What do you think of when you think of German food? I think of food that will get you fed. Brats, beer, breads, cream and carbohydrates. You know, all the major food groups.
And boy, oh, boy, was I fed well at Ingrid's Kitchen, a German cafe-bakery-bar in Oklahoma City. Actually, I spent about 3 hours there, so I got to do a LOT of sampling.
First, we'll start with breakfast. I got something savory, which I won't go into, but I will tell you about the biscuit on the side. It was very feathery and light. Usually I prefer denser biscuits, but the flavor on this thing brought me over to the featherweight side, if only for the few minutes I was eating. It really, really pleased me.
I stayed at the cafe for a while to work on some writing (the staff was very nice about that) and got to ogle a lot of their sweets. So many items seemed like they were from another era - it was like being able to walk into the pages of my beloved Betty Crocker's Cooky Book
After looking at every single thing they had, I settled on a few things.
First, a beautiful brownie (pictured top). Nice and chewy and with chocolate frosting, it was an old-school brownie, not a rich and redolent of deep dark chocolate type, but like a fancier homemade version of the Little Debbie Brownies I love so much.
I also got a Streusel Bar. Dear god was this thing good. Here's a moody picture of it taken through a screen door.
I don't know what was in the streusel bar, but it had a softie crust, a gooey filling (with cream cheese?) and a streusel topping which had toasty coconut in it. It was sweet, tangy, lightly salty, crispy, and coconutty, and I wish I could wear the scent of it as a perfume, and eat my weight in them every day.
I also got several of the divinity cookies. Sweet morsels, quick to melt in the mouth but oh, for that fleeting moment of sweet bliss!
Seriously, every single thing that I got at this bakery was amazing. It was unfussy, unpretentious and yet everything was clearly made with care. I left wishing that another location would open down the street from my house, because wouldn't it be wonderful to step back in time just as easily as walking into a bakery?
For a fantastic place to spend a few hours, PLEASE visit Ingrid's Kitchen! 3701 N. Youngs, Oklahoma City; online here.