Here you will find different recipes for classic Austrian Christmas Cookies, most of the recipes are from my grandma.
Because we have such a large family, my (nearly 95-year-old) grandma bakes these Christmas Cookie recipes in bulk and doesn't give them away as Christmas presents until the Christmas holidays.
Here are my favorite cookies:
These traditional Christmas cookies with grated almonds are one of the highlights in the cookie jars that our grandma gives out to the family every year. The almond biscuits are filled with red currant jam and glazed with chocolate, which keeps them incredibly crumbly and soft.
Maybe you will also like:
In addition to the variety of Christmas cookies, my grandma makes this recipe for "Mundibussi" every year so that she has a gluten-free version of the cookie to give away. (Yes, even my 94-year-old grandmother moves with the times 😉
These easy to make chocolate hazelnut bites will melt in your mouth and are a quick addition to your christmas cookie jar.
Maybe, you'll also like:
This is a traditional recipe from my grandmother for Austrian Cinnamon Cookies. They have a quite intense flavour of cinnamon and are really easy to make.
To cut out the rectangle or rhombus shaped cookies, you need a pastry cutter with a "wavy" wheel.
Maybe you will also like my other Austrian Christmas Cookie Recipes:
Here you will find the classic shortcrust pastry recipe for Austrian Linzer Cookies ("Linzer Eyes").
I have also collected a few tips and tricks at the bottom of the article so that the cookies are sure to turn out well.
A description of all the individual steps including pictures and the most frequently asked questions about Linzer Cookies can also be found here.
You can go directly to the recipe here:
[feast_advanced_jump_to]More traditional Christmas Cookie recipes:
Along with vanilla crescents and gingerbread, Linzer Cookies are one of THE classic Austrian Christmas biscuits. So that the biscuits are sure to turn out well, I have collected the answers to frequently asked questions about Linzer cookies here in this article.
In the detailed step-by-step instructions you will find a video about how to use the Linzer Cookie cutter (if you have one) and pictures that explain each step in more detail.
For classic Linzer Cookies you need flour, butter and sugar in a ratio of 3:2:1. Also 2 egg yolks. A pinch of grated lemon zest also refines the taste.
Ingredients for Linzer Cookies:
For the flour: just plain white wheat flour, no whole wheat (sticks too much).
The butter should be regular unsalted butter for baking.
In theory, granulated sugar can also be used, but with powdered sugar you don't need to knead the dough as long. (Which is desired with the shortcrust pastry).
You can substitute a whole egg for the yolks if you like, this will make the cookies a bit harder (or "crunchy") in the end, but you don't have to worry about what to do with the leftover egg white.
The lemon zest should come from an organic lemon. Alternatively, storebought grated lemon zest can be used (approx. ½ tablespoon). The recipe works just fine without lemon zest as well.
You can find the exact measurements further down in the recipe card.
Optionally (but not used here) you can add a pinch of vanilla flavour. Some traditional recipes also add ground almonds (approx. 50g-100g, depending on taste).
Time needed: 1 hour and 45 minutes.
Prepare ingredients
Weigh the flour, butter and sugar. Separate egg white and yolk. The egg white is not needed. Cut the butter into small cubes. The butter should be cold while kneading.
Crumb butter and flour
Toss all the flour onto the work surface. Sprinkle the butter on top and mix the butter and flour with your hands until there are a lot of floury butter crumbs or lumps.
You can also do this step in a kitchen machine with a dough hook.
The result should look something like this (although the lumps in the picture are a bit too big, smaller crumbs of butter would be ideal).
Grate lemon zest
Using a fine kitchen grater, grate the lemon zest.
Knead dough
Mix in the sugar and egg yolks and knead into a smooth dough. Kneading should not take too long, otherwise the butter will become too warm and the dough will be sticky.
This step can also be done in a kitchen machine.
In the end, however, the dough should be kneaded together again into a large lump with your hands.
