You already know that I am obsessed with books. You might not already know that I am obsessed with food. Before this blog, I had two different food blogs, and only stopped maintaining them because I couldn’t keep all those plates spinning along with everything else. But I kept cooking and baking. It goes without saying, then, that I have a little radar that beeps at me (in my head) whenever I come across especially foodie books or scenes. I was thrilled, then, when I was reading Margaret Owen’s Little Thieves and I stumbled upon more than one foodie scene based on German cuisine (which is because the book is based on a German fairy tale). My family has some German roots and meal traditions, and I am very fond of German food.

If you, too, are reading Little Thieves (or the sequel, Painted Devils, or, after April 2025, the final book in the series, Holy Terrors), I have made some recipes for you inspired by these scenes in the book. You could make the whole thing for dinner, just because, or you could host a book club dinner. Or you could just bring one dish to your book club. You could also have absolutely no reason besides it sounds delicious. And then read the book.

• Dice 5 slices of bread and add to the bottom of a medium-large mixing bowl. Drizzle over 1 1/3 cup warm milk (or cream). Let sit.
• Meanwhile, rough-cut 1 pound beef liver and place into a food processor with 1 chopped onion. Process until nearly smooth.
• Add liver to the bread cubes, then add 1 tablespoon minced parsley, 4 slices of small-diced bacon, ½ teaspoon marjoram, 1/3 cup breadcrumbs, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon salt, and a generous pinch of pepper. Stir until combined.
• Meanwhile, bring 8 cups beef broth to a boil. Reduce to a rolling simmer. Form heaping serving-spoonfuls of liver mixture into quenelles and add to the broth one at a time. Simmer for 25 minutes and check for doneness. Serve garnished with more parsley and with sauerkraut.

(Schnitzel isn’t mentioned in the book. You could buy a German-style sausage instead, especially weisswurst (though a bratwurst would be easier to find) and grill that up. The benefit of the weisswurst is that it may freak out your Vanjas, but a brat will be effective for any innuendos you need help with. Or just go for the schnitzel because it is so delicious. For a feast, it’s both.)

• Preheat your oven to 160F.
• Prepare your breading station. Set out 3 blates. (You read that right. Look it up.) In the first, mix together ¾ cup all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon paprika, and ½ teaspoon black pepper. In the second blate, whisk together 2 eggs with 2 tablespoons milk. In the third, spread out 1 ½ cups breadcrumbs.
• Prepare another countertop by layering a towel, then a cutting board (one you use for meat), then a layer of Press-N-Seal, sticky side up (or cellophane). One at a time, place your 4 chicken breasts onto the plastic and cover with a second piece of Press’N’Seal or cellophane, sealing the edges with plenty of room for the chicken to grow. Using a kitchen mallet (or something else heavy, like a small cast iron pan), whack the chicken until it is evenly flat and very thin (thanking your lucky stars that I suggested that towel on the bottom). Repeat with other chicken breasts.
• Heat your largest, flattest, shallowest pan over medium-high heat with 4 tablespoons vegetable oil and 1 tablespoon butter.
• Meanwhile (and before butter burns), run each piece of chicken through the breading station by dipping first in flour (both sides), then in egg (both sides), then in breadcrumbs (both sides). Do this quickly, but knock off the excess along the way.
• Place 1-2 chicken pieces (no crowding!) into the hot oil and cook for a few minutes on each side until lovely and golden. Remove to an oven-proof pan or dish and set that in the oven. As you finish each schnitzel, move them to the oven.
• Serve very soon after, with lemon wedges and optional chopped parsley, dill, and/or chives. (Sour cream and/or sauerkraut could also work here.)

• In a wide skillet or sauté pan, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk together 4 eggs and ½ cup milk.
• Mix in 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and some grated nutmeg with a wooden spoon, until there are no lumps. Set aside to sit for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Reduce to a nice simmer and stir in 2 teaspoons salt. Using a colander (or a spatzle-maker, or even a wide-hole cheese grater), push a third to a half of the batter through the holes directly into the water. Give it a gentle stir and in 1-2 minutes the noodles should rise to the top. Skim them off into the skillet with the butter in it. Finish all the batches.
• Turn the pan of melted butter on to medium-high. Sauté the spaetzle for just a few minutes, until there is a little brown here and there. Serve right away.

• In a medium-style pot, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat until melted.
• Add a thin-sliced yellow onion and cook, occasionally stirring, until beginning to brown.
• Add 1 peeled and diced Granny Smith apple and cook 2 more minutes, stirring.
• Add 1 pound shredded red cabbage, 1 tablespoon sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, a pinch of ground pepper, a pinch of ground clove, 2 juniper berries, 1 bay leaf, 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, ¼ cup orange juice, and ½ cup water. Bring to a boil, reduce to a gentle simmer, cover, and cook for 1 hour. Make sure it doesn’t become dry or scorch.
• Meanwhile, in a little bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons cornstarch with 2 tablespoons water. Set aside.
• When cabbage is soft, remove the lid and whisk in the cornstarch slurry. Remove the bay leaf and serve with optional red currant jam.

I would be tempted to try these with appropriate, seasonal berries, perhaps a few, pitted cherries or blackberries per dumpling in the colder months.

• Peel and cut into quarters enough yellow gold potatoes to yield 2 cups when mashed. Place into enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil and hold at a boil until the potatoes are about ready to fall apart. Strain and mash well (but stop before you have a gluey consistency, please).
• Meanwhile, clean and de-stem 12 strawberries of about the same size.
• To 2 cups of the potatoes, add 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, 4 tablespoons unsalted softened butter, 3 beaten eggs, and a generous pinch of salt. Combine to make an even dough.
• On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into 12 even blobs. Roll out each blob into an approximate circle which will easily wrap around one of your strawberries. Wrap it around a strawberry and pinch the top together, creating as neat a ball as you can manage. Repeat with the rest of the dough and strawberries.
• Meanwhile, bring a pot of clean, salted water to a boil. Reduce to keep it at a steady simmer. Add the dumplings (without overcrowding the pan, which may require batches). Keep the simmer solid for 10 minutes, then remove the dumplings and set on a rack or a towel to dry.
• Meanwhile, melt 1 stick unsalted butter over medium heat. When melted, stir in 6 tablespoons breadcrumbs and 3 tablespoons sugar, stirring until breadcrumbs have browned but not yet burned.
• Serve the dumplings with the hot butter mixture drizzled over top and the top of the whole thing sifted generously with powdered sugar. For even more excitement, serve with a side of Buttermilk Ice Cream and Whipped Cream.

• In a small saucepan, heat ¾ cup half and half (or cream) with a generous 1/3^rd cup sugar, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt over medium-low heat, until it is steaming. Stir until sugar has dissolved, but do not let mixture boil.
• Meanwhile, in a small bowl, scramble 4 egg yolks.
• When the sugar is dissolved, remove ¼ cup of this mixture and slowly whisk it into the egg yolks. Then drizzle the egg yolk mixture slowly into the pan of half and half, whisking as you add. Make sure you have no curdling at this point. Stir over medium-low heat until mixture coats the back of a spoon.
• Remove from heat and stir in ¾ c buttermilk (as full-fat as you can find it).
• Put mixture in a container with a lid and place in the fridge until chilled.
• Meanwhile, ready your ice cream machine.
• When mixture is chilled, continue with directions from your ice cream maker.
• When almost ready to serve, pour 1 cup whipping cream in a cool, clean, metal bowl. Add 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, a few drops vanilla extract, and a pinch of salt, and whisk on high until peaks form. Try to stop right before it becomes thick and buttery.
• Serve ice cream with whipped cream and a Strawberry Dumpling.