Advent, Day 5
Dec. 5th, 2009 07:33 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kyburgOkay, I'm home with the cookbooks. Once upon a time, I brought home three cookbooks from Switzerland, with the express intention that I would be able to recreate some of my favorite things once I got home.
Well, I have the directions. The rest is kinda of a crapshoot. Most of the baking I encountered in Switzerland depended on a few constants - lack of humidity and very cold temperatures. A LOT of the recipes ask you to leave things on sheets out overnight 'to dry' before baking them.
And of course, a lot of them depend more on egg whites than butter and sugar creamed together.
Here's one of my favorites - Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars). Labor-intensive as all heck - but unless almonds are on the naughty list for celiac, gluten-free?
I'm particularly pleased that I can read this from the original German and figure out what the bleep to do.
Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars)
3 Egg whites
310 g Sugar
Juice from one lemon, grate the peel
3 teaspoons Cinnamon
300 to 350 ground almonds
Warm up a bowl by putting hot water in it. Drain.
Mix sugar and egg whites together, beat until stiff. Reserve some of this aside to use as a glaze at the end.
To the rest, add the cinnamon, the ground almonds, lemon juice and lemon peel.
Form out to a 3/4 cm thickness. Cut out stars with cutter. Glaze with the reserved egg white/sugar mixtures. Let sit for an hour in a cold place.
Bake at 120 degrees Centigrade for 20 minutes.
These are small cookies - the traditional cutter is about an inch across. Much larger, and I don't think they'd bake up. They are crisp, cinnamon and delicious!
See you tomorrow!
Well, I have the directions. The rest is kinda of a crapshoot. Most of the baking I encountered in Switzerland depended on a few constants - lack of humidity and very cold temperatures. A LOT of the recipes ask you to leave things on sheets out overnight 'to dry' before baking them.
And of course, a lot of them depend more on egg whites than butter and sugar creamed together.
Here's one of my favorites - Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars). Labor-intensive as all heck - but unless almonds are on the naughty list for celiac, gluten-free?
I'm particularly pleased that I can read this from the original German and figure out what the bleep to do.
Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Stars)
3 Egg whites
310 g Sugar
Juice from one lemon, grate the peel
3 teaspoons Cinnamon
300 to 350 ground almonds
Warm up a bowl by putting hot water in it. Drain.
Mix sugar and egg whites together, beat until stiff. Reserve some of this aside to use as a glaze at the end.
To the rest, add the cinnamon, the ground almonds, lemon juice and lemon peel.
Form out to a 3/4 cm thickness. Cut out stars with cutter. Glaze with the reserved egg white/sugar mixtures. Let sit for an hour in a cold place.
Bake at 120 degrees Centigrade for 20 minutes.
These are small cookies - the traditional cutter is about an inch across. Much larger, and I don't think they'd bake up. They are crisp, cinnamon and delicious!
See you tomorrow!
