Lemon Drops (Lemon Meringue Bites) - Naturally Gluten Free

This recipe is super easy and these delicious light and airy Lemon Drops are made really really quickly. You only need 3 ingredients and you can use the same recipe for chocolate meringues.

You will need:

2 egg whites, beaten very stiff
100 g / 3 oz sugar, divided
1 lemon, zest and a little juice only

Beat the egg whites super stiff, then mix in half of the sugar until smooth and shiny. Mix in the remaining sugar and lemon zest/juice slowly with a spatula.

Fill the mass into a pastry bag with a star tip and spritz little mounds on cookie sheets that have been lined with parchment paper. If you do not have a pastry bag, you can just form little mounds with two teaspoons.

Bake in a oven with the temperature set at about 100 C / 200 F for about 70 to 100 minutes. The oven door needs to be open just a little bit. The cookies dry more than they bake.

Tip: You can make these in many variations, for a chocolate version, just leave out the lemon zest and switch it out for 1 oz of cocoa powder,  for coffee flavor use instant coffee powder, or switch out the lemon zest for orange zest and orange aroma. You could even take two of them and then join them by sticking them together with nutella, jelly or butter cream. Color them with food color or a couple drops of beet juice.. The possibilities are endless!

Gluten Free Almond Cinnamon Cookies

Another Cookie very typical for Switzerland, you can buy them in any grocery store during Xmas time, and mostly throughout the year as well.  But you really have to have them around Xmas time. They are known back home as Cinnamon Stars, as traditionally they are cut out in star shapes.

I made these early this morning  and apparently they smelled so good I woke up my hubby with the smell wafting from the kitchen


Here is what you need:

3 egg whites, beat very stiff
300 g / 9 oz of powdered sugar, mix in with the sugar and keep about 1 dl / 3 oz for the glaze

1. 5 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp cherry schnapps or 1/2 tbs lemon juice (as you like it)
350 g / 10.5 oz of ground almonds

mix the cinnamon, schnapps and almonds well, then mix with the egg white/sugar mixture and form into a ball.

On a sugared surface, roll out the dough about 5mm / 1/4 inch and cut out stars, and then coat the stars with the egg white mixture you set aside. Cool in the fridge for about 30 minutes, then bake in the middle of the pre-heated 250 C / 450 F oven for about 4 minutes.

ENJOY!

Tip: If you don't feel like cutting out stars, you can just roll out the dough into a square, coat with the egg white mixture, cut in squares, diamonds or strips and bake.

Easy and delicious Coconut Macroons

Another gluten-free and very easy to make cookie, that everyone loves, well everyone that loves coconut at least. It's easy to make and naturally gluten-free because you don't need any flour at all.

Here is what you need:

3 egg whites
3 sprinkles of salt
150 g / 5 oz fine sugar
250 g / 7.5 oz shredded coconut
1 Lemon, zest only

Chocolate for drizzling (optional)

Start by whipping the egg whites and the salt until stiff, add half the sugar and keep whipping, then fold in the remaining sugar.


Prepare two baking sheets and line them with parchment paper. Then start folding in the shredded coconut and the lemon zest until everything is well combined.

Take two tablespoons and make little mounds of the batter and drop them on the prepared baking sheets. Let them dry on the baking sheets for a few hours or best over night, before baking them at medium heat for about 12 minutes. Remove from the baking sheets immediately.

Let them cool and drizzle or dip in chocolate if you like. And now Happy Baking!

For all of you that weigh in ounces......... 1 oz  equals 33.3 g

Gluten Free "Linzer Cookies" or "Spitzbuben" aka at least in our family as "Riesner Krapferl"

I was in a baking mood today and as a child I always loved baking and eating cookies with my mom and grandma. I can remember the days when we went to visit with grandma in Austria over Christmas and there were always at least 5 different kinds of cookies for us to eat. There has not been a year where grandma didn't have cookies for us.

Grandma no longer bakes, because of her bad sight, but she handed down some of her recipes to me, so I could make them. I decided to adapt my favorite, the "Riesner Krapferl" which in other parts are called Linzer Cookies or "Spitzbuben", to a Gluten-Free version.


Here is what you need:

250 g / 7.5 oz Butter / softened
100 g / 3 oz Powdered Sugar
320 g / 9.5 oz of Sweet Rice Flour (Mochiko Sweet Rice Flour from Koda Farms)
1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum
2 Packets of Vanilla Sugar
1 sprinkle of Salt

Cream the butter with the sugar, salt, vanilla sugar and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Mix the sweet rice flour with the xanthan gum, then quickly combine the buttermix and the flour so you get a nice cohesive dough, form into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough to about 4 mm thickness and with a cookie cutter, cut out enough bottom and top cookies. Bake in the preheated 325 F oven for about 8 minutes or until light golden.

Mix some powdered sugar with vanilla sugar and set aside.

Once the cookies are cooled, fill cookies with raspberry, apricot or whichever jelly you like. Dust with vanilla/sugar mixture and ENJOY!

You can find Koda Farms "Mochiko" Sweet Rice Flour in Asian Grocery Stores or online from my Things to Buy section. Check out Koda Farms website at www.kodafarms.com for their long history in producing superior rice products. Their entire facility is dedicated to rice products and free of any gluten whatsoever!