Rich and gooey brownies have a way of returning us to our memories, but re-creating this classic American cake can be challenging in a foreign context.

There are those times which occasional crop up when it is very easy to miss the little things you really enjoyed from an earlier time or different location. This doesn’t often happen to me, but I will admit…I do have an Achilles heel when it comes to brownies.

For some reason (a reason I’ve never really tried to figure out), I always seem to close my eyes as I prepare to take that first bite out of a rich and moist deep chocolate brownie. I simply savor the feeling of all that fat and chocolate oozing down my throat…and I don’t feel an ounce of guilt. I am, once again, that sneaky little child doing something that may get him in trouble.

It’s not surprising to me the brownie is much adored in the United States. After all, this very sweet and rich sponge cake with a crisp outside and fudgy inside has been known in America at least since Fannie Farmer first published her recipe in 1896 in the Boston Cooking School Cook Book. And even though this famous brownie recipe has undergone radical changes throughout the years, somehow good taste and sense eventually brings us back to the original.

Brownies are actually quite humble. They are simply made with eggs, flour, sugar, butter and chocolate, then cut into squares after they are baked. That’s it...except for the intermittent use of vanilla essence and walnuts. Simple...right?

Well…no actually! It’s just not that easy to successfully make a recipe from a source which has a different context. More...

It’s Fastnacht time in Switzerland…which, like in many countries, is a license to indulge – and what better way to indulge than eating your own freshly-made Beignets de Carnaval!

We came across the idea to make this version of beignets while flipping through our favorite 1940’s Zürich cookbook. We were actually searching for some kind of alternative to the popular Fastnachtschüechli (fun for foreigners to pronounce). The recipe we landed on was involved and included instructions on stretching the dough over your knee.

Hmm…there must be an easier way!

Fortunately, the Zürcher liked everything …well, easier and another condensed recipe followed. This version, however, involved an entirely different twist.

It seems they enjoyed putting the freshly fried dough into a clay container to keep them soft. The next day, they would season the beignets with salt and cumin, then roll them up like a…hmm…swiss roll.

Interesting, but not at all what we were looking for. We wanted something crisp and sweet – not soft, spiced and rolled up.

After some deliberation (ok…not really a lot), we decided to pursue the second method…sort of. We went ahead with the recipe and fried the dough, then simply dusted them with sugar. Abbreviated – but very good. No…they were really, really good! Very similar, in fact, to the famous New Orleans beignets – which brings us to Mardi Gras…and this recipe.    More...

It’s easy to chase away drab winter days by unpeeling a ripe blood orange…it can also be a shocking experience – even if you know what to expect!

February in Switzerland tends to linger…

The cold and gray winter days sometimes seem endless as time just hangs in the air. It can’t be long until spring and longer days burst onto the scene with a fresh new look – or so the calendar says! But no, not just yet…it’s still February!

But wait…there is a way to escape the drab days of late winter – eat a blood orange!

I’ll never forget my first encounter with a blood orange. It seemed unnatural as I gazed at the intense deep purple flesh, and I will admit…I was not too excited about putting any of this into my mouth. It just seemed wrong.

But after a few sheepish moments, I decided to give it a go and preserve my reputation (self-created) as an adventurous eater.

I was rewarded.

The flavors erupted instantaneously. There were hints of raspberry and pine…and plenty of natural sweetness. The juices…well, they seemed extreme, leaving me confused and wondering if I was drinking or eating. Then…the acids arrived and all of my hibernating senses woke up at once. It was like feeling the sun as it disintegrates a thick layer of fog…and I smiled.   More...

King’s Cake (called Dreikönigskuchen throughout the Swiss German-speaking Cantons) is the first food tradition of the year. As it turns out, this recipe is simple to make and has many possible variations…allowing you to enjoy a fresh version for more than just one day!

Virtually everyone in Switzerland is in some way touched by the special bread overflowing from every bakery on January 6th.

Enjoying a King’s Cake is an old tradition with distinct Christian roots falling on the Festival of Epiphany. The cake itself is an odd-shaped bread consisting of 7-11 small rolls, which are often garnished with almond slivers, coarse sugar and sometimes raisins. One of the rolls contains a surprise buried inside, which allows whoever finds the hidden icon (mostly a plastic figurine) to be named king or queen for the day…and of course, also explains why these breads are sold with paper crowns.

The tradition in Switzerland can be traced back to the early 1300s, but its popularity waned considerably over the years and nearly disappeared altogether.

That is until large Swiss bakeries revived the tradition during the early 1950s and quickly flooded the market with mass-produced King’s Cakes…conveniently with a paper crown included! The bakers' marketing efforts were rewarded and the King’s Cake has now become the number one selling specialty item for bakers in Switzerland with over one million being produced – an astonishing number for such a small country…but also leaving everyone with pretty decent odds of being crowned king or queen for the day.    More...

Potatoes are plentiful, inexpensive, versatile in the kitchen, highly nutritious and simple to prepare – but what variety should you select?

I’m turning into a potato freak – and with good reason too!

Potatoes are plentiful, inexpensive, versatile in the kitchen, highly nutritious and simple to prepare. The only real question with potatoes is deciding on the appropriate type for your recipe…and in Switzerland, that means considering some twenty different varieties.

Most people simply take the potato for granted. It has become a common serf amid more noble vegetables…and very few seem willing to elevate it.

But not me!

Let me bring you into my world of potatoes and introduce you to one of my steadfast culinary friends. More...

Our recipe conversion tips for making a successful zopf in the U.S.

Since our original posting on How To Make Zopf appeared, we have received a number of conversion questions from our readers in the U.S. – and rightfully so!

There are always a number of issues to consider, which can affect the outcome of most recipes. Different measurement standards (U.S. system of weights vs. British system vs. metric system), temperatures (C vs. F), and ingredients are the major factors to think about when reviewing a recipe.

Measurement and temperature conversions are easy enough to find or calculate, but the ingredients often require some special considerations. This is also true with our original zopf recipe as we discovered last year while attempting to make a fresh zopf in the U.S.

Here’s how we converted the recipe and produced a successful and tasty version of zopf:   More...