious than a warm cream cheese cinnamon roll fresh out of the oven--mmhmm!

I recommend eating the cinnamon rolls as soon as possible since they become stale really fast. If you can't eat them (or serve them to other people) while they are still warm, I recommend reheating them. 

Cream Cheese Cinnamon Rolls

Makes 8 rolls

For the dough:

1 1/4-oz. package active dry yeast

1/2 tsp. plus 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk, at room temp.

2 tbsp. light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 3/4 cups flour, sifted, plus more for kneading

3/4 tsp. fine salt

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temp., plus more for the pan

For the filling:

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup finely chopped pecans

1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

1/4 cup raisins

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. fine salt

1/8 tsp. ground cloves

2 tbsp. maple syrup

4 oz. cream cheese, at room temp. 

8 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

For the icing: 

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup buttermilk

1. Make the dough: In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a hook, combine yeast, 1/2 tsp. of the sugar, and 1/4 cup water heated to 115°. Stir to combine and let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add remaining sugar, milk, light brown sugar, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk. Beat on low speed until thoroughly combined, 1 minute. Turn mixer off and add the flour and salt. Mix on medium speed until the dough just comes together. Turn mixer speed to high and knead dough for 4 minutes. Add the butter and continue kneading until dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, about 6 minutes. Remove bowl from the mixer, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place. Let the dough rise for 1 1/2-2 hours, until it has doubled in size.

2. Meanwhile, make the filling: Combine the sugar, dark brown sugar, pecans, walnuts, raisins, cinnamon, salt, and cloves in a large bowl; stir to combine. Stir in the maple syrup. Set filling aside. 

3. Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a heavily floured surface. Gently knead the dough until it's no longer sticky, adding more flour as necessary, about 1 minute. Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into a 10" x 10" square. In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese with a rubber spatula until it's smooth and spreadable. Spread the cream cheese evenly over the dough square; the fold square into thirds as you would fold a letter to fit into an envelope. Take the open ends of the resulting rectangle and fold into thirds again, to  make a smaller dough square. Invert the dough so that the seam is face down and, using the rolling pin, gently roll into a 10" x 20" rectangle.

4. Turn the dough so that the short sides are parallel to you. Brush the top of the dough with half of the melted butter. Drizzle the reserved filling over the dough, leaving a 1" border at the edge farthest away from you. Lightly press the filling into the dough. Using your hands, lift up the bottom edge of the dough and roll it forward into a tight cylinder. Place dough cylinder, seam side down, on a cutting board and, using a thin, sharp knife, trim off the ends; cut cylinder crosswise into 8 equal-size slices. Nestle the slices, cut sides up and evenly spaced from one another, into a buttered 9" x 13" light-colored metal baking pan. Cover pan with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm place to let rise for 2 hours. (Alternatively, the rolls may be refrigerated overnight.)

5. Heat oven to 375°. Uncover the rolls. (If refrigerated, let them sit at room temp. for 15 minutes). Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the rolls comes out clean, about 30 minutes. 

6. Make the icing: While the rolls are baking, whisk together the sugar and buttermilk in a small bowl until smooth. 

7. Transfer the pan of cinnamon rolls to a cooling rack; brush with remaining melted butter. Let cool for 5 minutes. Dip the tines of a fork into the icing and drizzle all over rolls. Serve immediately. 

Würzburg and Gasthof Bären in Randersacker

Last weekend my mom and I went to Würzburg to do some Christmas shopping and to see the Christmas market in nearby Sommerhausen. Würzburg has lots of nice little shops, for example Sinus Shopping and Eckhaus Wohnaccessoires. We also stopped at Café Michel and bought a piece of poppyseed strudel (Mohnstrudel), a piece of cherry strudel (Kirschstrudel) and a piece of poppyseed cake (Mohnkuchen) to enjoy the next day. The poppyseed cake was my favorite of the three.

After browsing through Würzburg we made our way to Sommerhausen. The Christmas market was set up partly in courtyards and partly in houses and galleries. The emphasis on arts and crafts is what sets it apart from other Christmas markets. Of course they were selling the traditional mulled wine (Glühwein), but I don't drink it because it's usually sickly sweet. 

We quickly browsed the market and then headed to the restaurant, Gasthof Bären, in Randersacker where we had reservations. The meal turned out to be excellent. I ordered char cooked with vegetables and served with potatoes (Saibling blau). 

My mom had leg of venison with vegetables and fried dumplings (rosa gebratene Rehkeule mit Gemüse und gebratenen Serviettenknödeln).

