Walnut Cookies with Strawberry Filling

Hello my friends! Happy Thursday!

I’ve been baking cookies but they seem to rather disappear quickly…I haven’t made that many varieties yet, the usual ones that have been made for centuries and I always try out some new recipe. I’ve made my Soft Gingerbread Cookies already twice!

A few weeks ago, just as I was getting into the holiday spirit, I had to learn that my dad has cancer. Needless to say I was not in the mood for blogging or anything like that anymore. But it is better to keep busy and I am trying to post regularly again.

I’ve made these super yummy walnut cookie stars, they are filled with strawberry jam.

 

Walnut Cookies with Strawberry Filling

Ingredients:

• 250 g spelt flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 100 g honey
• 200 g butter, soft
• 1 egg
• 150 g walnuts, finely ground
• 150 g strawberry jelly

Instructions:

-Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

-Combine flour and baking powder. Add all other ingredients and mix until well combined. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

-Roll dough out to about 3 mm thickness, cut out equal amounts of stars with a hole and without.

-Place on prepared baking sheets and bake in a preheated 180 C oven for about 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Let cool completely.

-Spread jam onto stars without a hole and top with a cookie that has a hole.

Tip: You can use unbleached all-purpose flour instead of the spelt flour. Other nuts can be used, like hazelnuts or almonds. Use red currant or raspberry jelly instead.

 

Almond Chocolate Cookies

Gingerbread Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches

Gingerbread Brownies

Sweet Domino Stones

Toblerone Tart

 

Happy baking!

Ursula

 

 

Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Soft Gingerbread Cookies

Happy First Sunday of Advent!

It is our tradition to light an Advent candle each Sunday leading up to Christmas. Tonight will be our first candle.

We’ve done some decorating today and we had some of these gingerbread cookies for our afternoon treat:) They are so yummy, I’ve used coconut sugar and spelt flour. Needless to say they are almost all gone already! These cookies have a lovely ginger flavor from the freshly grated ginger.

 

Soft Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups spelt flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp freshly grated ginger
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup coconut sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp water
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 4 tbsp coconut sugar

Instructions:

-Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

-Mix together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt.

-In a large bowl cream together the butter and coconut sugar. Beat in the egg, then add the water and molasses.

-Stir in the dry ingredients until well combined.

-Shape the dough into walnut sized balls and roll them in the 4 tablespoons of sugar.

-Place the cookies on prepared cookie sheets, leaving some space between the cookies. You don’t need to flatten them.

-Bake in preheated oven for 10-15 minutes. Do not overbake. They will harden still a bit while cooling.

-Makes about 25-30 cookies. Store in an airtight container.

Tip: white or brown sugar and all-purpose flour can be used instead of coconut sugar and spelt flour.

 

Happy December!

Enjoy!

Ursula

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

Almond Chocolate Cookies

Happy 1st Advent! Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. My kids had an extra day off from school on Friday, giving us some more time to decorate the house and just relax a little. The Christmas tree is up and we only have a few more wooden decorations we need to set up and find the perfect place to display.  We also started to do some baking and I’m excited to share the recipe for these yummy chocolate cookies. I’ve been making these for many years, this year I slightly changed the recipe, using melted chocolate and sweetened only with coconut sugar. The outside needs to be slightly crisp with a chewy soft center, and they are gluten free. These cookies need to dry/rest overnight and bake only for a few minutes. Forming the balls is pretty messy, just to warn you;) but you will not regret it!

 

 

Almond Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 250 g coconut sugar
• 200 g semisweet chocolate chips
• 300 g ground almonds
• 2-3 tbsp corn starch

-Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

-In a medium bowl whisk together eggs and coconut sugar.

-Melt the chocolate chips in a double boiler. Add to the egg mixture. Mix in almonds and corn starch until well combined.

-Cover and let cool in refrigerator at least 1/2 hour. Dough has to be more formable.

-Using a tablespoon or teaspoon, scoop out portions then roll into balls. Place onto baking sheets. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest/dry over night.

-Preheat oven to 380F (convection setting). Bake for 3-5 minutes. Cookies should only have some little cracks, and lightly browned at the bottom. Do not overbake they will still harden a little while cooling down.

 

Hope you give it a try! Let me know if you do:)

Enjoy!

 

You can find me on Instagram: littleswisslittlecanadian

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Marinated Oranges with Meringue topping

After all the holiday meals this dessert is light and refreshing. Citrus fruits are a great source of vitamin C, that is for sure useful during the cold winter month. The meringue reminds me of the beautiful mountains in Switzerland. I grew up surrounded by hills and on sunny days you could see the mountains in the distance. We spend many vacations renting a Chalet in the mountains and hiking every day in a still almost untouched surrounding. Whenever we visit my family, I soak in all that beauty, and make lots of pictures too:)

Here in Canada we have the beautiful Rocky Mountains but they are far away from Ontario where we live. The landscape here is pretty flat.

