Thursday, October 11, 2012

10th Stop: Austria


Sacher-Torte Cookies + Sound of Music = Austria

 


The Hotel Sacher in Vienna:

For good measure, here's Austria (red arrow):

What is this Sacher-Torte anyway? From helpful site: http://www.sacher.com/en-history-tart.htm, I learned that...

The story of the world-famous Original Sacher-Torte began in 1832, when the all-mighty "coachman of Europe", Wenzel Clemens Prince Metternich, ordered the creation of a particularly palatable dessert for spoiled high-ranking guests.
"Take care that you do NOT make me look a fool tonight", he warned. That very day, however, the chef was unavailable! The order was reassigned to a 16-year-old apprentice in his second year, the quick-witted chap Franz Sacher...
One thing was certain; the speciality which was finally presented to the masters and mistresses was a resounding success: a soft and fluffy chocolate cake with the tasty apricot jam under the icing. Franz certainly never forgot the great success of his ingenious idea within this exclusive circle. He spent his apprenticeship working for the Count of Esterhazy, first in Bratislava and then in Budapest.
When, as a fully qualified cook, he started to work on his own account, he offered his successful composition once again, this time on a large scale. He was successful and soon the "cake by this man named Sacher" was in great demand, and the victorious career of the probably most famous of all cakes began.

These cookies I share with you today are a yummy, and quite obviously, easy variation of this cake. My Bakery Traveling Husband (and dedicated Sacher-Torte aficionado) thought I was doing the glorious cake recipe a disservice until he tried the cookies. Absolutely bakery worthy! Honestly - I wouldn't have guessed a cookie with pudding in it could be so light, and perfectly textured. Yes, pudding. Pudding in a cookie? Check-out some of the main ingredients, but mostly check-out the pudding:

 

Here they are baking away:

Here they are all dressed-up:

Here is the recipe I followed:

http://www.food.com/recipe/sachertorte-cookies-170040

 

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