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Today I’m sharing my favourite dessert with you. I mean my absolutely favourite! In our family this dessert doesn’t even have a name. It’s just THE dessert. It’s sooo good, everyone loves it.

For the vanilla-cream you need heavy cream, plain yoghurt, sour cream, sugar and a vanilla bean. If you don’t have a vanilla bean, you can use vanilla extract instead.

For the caramelized wine and pears you need white wine, sugar, cinnamon sticks and pears. Use ripe pears, it just tastes better. If your pears are not very ripe, cook them longer, that they are soft in the end.

You start with the caramelized wine. Pour the sugar in a cooking pot. Put the cooking pot on high heat. Don’t leave the stove, you have to be very careful not to burn the caramel. You don’t need a spoon or a spatula for the caramel, the sugar will stick too much. When the sugar starts melting at the edges of the pot, put the heat on medium. Now lift the pot and swing the pot lightly from side to side before you put it on the stove again. Do that a couple times. The sugar doesn’t have to melt completly. If the sugar does get too dark, don’t use it, it will taste burned. Now pour the wine over the caramel. You still shouldn’t use a spoon. Just let it cook till the sugar is melted. Add cinnamon sticks and let it cook on low heat for 10 min.

In the meantime, peel the pears and cut them in 8 halves. Add the pears to the wine and cook for another 15 minutes or till the pears are soft. Let the wine with the pears cool down completely.

Fot the vanilla cream, you have to whip the heavy cream until stiff. With a sharp knife slice open the vanilla bean along the middle, but be careful not to cut all the way through. With a butter knife take the seeds from the bean and add them with sour cream and plain yoghurt to the whipped cream. Combine everything carefully using a whisk.

Spread the vanilla cream into small glasses or you can use one big bowl. Divide the pears among the glasses and carefully pour the caramelized wine over the pears. Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 1 cup whipping cream
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 cup yoghurt plain
• 1/2 cup sugar
• Vanilla bean or vanilla extract
• 3 ripe pears
• 1 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick

Instructions

1. Pour the 1 1/2 cup sugar in a cooking pot. Put the cooking pot on high heat. Don’t leave the stove. When the sugar starts melting at the edges of the pot, put the heat on medium. Now lift the pot and swing the pot lightly from side to side before you put it on the stove again. Do that a couple times. The sugar doesn’t have to melt completly. Now pour the wine over the caramel. Let it cook till the sugar is melted. Add the cinnamon stick and let it cook on low heat for 10 min.
2. In the meantime, peel the pears and cut them in 8 halves. Add the pears to the wine and cook for another 15 minutes or till the pears are soft. Let the wine with the pears cool down completely.
3. For the vanilla cream pour heavy whipping cream into the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. Use a hand mixer, or the whisk attachment on a stand mixer, to whip cream, slowly pour the 1/2 cup sugar in. Whip until stiff peaks form.
4. With a sharp knife slice open the vanilla bean along the middle, but not all the way through. With a butter knife take the seeds from the bean and add them with yoghurt and sour cream to the whipped cream. Combine everything.
5. Spread the vanilla cream into 4 glasses, divide the pears among the glasses and pour the wine over the pears.
6. You can prepare the vanilla cream and the pears a day before, but mix the dessert just before serving.

When my parents moved to Germany from Russia, we started our tradition to bake cookies for christmas. This is the first recipe we tried, and we stuck with it for 30 years already. The cookies are delicious. Our kids love them. I baked them twice in the last 2 weeks, and there are none left. The next portion I have to hide, so that we have some left for christmas!

For the Vanillekipferl you need blanched ground almonds, icing sugar, flour, vanilla sugar unsalted cold butter and egg yolks.

Put all the ingredients in a Kitchen Aid or whatever you use, to make the dough. Cover the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 30 min. That’s very important, or the vanillekipferl will lose their shape while being baked.

Take half of the dough from the fridge and make balls that are 10g each. Keep the other half in the fridge, till the first half is done.

Roll the balls with your hands to make an elongated strand. Then make a shape, like the picture above.

Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Put the kipferl on a lined baking tray and bake for approximately 12 minutes. They should be golden brown. Keep them on the baking tray for 5 minutes because they are very soft. Then put sugar and vanillasugar in a bowl, and dip the vanillekipferl one by one in the sugar. They still have to be warm, otherwise the sugar will not stick.

You can store them for a couple of weeks in a cookie jar and in a cold place. I store them in our garage.

Ingredients

• 300 g flour (2,1/2 cup)
• 125 g icing sugar (1cup)
• 1 pack of vanillasugar
• 3 egg yolk
• 125 g blanched ground almonds (1cup)
• 250 g unsalted butter, cold (1,1/8 cup)
• extra sugar and 1 pack of vanillasugar for dipping

Instructions

Put all the ingredients in a Kitchen Aid or whatever you use, to make the dough. Cover the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least 30 min. That’s very important, or the vanillekipferl will lose their shape while being baked.

Take half of the dough from the fridge and make balls that are 10g each. Keep the other half in the fridge, till the first half is done.

Roll the balls with your hands to make an elongated strand. Then make a moon-like shape.

Preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit. Put the kipferl on a lined baking tray and bake for approximately 12 minutes. They should be golden brown. Keep them on the baking tray for 5 minutes because they are very soft. Then put sugar and vanilla sugar in a bowl, and dip the vanillekipferl one by one in the sugar. They still have to be warm, otherwise the sugar will not stick.