Marinating the oranges gives it a special touch, but it also tastes great without alcohol. I dusted the meringue with a little bit of icing sugar to mimic the snow covered mountain tops;)

 

 

 

Marinated Oranges with Meringue topping

• 3 Oranges; blood oranges, Grapefruit…
• 2 Mandarins
• 100ml Orangejuice
• 2tbsp Cointreau, Rum, Schnapps…

• 4 eggwhites
• 1pinch of salt
• 3tbsp honey, or sugar
• 1tsp orange zest

 

-Cut oranges and mandarins in thin slices, remove white skin. Layer in a baking dish and cover with the alcohol and orangejuice. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours.

-In a medium bowl whip eggwhites with the salt until soft peaks form then add honey and whip until stiff and shiny. Add orange zest and fold it gently under the eggwhites. Cover the fruit with the egg mixture and bake immediatly in a 200C preheated oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown.

-Dust with some icing sugar and serve warm.

 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

 

Christmas Baking

Here are some of the Christmas Cookies I have been making this year. Most of them are old European (Swiss/German) recipes that my Grandmothers and my Mother used to make.

 

Nusshaufchen, Zimtsterne, Maple Cookies, Spitzbuben and Domino Stones (you can find the recipe here Sweet Domino Stones). I also made a fruit cake-with raisins soaked in Kirsch Schnapps overnight-amazing:)

 

 

I also made some Truffles (made with dark Chocolate and Coconut milk, no added sugar)-these were delicious!!

 

My favorite: Spitzbuben with homemade red currant jelly-so delicate:) My mother gave my those cute cookie cutters years ago when my kids were still little.

 

Most of the cookies are already gone! I had to actually hide some of the Spitzbuben because I was not able to eat (chew) cookies after my surgery. So they are waiting for me in a special hiding place;)

I decided to make some more cookies. I found two great recipes that are slightly healthier-without white refined sugar-great!

If you like Walnuts, Almonds, Hazelnuts, Dates and Honey-you will LOVE these cookies!!

Found the recipe in a German magazine.

 

Date-Nut Cookies

For the dough:

• 200g whole wheat flour
• 100g white flour
• 50g hazelnuts, ground
• 1 egg
• 100g honey
• 160g butter, cold

For the filling:

• 200g dates, finely chopped
• 50g almonds, finely chopped
• 50g honey
• 1tsp cinnamon
• dash cloves
• dash cardamom

-Combine flour and nuts, add egg, honey and butter. Mix together (like a pie dough) until it holds nicely together. Wrap in plastic foil and refrigerate for 1 hour.

-Mix together dates, spices and honey.

-Roll half of the dough out to fit into a square or rectangle baking dish (30cm length). Spread filling evenly onto dough. Roll out remaining dough and cover filling. Gently press down a bit.

-Bake in preheated 350F/180C oven for 20 minutes.

-Let cool. Cut into triangles. Decorate with almonds, icing or chocolate.

-Yields: about 20

 

 

Following recipe adapted from a Martha Stewart magazine. I used coconut sugar.

 

Honey-Walnut-Coins

• 2 1/2c white flour
• 3/4tsp sea salt
• 3/4cup finely chopped (toasted) walnuts, plus 48 walnut halves for decorating
• 1cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4cup coconut sugar
•  1/3cup honey, (orange blossom or regular)
• 1/4cup honey for brushing

-Combine flour, salt and walnuts. Beat butter until fluffy, add sugar, beat until pale and fluffy. Beat in honey. Add flour mixture and beat just until combined. Halve dough.

-On parchment paper, shape each portion into a round log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 6 1/2 inches long. Wrap tightly in plastic foil and chill 1 1/2 hours.

-Preheat oven to 325F. Let dough stand at room temperature 10 minutes. With a sharp knife, cut dough into 1/4-inch-thick slices, rotating log as you go to keep it from flattening. Place round on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Spacing 1 inch apart. Press a walnut half into each round.

-Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are pale golden, about 18 minutes. Transfer sheets to wire racks; brush cookies with honey. Let cool completely.

-Can be stored in a airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

 

Merry Christmas!

