I don’t know about you, but one of my favorite things to do during the winter is pack on the pounds with a few sinfully delicious treats. So during my first winter in Switzerland I searched high and low for all my favorite desserts: donuts, fluffy chocolate cake with white frosting, peanut butter cookies, NY cheesecake, sweet potato pie and apple pie just to name a few. Surprise! I couldn’t find most of what I was looking for. Okay, not so bad that wasn’t so bad since I love to bake anyway.

So next I went to Migros to collect all the ingredients I needed to make the perfect chocolate chip cookies dough. As I walked down the baking aisle I noticed that liquid vanilla, fine grain white sugar, and baking soda are not Swiss commodities.

So I’d like to share a few of my quick tips for baking your favorite in Switzerland.

· Use measuring cups and spoons
Instead of frustrating myself with trying to immediately take on the kilo & grams system, I brought measuring cups and spoons with me to Switzerland. I did want to learn cooking the European way, so I also bought a scale and tried baking recipes written in kilos and grams. This allowed me to bake all my favorite recipes when I wanted to bake for relaxation and familiarize myself with the kilo/gram system when I was feeling more adventurous. (Let me know if you want a set and I’ll send it.)

· Substitute baking powder for baking soda.
Baking soda is about 3 times the strength of baking powder, so if a recipe calls for 1 tsp of baking soda use 3 tsp of baking powder. (Let me know if you want some and I’ll send it.)

· Baking vanilla is out there, but you have to really search for it.
In the States, vanilla extract comes in a dark brown bottle and the extract itself is dark. The best I’ve been able to find here is a yellow hued vanilla extra that comes in packets of 4 small capsules. These capsules get the job done, but are not quite like the vanilla extract that we grow up with in the States. I usually bring back multiple bottles of vanilla to get that nice vanilla flavor and aroma that I love. (Let me know if you want some.)

· Finer grain white sugar is available in stores.
I know it sounds ridiculous, but at first I tried using the larger grain sugar in my cookie recipe. I’m sure you know that my experiment didn’t really work. For recipes that require you to cream butter and sugar you should definitely find fine grain sugar. If you looked toward the bottom of the sugar shelf in the baking aisle, you should be able to find just what you’re looking for.

I’m sure that there are many other tips and tricks I haven’t mentioned, so what can you suggest?

Thank you for those tips! I'm planning a move to Lausanne this January and I will pack some vanilla!

I heard that eating out is expensive in Switzerland so I'm planning to do a lot of home cooking and home baking but it's hard to anticipate what ingredients will be available etc.

I will be cooking/baking Canadian classics

Should I try and buy a scale in Canada? Is it super-expensive in Switzerland?

Also, the difference between baking soda and baking powder is that baking powder has the "catalyst" (incorrect term but it's the only word I can think of for this) for the needed chemical reaction already in the powder. If you are using baking soda, you need to throw in a pinch of salt and it's the salt that will set off the chemical reaction. Baking powder already has the catalyst in the powder. I'm not too sure if it's salt or what though.

In other words, if you substitute baking soda for baking powder, make sure you throw in a pinch of salt. If you substitute baking powder for baking soda, no need to throw in the pinch of salt.

I also struggled with baking when I first came here but have found that when you start searching around when you're out and about, you pretty much find everything you need.

I've purchased 3 measuring cup sets that list measurements in ml and cups.

I've found vanilla sugar - with real vanilla, not the yellow sugar from Migros - that works just as good. If you want to make your own vanilla extract (and it's better than any of the bottled junk you get in the US or Canada), scrape the seeds from 8 vanilla pods and put into a 200 ml bottle, chop up the remaining beans and add to bottle, cover with a decent quality vodka and let it sit in a dark cupboard for a month. The longer it sits the better it is.

Baking soda and baking powder can be found at any Migros/Coop - look for backpulver and sodium bicarbonate.

My issue with chocolate chip cookies is finding proper chocolate chips, I have yet to find them in a store so I order them from American Market when needed....or have family bring some along with they visit.

For brown sugar, you can use 3/4 c. sugar + 1/4 molasses, it's not exactly the same but it's pretty good. In Canada I never cooked with fine grain sugar, the sugar I use here works just fine.

Baking soda is called Natron or Natrium Bikarbonat here and is available in both Migros and Coop in little packets. Migros also carries it in a larger pack for a very low price.

Ah thanks! I couldn't think of the german words.

I've bought a little jar of vanilla extract. It's dark brown and very concentrated. One little jar lasts me a long time and it gives a really nice flavour to things. It's in the baking section of Migros and costs about 7chf, but is still much better value than those annoying little capsule thingies.

As for baking powder and bicarb soda, I buy small containers of it from Barkat supermarket at Schmeide Wiedikon. They cost about 1chf and last for a long time.

