Thought Bloggles

Everybody has their particular cookies that they just must have for Christmas. For me, the cookies are the Danish traditional pebernødder ("pepper nuts", known as Pfeffernüssen in Germany) and brunkager  ("brown cakes"). With our recent dietary changes, these cookies presented a challenge. Between these and the sugar cookies, I have baked quite a lot this Christmas, and our buckets of almond flour are getting emptied at a surprising clip. With the l-carb shop offering almond flour for as little as €12/kg , I can afford to go through some - that's at least a better price than the €30+ seen in some shops. Here's the recipe for pebernødder - the brunkager must wait till tomorrow since they have to rest for several days. Pebernødder This is my mother's recipe, with low-carb replacement marked in bold: 500 g flour (replace with 200 g flour, 300 g fine almond flour ) 1 tsp ammoniumcarbonate ( hjortetaksalt,  in Germany Hirschhornsalz) - use 1 1/2 to 2 ts...

Low Carb Sugar Cookies (based on the Better Homes and Gardens recipe) Makes about 40 cookies 120 g butter, softened 100g xylitol in crystal form (e.g. Xucker) 1 egg 1 tbsp vanilla extract 140 g fine almond flour 10 g coconut flour 10 g gluten 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp baking soda zest of one lemon (optional) Pre-heat oven to 180C. In a medium bowl, blend together butter and xylitol, then add egg and vanilla. In another bowl, mix the remaining ingredients, then sift them into the wet ingredients and blend well. (The dough will start out looking dry, but will come together shortly.) On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough, flipping it repeatedly and dusting with more flour to keep it from sticking. Apply your favorite cooke-cutters and place the cut-outs on a baking sheet, not quite touching each other. Bake for 9 minutes (or until the cookies start to brown) in the top part of the oven. The gluten can probably be replaced with more coconut flour. Not sure what non-gl...

Going further on my quixotic quest for a low-carb flour replacement, this time I threw myself at a classic Danish Christmas delicacy: Pebernødder (pepper nuts). These are traditionally made not to sit in a tin, but to be put in braided paper hearts and hung on the Christmas tree (next to the live candles) for all to nosh on as they please. This is my mother's recipe: 500 g flour 1 tsp ammonium carbonate ("salt of hartshorn" or "baker's ammonium") 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp cardamom 1 tsp pepper 125 g butter 250 g sugar 2 eggs Zest of 1 lemon Mix dry ingredients, blend in the butter, then add the eggs. If the dough is dry, add a bit of oil (just not olive oil). Let stand in the fridge for at least an hour, then roll into 1cm-thick sticks, cut into short pieces, and bake at 200C for 8-10 minutes. When rolled out, the dough should be moist and pliable, only barely flaky. After baking, they should be soft and have a distinct poofed-up appearance (due t...