Easter in Istanbul

While I was expecting a lovely Easter brunch with friends, sun, flowers, and chocolate bunnies, I had no idea what was in store for us. 

First, the hotel was decorated for the season, with giant chocolate egg sculptures throughout the lobbies. I guess they knew the subtle scent of chocolate would be a temptation to eat the art, so they kindly left jars of chocolate eggs on all of the tables. 

 

And made frequent refills...because these eggs were GOOD! They had a thick candy shell and wonderful chocolate inside, with just a hint of hazelnut. Our group ate a lot of these, but I was thankful the hotel had them out the night our dinner cruise was 2 hours late for pickup-

 

In between days of siteseeing, we took Easter off and celebrated with a lovely brunch on the terrace - good friends, good conversation, and great food! 

 

They did a wonderful job decorating the terrace with flowers and eggs, as well as had clowns and a play area for the kids. But most importantly, the food...Instead of a traditional buffet, it was a bit of a mix between buffet and made to order. There were chefs at each stand cooking the foods, so that the food on the buffet was always fresh and frequently replaced. From breakfast (waffles, eggs) to sushi and tempura to grilled meats-seafood and freshly made caprese salads (choose your type of mozzarella!), it was all excellent. And of course to supplement the mains were a huge variety of sides, tapas, salads, and of course a döner stand. And wonderful turkish breads!

 

Here at the stand where they made artichoke and prosecco risotto and lobster ravioli (yum!) the chefs had all the ingredients ready. I had never seen what an artichoke looks like on its plant! 

 

And dessert...Instead of a dessert bar, they brought a selection of desserts and sorbets to each table. Wow...words fail me here, but let's just say macarons, peanut butter chocolate cake, lemon tart, and caramel cream puffs...just to start. 

 

And these lovely centerpieces. I think they're real flowers, but I'd never seen anything like them. Sort of like peonies, with lettuce in the middle. But in a good way!

 

But what really made the day for me was the little petting zoo. I thought I might have chocolate bunnies and chicks, but never dreamed I'd have the real thing!

 

Yes, the littlest bunny is cuddling with 3 ducklings. I thought I might die from cuteness!

 

How perfect are these guys?

 

Hi!

 

Adorable.

 

After a wondeful afternoon (yes, we spent 3 hours at brunch) we returned to the room to find a chocolate creation. A white chocolate egg with marshmallow fondant flowers and a few more of the tasty chocolate eggs. 

More to come on our long weekend in Istanbul. It was a really wonderful trip. A chance to see good friends and to relax a little and enjoy the sun and the beauty of Turkey. But so many photos to sort through first!

Happy Easter!

After way too much work and stress, we're finally off for a short break in Istanbul.

Easter is a big holiday in Germany. We're only taking off the 4 day weekend, but many take a 1 or 2 week break now. Luckily the airport in Munich usually isn't as horrible as US airports on holiday weekends!

Wishing you all a wondeful Easter, filled with family, friends, flowers, (chocolate) bunnies, and all the cute fluffy things that come with the season!

 

We'll be back next week, with some great memories and hopefully some good photos.

I spent New Year's Eve 2002 there, but I'm looking forward to going back with a better camera, more experience, and Herr J!

(Can't wait to see what Nikon can do with the mosques and lights...)

Chocolate (Bunnies) in Germany

What good is living in Germany amid all this great chocolate without learning a bit more? It's all in the name of cultural research, right?  

    

So we gathered up chocolate bunnies from the major German chocolate producers, as well as a few Belgian and Swiss producers, to see what was out there. And, as with the beer tasting, we learned quite a bit about the history of the local chocolatiers!

Lindt Goldhasen (Switzerland)Lindt

We begin, of course, with the famous Lindt Goldhasen.  Lindt & Sprüngli AG is widely available, good quality Swiss chocolate and has stores throughout Europe and the US.  It began in 1845, with a history quite common for many European companies. A father and son began the Sprüngli business by opening a café in Zurich making the new style bars of chocolate that were becoming popular in Italy.  Upon the son's retirement, he split the business between his two sons, giving one the two stores and the other the chocolate factory.  The store continues today as a Swiss institution (and of course expanded into other Swiss cities) and is the famous Confiserie Sprüngli known for the past 50 years for it's heavenly  "Luxemburgerli" macarons.

The other son took his chocolate factory public to finance expansion and bought Rodolphe Lindt's factory and its secrets of making superior soft chocolate, giving birth to the Lindt & Sprüngli chocolate company. Almost 15 years ago, Lindt bought chocolatier Ghirardelli and has transformed it into an international brand. Sadly, it isn't available here...I love the dark chocolate bars with mint filling!