Kate

I am not sure if this is right but I was reading on a baking website the other day that you can crush normal sugar with a rolling pin or food processor into a finer powder and it will be castor sugar.

I have a big bottle (250ml) of natural vanilla extract that I bought here for about 6 francs. It's made by a company called Jolly Desert and is labeled as "Arome naturel de Vanille" or "Naturliches Vanillearoma". It's very nice.

I had to do a fair amount of looking about, but so far the only things I have not found in the regular grocery stores are chocolate chips, proper brown sugar and molasses. So I ordered the brown sugar from the American Market.

It's not vanilla extract - not at that price. It's vanilla aroma made in a factory from chemicals.
However, the chemicals in the aroma are the same as the naturally occuring ones in the vanilla pods.

Good thread and tips.

Chocolate chips are available at the Felchlin chocolate factory in Ibach. http://new.felchlin.com/index_de.php...&x25000_ID=164.
They are Swiss-made and you buy them bulk. They are fantastic. They are called Choco Tropfen.

As for measurments, I often use http://allrecipes.com/ to help me out. All their measurements are in US and metric so you can type in the amount of servings and which measurement you prefer. It's been a big help.

I've used the normal white sugar and the normal Rohzucker for many years now and have had no problems with the consistency.

For a vanilla substitute, I've used one package of vanilla sugar for 1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring. It works just as well but you might want to decrease the sugar a bit.

if you are using vanilla for baking, you'll probably use sugar at the same time, so what I'd suggest you do is make up vanilla sugar. get a jar with an airtight lid, fill three quarters up with any sugar you want (I use caster), split a couple of vanilla pods and dump in the sugar, close the jar and leave for a month or so to infuse. When you need some, just take the required sugar out of the jar and replenish with plain sugar again, close the jar and repeat as many times you want. Just give it a shake every once in a while.
It will eventually loose its flavour, but I had my jar going to at least 3 years and it's still REALLY "vanilly" when I use it. in the long run, a lot cheaper than using any "extracts" or "aromas", whether natural or artificial

I tried this with my chocolate chip cookies and had to throw out the batch because it ruined the taste and consistency. I'm a fan of just using rohzucker. I can't really taste the difference.

It's vanilla extract in a sugar water base. That is why the bottle is so large. It's sweet and syrupy, so you can use it on deserts or in drinks straight out of the bottle. But it works fine in recipes. It's sort of like a liquid version of the vanilla sugar here.

I didn't use it in cookies, so it's good to have this feedback for others who might think of doing the same.

I just order my brown sugar, so much easier and it always turns out the way it's supposed to!

I haven't tried baking with these yet, but a potential option for chocolate chips are the Coop Fine Food 'Perles de Chocolat' in the hot chocolate section. They are a bit smaller than regular chocolate chips but should do the trick.

Does anybody know if you can get candy canes here at Christmas? I have a few recipes that use them and I am wondering how easy it will be to get them or not.

musical mommy:

You can bring it from US if you want but you can buy the same american Mcormick Vanilla extract product here for 6.95 chf and get it in store in Geneva, or have it shipped to anywhere in Switzerland. They also have baking soda, from US, and Arm and Hammer Baking powder, and Nestles tollhouse chips, domino brown sugar etc. Lots of US products. They get things in weekly, and will order if you want a special product (they have hundreds of US things)

My wife and I used to bring lots of things back from US, now we just shop there. So for people in Swiss romande, the store is great and sometimes I have it shipped to me, as if you buy multiple things it is cheaper.
My wife loves pumpkin pie, and we buy Libby's there at the holidays.

In fact I am going there this afternoon at 2pm so if you are in Rolle, Versoix, Nyon, Coppet and you want something from the store and send me a quick PM, I will buy it for you. (or if you can meet me in Nyon area )

http://www.afoodave.ch/products/McCo..._1oz-38-2.html

http://www.afoodave.ch/products/Davi..._10oz-9-2.html

http://www.afoodave.ch/products/A_H_..._Soda-3-2.html

I just saw "vanilla sugar" for the first time in the groceries today and I was wondering what it was! I guess I need to pick some up the next time I'm in the groceries.

My question was whether I should buy my kitchen scale here in Canada or wait until Switzerland.

Thanks!

Good thread thanks!

These are AWESOME in cookies! The almost bitter chocolate offsets a sweet cookie dough beautifully... superfave.

JanerMacP > Where do you order brown sugar from? I use Coop's Jacutinga Bio Vollrohrzucker with good results in cookies, but would love some nice sticky demmarera (sp?) Was going to bring some over, but my suitcase was full of Alberta beef ;-)

I couldn't find cream of tartar here, but looked up the chemical name (Potassium bitartrate, also known as potassium hydrogen tartrate, KC4H5O6) and found it at the apotek, they had a huge container of it and sold me a little jar for about 3chf.

Thanks for your feedback - I'll definitely be baking with them soon