Chill the dough: Form the dough into a roll and wrap in a tin or in kitchen foil. Leave to rest in the fridge for approx. 1 hour.
Preheat oven to Preheat oven to 360°F (180°C)
The oven for the cookies should be preheated in any case. Otherwise the cookies can melt during baking (we don't want them to lose their shape...).
Roll out the shortcrust pastry
Flour the work surface. Roll out approx. one third of the dough until 3mm thin (⅛ inch). If the dough is still sticky, dust with more flour.
Cut out cookies: cut out the same number of top and bottom cookies 😉
Top cookies are the ones with holes: Traditionally with 3 small holes or "eyes", but also the use of a smaller heart or star shaped cookie cutter is very common.
You can cut out Linzer Cookies by using a traditional Linzer Cookie Cutter. (More information below)
Bake Linzer Cookies: carefully put on a baking tray lined with baking paper. Leave about 5 cm between each biscuit. Place in preheated oven and bake at 360°F (180°C) for about 7 minutes until golden brown.
Dust with powdered sugar
If desired, the tops of the Linzer Cookies can be dusted with powderd sugar before filling. This is usually done before pressing top on bottom, so that we don't dust the sugar directly on the jam filled holes.
Fill Linzer Cookies: Traditionally, apricot jam (apricot jam) or red currant jelly (seedless) are used for Linzer Cookies. The jam can also be mixed with a teaspoon of rum.
Spreading is even faster if the jam is filled into a piping bag. If you don't have a piping bag, you can use a freezer bag. Close well and cut a ½ inch (1 cm) hole in one corner.
How much jam for each Linzer Cookie?
To fill, mix the jam together in a bowl and place a teaspoon in the center of each bottom cookie. A teaspoon of jam is for larger biscuits, around 3 inch (6 cm) in diameter. For smaller Linzer Cookies, ½ teaspoon is sufficient.
The jam shouldn't cover the entire cookie yet, otherwise everything will spill out when you close it with the top. But neither should it be placed only in the middle. I would say leave about ¼ inch from the edge. (See pic below if you don't know what i wanna say ;).
Place cookie tops on bottoms
The cookie top (with the holes) is lightly pressed onto bottom. Ideally, the jam should "reach the edges" of the cookie. Also, the holes should be filled with jam until the edge. (See picture below)
For perfectionists: fill holes
If some of the holes do not have enough jam after, you can fill them up to the brim with a piping nozzle if you like.
Instead of a piping tip, you can also shape baking paper into a bag.
In this video I show you how to use the Linzer cookie cutter.
The best way to cut out the traditional Linzer Cookies with 3 holes is to use a Linzer Cookie Cutter. It consists of 3 components: a flower-shaped cookie cutter, the cutter for the 3 holes and a metal ring that holds the whole thing together.
The part with the three holes also has a button at the top. After cutting out the cookie, you press the button and the cookie can "eject" onto the baking tray.
With a lot of Linzer Cutters, the 3 components can be disassembled. This makes it easier to clean and you can use the flower-shaped biscuit cutter for the bottom side of the Linzer Cookies.
To cut out the Linzer Cookie tops, use the fully assembled cutter and cut out your cookie. Then press the ejector button. This releases the biscuit from the cutter and the holes that were punched out at the same time remain in there. The leftover dough in the holes can be removed with a chopstick, for example.
For the bottom side of the Linzer cookies you can take apart the Linzer cutter. However, if you're making a lot of cookies, it pays to get another cookie cutter of the same shape for the bottom, so you don't have to disassemble and reassemble the Linzer cutter over and over again.
No problem at all! Alternatively, you can pierce the typical three holes with the round metal attachment of a piping nozzle. (or any other round shape with about ½ inch/1cm diameter)
A very small biscuit cutter (heart, star,…) that fits well in the large flower-shaped cutter is the most popular alternative to the classic 3 holes.
