Gluten-free almond cookies

Making gluten-free cookies is one of the biggest challenges. When I came across this recipe and realized it was gluten-free I was quite intrigued and excited to try it out. I made the original recipe with almonds. In this recipe three eggs are separated and only the egg yolks are used. I was wondering if this recipe could work with whole eggs, and tried it using cashew flour. This second batter turned out to be too liquid (maybe use one egg instead of two, which Is what had used), so I added some gluten-free flour to rescue the cashew cookies. Both recipes can be found below.

Ingredients:

Parchment paper

Baking sheet

Cookie cutters

3 egg yolks

120 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla essence

1/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

200 g almond flour (I buy it at Trader Joe's, but you can grind almonds in a food processor)

Some confectioner's sugar

Frosting:

100 g confectioner's sugar

3 teaspoons lemon juice

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Mix egg yolks, sugar, vanilla sugar or vanilla essence with an electric hand mixer on highest setting until well blended and creamy. Stir in baking powder and lemon zest. Add almonds and knead until a dough has formed.

3. Sift some powdered sugar onto a flat surface (a board, table). Roll the dough on top of the powdered sugar until about 3-5 mm thick. Cut out cookies and put them on parchment paper.

4. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

5. Mix confectioner's sugar with lemon juice. Remove cookies from oven and glaze the hot cookies. Let cool down and store in a tight box.

For the cashew drops:

2 eggs

80 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla essence

1/4 teaspoon finely grated lemon peel

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

150 g cashew flour (I buy it at Trader Joe's, but you can grind cashews in a food processor)

100 g gluten-free flour (Trader Joe's)

Frosting:

Chocolate, melted

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Mix eggs, sugar, vanilla sugar or vanilla essence with an electric hand mixer on highest setting until well blended and creamy. Stir in baking powder and lemon zest. Add cashew flour and gluten-free flour.

3. Using two teaspoons put little portions of the batter onto parchment paper.

4. Bake cookies for about 10 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F).

5. Melt chocolate over hot water or in the microwave. Dip one cookie half into the chocolate, put the cookies on parchment paper until the chocolate has dried. Store cookies in a tight box.

Mascarpone Cake

This cake uses mascarpone cheese, which is the key ingredient for the Italian dessert tiramisu. However, mascarpone cheese is incredibly rich, so I only used one half mascarpone cheese and one half Greek yoghurt. The cake is still very creamy and goes nicely with some tea or coffee.

Ingredients:

Deep baking sheet

Parchment paper

For the sponge cake:

80 g butter

5 eggs

150 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla essence

240 g flour

3 leveled teaspoons baking powder

To soak:

10 tablespoons amaretto

Filling:

250 g mascarpone cheese

250 g Greek Yoghurt

150 g sour cream

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla essence

Juice and zest from one lemon

500 g or 1 pint whipping cream

60 g powdered sugar

6 tablespoons amaretto

Decoration:

Cocoa powder

Preparation:

1. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 F). Melt butter in microwave or over hot water, then set aside to cool down.

2. Using an electric hand mixer beat eggs for about 1 minute at highest setting. Eggs should be foamy. Slowly add in sugar and keep mixing for another 2 minutes on highest setting. In a separate bowl mix flour and baking powder. Slowly mix the flour mixture into the eggs and keep mixing until a smooth batter has formed. Lastly, slowly mix in the liquid butter and keep stirring until the butter has been fully absorbed by the batter.

3. Pour batter onto parchment paper. Evenly spread batter on parchment paper, then bake at 180 degrees Celsius (350 F) for about 20 minutes. Remove sponge cake from oven, then put cake upside down onto a second sheet of parchment paper. Let cake cool down, then remove parchment paper from bottom.

4. Cut cake into two halves. Put one half onto a plate or into a Pyrex dish. Soak sponge cake with 5 tablespoons amaretto.

5. Whip cream together with 30 g of powdered sugar until stiff. In a separate bowl whisk mascarpone cheese, yoghurt, sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest and the remaining half of powdered sugar until smooth cream has formed. Carefully fold in whipped cream.

6. Spread one half of the cream on top of the soaked sponge cake half. Put second half of sponge cake on top of cream. Soak the top of the second sponge cake half with another 5 tablespoons amaretto. Spread the remaining cream on top of sponge cake, cover and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight in refrigerator.

7. Just before serving: Make little dents into the cream using the back of a tablespoon. Sprinkle top of cake with cocoa powder.

Comments:

1. I altered the recipe a little. The original recipe uses 500 g mascarpone cheese, but that makes this cake incredibly rich, so I used 1/2 mascarpone cheese and 1/2 Greek yoghurt. For a richer version you can certainly use all mascarpone cheese, and no yoghurt.

2. As a variation you can fold in some fruit. Fresh strawberries or raspberries, or canned peaches or mandarine oranges work well. Cut the fruit into smaller pieces, then fold fruit into cream together with the whipping cream.

3. I tried the cake after two days in the refrigerator, and it is a lot better on the second day!

Fried Sweet Cheese Balls (Quarkkugeln)

Last year I made Krapfen (see a 2013 post). This year I decided to fry similar batter, but containing yeast. This one is moist and fluffy, but will take more time to prepare because the yeast needs to rise. Moreover, this batter can only be made fresh and has to be used immediately! The batter for Krapfenis whipped together and ready to be fried in minutes; larger batches can be prepared and stored in the refrigerator for a few days. So I would say that it depends on the situation, which one to make.

Ingredients:

A pot

Frying oil (I used canola oil)

Paper towels

200 g flour

1 package dry yeast

75 g sugar

1 package vanilla sugar or some vanilla extract

Some lemon extract or some lemon juice

1 pinch salt

1 egg

25 g butter or margarine

250 g nonfat Greek Yoghurt (Fage or Chobani)

75 g raisins or small dices of apple

Topping:

Powdered sugar

Preparation:

1. In a bowl mix flour and yeast. Add remaining ingredients except for raisins or apples.

2. Using the knead hooks of an electric hand mixer blend all ingredients to a smooth dough. Cover bowl and let rest in a warm place for the yeast to rise (about twice the size).

3. Briefly knead the dough, then add raisins or apple dices.

4. Heat frying oil in a pot to about 175 degrees Celsius (350F). An easy test to find out if the oil has reached temperature is to put the end of a wooden cooking spoon into the oil. If the oil is hot small bubbles will appear around the end of the wooden spoon.

5. Using two teaspoons drop little portions into the hot batter. Once one half has reached a nice golden color, turn the balls around to fry the other side. Remove fried batter balls from frying pot and put on a paper towel to drain excess fat.

6. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve. Best served fresh and lukewarm.