Champagne and Chocolate Party

Last night was my Champagne and Chocolate Party with the book club girls and we had a great time. Everyone brought a bottle of bubbly as well as some type of chocolate dish. We had chocolate covered strawberries/apricots, cupcakes, cookies and of course champagne. I ended up making these amazing cookies called chocolate crinkles and thought I would share the recipe. Here you go:

Chocolate Crinkles

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter

8 ounces (230 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Topping:

1 cup (110 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

Directions:

In a heatproof bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy –about 3 to 5 minutes. When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and beat until incorporated.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls (several hours or even overnight).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the sifted confectioner sugar into a shallow bowl. First, form the chilled dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls, and then roll each ball in the sugar. Make sure each ball is completely coated, with no chocolate showing through. Place the sugar-covered balls on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart.

Bake cookies for about 8 to10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them to be dry. 

Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies. 

These are perfect year round cookies and some people may even call them mini cakes, enjoy!

First Trip to Chiemsee

A girlfriend of mine had a visitor from home and invited me to visit Chiemsee with them.  After purchasing the Bavaria ticket, which is 20 euros and up to five people can travel on it, we boarded our train to Chiemsee.  An hour and a half later we arrived in Chiemsee and after a 25 minute walk (the Walt Disney looking train is not running today) to the water, we purchased our tickets for the ferry and boarded the boat to the islands. 

Map of Chiemsee

We decided to first visit Frauenchiemsee, which is the smaller of the two major islands on the Chiemsee and houses a Benedictine nunnery (built in 782) as well as a small village. The nuns here are famous for making a liquor called Klosterlikör (cloister liquor) and Marzipan (almond paste).  After a quick walk around, we picked a restaurant over looking the water for lunch and were not disappointed. We enjoyed a couple of Weiss biers and I enjoyed smoked white river fish, which is a popular local dish. It took a little more effort on my part to eat, but was absolutely delicious. 

View of the Frauenchiemsee

After lunch, we caught the ferry to the Herrenchiemsee Island, which is where King Ludwig's unfinished New Palace or Herrenchiemsee Palace is located. This palace was designed and built from 1863 to 1885 and ended up costing Bavaria well over 16 million marks, which equates to over $125,000,000. Unlike the medieval design of Neuschwanstein Castle, the new Palace is a Neo-Baroque monument to Ludwig's admiration of King Louis XIV of France. It was to have been an equivalent to the Palace of Versailles, but only the central portion was built before the king died in 1886, whereafter construction was discontinued leaving 50 of the 70 rooms incomplete. However, like Versaille, the Famous Hall of Mirrors, which is much larger than the original was completed and before his mysteries death Ludwig did spend a few days here in September of 1885.   

The front view of Herrenchiemsee Palace

Since photos are not allowed during the tour, here are some from the official website. Enjoy!

Hall of Mirrors

Central Staircase, officially named "The State Staircase"

The Council Chamber Room

The Porcelain Room - My Favorite

After the tour, we walk through the forest and a short ferry ride we were back on the main island heading for the train station. It was a very pleasant day and I sure I will be bring our visitors here this summer. 

Lunch at the Bambergerhaus and a walk around Olympia Park

Today we tried a new restaurant called Bambergerhaus, which actually reminds us a lot of Park Chalet in San Francisco. Both restaurants are located in a park, have the same type of outdoor seating –lawn chairs on the grass and a large patio and are great places to have brunch.  However, it did take me a moment to find it as Cheryl and I used to walk past it all the time on our walks, but since we took a different way we had to pull out the google map and retrace our steps. 

We enjoyed our lunch under a white umbrella on their beautiful patio

Since the weather was gorgeous and the place is located near the Olympia Park, we decided to walk around it before heading home. I quickly realized that I must of never paid attention of the route Cheryl and I took because we got turned around the moment we exited the restaurant. After a good five minutes of walking in the direction I thought was correct, we turned around and were back on track. Needless to say, google maps saved our lives today.

My First Visit To Tegernsee

I spent the day in Tegernsee with two girlfriends and it was amazing. Located about forty-five minutes south of Munich in the foothills of the Alps, Tergensee is a fascinating small city surrounded by a beautiful clear lake with the same name. Lining the lakefront, there are many traditional shops, cafes and restaurants. After a quick drive through town, we headed up to the Leeberghof to park our car and begin the hike.  One problem, my outfit consisted of a sweater, tight skinny jeans and knee high fashion boots…oops. Guess I missed the memo about the 5.5 km hike we were doing straight up to the top of the mountain. Thank god the girls wanted to take it slow because otherwise I would have probably twisted my ankle.  In the end, all the hard work definitely paid off as the view was spectacular and the best part was this little four person chapel located right on the top. I have no idea how it got there, but decided that it fell from the sky.

Me on the top of the mountain...a little sweaty 

View from the top...Gorgerous

The Beer Garden/Hut where our other friend was enjoying a coffee

The smallest chapel I have ever seen, with only four seats...what a cool place to pray

Afterwards, we decided to head down towards the lake and have lunch. We stopped at the Bräustüberl Tegernsee, which used to be a monastery/brewery and is now one of Bavaria’s most well known taverns. After lunch, we walked around the town and then headed back to Munich. It was a wonderful day and I enjoyed getting out of Munich for a while. 

Our First Fruhlingsfest

Yesterday was the opening day of Munchener Fruhlingsfest (Munich Spring Festival), which lasts for two weeks and take place at Theresienwiese (Oktoberfest Fairgrounds). Pretty much think of Oktoberfest, and then shrink it.  The festival is sometimes called the “Kleine Schwester des Oktoberfestes,” which translates to Oktoberfest’s Little Sister. With only two big beer tents and one outdoor beer garden, I think the little sister nickname is perfect for this festival.

Brad and I decided to visit the festival on Saturday to see what it was like and actually ended up spending the entire day there.  After exiting the ubahn, you find yourself in the heart of the fairgrounds. On your left are carnival rides, games and food booths, but on your right are the famous Hippodrom-Festzelt Beer Tent and a spinning carousel with a built-in bar. Instead of hitting the bar, we decide to take a walk around the fairgrounds and then find a place to eat. The weather is amazing out and after a quick stroll, we decide to sit down in the outdoor beer garden and enjoy a weissbier before eating sausages mit semmel. We sit down and quickly realize that the waitresses were not the ones from Oktoberfest as they were carrying the beer on trays (rather than in their hands) and could barely figure out the change. We dubbed them waitresses in training and agreed that they would never cut it at the real Oktoberfest. After a couple masses of beer and a giant line at the food stand, we decided to check out the spinning carousel bar. It was nice to have a drink here, but it got super crowded and without a restroom, we quickly finished our drinks and went to the Hippodrom.

At the Carousel Bar enjoy sekt with mineral wasser and limonelle

Brad on the Carousel with a Weiss Bier

We wanted to check it out since we requested this tent for Oktoberfest and wanted to make sure that it was suitable for the KPMG partners visiting us. The tent was beautiful and nicely decorated. The menu was extensive and best of all, you were able to purchase a magnum of champagne. Plus, they had a bubble lounge on one side of the tent to enjoy a glass of bubbly, which of course I did. I loved this tent and thought to myself ‘hopefully we end up getting our table here for the real Oktoberfest’.  

Even the masses were pretty

After a few more drinks and a look around the tent, we decided to head home for a nap!