Butterkuchen (German Butter Cake)

Butterkuchen ~ German Butter Cake Recipe ❤️

From Quick German Recipes

Ingredients:

Yeast Dough
• 1 package (1 Tbsp) active dry yeast
• ¼ cup lukewarm water
• 1 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 cup milk (lukewarm)
• ½ cup oil
• 1 egg
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• about 4 to 4½ cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup milk or cream
• Topping
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup chopped almonds
• ⅓ cup cold butter

See Oma's Favorite German Recipes Cookbook

Instructions:

• In a large bowl, mix yeast, water, and 1 tsp sugar. Let stand for about 5 - 10 minutes. This should be foamy. (It will be if the yeast is not old.)
• Mix in 1 cup milk, oil, egg, and ½ cup sugar. Beat in 2 cups flour and mix well. Let stand 10 minutes.
• Add more flour until a soft dough results. 
• Remove from bowl and knead until smooth and elastic, adding flour ONLY if necessary if it is too sticky.
• Put dough into a greased bowl. Cover and put in a draft-free warm place for about 30 - 60 minutes, until it has doubled in size.
• Grease a 15" x 10" jelly-roll pan. Roll out dough to fit pan and place in pan.
• Make small hollows in the surface of the dough with your fingers.
• Brush dough with ½ cup milk or cream.
• Cut butter into small pieces and place in hollows. 
• Sprinkle ⅔ cup sugar and nuts over dough.
• Cover and let stand in a warm draft-free place for about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400° F. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.
• Let cool slightly and cut into 20 pieces.

Hints:

• Change this basic butter cake recipe by adding 1 tsp cinnamon to the ⅔ cup sugar before sprinkling on top of dough.
• Omit nuts if desired or use hazelnuts instead of the almonds.
• Add little dollops of sour cream over top, using about ½ cup, before baking.
• Or make a streusel topping (as shown above) by mixing together 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup sugar, and 1 cup butter into a crumbly mixture. Spread on top of dough instead of sprinkling the sugar and nuts over the dough.

Easy Danish Pastry Dough

Easy Danish Pastry Dough - Baking a Moment

Prep Time

40 mins

Chill Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 40 mins

Have you ever wanted to make homemade Danish for a special breakfast or brunch? Start with my easy Danish Pastry Dough! I've broken the recipe down to be super-simple and there's even a video tutorial so you can follow along. You're moments away from the most butter-y, flaky, fruit-filled treat ever!

Course: Breakfast, Brunch

Cuisine: Danish

Keyword: Danish, Dough, how to make, Pastry

Servings: 18 pastries

Calories: 180 kcal

Ingredients

• 1 cup cold unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons dry active yeast
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/4 cup warm water (like a baby's bath)
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Instructions

1. Cut a half a tablespoon of butter off the ends of each stick of butter, and set aside.
2. Cut each stick of butter in half, then cut each half stick lengthwise.
3. Line up 4 butter rectangles side by side on a sheet of lightly floured parchment.
4. Dust with flour, and fold the parchment up and over the butter.
5. Use a rolling pin to lightly pound/roll the butter to a thickness of about 1/4-inch.
6. Repeat with the remaining 4 butter rectangles.
7. Refrigerate the parchment-wrapped butter squares.
8. Place the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast in a large mixing bowl and stir to combine.
9. Cut in the reserved tablespoon of cold butter, rubbing between your fingertips to fully incorporate.
10. In a large liquid measure, stir the milk, water, egg, and vanilla together.
11. Add the liquid ingredients into the dry and stir together.
12. Knead the dough for approximately 7 minutes in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment.
13. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll/pat into a rough rectangle shape. (Ideally, the short side of the rectangle should be about the same length as the long side of the butter square in step 2. The long side should be about 3x the length of the short side of the butter square.)
14. Place one of the butter squares in the center of the dough rectangle.
15. Fold one side of the dough over the butter, and top with the remaining butter square.
16. Fold the other side of the dough over the second butter square.
17. Pinch the sides of the dough together to encase the butter within the dough.
18. Roll the dough out to a thickness of about 1/2-inch, then fold the dough into thirds, like a letter. Repeat, two more times.
19. Wrap loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight (or for a minimum of 1 hour).

Recipe Notes

Click here to see how to shape, fill, and bake this dough: Blackberry Ginger Danish.

Queen Elizabeth's Drop Scones

Queen Elizabeth's Drop Scones - as seen on Matchbook Magazine and Simply Recipes

4 teacups flour
4 tablespoons caster sugar
2 teacups milk
2 whole eggs
2 teaspoons bicarbonate soda
3 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons melted butter

Beat eggs, sugar, and about half the milk together, add flour, and mix well together adding remainder of milk as required, also bicarbonate and cream of tartar, fold in the melted butter.

Julie's Note: these are more like pancakes than scones.