Tuesday, January 12, 2010

TWD: Mrs.Vogel's Scherben


We have a rather unusual TWD pick this week - a deep-fried sugar-coated treat similar to funnel cake. Or so I'm told, but I think I've only had funnel cake once and I don't really remember anything but grease, so to me these are in a class by themselves. I don't usually do deep-fried, but these were chosen by the one and only Teanna of Spork or Foon, so I couldn't not make them! Actually, I was even looking forward to making them - they looked unique and fun, and I never would have chosen them on my own so I was excited to try something different.

Teanna and I went to college together, and after reading her blog for a few months I decided to start my own! She is also the way I found out about TWD. My life has been hugely impacted by becoming a food blogger, and without Teanna I may never have discovered this incredible community.

This scherben - is there a more fun name for a treat out there?! Say it with me, scherben, scherben, scherben! - is perfectly crispy (even almost 24 hours after frying them), and hardly sweet at all until tossed in powdered sugar. It is amazingly light for something that has been deep-fried, making it entirely too easy to pop into your mouth, one after another. After another. I used powdered sugar on most of it, but I did also top some with a blend of cardamom and granulated sugar, which was a really sublime combination.

It isn't the easiest recipe to scale down, given that it has one egg and one tablespoon of butter - though the amazing Nancy figured out the measurements for a 1/4 recipe - so I hesitantly made a full batch. Thankfully, I was able to give a lot of it away.

Though these aren't something I would normally have chosen to make, I loved them. I couldn't believe how much fun I had deep-frying them, too. It helps to have a pot that is deep enough to assuage any fears of boiling oil jumping onto my skin. I had welts for weeks after making my Apple Cider Doughnuts a few months back. I don't see myself making them again any time soon, as they are a little fussy, but I'm so glad to have made them and I'll keep them in mind in case an occasion arises in the future that they would be appropriate for.

Many thanks to Teanna for picking such a fun recipe, and of course, for introducing me to the food blog world. (You'll hear more about all of this in several weeks, when I celebrate my first blogiversary!) You can find the recipe for the scherben on Teanna's wonderful and terribly funny blog!


16 comments:

  1. OH!! I like the idea of the cardamom on theses. I added cocoa to the cinn/sugar and am thinking of adding nutmeg to next batch (since still have dough left).

    They are hard to resist.

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  2. Mmmmm, I bet the cardamon added a delicious dimension to these treats. Your scherben look lovely, and how fun that you and Teanna went to college together!

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  3. Your cookies look perfect and the cardamon sounds like such a wonderful addition.
    Mimi

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  4. Teanna is awesome and so funny.
    Love your blog. And yes, the scherben were almost worse than Lays Potato chips! I didn't even think they were THAT great, but kept eating them! They'd probably be good, too, with some savory spices! (If you need to make your own fried food!) ;)

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  5. They look wonderful. I love the pictures and the cardamon and sugar sounds yummy.

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  6. Your Sherben came out fantastic Sarah :)

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  7. I love that last photo. I will have to give these a try!

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  8. Gorgeous pics Sarah! Some day I'd love to hear more about what time of day you take your pics because the lighting is always perfect. I really liked these too and ate far too many because they just seemed so light :) How fun that you and Teanna went to college together!

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  9. wow, that's some awesome scherben. i love your pastry wheel, the edges are fantastic!

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  10. Sarah, who would have guessed that 7 or 8 years after we were traipsing around Syracuse Stage barefoot on muslin in a version of Romeo and Juliet suspended in time that we would both end up having food blogs? Hahaha! I am so honored to have given you any sort of thought in starting your amazing blog - I can't believe it is almost your Blogiversary! Congratulations! I am loving the cardamom addition! Thanks so much for frying along with me!

    Oh, and that tres leches cake was out of this world! If you want to make it for your birthday, the recipe is on my site!

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  11. They look great. Im glad you enjoyed this recipe!

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  12. They look great Sarah! I can't wait to try them.

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  13. Your scherben look very pretty, and I love the idea of cardamom!

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  14. Your scherben look fantastic, I'm glad you didn't get welts this time! Thanks for the tip on the thermometer; I will try to calibrate it before giving up and buying a new one.

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  15. What lovely photos! I'm glad I'm not the only one who found these to be totally addictive.

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  16. Nice job on the scherben! I still haven't made these, but I will one of these days. I like the idea of using different spices with the sugar coating.

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