Lindt is best known for its Goldhasen and Lindor Truffels, both of which were invented in the 1950s.  Unfortunately for Herr J and I, they don't make the peanut butter ones in Europe.  But if you love peanut butter and chocolate, I highly encourage you to try one - they're the orange ones.  The Lindor balls began as seasonal Christmas chocolates but were so popular they now are available in many flavors year round. The Goldhasen still are only for Easter. For more history, check out Lindt's Secrets of Chocolate Book.

Belfine chocolate bunny and chick (Belgium)Belfine

Next up, we have the super adorable bunny and chick from Belgian chocolatier Belfine.  In addition to being really great chocolate, they had some of the cutest Easter figures of rabbits, chicks, and lambs, also utilizing colored chocolates. They specialize in cuteness, and looking at both the selection in the store and on their website, I say they achieve this goal well. The Christmas penguin metronomes on their website header are over the top in cuteness. 

None of this is a surprise, once we learn that Belfine is owned by ChocDecor, a company blending technology and Belgian chocolate-making tradition to sculpt chocolate into beautiful figures. Both are fairly new entrants into the chocolate market, founded only in 1995.  I appreciate their mission statement of "Make People Happy" - it just seems appropriate for a chocolate company!

        Friedel chocolate rabbit 

Friedel

For the past 10 years, Friedel has been part of the Rübezahl Schokoladen company, which also makes the tasty Sun Rice snacks and these odd chocolate-gummibear bars.  This is their brand that covers the Christmas and Easter chocolates. Though Rübezahl is another typical mid-sized family company formed after the war (based near Stuttgart), Friedel comes from Wernigerode, home of the Hasseröder pils that went far in our beer tournament.

Riegelein chocolate rabbitRiegelein Confiserie

This company prides itself on tempting you with "creative chocolate" and a variety of seasonal, special-occasion products.  Based near Nuremberg since 1953, they do export worldwide, but sell 70% of their product domestically so they might not be familiar outside the German-speaking area.  The company remains a family-held enterprise, focusing on chocolate figurines (over 750 varieties are available, largely in their 33% cocoa milk chocolate blend). They do, however, make some gummi and fondant products for a bit of variety, and these awesome bittersweet chocolate cups you can easily fill for impressive desserts. The fondant fried eggs in our Easter basket are Riegelein.  While adhering to the German values of quality ingredients and workmanship, they also like to reflect through their figures the changing times.

Nestlé Smarties Klapper Hase

Smarties

Though it's not quite fine or German chocolate, we had to include one of the many candy chocolate bunnies you see in stores here. Kit Kat, After Eight, and others make these, filled with some candies or Kit Kat bits. Not to be confused with American Smarties (the sweet/tart rolls), these are Nestlé's version of M&Ms.  So, here we try not only Nestlé rabbit, but also mini-Smarties.  They're a bit more brightly colored than M&Ms, have thicker shells, and come in tubes rather than bags. In general, they're pretty good (especially in a McFlurry), as they should be having been in production since the 1880s (the were originally called "Chocolate Beans" in England)! Most Smarties are produced in Germany now (except the Canadian ones made locally), and interestingly only use natural dyes. 

Reber Alpenmilch HaseReber

Paul Reber is best known for their Mozart truffels (the “Genuine Reber Mozart Kugeln®“), which feature a hazelnut nougat center, surrounded by pistacchio marzipan, and dipped in chocolate.  For Easter, they feature a wide variety of filled chocolate eggs, as well as this cute milk chocolate rabbit wrapped in their signature red, white, and gold packaging.  Reber has been making chocolate since 1865, in Bad Reichenhall, a spa/vacation area in the Bayerisch Gmain.  It looks to be a beautiful old town set in the mountains, just on the border with Austria. Similar to Salzburg, they played a major part in the old salt trade, dating back before the Romans.  Looks like it might be a great option for a weekend trip, of course with a stop at the Reber Cafe!

Milka Alpenmilch Hase

Milka

One of the most recognizeable German chocolates, Milka grew out of a Swissman's chocolate company, becoming the German Milka in 1901.  Though they'd always had the Milka cow on the label, it was only 40 years ago that the cow became the famous purple Milka cow. (It's a Simmental cow, by the way.) Milka makes only milk chocolate, mostly in Lörrach, and with a WIDE variety of fruits, nuts, and candies in it.  I don't know why it isn't sold outside of Europe, but you can order it from German Deli in the US. Milka strives to maintain its Alpine connections, including sponsoring a women's downhill skiing team and a booth at the World Cup.  But I'm most happy about their new product line, Milka & Daim - Daim basically is the Swedish version of a Skor or Heath bar, so imagine bits of buttery toffee in Milka products. Yum!

