Seasonal
Autumn
As summer slowly draws to a close, the days get shorter and the weather gets colder again, we slowly but surely start to look forward to autumn. The colourful splendour of nature, the scent of autumn leaves and freshly brewed tea, candlelight, cosy blankets in bed and on the sofa and a nice hot soup create a feel-good atmosphere whatever the weather and bring in one of the cosiest times of the year.
Long walks in the woods to collect leaves, nuts, chestnuts, acorns and moss to decorate the home are just as much a part of this season for us as the annual window decorating and pumpkin hollowing at Halloween. As with every season, there is also that one particular box in the cellar (you know which one I mean) that has to be dug out first and contains little figures, tea lights in autumn colours and, in our case, different cushion covers.
What do you love most about autumn? How do you make your home really cosy in autumn? What activities and rituals do you particularly enjoy at this time of year? If you still need a few ideas for next autumn, then take a look around and maybe you’ll find the inspiration you’ve been missing.
Baked Apple Dessert ❤️
For the apple sauce
- 4-5 medium sized apples
- 50g butter
- 60g sugar
- some applejuice (3-4 tbsp)
- cinnamon to taste – pumpkin spice also works really well
- 1 pck (7g) vanilla sugar
For the quark creme
- 250g mascarpone
- 250g (low fat also works) quark
- 3 tbsp vanilla sugar (40-45g) + optional 1 vanilla pod
- almond biscuits (Gewürzspekulatius)
For the apple layer, peel and core 4-5 apples, depending on their size, and cut into small pieces. Put butter, sugar, vanilla sugar and cinnamon (or pumpkin spice) in a sufficiently large pan and simmer briefly without stirring. When the sugar has caramelised, add the apple pieces and apple juice. Simmer for a few minutes until the apple pieces are soft. Keep stirring. Remove the apple pieces from the pan with a sieve scoop and place in a bowl.
Allow the caramel sauce to reduce for approx. 5 minutes until the mixture thickens. Now add the pre-cooked apples again and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Set the pan aside and leave to cool. For the cream, cut the vanilla pod in half and scrape out the pulp. Mix together the mascarpone, quark, sugar and the pulp from the vanilla pod.
To layer the dessert, alternate the caramelised apples, biscuit and vanilla mascarpone cream in the desired dish (e.g. 250ml glasses). It tastes delicious with a slightly warm apple layer or chilled and well infused the next day. If it lasts that long 😉
The apple-solutely best time for baking has come ->
… if you like apples, that is. The time when you can’t (or don’t want to!) stand in the kitchen because of the heat is definitely coming to an end and, conveniently, the trees are full of ripe, juicy apples. So grab your baskets, pickers or, if you don’t have your own trees, dash to the nearest (super)market or farmer you trust and you’re ready to go. Let’s have a look at more of our favourite apple recipes
Although nature has something special about it at any time of year, the blaze of colour that autumn brings to our world is truly extraordinary. What’s more, only in autumn does the forest have that very special scent. The scent of the woods in autumn is a captivating blend of earthy and sweet notes. As the leaves begin to change color, the air is filled with the fragrance of decaying leaves, damp earth, and the sweet aroma of pine needles. The crisp, cool air carries the scent of mushrooms growing beneath the fallen leaves. It’s an overall sensory experience reminding us of the beauty and changing seasons of nature.
Pumpkin Spice
After speculoos spice was my favourite last year, pumpkin spice might take first place in my ranking in 2024. I originally discovered it after reading an article about how unhealthy pumpkin spiced latte is if you order it in certain cafés and chains. That was the end of the matter for me until we went to our local drugstore for our next groceries. In addition to shower gel, shampoo and co, Rossmann now has a lot of food products in organic quality. As I receive a €40 voucher of my choice from my employer as a monthly benefit, I like to redeem it there because the selection is really great and you can try out lots of new things. During our last shopping trip, Pumpkin Spice caught my eye and I thought why not give it a try? After all, the unhealthy thing about Pumpkin Spiced Latte is not the spice itself, but all the sugar that ends up in the coffee. So if I use the spice in powder (and sugar-free) form instead of syrup, there’s nothing to be said against it.
Rossmann’s Pumpkin Spice contains Ceylon cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger, turmeric and allspice. Although cinnamon is by far the largest ingredient, you don’t get the feeling that it dominates the entire thing – on the contrary, it smells and tastes really interesting. Other products I found online, either have some added sugar, which I find pretty unnecessary, or use additional spices such as vanilla and cloves, replace some or all of the Ceylon cinnamon with Cassia cinnamon or don’t provide any information about the ingredients at all, which I find more than questionable. A very similar product to the one I recently bought is “Zauber der Gewürze: Pumpkin Spice Latte” (Amazon Link).
In the end, it all comes down to personal preference and, as always, your budget. I have found almost everything between 40€ – over 200€/kg. Personally, I wouldn’t suggest buying large packets of Pumpkin Spice if you haven’t tried it before. That’s why the 52g jar is perfect for me. So far I have tried the spice in coffee, porridge, jam, a cake and a smoothie (although in the last one, it was rather unspectacular). You have to experiment a little with the amount but you don’t really need much – and now, if you like, have fun and enjoy trying it out for yourself!
Winter
It’s not too often that we’re surprised by so much snow here in north-west Germany, but when we are, we really enjoy it. Fortunately, my partner and I are both able to work from home and school buses don’t normally run in this weather anyway – so even a snow-covered access road doesn’t upset us. On the contrary – we love playing in the snow, building dens and snowmen and having snowball fights until our noses, hands and feet are icy.
But even without loads of snow, there are so many things we like about winter. Even the first frost that makes nature glisten in the sun triggers feelings of elation in us. It usually doesn’t take long before we start redecorating and the cosiest season of the year begins. While autumn is already characterised by candles, woollen blankets and cosy jumpers, winter really takes things up a notch.
To name just a few of the things that make winter so special for us: fairy lights and other lighting elements in windows and around the home, scented oils that smell of orange, cinnamon, vanilla, fir or baked apples, advent calendars, gingerbread, the Christmas tree and decorations, window decorations, baking biscuits and much more.
* Disclaimer
As Amazon Affiliate I get a small commission for purchases made through links in this post. For you, this has no impact on the price but it helps me to keep doing what I love and allows me to produce more content.