Homemade Maultaschen: Completely from Scratch!

Two weeks ago when she was feeling horrible and sick he promised to make something tasty for dinner while she sat on the couch watching TV and feeling miserable for herself. Something tasty indeed! Two hours (give or take) and a lot of work later, homemade maultaschen showed up on her plate. She still felt sick, but her tummy was much happier after that.

We only made half of the recipe we used (the entire recipe listed here) and still had waaaay too much. We froze many of the maultaschen and she ate some as leftovers in the days after he made them. In total, we would say this makes about eight servings (depending what else you eat as a side) or four meals for two people.

Some people make maultaschen but do not do it all from scratch (i.e., they buy dough). He went all out and made the dough and the filling. If you are interested in the history of maultaschen or learning more about how you can cook them, check out our earlier blog entry here.

Dough:
375 g flour
3 eggs
a little salt and water

Filling:
1 roll (day old is best)
125 g spinach
25 g speck (basically bacon or ham in small pieces)
1/2 onion, diced
250 g ground beef *
250 g veal *
2 eggs
salt, pepper, nutmeg, marjoram
1/2 egg (only the white) - optional

* We didn't want to buy veal / not easy to find near us, so we used 1/2 the typical German ground beef / ground pork mix and 1/2 pure ground beef.

 

First make the dough. Mix the egg and flour. Add a little salt and enough water that the dough comes together but is not sticky. Roll it out so that is is quite thin (both in thickness and in width) and long. He found it easier to do a little at the time instead of trying to roll out one long piece of dough.







Anytime during this you can cook the filling. Mix the spinach, meat, speck and onion. Mix well so it because a soft mixtures that sticks together. Add the roll (cut into small pieces) and eggs. Season well.




She actually did get off the couch to help him make the actual maultaschen. We each had our own style. You can decide what is best.

His way: 

Put a spoonful of the meat mixture on a square of dough. 



 

Add a second square to make a small pocket. You can either use something like a empanada press or make it by hand. 




 

He wanted his to look more like traditional maultaschen so he made every pocket by hand. 


 



He used a fork to seal the side and then cut off the excess dough to make it look like proper maultaschen. 





If your dough is not sticking properly, use egg white around the edges.

Her way:

 

She used the entire long piece of dough, put spoonfuls of meat slightly apart up to halfway point. 



 


She then folded over the dough and cut in between the meat pouches. After that, she followed his way of using a fork and cutting off the edges. 

 



Once the pockets are made cook them for 15 minutes in boiling salt water. 








You can then eat the maultaschen like that, add them to soup, or cut them in slices and fry them. If you want a big meal, cook them with eggs like we did in our other blog entry.

Lots of work but much much much tastier than the store bought version. Also, if you use a press you save a ton of time and you can also make a lot at one time and freeze them to eat later without much effort. 

This recipe was adapted from chefkoch.de user Judith.

Schnitzel Sandwich

Best part about having leftover schnitzel? Making a schnitzel sandwich!










Fresh rolls, schnitzel, lettuce, tomato, and your choice of mayo, mustard, of ketchup (or all three if you are feeling adventurous).



You can't really go wrong when making a schnitzel sandwich, except DO NOT microwave the schnitzel. Take the few extra minutes to heat it up in the oven so you keep the crispiness.

Apple Torte (AKA German Apple Pie)

Apple torte is as close as Germany gets to pie. Americans are probably rolling their eyes at this. Clearly it is called torte because it is NOT pie, but tasty desserts are tasty desserts so who really cares?!?

We had a craving for something sweet one night and were surprised by how quick and easy this recipe was to whip up. It is delicious and even comes out quite pretty if you take the few extra minutes to distribute the apples nicely.

One torte:

125 g margarine
150 g sugar
200 g flour
3 eggs
3 EL (Tbs) milk
1 package of vanilla sugar*
1/2 package of baking powder**
1 pinch salt
4 apples

We apologizes for these being in metric. This is when it is good to have a kitchen scale that can be switched between measuring systems :)

* We are unsure if vanilla sugar is sold in the USA. If not just use about a tsp or so of vanilla extract.
** One package in Germany is 15 g, so you will need about 8 g.

