Chocolate Balls

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Schockolade Kugeln – Chocolate Balls – Swiss Christmas Cookies

You’re not surprised that a lot of Swiss cookies involve chocolate, are you?

This is another no butter recipe. It has an intense chocolate flavor and no added fat (only fat in here is from the almonds, eggs and cocoa powder). And as an added bonus, it just so happens that it is gluten-free, tadaa!

At first I was going to translate the name of these into bullets, as in ‘death by chocolate (bullet)’ but was musing on the whole Christmas and Peace on Earth concept and thought that would seem kinda wrong, but nevertheless they are intensely chocolatey!

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Ingredients

    • 3 eggs
    • 1 1/2 cups sugar
    • 1 3/4 cups cocoa powder (I used a mix of extra dark and dutch processed)
    • 3 3/4 cups ground almonds (sometimes called almond flour)
    • 2-3 tbsp tapioca or potato starch

Directions

    1. In a big bowl, mix eggs sugar and cocoa until liquid and frothy looking
    2. Add the almonds and the starch and mix until, uniformly incorporated
    3. Chill dough for a few hours (if it’s cold enough where you are, put it on the balcony like we did in Switzerland, if not the fridge works well too)
    4. Form into walnut sized balls between your hands, (being careful to keep your hands cool), and place on a lined baking sheet.
    5. Let the formed balls dry overnight, or to speed up the process, you could also place the whole cookie sheet in the freezer for at least 1 hour.
    6. Bake in a preheated oven at 480°F for 3 to 5 minutes. The balls should only crack slightly
    7. Let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

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Check out the post on more Swiss Christmas Cookies to try other varieties!

Copyright © 2011 Simple Healthy Homemade. All rights reserved

Zimtstärnli

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Zimtstärnli – ‘Cinnamon Stars’ – Swiss Christmas Cookies

Another one of my all time favorites are the Zimtstärnli (meaning little cinnamon stars). Besides being super yummy, and they are really not all that hard to make, I think the fact that they are grain free, gluten free and the only fat they contain is from the ground almonds doesn’t hurt either, plus cinnamon has been shown to have blood sugar lowering properties.

Yes, these are cut outs again. And you could really make them any shape you like. You’ll just have to call them cinnamon elephants or whatever 😉 Traditionally rolled out on granulated sugar instead of flour, I suggest you use more ground  almonds instead.

Please be aware that most confectioners sugar contains corn starch.

These really should be made in every American household, just look at what they look like!

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 Ingredients

  • 3 egg whites
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 2 1/2/ cups confectioners sugar
  • 1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tbsp Kirsch (optional, you could leave it out or use lemon juice instead)
  • 3 1/2 cups ground almonds (almond flour)

 

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 480°F
  2. In a large clean bowl, beat egg white with a pinch of salt until stiff peaks form.
  3. Carefully fold in the sugar. Set aside a 1/4 cup plus 3 tbsp ( a scant 1/2 cup) of the mixture, reserve
  4. Carefully fold almonds, Kirsch (if using) and cinnamon under the rest of the egg white mixture. Form to dough and place in the fridge. Chill for at least 3 hours.
  5. Roll out about 1/4″ thick on more ground almonds/almond flour. Then make cookies using star shaped cookie cutter, place on lines baking sheet and brush with a layer of the reserved egg white glaze.
  6. Bake 5-6 minutes with a wooden spatula in the door of the oven to keep the door cracked and prevent it from closing all the way. This is helping in keeping the tops of the cookies white. (They are perfectly done when the bottom is slightly golden brown but the tops stay a pristine white)
  7. Cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing to cooling rack.

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Check out the post on more Swiss Christmas Cookies to try other varieties
Copyright © 2011 Simple Healthy Homemade. All rights reserved

Traditional Swiss Christmas Cookies

It’s not Christmas without traditions and for me going without the cookies I grew up with is unthinkable. When I first moved to this country, I was suddenly faced with the challenge of making cookies that before I would just be able to buy at the local bakery, cookies I had never made before. yeah, I did not always make everything myself. But I needed them, I mean Christmas was NOT going to come without, so I was going to find a way and I was going to learn how to make them, whipped egg whites and all. Over the years I tried different substitutes for ingredients that are not readily available in the US, and have refined and tweaked the recipes to reproduce the flavors of my home without having to fly back and what not 😉

I grew up in Basel, a city on the Rhine that had extensive trade with spices, sugar and tea long before the rest of secluded Switzerland had ready access to such luxuries, and there is extensive use of (former) exotic spices. A lot of times the recipes also have a couple of tablespoons of local cherry brandy on the ingredient list (which can be left out without altering the result significantly)

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Over the years ground almond meal (aka almond flour) has become more readily available and my cookies turn out much better than when I tried blending the almonds in my food processor. Yeah, not a grinder, should have known, but driven by desperation (I wanted to have Christmas, after all) I sifted through the result and picking out most of the large remaining almond chunks.

Another challenge is the measurements. All my recipes are not only metric, but in grams, kilograms, deciliters and so forth. We measure ingredients by weight not volume, which I still believe gives you more accurate results in most cases, specially if you have to divide or multiply a recipe. But  for convenience in the American kitchen, I have converted all of the ingredients into imperial measurements, cups and so forth. So, worry not, no need to run out and get a food scale (although I do think it’s a good thing to have, just sayin’)

Many of the recipes that I will be sharing here are considerably healthier than your average cookie recipe. What usually happens when I bring them somewhere is this: people marvel at the different looks and how pretty it is, then they try one and are amazed that there is so much  flavor and not just plain sugary sweetness, and then they completely lose it when they learn that many of the cookies they just tried use no butter or oil and the only fat content is  natural oils from the ground almonds, many are gluten and even grain free ( a thing I never realized until this year)

There are four that absolutely HAVE to be on my list for a real Swiss Christmas,

Links will be updated as I update the recipes

Basler Brunsli (our local version of Brownies)

gluten free, grain free and butter free

Mailänderli (delicately scented with lemon, these were always the first ones my Mom would bake each year)

 

 

Zimtstärnli (Cinnamon Stars, I think this one has great potential to become a American Favorite, given it’s shape, taste and color, not to mention taste)

gluten free, grain free and butter free

Änisbrötli (Anis breads/cookies )

fat free besides the eggs

 

And of course there are several other that are just as good and I try to make them too, but without those four, I don’t even care if it snows or not!

 

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 Chocolate Balls

Almonds and chocolate, what more could you want?

   Hazelnut Squares

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Spitzbuebe (Sablé like, translates to Rascals, I have heard them called Linzer Cookies in the US)

Orange Hearts

And I could go on and on

What is one thing that is absolutely essential to your holidays?

 

 

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Copyright © 2011 Simple Healthy Homemade & Simone Kereit. All rights reserved