Skip over to my new site...

Dear Readers,

In Summer 2018 I decided it was time to move on to a more user-friendly blog with a clear distinction of categories and focussing on countries with which we share a personal history. Each and every recipe comes from the heart and has a place in our multi-cultural family.

I sincerely hope to get you on board again with my new blog. You'll find my writings on the self-hosting site called "Expat with Kids Recipes": https://expatwithkidsrecipes.com

Swiss Onion Tart

This tart, uses a salty, smoky ham known as speck, a traditional ingredient in this tart; bacon is a good substitute. It makes a great entree for lunch or a light supper. It can also be cut into squares and served with cocktails.

Ingredients:
FOR THE CRUST:
1 1⁄2 cups flour
1⁄2 tsp. baking powder
1⁄4 tsp. kosher salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, chilled and cubed

FOR THE FILLING:
3 oz. speck or bacon, finely chopped
3 tbsp. unsalted butter
1 1⁄2 lbs. white onions (about 3), finely chopped
Kosher salt to taste
1⁄2 cup milk
1⁄2 cup heavy cream
3 eggs
3 oz. grated Gruyère or Swiss cheese
Freshly ground black pepper and freshly grated nutmeg

Preparation:
1. Make the crust: Pulse flour, baking powder, and salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter and pulse until pea-size pieces form. Add 1⁄4 cup ice-cold water; pulse briefly. Transfer dough to a floured work surface; form into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap; chill for 1 hour.

2. Heat oven to 425°. Transfer dough to a floured work surface. Roll dough into a 13" circle; transfer to an 11" fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, pressing into bottom and sides. Trim excess dough; chill for 30 minutes. Prick bottom of dough with a fork; cover bottom with a sheet of parchment paper; fill with dried beans. Bake until crust is set, about 20 minutes. Remove paper and beans; bake until crust is light brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool.

3. Meanwhile, make filling: Cook bacon in a 4-qt. saucepan over medium heat until crisp, 7–8 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a plate. Discard bacon fat; add butter. Add onions and season with salt; reduce heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes. Uncover; cook until lightly browned, 10 minutes. Let cool.

4. Whisk milk, cream, and eggs in a bowl; add reserved bacon and onions along with cheese. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Pour filling into tart; place on a baking sheet. Place tart in oven and reduce heat to 400°. Bake until filling is golden brown and set, 45–50 minutes. Transfer tart to a wire rack to let cool completely before slicing and serving.

Swiss Chocolate Almond Cake

This has got to be one of my favourite combinations: chocolate with almonds. Make sure the chocolate is good quality and you cannot go wrong with this recipe. YUM!

Ingredients:
200 gr butter, softened
200 gr sugar
1 pinch salt
6 egg yolks
200 gr Chocolat Noir 64%, crumbled
120 gr flour
1½ teaspoons baking powder
100 gr ground almonds
6 egg whites, stiffly beaten

Preparation: 
1.) Whisk butter, sugar, salt and egg yolks with hand mixer until the mixture turns paler.
2.) Melt chocolate in a double boiler, add.
3.) Mix flour, baking powder and almonds, fold into the mixture.
4.) Fold stiffly beaten egg whites into the dough, pour mixture into the prepared cake form.
5.) Bake approx. 45 minutes in the middle of oven preheated to 180°C.

Chocolate cake

Nothing tops a real Swiss chocolate cake. This is a recipe we use for all the kids' birthday cakes. It never fails! Yummy and scrumptious. You could also adapt it for a Valentine's Day cake.

Ingredients:
150 gr margarine
230 gr sugar
6 eggs
1 pinch of salt
5 gr of vanilla sugar
200 gr dark chocolate (e.g. Crémant)
125 gr ground almonds
125 gr ground plain biscuits
375 gr powder sugar
4 tablespoons chocolate powder

Preparation:
1.) Stir margarine until foam-like.
2.) Add sugar, yolk of the 6 eggs, salt and vanilla sugar, stir again.
3.) Melt chocolate with 3 tablespoons of hot water and add to the mixture.
4.) Add almonds and biscuits.
5.) Whip the whites until stiff, add to the mixture and mix well.
6.) Grease mold with butter, pour mixture into 24 cm diameter cake mould.
7.) Bake on lowest position in oven at 180°C for 50 to 60 minutes.

Frosting:
1.) Mix powder sugar with 4 tablespoons of water. Put 1 tablespoon aside.
2.) Add chocolate powder to the rest of the mixture, add a few drops of water and stir.
3.) Let cake cool off after baking. Pour chocolate mixture evenly over cake.
4.) Form a small, funnel-shaped paper with a tiny opening. Put the mixture set aside beforehand into paper cone and draw 8 concentric circles on cake.
5.) Use a small knife and pull 8 lines from the center towards the edge and 8 lines from the edge towards the center alternating.