Feodora rabbit

Feodora

Feodora was established in 1910 in Tangermünde - a middle ages town around 2 hours west of Berlin, at the intersection of the Elbe and Tanger rivers.  When the factory was expropriated and dismantled after the Second World War, they reestablished production in Bremen and have remained there since.  Named after Princess Feodora (sister of the last empress of Germany), the company is known for its finely decorated pralines (pralines being chocolates with some kind of filling, not the equally good American-style buttery nut pralines).  But of course, everyone needs to make a chocolate bunny - Feodora's maintains its traditional packaging with the coat of arms of Schleswig-Holstein hanging on the bunny's collar.

Heilemann Knickohr-Hase 

Heilemann

Like Feodora, Heilemann is best known for its truffles and pralines.  I love them for making the most adorable chocolate bunny I've seen. I've had one the past 2 Easters - though he looks too cute to eat, you need to do it...the chocolate is great! Heilemann hails from the Allgäu Region, in the foothills of the Alps. Interestingly, they became a subsidiary of Freidel for about 20 years (after the founder Heilemann's death), but today again are an independent chocolatier. 

Asbach liqueur praline rabbits

Asbach

A bit unusual for the usual Easter bunny, but Asbach only makes one kind of chocolate....the kind filled with Asbach Uralt ("Asbach Ancient"). Asbach basically is German cognac, except that they had to stop calling it cognac after the Treaty of Versailles declared that only French products could be called cognac.  Hugo Asbach displayed great marketing savvy by creating the Asbach pralines in 1924 - it was aimed at women (as female public drinking was looked down upon), but also became quite popular among men. It has a very thin sugar crust separating the chocolate from the brandy, also giving it a bit of sweetness. The Asbach pralines are popular year-round, but for Easter are wrapped in bunny foil rather than the foil printed with a picture of a bottle.

 Schwermer rabbit

Schwermer

One of the oldest chocolatiers here, Schwermer began as a confisserie/café in Königsberg, East Prussia, which today is Kaliningrad, Russia.  Not suprisinlgy, Schwermer had to relocate after the Second World War, and chose Bad Wörishofen (also in the Allgäu region) as their new location.  Among their claims to fame, Schwermer pralines have been to the MIR space station and onboard the Columbia space shuttle (taken by German astronauts, of course!).  More meaningful to me...if you have a craving for baumkuchen, Schwermer makes these year round, not just at Christmas!

Kinder friend

Kinder

This guy is basically a Kinder Egg, with no suprise inside. It's the same soft, two-layered chocolate - milk chocolate outside, a white milk layer inside.  We were actually disappointed that there was no surprise inside.  I really like most Kinder products, but it's their fillings and their toys that are the reason, not as much the chocolate on its own. We included it, because it was one of the classic German chocolate brands, but I'd recommend sticking with the other chocolate brands if you want a plain Easter bunny. Nothing against Kinder, its just not their strength when it's compared to all of these rich chocolates. If there were a Kinder Hippo type or Bueno or some of the refrigerated treats....then I'd definitely be raving about it. Or if there were a cool toy inside.

Storz crazy bunny heads

Storz

While Storz is not a luxury chocolate, it's still a good quality and tasting one.  The family business began in 1884 in Tuttlingen (Baden Württemberg) and weathered the wars and crises by finally focusing on "Ideas moulded into chocolate."  Basically their niche is to make small foil wrapped chocolates in cute and creative wrapping (using not only printed foils but also cardboard cutouts).  They also make these to order for companies, hotels, and conventions, so have really stuck with what works. They had a huge variety of fun Easter shapes, but I picked these slightly crazy looking bunnies.

Reber Glückskäfer

Reber again...At first I couldn't find a Reber bunny, so I got one of their lucky ladybugs. Too cute not to include!

Sadly, I couldn't find any Ritter Easter bunnies, but we'll have to save Ritter for another day! 

Glückskäfer on Easter holiday

Easter Bunnies

In Germany, the secular side of Easter revolves around rabbits and eggs. I'm still a little unclear on the whole rabbits hatching from eggs part of Easter, but that's not something unique to Germany.