Preheat the oven to 175 C (350 F)

Soften the margarine (either over hot water, leaving it out for a bit, or by using the microwave).


While the butter softens, separate the eggs. 








Mix the egg yolks, softened margarine, sugar, flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar, milk, and pinch of salt together.









Once everything is mixed well, gently fold in the egg whites.

The dough will be pretty wet, don't worry.

Peel and cut the apples.








Unless you have an apple corer, the easiest way is to cut each apple in half,







scoop out the middle,








and slice thinly.




 




Using a springform pan (26 cm is the best size but you can make anything work), press the dough along the bottom and one third up the sides.









Spread the apples along the bottom of the pan. If you take a few minutes you can make a very nice pattern. When finished, press the apples into the dough.






Bake for 45 minutes to one hour, or until nice and brown.

Let cool a very minutes before trying to release from the pan.

Serve alone or (his favorite) with ice cream.


This recipe was adapted from Muzel

Semmelknödel (Bread Dumplings)

Knödel are a traditional German side dish. They are also popular in other European countries but go by other names. Knödel can be made out of bread or potato. We are bigger fans of Semmelknödel (bread dumplings), so that is what we chose to make.

Knödel are delicious and although a bit time consuming, quite easy to make. This recipe is like biting into  delicious giant balls of stuffing. She is tempted to make them as a Thanksgiving side dish this year.




10 medium Knödel:

250 g hard rolls (using leftover or day old bread is best)
250 ml milk
2 eggs
1 Tbs (EL) butter
1 small onion, chopped
2 Tbs (EL) parsley, chopped
salt, pepper, nutmeg









Rip or cut up the rolls. They should be in small pieces, but not crumbs.




















Mix the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, parsley,  and a dash of nutmeg together.

 

Add the bread and mix well (you need to get your hands dirty for this part). Let sit 20 minutes.









While the bread mixture sits, dice the onion and cook in the butter medium heat. Cook the onions until they are glassy looking.


After the bread has sat for 20 minutes, add the butter/onion mixture. Mix well.











Form balls out of the mixture. They should be solid but not so squeezed that they are super dense. Being too dense will keep them from cooking through as well.










Depending on size, you should get 8-10 Knödel.















Put the bread balls in a steam cooker (we used the steamer we cook veggies in). Steam for 30 minutes.

Serve as is or with gravy and a meat dish. After just the first bite you will find yourself wishing you had bread laying around to make more.

Pretzels and Wurst

This is a pretty typical meal for me when I am feeling tired or lazy and he is away.

Think Germany has rubbed off on me a bit....? :)

Fried Maultaschen and Egg

Unfortunately, if you are not in Germany or do not have access to Southern German food, this dish will be nearly  impossible to make. There is a way to make your own maultaschen but we haven't tried it yet...hopefully, that will be a project in the near future.

Maultaschen are like giant ravioli but a bit larger, tougher, and with lots more filling.

In our part of Germany it is traditional to eat maultaschen on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday because they say god cannot see the meat through the pasta dough. For this reason, maultaschen are sometimes called Herrgottsbescheißerle, or little cheaters on god.


You can get vegetarian maultaschen or with meat inside. We usually have the original schwäbisch kind (with meat). We will only be living in southern Germany for another week and might as well make the most out of it :) Maultaschen can be eaten and cooked in a variety of ways. In soup, on salad, boiled, or fried. Our favorite way to eat maultaschen is fried with egg  mixed in. If you have maultaschen, making this meal is very simple.

 

Cut your maultaschen into thin slices. He cuts them horizontally to get the maximum number of pieces.

 

Heat a healthy amount of oil on the stove. 

 

Once hot, add the maultaschen.

 

Let brown and stir to make sure all sides are cooked evenly.

While the maultaschen are cooking, beat eggs in a separate bowl or glass. We usually use two eggs, but sometimes we will use three if it is going to be our entire dinner.

Once the maultaschen are good and brown, remove them from the pan and blot with a paper towel to remove additional oil. 

Return to the heat and pour the eggs over the maultaschen. Mix often while letting the egg cook.

Remove from the heat and serve. We like to eat our maultaschen with ketchup, but we are sure some Schwabians would roll their eyes at that :)