Birchermüesli

Birchermüesli is as Swiss as it gets. It can be eaten for breakfast, brunch or light dinner. It is a healthy alternative to cereals and the kids love it.

Ingredients: 
200 g Birchermüesli flake mix with no added sugar
4.5 dl milk
1-2 apples
other fruit, e.g. berries, grapes, bananas, kiwi etc., according to taste/season
1 red fruit yoghurt
some orange juice or mixed fruit juice
0.25 dl cream (or more )

Preparation:
1.) Mix the Birchermüesli flake mix with the milk.
2.) Grate the apples or cut them into small pieces. Add them to the Birchermüesli.
3.) Finely chop your other fruit, add it to the Birchermüesli and mix well.
4.) Add the yoghurt.
5.) Stir in some orange/mixed fruit juice to make it more refreshing.
6.) Add the cream.
7.) Optional: before serving whip some cream and decorate onto the Birchermüesli for nicer presentation.

Note: The consistency should be more “liquid” than solid. To adjust the taste if the consistency is too thick, add additional orange juice and/or milk.

Carrot muffins

No Swiss gourmet journey would be complete without indulging the sweet tooth. All over Switzerland fruit is featured in many desserts, such as incredibly flavorful fruit tarts and fresh berries with whipped cream. However, vegetables can make delicious sweet dishes as well. Following is one of my daughters favourite recipes that we enjoy preparing and devouring together: Carrot muffins

Ingredients:
50gr butter
120gr sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
1dl milk
200gr grated carrots
150gr ground almonds
100gr flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 180°C

1.) Melt butter
2.) Place into a large mixing bowl along with sugar, salt and beaten eggs
3.) Mix well with a wooden spoon or electric mixer.
4.) Pour milk into mixture
5.) Add grated carrots. Mix well.
6.) Add ground almonds, flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda
7.) Place patty cases into muffin pan.
8.) Place heaped tablespoonfuls of mixture into pan.
9.) Bake for 25 minutes until cooked through. Do not overcook.

Let muffins cool down and decorate with marzipan carrots and a whole load of fantasy!

Traditional Swiss Cheese Fondue

This recipe comes straight from the heart. When winter rolls along and the cold, dark days seem endless, there is no better cheering up than a joly good fondue.

FIGUGAGL (Fondue isch guet und git a gueti Luune)

General note:
You need a special pot called a "caquelon" to prepare a fondue. Once the fondue is ready, the caquelon is set up on the table on a small burner. Keep the fondue on a constant head, but make sure it does not overheat. We use special forks with long handles to dip the bread in the molten cheese, but I'm sure it also works with regular forks.

A cheese fondue mixture should be held at a temperature warm enough to keep the fondue smooth and liquid but not so hot as to allow any burning. If this temperature is held until the fondue is finished there will be a thin crust of toasted (not burnt) cheese at the bottom of the caquelon. This is called la religieuse (French for the nun). It has the texture of a thin cracker and is almost always lifted out and eaten. It is the part everybody haggles about at the end.

Ingredients:
400g Vacherin Fribourgeois cheese, grated
400g ounces mature Gruyere cheese, grated
1 1/4 cups dry white wine
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 garlic clove
2 to 3 tablespoons kirsch (cherry liqueur)
Pinch of nutmeg
Ground black pepper, to taste
1 large baguette or other crusty white loaf, cut into cubes

Preparation:
To prepare the caquelon (the large fondue pot) it is first rubbed with a cut garlic clove.
Then combine both cheeses in the caquelon and heat according to manufacturer's directions.
In small glass, whisk together the wine and cornstarch. Once the cheese has melted, stir the wine mixture into the cheese. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the kirsch, nutmeg and pepper.
Set the pot's heat source to low to maintain a gentle simmer. Serve with bread cubes.

Swiss cheeses can be substituted for fontina or another good melting cheese.
Serves: 4

Chocolate muffins

"If it ain't chocolate, it ain't breakfast!"

What better way to start your day than with a chocolate muffin? OK, I admit I have a terrible sweet tooth. These chocolate mufffins do the trick every time I feel a craving. They also make successful children's snacks or dinner party gifts. The recipe is as fast as it is easy. Even beginners cannot go wrong. So go ahead - have 1/2 hour to spare - indulge in some devine chocolate muffins.

Ingredients:
100gr dark good quality chocolate
80 gr butter
130 gr sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
1 pinch of salt
2 eggs
1 dl milk
270 gr flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 1/2 table spoon sugar

Preparations:
1.) Melt chocolate in a double boiler then add melted butter and let cool slightly.
2.) Mix sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, eggs and milk in a bowl and beat until the mixture becomes lighter then stir in chocolate.
3.) Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda, add to chocolate mixture and blend together.
4.) Pour batter into prepared muffin cases, sprinkle with sugar.
5.) Bake in preheated oven at 180ºC for 15 to 20 minutes.

