German Food: Snacks and Dessert

Over the past couple of weeks, I've managed to blog about delicious German breakfast, as well as typical German lunches/dinners. Now that we've gotten through the main meals of the day, let's focus on snacks and dessert! :-9

First up: marzipan. It's made of sugar and almond meal, and I really don't know how to describe it except to say: go to your local Cost Plus and get some. Now.

Marzipan comes in a variety of forms, including the regular bars (both plain and chocolate-covered), or shaped into things like bread or potatoes:

... or fruits and vegetables (cute!)

... or babies (creepy!)

... or, my favorite-- currywurst with fries! It looks very realistic. We actually bought one of these at KaDeWe in Berlin, and have been reluctant to break into it to eat it, it looks so cool!

Next: chocolate. Good chocolate isn't exclusive to Germany (Belgium and Switzerland produce some amazing chocolates as well), but in general, European chocolate is far superior to anything you can find in the US. You might be familiar with the Ritter Sport bars you see at Trader Joe's. That is but a small, meager sampling of the varieties of chocolate available in Germany! When I came home from active duty, I shipped over a Xerox box full of chocolates along with my household goods :-9

Ritter Sport Store

Milka is another favorite brand. Regardless, they all make Hershey's taste like crap (it IS crap, isn't it!?)

You might have heard of Kinder Surprise-- hollow chocolate eggs with a little toy inside. They are banned in the US, ostensibly because of the safety hazards of the small toy. Not kidding!  The chocolate itself is okay (still better than Hershey's!), but the fun of it is the little toy surprise. Kind of like Cracker Jacks, when they used to give out decent prizes.

Finally, one of my favorite desserts is Rote Gruetze. Again, this really has no English language equivalent. The best approximation is a kind of berry compote, minus the spices and other additives. It's typically berries cooked in sugar, with a slightly gelatinous texture. It is best eaten with vanilla sauce. Perfect blend of sweet (vanilla) and sour (the Gruetze).

Hmm... I really shouldn't blog about yummy German food during my lunch hour. It's making me hungry, and really making me pine for the delicious eats usually found only in their country of origin! :-9

I'm posting every day in October as part of the 31-Day Writing Challenge. Click here to read more about it and to see the rest of my posts this month!