HAPPY EASTERN - Egg Liqueur Cookies Linzer Style


These sandwich style cookies look like flowers and have a little flower cut-out that is filled with a yellow egg liqueur cream. Even though cookies is more something for Christmas time, I found this recipe on one of the blogs I am following (Patce's Patisserie) as last year's Easter recipe, and I thought them fitting.

The sweet short crust pastry made with flour, almonds, sugar, egg and lemon zest used for these cookies is called a "Linzer short crust pastry" that orginially was used for the "Linzer Eye" cookie, a Christmas cookie with two sandwich style cookie discs filled with jam and with three little cut-out holes on top. These cookies originated in the small town Linz in Austria in the early 1700s. I will be using a flower cut-out instead of the three holes and instead of red jam, I will fill them with a yellow egg liqueur (or a yellow jam as non-alcoholic version), fitting to spring and Eastern.

Ingredients:


For the short pastry (Linzer style)
  • 125 g butter - softened at room temperature
  • 100 powdered sugar
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 tablespoon lemon peel
  • 1 egg
  • 180 g flour
  • 70 g corn starch
  • 100 g ground almonds (blanched)

For the topping:
  • 4-5 tablespoons egg liqueur
  • 120 g powdered sugar 
  • alternatively for a non-alcoholic version: 3 tablespoons yellow jam (e.g. apricot or mango-maracuya, no extra sugar needed

Preparation:

Preheat oven at 180 degree C (350 degree F).
  1. Prepare the short pastry. Mix together butter, powdered sugar, salt, lemon peel and egg. In a separate bowl, mix flour and corn starch. Add the flour/cornstarch mix and the almonds to the butter mix and knead together to a pastry dough. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for about 30 minutes. Please use blanched almonds as it makes the pastry lighter. Unblanched almonds would result in brown cookies, not white ones.
  2. Roll the pastry dough on a floured surface (ca. 3mm thick). Put plastic wrap on top of the dough and it rolls easier.  My cookie cutter was flower shaped and had a smaller flower as the cut-out. It had the option to remove the inner cut out, so that I could make both, the botton part of the cookie without a cut-out as well as the top part with the cut-out. Now, cut out as many flower cookies without a cut-out as with a cut-out. Place the flower cookies on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. If the unbaked cookies seem soft, put them in the fridge and let them chill for about 10 minutes. This will prevent that they are spreading during baking. Bake the cookies in a preheated oven at 180 degree celsius for about 8-10 minutes. Be careful that the cookies don't brown. Take them out of the oven and let them cool.
  3. For the egg liqueur topping, mix together the egg liqueur and powdered sugar. Spread a thin layer of the egg liqueur on top of the flower cookies without the cut-out. Alternatively, use the yellow jam for a non-alcoholic version. Those will be the bottom of the sandwich cookie. For Christmas time, you would now dust the top part (the cookie with the cut-out) with powdered sugar. This is optional, but I noticed that for Eastern it looks better not to dust them. Assemble the cookies as sandwiches, the cut-outs facing up. Add a little bit more of the egg liqueur topping in the cut-out holes. 
These cookies will soften when stored. Keep them in an airtight container in the refrigerator or serve the day of cooking.






Print this recipe:


Print Friendly and PDF


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

My Mom's "Kartoffelsuppe" (Potato soup)


This is on of my Mom's recipes I grew up with. It's perfect for spring time. A light but still hearty and flavorful soup, depending on how much of the sausages you add :)

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 2 cured hard paprika sausages ("Bauernbratwurst) 
  • 1 onion - diced
  • 2 carrots - sliced
  • 3-5 potatoes - cubes (1 inch)
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • salt, pepper 
  • 1 liter water 
  • 1 leek - sliced
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 3 wiener sausages or 1/2 cup bologna (Fleischwurst) - sliced
  • vegeta
  • 2 tablespoon fresh parsley - chopped

Preparation:

Start the Base:

Heat the oil and butter. Add the paprika sausage and diced onions. Quickly sauté the onions and brown the sausages for about 2-3 minutes, be careful that the onions don't turn brown. Add the sliced carrots (hardest vegetables) and fry for a few more minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the potato cubes (second hardest vegetables), tomato paste, salt and pepper and stir. Fry the potatoes for about 5 minutes, stir regularly to not brown the onions. Fill up with water, bring to a boil and let simmer at medium heat for about 10 minutes till the potatoes start to soften up.

Finish Up & Serve:

Now, add the leeks, the frozen peas and the sliced wiener sausage/bologna. These ingredients don't need long to cook. Let cook for 5 more minutes till potatoes are completely soft. Season with salt, pepper and vegeta to taste.

Use a potato masher and softly press into the soup for a few times to slightly squeeze the potatoes. Do not completely smash all of them. The soup should still be clear and there should still be bits of potatoes. You just want to break them up a little.

Sprinkle fresh parsley on top and serve with crusted bread and


cured paprika sausage (Bauernbratwurst)

This version uses sliced bologna (Fleischwurst)

This version uses sliced wiener sausages

Print this recipe:


Print Friendly and PDF


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

** New Blog Domain **


First New Year's Resolution achieved!!! I have bought myself a domain and redirected my blog to it. Now, I do not need to have the "blogspot" in my URL.

Welcome to my new Domain:

                         www.pudicasfoodcorner.com



Cheers,
Pudica

BRUNCH TIME - Mini German Pancakes with Blueberry Syrup



This is another little recipe from "Brunch at Bobbys". These "German" pancakes (also called Dutch baby pancakes) are sweet popovers that quickly fall after removing from the oven. It is said, that they indeed derive from the German "pfannkuchen" made out of eggs, flour, sugar and milk. Strangely, as a German I had never heard of them. Nevertheless, they are delicious.

The first time I tried these German pancakes was in Salt Lake City, as my friend T. made it in a big casserole for her kids. She called it Dutch baby pancake and as she made it in a big casserole, it was just one big but really thin one. Bobby Flay's recipe suggests using little muffin tins and serving them with an apple-calvadas-caramal sauce. Other possible toppings include fruit toppings, lemon, butter or syrup.

We made these German pancakes on one of those Saturdays long ago when we all went together to Yamhill Yoga and afterwards we had brunch together at our place. We made a savory spinach-gruyere-strata (also one of Bobby's recipes) and these mini German pancakes with a warm blueberry sauce as dessert. A very successful brunch with best friends :)

Ingredients:


For the dough
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
  • 6 eggs
  • 1 cup flour
  • 4 tablespoon butter (melted and cooled)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

For the Topping
  • 2 cups frozen blueberries
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoon cornstarch (mixed with 2 tablespoons cold water)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preparation:

Preheat oven at 400 degree Fahrenheit.
  1. Combine milk, sugar, vanilla extract, orange zest and eggs in a blender. Add flour, butter and salt. Blend till smooth.
  2. Fill greased muffin forms with batter (about 1/4 cup of batter into each form).
  3. Bake for 15 min until golden brown and puffy.
  4. Prepare the blueberry syrup. Heat the blueberries, water, sugar and lemon juice in a small sauce pan, add the cornstarch and vanilla extract. Stir frequently. Let simmer at low heat for about 15min till the sauce reaches a syrup like consistency.
  5. Serve the mini pancakes with the blueberry sauce in the middle and sprinkle with powdered sugar.





Print this recipe:


Print Friendly and PDF


Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...