Chocolate Mousse

This recipe is my most popular post on my Expat with Kids blog. It must be good!

Ingredients:
5 dl whipping cream
200gr dark chocolate
3 eggs
30 gr sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence or 1 little envelop of vanilla sugar

Preparation:
Mix egg yolk, sugar and vanilla
Melt chocolate in a double boiler
Whip the cream stiff
Add the warm chocolate to the sugar/egg mixture and mix thoroughly.
Add whipped cream to mixture.
Fold in the stiffly whipped egg whites carefully.

Refridgerate for at least 4 hours.

Toblerone Mousse

What is more tempting than a Swiss Chocolate Mousse? This recipe is super-duper easy to prepare and taste delicious. Go ahead and plunge!

Ingredients: 
200gr roughly chopped Toblerone
450 ml whipped cream
3 medium egg whites
Milk chocolate curls or tiny Toblerone triangles for decorating

Preparation:
1.) Melt the chocolate in double boiler
2.) Cool slightly
3.) Fold in the whipped cream
4.) Whisk 3 egg whites until stiff
5.) Fold into the chocolate mixture
6.) Serve in small glasses decorated with the chocolate and chill

White Toblerone Mousse au Chocolat

I miss my Swiss chocolate, especially my Toblerone, and in particular my white Toblerone! Parisian macarons are delicious but it's just not chocolate. So - feeling a little homesick - I dug out one of my favourite recipes.

My dark Mousse au Chocolate recipe is my most popular post so far in my blogging career. I have therefore decided to share my white Toblerone Mousse au Chocolate recipe because the two desserts are best when served together.

Ingredients:
300g white Toblerone
2 eggs
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
4dl cream

Preparation:
1.) Break Toblerone into pieces and melt in a double boiler (40 ° C). Remove bowl from water boiler and stir until smooth.
2.) Mix eggs and powdered sugar in a separate bowl. Beat until mixture is foamy and light.
3.) Add the chocolate immediately and mix well.
4.) Beat the cream until stiff and carefully fold into the chocolate mixture.
5.) Cover the mousse with plastic wrap and place in fridge three to four hours or over night.

To serve:
Scoop the mousse with two spoons, arrange on dessert plates and decorate as desired with whipped cream and fruit.

Swiss Three Kings' Bread

In Switzerland, the Three Kings cake is made ​​from sweet yeast dough​, which is formed into balls, arranged in a flower-shape and sprinkled with almonds and coarse sugar.

There are various types of Three Kings' cakes found throughout Switzerland. All have a white plastic king figure “hidden” inside. The person who finds this piece is then “King or Queen for the Day” meaning he or she gets to choose what to do during that day and also what chores to avoid. No washing dishes, no cleaning up, no cooking?!

The Three Kings' cake is one of the most popular traditions in Switzerland. At the Iowa AG alone, which is Migros' bakery wholesale distributor produced over 500'000 pieces in 2000. His rival Coop managed to sell over 250,000. This is without counting the hundred of thousands cakes sold in bakeries throughout the country.  The total sales amount to approx 1.5 million cakes. Now beat that. No other celebration is so widely spread across this tiny, multi-cultured country.

Most Swiss buy their Epiphany cake at the local bakery or supermarket.
However, home-made always tastes best. Following is an easy and fast recipe to make with your kids. And who knows, if you're lucky, you might not even have to do the washing up!!!

Ingredients:
500gr flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons sugar
20gr (1/2 dice) fresh yeast, crumbled
60gr butter
1/2 lemon, grated rind
4 tablespoons raisins
3dl milk, warmed

Decoration:
1 egg, beaten
Sugar crysals, almond leaves

Preparation:
Mix flour, salt, sugar and yeast. Add the rest of the ingredients and knead for about 10 minutes unti a smooth dough has formed.

Cover dough and let rise for 2 hours until it has doubled in volume.

Form 8 servings, each weighing approximately 80gr.

Stick a king or a coin in one of the balls.

Form the remaining dough into a large ball and place on a baking sheet lined tray with the smaller balls distributed evenly around it.

Let stand for covered for another 30 minutes at room temperature to rise.

Brush with egg.

Bake for approx. 30 minutes in the bottom half of the pre-heated 180° C oven. Cool on a wire rack and then decorate!

The “Swiss Way” to eat the "Torta dei Re Magi" is with a good cheese selection, or butter, jam and hot chocolate at breakfast, lunch OR supper time!

You might also want to read about the Ticino tradition of the Befana on Epifany Day. Click here to discover more.