German Pancake

4 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
2 Tbls. butter

Preheat oven to 425 F. Put the butter in a cake pan (8"x8" for a thick pancake, bigger for a thinner one) and put in the oven to melt.

Beat eggs until light. Add flour and milk and mix until smooth.

Pour the batter into the cake pan with the melted butter, and bake for 20-25 min. until brown.

Serve immediately. Top with what you prefer, such as maple syrup, powdered sugar, jelly/jam, warm applesauce with cinnamon, any kind of fruit topping, whipped cream, etc.

The milk can be substituted with fruit juice for a variation. I like using orange juice.

Pepper Cookies

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup or corn syrup
1/2 cup butter
1/2 Tbls. vinegar
1 egg
1 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. sprinkles (optional)
2 1/2 cups flour

Cook the sugar, maple/corn syrup, butter and vinegar in a pot over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the butter is melted and it boils. Pour into a bowl and chill down to room temperature. Beat in all the other ingredients. It will make a smooth paste.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and freeze for 20 minutes or chill longer. It rolls out much easier when it is hard/cold.

Preheat oven to 350 F, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

On a floured surface, roll the dough to about 1/4" thick, then cut out shapes. Place them in the baking sheet with about 1" in between, because they do expand a little.

Bake for 7 minutes. (if they are thicker, or the pan is too crowded, they will require a few more minutes.) They should be slightly golden brown around the edges and look puffed up. Let them repose on the baking sheet until they are relaxed and more cool, then transfer cookies to a cooling rack. They should be thin and hard enough to snap, but slightly chewy when eating.

Makes about 36 cookies.

Orange Rolls

1 cup milk
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tbls. yeast
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup lukewarm water (110 degrees)
4 to 4½ cups flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
1 Tbls. orange zest

Sauce:
1 cup orange juice
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbls. cornstarch


Heat milk with butter, salt and 1/4 cup of the sugar. Heat until butter melts, but do not boil. Let cool to tepid. Whisk in egg and vanilla.

Dissolve yeast in water with 1 teaspoon sugar. Combine 3½ cups of flour with yeast mixture and milk mixture, stirring to form dough. Turn dough onto lightly floured board. Clean and butter bowl.

Knead dough about 8 minutes until smooth and resistant, adding flour if necessary.

Return to bowl. Cover and place in warm place to rise until double in size, 1 to 2 hours.

Punch down dough. Roll out on lightly floured board to a large rectangle about 1/2" thick. Brush with melted butter. Mix 1/4 cup sugar with orange zest and sprinkle on.

Roll dough like jelly roll. Use a sharp knife to cut thick slices to make the rolls. Place in a greased cake pan.

Mix together the sauce ingredients and pour over the rolls. Cover and let rise in warm place until nearly doubled in size.

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Bake rolls 45 minutes, until light golden brown.