Toblerone Tart

Happy 4th Advent! Only one week till Christmas-my kids are very excited:) It also looks like we will be having a white Christmas this year, with all the snow squalls we had so far I can say we do have enough snow for the rest of the winter;)

I have not been posting recipes for the last two weeks because I was not feeling so well. First I had a gum graft surgery done which left me with eating only soft foods (pureed foods actually) and then we had the FLU visiting our house…I have been making cookies and posting them on Instagram. That must have been funny to watch me baking, I had one cheek very swollen and when I am on medication I am not really myself;) That might explain why I can not find my measuring cup anymore…

I found this Toblerone Tart recipe in a older German Magazine. I kept a few of those Magazines because they have really nice Christmas/Holiday recipes in it. Toblerone chocolate always brings back one specific memory from my teenage years. When I went to college I had to take the streetcar in Bern, Switzerland. On the way there was a stop at the Tobler Factory. It always smelled so good there…:)

Toblerone was created by Theodor Tobler and his cousin Emil Baumann in Bern, Switzerland, in 1908.

 

Toblerone Tart

For the dough:

• 1 organic orange, zest
• 125g butter
• 100g sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 50g almonds, ground
• 200g flour
• 1/4tsp baking powder
• 2tbsp whipping cream

For the Mousse filling:

• 100g dark chocolate (70% cocoa), chopped
• 200g Toblerone, chopped
• 70g butter
• 300ml whipping cream
• 2 eggs, fresh
• 2tbsp honey, liquid

 

-Whisk together butter, sugar, egg and orange zest until foamy. Add almonds, flour and baking powder mix well. Wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours.

-Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Grease a 28cm tart/pie dish.

-On a floured surface roll out dough. (it is a very soft dough, so I ended up rolling it in the dish). With the rest roll out and cut out stars in different sizes if you have, then place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Mix together egg yolk and cream and brush cookies. Bake for 5 minutes.

-The tart shell has to bake without the filling. Place a parchment paper on the tart and fill with dried beans/legumes, (or put a slightly smaller dish on the parchment paper). Bake for 15 minutes, Remove paper and beans and bake for another 5 minutes. Let cool.

-In a double boiler melt chocolate, Toblerone and butter. Brush cooled tart with 3 tablespoons of the chocolate mix.

-Whip whipping cream only halfway, not completely stiff. Whisk eggs and honey until foamy.

-Fold chocolate mix and cream gently under the egg/honey mix until well combined. Fill into the tart shell. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Decorate with the star cookies.

(If concerned about the use of uncooked eggs in the filling, it might be possible to leave the eggs out, just using the honey. We have our own chickens, so we have very fresh eggs indeed:)

 

 

 

The filling is perfect for my post surgery diet;) So smooth!!

 

 

 

 

Happy Holidays!

 

 

 

Sweet Domino Stones

We bake every year several kinds of Christmas cookies. Most of them are traditional Swiss and European cookies that I know and have liked since my childhood. I find most of the recipes in my old Swiss baking book that my mother had already before I was born.

A few weeks before I start baking, I take out my books and magazines and look through all the yummy cookies…and then all the amazing recipes online! If we could only eat that much, I would definitely like to bake way more varieties:)

So I settle on my usual ones and then I will add one or two new cookies. I found these Domino stones in an older German Magazine.  With European recipes I sometimes have to change things up a bit, just because I can not find the exact ingredient here.

Let your kids help with the decorating;) These are also cute just plain without the chocolate icing.

 

Sweet Domino Stones

• 125g          butter, soft
• 100g         sugar
• 1tsp          vanilla sugar or vanilla extract
• 2                eggs
• 50g           corn starch
• 150g          flour
• 3tsp          baking powder
• 1tsp          orange, zest
• 30g           almonds, ground
• 50ml        milk
• 3tsp          cocoa powder

Almond filling:

• 150g         almonds, ground
• 150g         sugar
• 1                organic orange, zest
• 1-2            orange, juice

 

• 500g        dark chocolate
• 50g           icing sugar
• 1-2tsp     lemon juice

 

-Preheat stove to 350F/180C. I used a 12×8 inch (30x20cm) baking dish.

-In a bowl mix butter, sugar, vanilla sugar, eggs until creamy.

-Mix in corn starch, flour, baking powder, orange zest, almonds and milk. Mix well.

-Divide batter into two. In one bowl mix in cocoa powder until well blended.

-In a third small bowl mix together almonds, sugar and orange zest. Add orange juice until mixture is moist.

-Spread vanilla mix into prepared dish, top with almond mix and last add the cocoa batter, spreading evenly.

-Bake for about 15 min. or tester inserted comes out clean. Let cool.

-Cut into domino stones.

-In a double boiler melt the dark chocolate. Carefully dip in dominoes, (or only the top).

-Mix together icing sugar and lemon juice and decorate with dots.

 

The almond filling tastes like Marzipan!

Aren’t they cute…

 

Happy baking!