The chocolate bunnies here come in every shape and size and flavor, from white to dark chocolate, and from chocolate for kids with extra calcium to chocolate for adults with liqueur.

 

By far the most well-known are Lindt's Gold Hase, which have been made for more than 50 years. According to Lindt's site, 

One fine spring morning in March when the ground was still covered with a white blanket of snow, a master chocolatier from LINDT observed little rabbit in his garden.  His little son was completely fascinated when he saw the hare, but began to cry when the rabbit disappeared into the bushes.
Struck by the his son's sadness, the father suddenly had a great idea:

"I should make a rabbit like that of chocolate ..."

He made a rabbit out of finest Lindt milk chocolate, wrapped it in gold paper and hung him a golden bell on a red ribbon around his neck so he would not be lost.

"When the bell rings, you can find it easily," the choclatier said to his young son. And so the first GOLDHASE had come into this world.

However the tradition began, the Goldhasen are now one of the best known international Easter sweets.  They emerge from eggs and come in sizes from baby up to 1 kg giants.

 

This year, Lindt introduced the dark chocolate (brown ribbon) and white chocolate (white ribbon) varieties to go with the traditional red-ribboned milk chocolate Goldhase.

Though chocolate is the main event, everyone else gets in on Easter bunny mania, too....we find rabbit shaped cookies and breads and rabbit-shaped versions of most candy bars.

Chocolate-dipped shortbread sandwich and rabbit bread

And it wouldn't be Easter in Germany without an elaborately creative themed educational display. In PEP (the closest thing in Munich to an American-style mall), they have displays throughout the mall using the fictional Rabbit Co. ("Hasen AG") to teach children how chocolate is made - from harvest to chocolate egg.

 Growing and Harvesting the cacao Beans 

Drying and Fermenting 

Shipping the beans

  Pulverizing and Processing the Beans                                     

Making Chocolate and Molding Chocolate Eggs

Painting, Wrapping, and Shipping Chocolate Eggs

The detail in these displays was amazing, down to planting flowers and aging the printing on the cacao bean bags. Of course there were signs at each display explaining the steps of the chocolate making process. And at the end, a cage full of adorable real rabbits to see. Unfortunately not a petting zoo, but still adorable!

German Easter Candy and Eggs

After months of chocolate and candy displays, the long-awaited day is here!

How do you celebrate Easter in Germany?

It varies, by family, by region, and of course by religious beliefs. The schools are on a 2 week break, so much of the country goes on vacation.  Italy and the New York/Florida combo are the most popular destinations, as are ski trips in years where Easter is earlier.  Easter here is second only to Christmas as a holiday - it's a pretty big deal.  In the Munich area, for those who don't go on holiday, a traditional fish lunch on Good Friday is common, as is church on Sunday, followed by a family dinner.  The church bells have been ringing frequently for the past 24 hours.  Or, these days many of the younger people who didn't travel for holiday or to see family will go out to the English Garden and enjoy sun, friends, and nature when the weather is nice.  And somehow, it's always nice on Easter.

But across Germany, the common traditions are similar to the US. Easter trees are big, as are displays of flowers and new life. Rabbits and eggs come in every form, spring cleaning is a popular "sport," and on Easter morning many families hide chocolate eggs and treats for the kids to find.  There are some older, more localized traditions such as the Easter bonfire and Saturday Easter Market, but we're talking city life in this blog today. And more importantly, we're talking sweets!

I had the chance to pop into a CVS in the US and check out the candy assortment. How do German and US Easter baskets differ?

American Easter Basket:      

Contents:
Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Bunny
Peeps
SweetTart Chicks, Ducks & Bunnies
Cadbury Creme Eggs and Caramel Eggs
Whopper's Robin Eggs
Cadbury Mini Eggs
Reese's Eggs
Milk Chocolate Bunny
Jelly beans (not shown)

German Easter Basket(s):

Contents:
Chocolate eggs, with a variety of fillings (marzipan, liquers, hazelnut, nougat, crispy butterfinger type things, etc)
Marzipan Loaf
Ferrero Eggs
Lindt's famous Gold Hase chocolate rabbits
Lindt chocolates in a variety of shapes...frogs, turtles, lambs, chicks, carrots
Chocolate-covered almonds
A real eggshell filled with nougat
Spring chocolate bars from Lindt
fondant fried eggs
Egg tree ornaments with chocolate eggs inside 

Lindt varies their chocolates by season. We see in Christmas chocolates featuring spices and a more warm mix. In Spring, they feature fruits, yogurt, and ice-cream type fillings - generally much lighter and fruiter than the heavy spiced chocolates of winter. These giant  Lindt truffles have a creamy stracciatella filling, similar to the bars that have a creamy filling. The bars are not true ice cream, but are recommended to be served cold and are like a cool bit of cream and fruit wrapped in tasty Lindt chocolate. Lindt has whole sections devoted to Easter and Spring chocolates, with lots of pastel and fruits. The Easter choclates will disappear now, but the Spring varieties will go on through the summer.

