I miss Germany and the UK, especially during the festive season of Christmas: the falling of the flurry snowflakes; the icy (sometimes bitter) coldness with ever plunging temperatures; the piping hot soup and snacks along the streets littered with Christmas lights; the lingering aroma of the warm brew of mulled wine. The cute piggy toys sold at the stalls of the German Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmärkte) are one of the things that I miss the most. In the eyes of the German-speaking lot, these pigs, otherwise known as the Glücksschwein(chen), are THE symbol of luck and prosperity,
One of the last souvenirs I brought back with me to Singapore from Frankfurt, Germany, was a bread recipe magazine entitled Brot backen. In it I found a delightful recipe that provided me with an opportunity to indulge and reminisce in the memories of the European winter wonderlands – Gefüllte Glücksschweinchen – literally ‘lucky piglets with fillings’. The photo in the recipe had piglets that looked as if they were screaming at me to bake them. Imagine that… there was no way I could resist their squealing shrills of excitement.
Ingredients:
- Plain flour (Mehl): 300g
- Baking powder (Backpulver): 2 tsp
- Cream or cottage cheese (Frisch- oder Hüttenkäse): 150g
- Milk (Milch): 5 tbsp
- Olive oil (Olivenöl): 6 tbsp
- Salt (Salz): 1/2 tsp
- Egg (Ei): 1
- Pesto sauce (Pesto Genovese): 1/2 cup
- Glaze (zum Bestreichen): 1 egg yolk + 1 tbsp milk (1 Eigelb + 1 EL Milch)
- Black peppercorn, whole (schwarze Pfefferkörner, ganz): 24 pieces
Method (English):
- Preheat oven at 180 degrees Celsius.
- Mix flour and baking powder together.
- Mix in cheese, milk, oil, salt and egg. Knead till a soft and elastic dough forms.
- Roll out dough on a floured surface till 3mm thick.
- Cut out 3 big circles (7cm diameter) and 1 small circle (2cm) for each pig.
- Spoon 1 tsp pesto sauce onto center of 1 big circle, leaving the edge clean.
- Cut the 2nd big circle into four quarters. Place 1 quarter each on the top left and right of the big circle to form the pig ears. Leave the other 2 quarters for making another pig.
- Place the last big circle on top of the ears and sauce. Press down on the edges to bind.
- Glaze the middle of the circle with egg yolk mixture. Place the small circle on top of glaze to form the pig nose. Use a chopstick to press 2 nostrils into the nose.
- Press 2 peppercorns into the head, above the nose, to form the eyes.
- Glaze whole pig head with egg yolk mixture. Bake 15 – 20 min till golden brown.
Methode (auf Deutsch):
- Ofen vorheizen auf 180 Grad.
- Mehl und Backpulver mischen.
- Käse, Milch, Öl, Salz und Ei zugeben und zu einem elastichen Teig verkneten.
- Auf bemehlter Arbeitsfläche 3mm dick ausrollen.
- 3 große Kreise (7cm) und 1 kleiner Kreis (2cm) pro Schweinchen ausstechen.
- Auf einen großen Kreis 1/2 TL Pesto streichen, dabei etwas Rand frei lassen.
- Den zweiten großen Kreis vierteln und mit zwei als Ohren auf den Kopf (links und rechts) kleben.
- Den dritten großen Kreis auf die vorherige Kreise auflegen und fest andrücken.
- Mit der Eigelb-Milch den kleinen Kreis in die Mitte des gesichts aufsetzen. Mit Hilfe einer Stäbchen zwei Nasenlöcher darauf formen.
- Mit zwei Pfefferkörnern die Augen auf das Gesicht auflegen und andrücken.
- Das komplette Gesicht mit Eigelb-Milch bestreichen. Im vorgeheizten Backofen goldgelb backen.
Tricks:
- Replace pesto sauce with peanut butter and peppercorns with raisins for a sweet and equally tasty alternative.
- I added in the RUF butter-vanille essence which upped the fragrance of the baked pastry by tenfold. This would work great especially for a sweet (instead of savoury) version of the pastry.
Disclaimers:
- This recipe was kindly adapted from Brot Backen, published by Backlust (Germany). It uses German quark – a type of curd cheese which is unavailable here. I used cream cheese in place of it, which worked perfectly well too.
- You can also find the original recipe online.
- In case you are wondering, this really is a mix between a pastry and a bread. It’s crispy outside and very soft and fluffy inside. Yummy!
Serving:
Makes 12 medium-sized pieces
