Tuesday, January 12, 2010

TWD—Mrs. Vogel’s Scherben

TEANNA (name in all caps because I think she’s awesome!) from Spork or Foon? chose this week’s Tuesday’s With Dorie recipe for our lil’ group.  She chose Mrs. Vogel’s Scherben (pages 157-159 in the book).  What in the world is scherben, you ask?  I’ve made them now and still don’t really know.  Dorie calls them cookies.  They are NOT cookies.  They are just a simple dough, cut into small pieces and fried.  It’s fried food!   I don’t really hardly ever eat fried food.  But since I’m in this group, I had to play along.  Besides, I was intrigued.  Are these really good?

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Well, consensus after everyone ate this for Family Home Evening tonight was that they are pretty good—it’s fried food!  Really, we weren’t sure what to think of them.  So everyone kept eating another and another to see  what we really thought.  Are they the greatest thing ever?  No.  But they were fun to munch on and a little dangerous to have around because they were too easy just to keep popping in your mouth.

“Hey, Katrina, some of those are round,” you’re thinking.  Why, yes, they are.  Just thought I’d be a little different. (And we liked how puffed up the round ones got.)  And “wow, you got so many more than I did,” you complain.  That’s because I doubled the recipe.  The second batch I made, I added some cinnamon, a pinch of cloves and 2 tablespoons of crystallized ginger to the dough.  The ever-so-kind Mike, at Living Out West recently sent me a big ol’ bag of crystallized ginger because I’d mentioned on here that it is near-to-impossible to find here in these parts.  How totally nice of him.  (Thanks again, Mike!)  So for fun and a little kick, I thought I’d spice things up a bit with some of these. 

I doused those (and some of the regular batch) in cinnamon and sugar.  Some I just dusted with powdered sugar and others I made a mixture of powdered sugar and a little cocoa. 

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This is the plate of ginger-spiced scherben.

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“Plain” scherben with cinnamon and sugar.

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“Plain” scherben with powdered sugar and cocoa powder.  And the best thing we had with these—though the photo looks like, sorry, a pile of poop—was some whipped cream with cocoa powder.  You know, I’ve mentioned a number of times that I don’t really like whipped cream very much.  (I, shhh, prefer Cool Whip.)  But this little addition of just a little cocoa to the cream was awesome.  Loved it!)

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So there it is, scherben and poo whipped cream! ;)  Sorry.  I’m done now, I just didn’t realize the picture I’d taken of it was so horrible until we’d eaten almost all of it.  What about a drizzle of chocolate ganache, or just some for dipping?  Ooh, I gotta make these again, ‘sides, I hear they’re pretty good baked.  But thanks, Teanna, for the very fun, super easy pick this week!  Now what to do with the big pan full of oil I’ve got sitting on the stove?  Check out everyone else’s scherben this week over at the TWD blog.

35 comments:

mike said...

Um.... mine were just dusted with powdered sugar. I'm in awe of your creativeness in the kitchen - mixing this'n that! These look incredible (especially the ginger ones)! :) So glad you took the plunge in the fryer - looks like you had some fun!

chocolatechic said...

Beautiful non-cookies.

vibi said...

Thank you Katrina for being there for me while I was gone... I can always count on you! And frankly, I have no idea how you do it... with your boys, cooking, baking, being fun and keeping a blog... pfff... You are my idol! LOL

Now... perhaps you could take a break and share a cup 'o joe and a couple of those little marvels with me!?

A Happy New Year to you and your family... health, money, joy and time to relax! LOL

Hindy said...

Wow. You made them into real cookies. I wish I had some with ginger. Even chocolate drizzle would have been nice. Well done!

Pamela said...

I'm with Mike about your creativity with this one. They all look fabulous, poo-whipped cream and all.

Megan said...

I knew there would be a chocolate element in there somehow!

I passed on these, because I had a feeling that they would be like potato chips - too hard to eat just one!

Mimi said...

