Okay.... let me clear up a few things.... (from my WIDELY VAST EXPERIENCE AT SUBSTITUTIONS from living in various different countries and having to do with what is available...
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Areanor- Vanilla in the American recipes usually calls for vanilla extract, but not the kind found in Germany Vanillearome- much too concentrated that- so substitute the SAME amount of Vanille-Zucker, and use the Bourbon-Vanille Zucker if you have it because it is a bit stronger.
Question Two- yes, no ye... well
Ber had the closest answer-
Créme Fraîche is or rather can be substituted with
sour cream, as it is a bit soured. If that doesn't seem to pass with the recipe (something sour-ish), then my suggestion would be use either heavy whipping cream- which is NOT as thick, or mascarpone (a nice Italian cream cheese used in desserts and I am sure other dishes
). Perhaps the mascarpone needs to be thinned a bit with cream so it is more runny consistency.
Question Three-
Unsweetened chocolate- well now here is the 3rd reason you must fret about making fudge!!!
I have NOT found the equivalent apart from using a substitution of powdered unsweetened cocoa and vegetable shortening/Pflanzenfett... IE: Becel works best.
But do NOT do this for this recipe- the fat might congeal, and it wouldn't be pretty.
This is what I did. What we DO have is Baking Chocolate (though not the same as in the US)- it is dark or zartbitter chocolate- less sweet than milk chocolate. Use the same amount, and decrease the amount of sugar in the recipe by one to two tablespoons.
And.. yes, the Reformhaus might have braun Rueben-sirup as well, it is worth a try and might be a nice substitute for the corn sirup.
Eru- Question 1 - USA, Question 2- most vanilla comes here (Switzerland/Germany...mainland Europe???) in the form of a flavored sugar, can be used in equivalent amounts as the extract used typically in North America. There is also Vanilla -aroma, which is liquid but far more potent than an alcohol based extract- it is usually dosed in drops.
Regarding Créme Fraîche and Baking Chocolate- see above
Ethel- that recipe looks yummy, I'll have to try it As for the cups/ metric conversion- on page 2 there are some links to calculate the conversions- and or the standard 1 cup = 250 ml
Alandriel- you wouldn't want to know what I used in substitution for corn syrup once when I was in the Middle east, when I couldn't find any other equivalent......
:doh:
and now....after I consult my substitutions:
unsweetened chocolate= 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa and 1 Tablespoon vegetable shortening.
Home-made Vanilla Extract
1 liter (4 cups) vodka
3 vanilla beans /Vanilleschote
Place vodka in a nice bottle, press vanilla beans with flat side of a knife- slit them open lengthwise and scrape the grains loose. Add the beans and their content to the bottle. Cork, and place in a dark cool place. Shake every 2 weeks. In 3 months you will have a nice extract- the longer you wait, the richer the flavor. Use a per usual in recipes (substitute for Vanillezucker)
(the purpose of the nice bottle is in case you want to give this as a nice Christmas gift- haha!!! Think of it! Done with your gift 3 months ahead of time, with only a bit of shaking and perhaps a final testing for aroma :mrgreen: *hick*
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