I am sitting on an old stone wall, my back leaning against the wall of the house. A cup of coffee next to me. The leaves of the fruit trees move gently in the wind and a small domestic redstart chirps from the rain gutter. From the kitchen window it smells of freshly baked plum cake with cinnamon... There are places in the world that are magical. They meet you in the middle of your heart and touch you in a very special way. It's like love at first sight, an encounter that just won't let you go. And there is this feeling of knowing this place for a very long time, although this is your very first time there.
This happened to me a week before our daughter Léonore was born. I was in the countryside in Luxembourg, as so often, to research a new topic for Theresa's kitchen. Coincidence dictated that I passed an uninhabited farmhouse. I was immediately fascinated by the orchard meadow. It was a spring day and shortly before there had been a rain shower. It smelled of damp grass and wild chives. I looked at the old gnarled fruit trees and immediately thought of my grandfather's orchards. All the summers of my childhood I spent there in Baden. I stayed a while longer, drove back into town and knew I would come back. Well, I should still come often, after some time also in company of my small family. I knew this was exactly the place for my stories and movies. Here you can work creatively for Theresa's kitchen. In Luxembourg City I had been on the lookout again and again, but the special atmosphere that I need as a basis for my work was missing every time. We like living in the city and continue to feel very comfortable. But from now on, there is another place in the middle of nature. Through the seasons, I will take you out to the country. Inspired by the many hazel bushes that grow there in a dense hedge, I have already found the right name. Hazelnut House. It may seem a little fairy-tale like Beatrix Potter is about to turn the corner with her drawing pad, but it will actually exist from now on. The most beautiful ideas from Hazelnut House. The editorial staff of Theresa's kitchen has moved in. In the middle of nature and in the middle of the source of good things from the kitchen. I can't wait to report to you.
Your Theresa
Zutaten
100 g spelt flour type 630
200 g whole hazelnuts
100 g cane sugar
3 organic eggs
100 g room warm butter
1 1/2 tsp tartar baking powder
1 msp vanilla powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of salt
500 g plums
For the crumbles:
50 g spelt flour
50 g ground hazelnuts
50 g cold butter
2-3 tablespoons raw cane sugar
1 tsp Ceylon cinnamon
1 pinch of sea salt
Zubereitung
Preheat the oven to 180°C top and bottom heat. Roast the hazelnuts in a pan without fat until they turn slightly brownish and start to smell. Then grind finely in a blender. Cream butter and sugar together. Separate the eggs. Add the egg yolks and vanilla powder to the butter-sugar mixture and mix to a light mass.
In the meantime, sieve the flour, hazelnuts, cinnamon and baking powder and beat the egg white into snow. Now gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar-egg cream. Finally, carefully fold in the beaten egg white. Pour the dough into a greased springform pan. Now the cake is decorated with the plums! Remove the seeds from the fruit, cut in half and spread over the dough as desired. Finally, for the crumbles, mix the flour, hazelnuts, sugar, cinnamon and salt and knead with the cold butter to crumbly crumbles. Spread the crumbles over the cake and bake in a preheated oven for about an hour until golden brown. To be on the safe side, take a sample of the rods. The hazelnut cake with plums and crumbles tastes lukewarm the best!