 

Then for dessert we ordered the selection of desserts (Dessertvariation). It included Christstollen parfait (geeistes Christstollenparfait), rum pot (Rumtopf), quince mousse (Quittenmousse), mango sorbet (Mangosorbet) and some other kind of sorbet. Christstollen is a typical German Christmas specialty. It's a yeast cake generally made with flour, sugar, butter, milk, raisins, candied orange and candied lemon peel and topped with powdered sugar. There are many variations, such as a stollen made with marzipan, which is my favorite. Rum pot is also a Christmas specialty. You start making it in summer by using fresh fruit and soaking it in rum and sugar. Throghout the coming months you keep adding more fruit and rum. Towards the end of the maturing process you add spices. The rum pot is then served, e.g. with ice cream, around Christmas.  

Winter-Spiced Molten Chocolate Cakes

I just had to have something chocolatey and dense today. What else is new, right? I was getting kind of sick of making hot chocolate. It just didn't taste the same anymore. So I decided to search for lava or molten chocolate cakes on epicurious and found a recipe I had made a few years ago: Winter-Spiced Molten Chocolate Cakes with Rum-Ginger Ice Cream. The title itself is enough to make your mouth water. Mmhmm. 

I didn't make the ice cream because that really would have been pushing it just to satisfy the craving of one person, namely myself, and I also decided to make just a half recipe (so 4 instead of 8 portions) to ensure no over-eating. I also left out the white pepper since I usually don't like pepper in my sweets. Although there are lots of ingredients in the cakes the recipe is really simple to make and the result is so delicious that any amount of work would have been worth it. 

Here's the recipe.

Makes 8

Ice Cream

1 pint vanilla ice cream, softened

2 tablesp. chopped crystallized ginger

1 tablesp. dark rum

Cakes

14 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 1/4 c. ( 2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 tsp. ground coriander

2 tsp. ground cardamom

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. ground white pepper

6 large eggs

6 large egg yolks

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3 c. powdered sugar

1 c. flour

Additional powdered sugar

Crystallized ginger strips

For ice cream:

Placed softened ice cream in medium bowl. Using plastic spatula, fold ginger and rum into ice cream. Transfer to airtight container. Freeze ice cream mixture until firm, about 4 hours. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Keep frozen.)

For cakes:

Generously butter eight 3/4-c. soufflé dishes. Stir chocolate, butter and all spices in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Cool slightly. Whisk eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla in large bowl to blend. Whisk in 3 c. powdered sugar, then chocolate mixture, then flour. Transfer batter to prepared dishes, filling to top and dividing equally. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Preheat oven to 425°F. Bake cakes until batter has risen above dish, top edges are dark brown, and centers are still soft and runny, about 15 min, or about 18 min. for refrigerated batter. Run small knife around cakes to loosen. Allow cakes to rest in dishes 5 min. Using hot pad and holding dish very firmly, place plate gently atop 1 cake and invert onto plate. Repeat with remaining cakes. Dust with powdered sugar. Top with crystallized ginger. Serve cakes with rum-ginger ice cream. 

Spiced Hot Chocolate

For a while now I have been craving a really good hot chocolate. And what I mean by a "really good hot chocolate" is a thick, smooth, velvety, chocolatey drink that leaves you intensely satisfied and happy. 

The last time I had a really good hot chocolate was this summer at Ginger Elizabeth's in Sacramento (see previous blog post). You must be thinking "Who is crazy enough to drink a hot chocolate in the summer in Sacramento?!" But I had heard so many good things about the Oaxacan Spicy Hot Chocolate that I had to try it. And it did live up to the hype!

The last time I had had a really good hot chocolate before this summer was in the winter of 2006 when I was in Salzburg. It was at the famous café Demel. Not only was the hot chocolate delicious but so was the whipped cream (Austrian: Schlagobers, one of my favorite Austrian words) that topped it. Mmmm. Good memories. 

Seeing that it is so hard to find a good hot chocolate, I was very glad when I came across a recipe for Spiced Hot Chocolate in the Bon Appétit of December 2005 a couple of days ago. So today, when the craving for something I couldn't specify came over me, I remembered the recipe and went straight to work. The recipe is simple and the outcome is more than satisfying. The hint of cinnamon is just perfect. Believe me, this hot chocolate will make you happy. 

But one word of advice: do not drink it in the evening. I made my hot chocolate after dinner (which was a few hours ago) and I still feel like I could bounce off the walls! One last note: I made half the recipe, so technically enough for three people, and basically just filled up one mug with it, which used up 3/4 of the recipe I made. Next time I would just fill a mug halfway (since I don't have any demitasse cups) and then add whipped cream. That way you won't get quite the chocolate shock!

Here's the recipe:

Whisk:

2 c. whole milk

1/2 c. (packed) golden brown sugar

1/2 c. whipping cream

in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat until mixture begins to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and add

1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

4 oz. (115 g) chopped bittersweet or semisweet chocolate

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Whisk until chocolate is melted and smooth. Pour hot chocolate into 6 demitasse cups. Garnish each with whipped cream and a cinnamon stick. 

Serves 6.