I agree these are not cookies, but they were tasty. I like how your round ones puffed up. I bet they would be cute for valentines day using a small heart shaped cuter and chocolate drizzle.
Mimi

spike. said...

those look great! wish I had your success this week

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

YUM! Looks like you were crazy-busy! :) Great photos!

Soy*Baby said...

Those all look so good. I know what you mean about trying them again and again to see if you really like them. I enjoyed the scherben that were coated in the cinnamon sugar. That chocolate whipped cream seems like the perfect match for these.

Eliana said...

Your scherben look super delish :)

Welcome to our crazy blessed life said...

You are so very creative! :) I was worried about the pinch of this and pinch of that but it turned out!

Lisa Ernst said...

Leave it to you to find a way to find a way to add some chocolate! A side of ganache for dipping would be just perfect. My current chocolate adventure is very healthy, whole grain pancakes (with some coconut flour in there) and some dark chocolate chunks and walnuts. Then a stevia sweetened pear compote for the topping. I discovered the pears and chocolate are quite complimentary in this way. Great way to start the day. LOL

Anonymous said...

I wasn't too impressed with these but they were almost too easy to keep mindlessly eating. I finally had to toss them. Love all of your variations.

Kayte said...

I knew there would be some fancy goings-on around here with this recipe, just wasn't sure what it would be. I had a hunch chocolate would be involved. Yep, chocolate for sure. Wow, you really gave us a lot to look at and to see a lot of options with this recipe. Thanks! Sizes, shapes, colors, it's all over here!

Teanna said...

You are consistently so AWESOME when it comes to being creative with TWD each and every week! I LOVE your different versions, and I would eat that poop whipped cream right up! And you are so right... these are NOT COOKIES! Hahahaha! Thanks for frying along with me this week!

noble pig said...

Little fried nibbles and poo oh yummy! He-he.

Flourchild said...

YOu did a fantstic job on these! I hear you on the give away part..but serisouly everyone is trying to eat healthy and I feel bad when I give treats to them. I don't want to be the one to throw them off track!
I love to bake so believe me I will still do it even if I throw some of it out!

Mary said...

The ginger sounds really good! I kept going back for more too, while still trying to decide if I actually liked them. Not so sure about that whipped cream, though. And Cool Whip, really?

♥peachkins♥ said...

great job! I'd easily finish off a bowl of these...

Anonymous said...

Your round ones are so cute! And you made a dip to go with them! Awesome.

Jules Someone said...

You totally went to town! I'm a little sorry that I didn't do this one. However, I think my hips will be happier that I didn't.

erin said...

I have to agree that there wasn't really any wow factor but all your shapes are adorable, I wish I would have thought of doing that!

Paula said...

Poo-whipped cream? Oh dear--LOL.

"So everyone kept eating another and another to see what we really thought."--I can so relate to this statement. Can't tell you how many times I've done this with a new recipe--usually until I'm about sick of it. :-)

Susan said...

Love all the different ways you finished your scherbens! And, my hubby prefers that other stuff too! :)

Donna-FFW said...

LOL at the poo whipped cream.. funny..

I love fried foods like this and it's great how you made them with so many different coatings!

CDC said...

Awesome! Love reading about foods I've never heard of:)

TeaLady said...

POOH!! I love POOH!! Chocolate, anyway.

I love your variations. I thot I was getting wild just adding cocoa to the powdered sugar.....

Unknown said...

Haha I knew you'd have something funny and creative over here this week and you didn't disappoint :) All of your versions look fantastic!

Emily said...

I've never heard of this before. Yes, it would be dangerous to have around.

I think the scherben with cocoa poweder and powdered sugar would taste like puppy chow. Mmm. :)

Shandy said...

You are Awesome and crazy busy with this recipe! Holy Crimanilleee BOB! Wow! Love all your combos =)

Casey @SpicyandSweet said...

Just stumbled across your blog...it's so great! Love the name!

shortbreadsouth said...

These were such fun, but you really ran away with it!

Unknown said...

Hahah you just HAD to include chocolate in there somewhere, didn't you? I'm very intrigued by the scherben, they sound interesting!

Terry said...

hee hee .... it does look alittle like its poo whipped, but I stil want some!