Recipe: Cinnamon bun cookies

I have decided to no more limit this blog to more or less translating my German one ashouston.blogspot.com, but add a new category to this one only: recipes of my US-German kitchen. Or German-US kitchen - who knows.
Because of Christmas coming, I am starting with a Christmas cookies recipe for Cinnamon bun cookies. I found the original on the German site chefkoch.de and modified it a little for US needs. Making those will fill both your stomach and the air of your kitchen with cinnamon flavor and smell. Actually, I do inhale the smell of those fresh from the oven. That's how they looked then:

Want to give it a try? So here is what you need for about 30 cinnamon bun cookies: the ingredients for the dough:

• 2 oz softened butter
• 2 oz plain cream cheese
• 3 oz sugar and 1 pack vanilla flavored sugar or 3.5 oz sugar
• a pinch of salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 6.35 oz all purpose flour
• a (large) pinch of baking powder

For making the dough, I used the whiskers of my handheld mixer. First stir butter and cream cheese, then add sugar, salt and the egg yolk and mix well. Last add the (sifted) flour together with the baking powder.
Spread the dough between two layers of plastic wrap (by the way, I used a bottle of wine) to about letter size (8x12 in) and try to keep a rectangular shape. While recovering from that task, prepare the cinnamon spread

• 1 oz butter, melted
• 2 oz sugar
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon powder

Remove the upper layer of plastic wrap and cover the dough well with the melted butter. Then spread the mix of the sugar and cinnamon powder over it. Keep about one tablespoon for the outer layer.
With the help of the wrap, now roll the dough from the shorter side to a solid formed round bar, cover it in the remained cinnamon sugar. Wrapped in the plastic wrap, put it in the fridge for three hours (or in the freezer for half an hour).
Preheat the oven to 350°F, prepare one or two cookie sheets and unwrap the cookie bar. With a sharp knife, cut slices (.25 inch thick) from the bar, put them on the cookie sheets and bake for about 10-12 minutes until slightly browned.

Enjoy! (And leave a comment, if you tried them.)

My very own paperwork

Already December! How fast time has passed …

Living in the US on J visa as we do requires a lot of paperwork. Additionally, it really takes its time to arrive in “the US system” – and so far we haven’t. Especially the thing with building up some credit history and earning a good credit score is something completely out of our minds. We both were taught to buy only what we can afford and not live on credit … However, if there comes a time we need a good credit score, we should have one. But we still have to work on that.

Our status in the US is based on a form called DS-2019. It permits us to stay here in the country. We need the visa only for re-entry. Having moved from Houston to Rochester recently, we both got a new DS-2019 from Mayo. Therefore, we are allowed to re-enter the US until mid-February, but can stay in the US until November. For some reason, both institutions decided to limit the DS-2019 to one year. *sigh*

Therefore, I also have to re-apply for my work permission every single year and pay 380 bucks for that. Even if I don’t have an employer at the moment (though working on that) … however, who wants to hire a teacher who is only allowed to work until mid-February? Well, the German Saturday School in Houston did. And I really enjoyed working there, teaching German as a foreign language without having had any experience in language instruction before. Unfortunately, all similar schools here in the north are located in St Paul and I am not up to a 90 minute commute one way every day or at least once a week – especially not since the winter has finally arrived here.

Last week, I had my first job interview as a tutor, mostly for math. Math is on shortage in secondary schools here, too, but I think tutoring would be a good start for getting to know the US “math in school” system before seriously applying for a job in the private or public school system.

Anyway, before teaching in school, I need a Minnesota Teaching License. My brother has already called me “more than qualified” for that. Unluckily, he isn’t to one to decide. But here are the facts:

In Germany, licensed teaching at secondary school level usually requires:

-         five years of studying two subjects and educational sciences (including student teaching) at university level, ending with passing 1. Staatsexamen or “Master of Education”

-         one to two years (the time has recently been downsized due to more obligatory student teaching at university) attending some kind of “teacher’s college” (Studienseminar in German) with both supervised and self-reliant teaching – summing up to a part time teaching job (0.5)

In Minnesota (or maybe the US in general?), that is required – as far as I know –:

-         Bachelor’s degree from college in one subject

-         Granted teaching license after passing a test in reading, writing and math knowledge – a teacher’s college is optional!

Of course both countries require a background check and no criminal record. Germany (for teacher clerks or “Beamte”) also required a positive health check including a BMI lower than 30. (I failed at that point.)

However, I am currently in the process of foreign credential evaluation – by an organization charging me another 80 bucks. All I hope is I’ll receive the equivalent for a Minnesota teaching license. My alma mater wasn’t that helpful regarding confirming my study plan. That’s the weird thing about the German Staatsexamen. Being a federal exam by the state I studied in, at no point the (good to very good) grades I got in university classes were taken into account! Therefore, except for the written thesis, all grades are based on a one day performance … And that is not among my greatest skills.

However, ten more days until I head home (to Germany) for Christmas! I hope all paperwork will be done by then, including my evaluation ...