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

Do you have a lot of contacts like me?

and do you always have multiple lens cases lying around? Well then you need an EYEBOX!

My friend Sharena came up with this great idea on how you can keep all your contacts in one place and keep the prescription right with it. No more searching for the right lens case or the matching prescription. It's all right there in your Eyebox!

Go ahead, order one! I'm glad I did! 

Oh and they make a great gift too!

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!

Happy Happy Joy Joy.... and a new KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer

For the longest time I wanted a KitchenAid Stand Mixer, but I just couldn't afford it, there were always other things that took priority over a new Kitchen gadget. Then my wonderful Mom Christa and Dad Stefan stepped in and told me they were giving me one for Xmas. How cool is that? Here it is my new best friend in the kitchen

They even got me a a nice cover for it, that way I can just leave it on the counter, which is recommended anyway cause the thing is pretty heavy..... so schlepping it around is not easy.

The mixer came Thursday and I've made full use of it today.... making eggnog cupcakes with eggnog cream cheese frosting, Linzer Cookies and Coconut Macroons.... recipes will follow soon, but here's a preview.

The cupcakes are semi-home made, I used a baking mix for it, that I changed to what I needed. The Linzer Cookies are gluten-free, made with sweet rice flour and filled with Apricot and Raspberry preserves. The original recipe has been handed down from my great-grandmother, so for us they are called "RiesnerKrapferl"

Experimenting...

with different flour mixes.... I always wanted to make Panettone, so I tried to make a Gluten-Free version. It turned out very nice. I mixed rice, quinoa and corn flours, added in the xanthan gum and the dough rose very very nicely.

I still have to work with the moisture and the baking time, so get it perfect and maybe add some more sugar, as my taste tester found it not sweet enough. So as soon as we ate this panettone, I'll make another one, and then I'll put out the recipe so you all can bake your own.

Check back soon.......

A failed attempt at gluten-free Applestrudel

so yesterday I decided I wanted to make Applestrudel, because I haven't had it in a very long time and I had some extra apples. I was torn in between making the strudel or trying another cake with loads of apples in it.... baked apples, sugar and cinnamon.... oh my I could almost smell it.

I set out to make try and just use buckwheat flour for the dough, thought I might just be able to get away with it.. but yeah, NOT so MUCH! The color of the moistened flour already kind of threw me off.... it looked like mud, not good, but hey I kept on going, got it done and while the dough rested I sliced my apples and prepared the rest.

After letting the dough sit for 30 minutes, I rolled it out very thinly on a floured kitchen towel.. that's where the problems started... I could tell there was no way I would be able to stretch out the dough as thin as it needed to be. I guess the missing gluten does a job on the elasticity on the dough.

I rolled it as thin as I could and filled it... not to bad, but then it just started breaking everywhere... Totally uncool of the dough.. not what I wanted at ALL.

what a mess.. dough breaking

Anyhow, I baked the thing and it actually tasted pretty good... the house smelled delicious, but yeah it was UGLY.. not appetizing to look at. Complete fail on the buckwheat dough for strudel, not going to happen.

Not to worry though... I'll try to do a traditional strudel next and save my gluten free flours for other stuff. Might try again with sweet rice flour and then add some xanthan gum to replace the gluten... maybe that'll work..

In the meantime, I'll eat my baked apple mess, still tastes good .

My Review of Adjustable Round Frame Extender in Stainless Steel

Originally submitted at CSN Stores

Features:

• Adjustable round frame extender
• Frames used in conjunction with baking sheets to raise the height of the pastries
• Used to bake and layer various pastries
• Material: Stainless steel

Overall dimensions: ...

Adjustable Round Frame Extender in Stainless Steel

Just what I needed!

By Katja from Marina del Rey, CA on 11/12/2010

 

4out of 5

Pros: Distributes Heat Evenly, Durable, Solid, Easy To Clean

Best Uses: Baking, Assembly, Pastry

Describe Yourself: Avid Cook

This is really a great product, it adjust to all different sizes, so you don't have to get Pastry rings in every size under the sun. Great to bake the desired size of sponge cake and then use it to assemble the cake. It keeps fillings evenly distributed, without a mess, so you cake comes out with nice clear lines.

Great for layered cakes, terrines or charlottes. I will use it for years to come.

Gluten Free Caramel-Raspberry Yogurt cake

Tags: Made with Product

(legalese)

Gluten Free Caramel-Raspberry Yogurt Cake

I got my adjustable pastry ring this evening and I just HAD to make a cake to try how it works. So I came up with a new recipe. I didn't want anything to heavy or too fattening and decided that I would use the plain yogurt I had in the fridge to make a low fat filling. To make the sponge cake base and layers I used Bob's Mill White Rice Flour or you could also use Ener-G Sweet Rice Flour.

Here is what you need for the sponge:

2 eggs
100 g sugar, superfine
100 g butter, melted
100 g rice flour
4 tsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp of rum/amaretto

Melt the butter in a small sauce pan or in the microwave and set aside. In a bowl whisk the eggs, amaretto and the sugar until light and fluffy, continuing to whisk add the melted butter, the cocoa powder and then while mixing add the flour little by little. Fill in the prepared pastry ring (I opened it up to about 5,5 inches) and bake in the preheated 400F / 200C oven for about 20 to 25 minutes (it's good when a wooden skewer comes out clean). Remove from the oven and let cool, then slice into 3 layers.

While your sponge cake cools, prepare the filling:

16 oz Plain Yoghurt
8 oz Caramel Sauce
1 Envelope Knox Gelatine
Raspberries

In a bowl whisk the yogurt with the caramel sauce (or you could just buy caramel yogurt), dissolve the gelatin in a little bit of hot water and then combine well with the yogurt.

In the meantime your sponge should be cooled down and you can start to assemble the cake. Take a baking sheet then prepare a cake round ( I just cut out a circle that slightly bigger than the cake and covered it in aluminum foil). Set down the first layer and position the pastry ring around it so there is a little room between the ring and the cake. Pour some of the yogurt mixture over it and layer some raspberries, cover with the middle layer, repeat. Put on the top layer, cover with the remaining yogurt mixture, decorate with some nice raspberries and chill overnight.

Remove the pastry ring carefully and serve.......... voila, Gluten Free Caramel-Raspberry Yogurt Cake!

PS: I'd think you can make this cake with any kind of flavored yogurt and fruit of the season, like blueberries, blackberries, or coffee and chocolate. Just really depends on your taste!

WOW.......

I'm really impressed with the service from the people at CSN Stores ! Their shipping department R-O-C-K-S!

I ordered my adjustable pastry ring 2 days ago and it's being delivered TODAY! How about that? Thank you thank you thank you CSN Stores! I'll recommend you to everyone I know!

Coming soon: A review of a new Baking Tool!

Wedge Welly Giraffe Rain Boot

I've been approached by several potential customers to make cheesecakes for them, but I discovered, that everyone wants a different size of cake. The dilemma is, I only have so much storage space in my kitchen and it's impossible for me to store 10 sizes of spring form pans. So I went and searched for a solution. And I found one at www.csnstores.com ! They have everything from furniture like extra tall bar stools to fashion, look at this fabulous rain boots, to yes cook and bakeware.




I found just what I was looking for, the Paderno Word Cuisine adjustable Pastry Ring that I can use in conjunction with a baking sheet. With this great tool, I'll be able to make all kinds of sizes. Perfect! I had to have one!

Paderno Adjustable Pastry Ring

I ordered and soon the friendly folks at www.csnstores.com will send it to me so I can play. Once I received and tested it, look out for my reviews! Can't wait to get it!