Lindt's Spring assortment

  Lindt Easter bars(btw, I adore the Lindt chocolate lambs in the first basket, as they have one black sheep in the flock.)

What's the difference between German and American Easter candy?

The main differences I see is are:

1) American Easter candies are more based on pure sugar, whereas the Germans focus on chocolate (especially high quality chocolate), cute animal packaging, and lighter tasting (not lighter in caloric terms!) flavors such as fruit.

2) The American candies are mainly Easter shaped version of the same candy, but the German ones often vary the ingredients for Easter, as well as using different fillings and chocolate blends than they do year round.

In Germany, chocolate is the most popular Easter sweet by far, then bunnies and eggs the most popular shape of sweets. The sheer volume of chocolate rabbits in Germany is something we'll tackle separately in the next post....

Eggs:

Easter eggs come in all varieties....sets to dye your eggs (with natural dyes, of course) are widely available, as are real eggs from an assortment of fowl - Ostrich, goose, chicken, quail. They come dyed, raw, already hollowed out, etc.

colored quail eggs

Most stores will have a wide assortment of chocolate eggs....with various nut fillings, nougat, fruits, and liqueurs. However, marzipan eggs are an Easter specialty. Niederegger, the famous Lübeck based marzipan maker, offers all types of different marzipan eggs, as well as some nougat ones. They're good, but marzipan is a bit too sweet to eat in large quantities! Most of the marzipan eggs will be in different fruit flavors and dipped in chocolate. Dark chocolate dipped marzpian is a pretty tasty combon, but again...in small doses!

We were amused to find that Milka makes something looking suspiciously similar to Cadbury Creme Eggs, so of course we here at Schnitzelbahn investigated closely.

The Milka Löffel Ei ("Spoon Egg") comes in a 4-pack carton, with two spoons. It's an egg you crack open to eat the creamy sweet filling. Sounds a lot like a Cadbury Creme Egg, with a little ettitquette and fancy packaging.

Upon first examination, they look similar. The Cadbury egg is slightly smaller, vs the Milka egg's life-sized egg size. And the Milka directions show a little indentation where you bang the spoon to crack the egg open into a nice, clean shape to pull off the top.

The real difference is in the taste.  On the chocolate side, I think the Cadbury chocolate is a bit better tasting, but both are good. Cadbury just does milk chocolate really well! Milka does, too. But really here the chocolate is unimportant - it's about the filling.  Or we'd be eating Cadbury Mini-Eggs, a Milka bar, or some Lindt.

The filling is where we see the real difference. Cadbury eggs often get stale a bit quicker - the taste is still the same, but the filling gets a little drier and not so creamy. No matter, it still is vastly different from the Milka egg. Basically, the Cadbury egg is filled with sugar or fondant. It tastes extremely sweet, and you'll love it or hate it.

The Milka egg, on the other hand, is basically filled with buttercream frosting. Yum!! I know they say it's filled with fondant, but it taste like a sweet spoonful when you're scraping the bowl after making buttercream frosting. It's really good, and it's a much less sweet, sugary taste.

It of course doesn't have the cult following that the Creme Eggs have, nor does it inspire scientistific experiments, but it's a really tasty treat and it's much more manageable than making a batch of frosting or buying a can!

So, a Frohe Ostern to all, and hope you're all enjoying your Easter treats and holidays. Let us know if the Easter Bunny brought you anything special this year. He hid some great DVDs (American TV and BBC's Planet Earth blu-ray) around my apartment.

Time for Easter Eggs

It's possible that Germany outdoes the US in the holiday candy area - Easter candy seems to come out on February 15th. Though I can't really complain...the holiday chocolate here is top quality!

Similar to the Christmas ones, Kinder has giant Kinder Surprise Eggs for Easter.

Inside the milky, chocolatey shell, we find a cute little chick. He's supposed to hold your pen, but he also will hug the neck of a wine bottle...we found a similar stuffed penguin in the Christmas giant eggs.