How are Linzer Cookies stored? Linzer Cookies are best kept in a cool place in a cookie jar. A dry basement or an unheated cool room is ideal. Alternatively, the refrigerator is also possible (the cookie jar should then be well closed.)
There should be a layer of parchment paper between each layer of cookies.
The cookies should be completely cooled down before putting them in the cookie jar. It's also a good idea not to fully close the jar for the first few days after baking to allow moisture to escape. (Only then put it in the fridge and close it)
Linzer Cookies can be kept for 2-3 months if they are stored cool and dry. However, the jam will make the dough softer and softer over time and will break down more easily.
My grandma makes all kinds of filled shortcrust biscuits no more than 2-3 weeks before Christmas. Alternatively, you can pre-bake the biscuits and fill them with jam just a few days before eating.
This simple basic recipe for Austrian Topfenknödel (curd or cream cheese dumplings) with deliciously crispy toasted sugared breadcrumbs tastes great with any kind of compote, roasted fruit or berries or jam. The dough is also ideal for apricot dumplings, plum dumplings or other fillings.
Stuffed peppers with ground meat, rice and tomato sauce are a classic of Austrian cuisine. This version of my granny is a bit faster and easier to prepare than other traditional variations. [Directly to recipe]
In most traditional recipes for Stuffed Peppers, the peppers are left in hot water for 10-20 minutes to soften them. This step is left out here, therfore the baking time is longer.
Some other stuffed bell pepper recipes require more preparation time for the tomato sauce, which is also simplified in this recipe.
The recipe from my granny is the preparation in the oven, without pouring hot water over the peppers in the first time. The peppers are stuffed with the raw ground meat mix and baked in the oven until the meat is through. Only then comes the tomato sauce. By roasting in the oven, the peppers get a very good taste, but it also takes longer to finish.
My version of the recipe is for the impatient among us. The meat is fried in a pan beforehand, which shortens the cooking time. The stuffed peppers are then cooked in the tomato sauce on the stove top.
For the sauce I use ready-made plain tomato sauce. Because especially in the wintertime, the Austrian tomatoes taste like nothing anyway and therefore the effort to make it from scratch is not worth it.
My grandmother's original recipe for cabbage roulades with oven roasted winter veggies:
Here's my recipe for Krautfleckerl - Austrian Cabbage Pasta with caramelized onions, bacon and celery:
Schupfnudeln are a popular Austrian and German homestyle dish which is served in lots of sweet and savoury variations. The most popular Austrian dish with Schupfnudeln is to serve them as "Mohnnudeln" with poppy seeds, melted butter and sprinkled with powdered sugar...
This is how the rolling looked at my last try. I could not find floury potatoes at the time when the video was made, therefore you can still see the potatoe chunks I talked about!
Austrian Eiernockerl is a classic dish of the Viennese cuisine with flour, eggs and milk, easy to make and yet very popular.
For the dough
125 g spelt wholemeal flour
125 g white flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
150ml milk
Further
4 eggs, whisked
oil for the pan
chives for sprinkling
Salt
pepper
Mix all ingredients for the dough.
Leave to rest for 20 minutes.
Cut out dumplings with two tablespoons and cook in boiling water until dumplings float to surface.
Strain dumplings and toss in heated oil, in a pan.
Pour over 4 beaten eggs. The egg dumplings are ready as soon as the egg has set, i.e. it is no longer runny.
Season with salt and pepper and serve with finely chopped chives - Mahlzeit!
Granny's Vanilla Crescents recipe with walnuts. This traditional Austrian Christmas cookie will blow your mind 😉 In this article, I show you how to make them and tell you my granny's secret tipps.
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1. Freshly grounded walnuts
(Of course you can buy them already grounded, freshly grounded though, the Vanilla Crescents will taste not as dry)
2. The ends of the crescents should not be too thin (otherwise it becomes dark in the oven)
(see video below)
3. Use cold butter for kneading the dough and keep dough cool
Otherwise your Crescents are at risk to fall apart during rolling.
4. store in metall cookie containers in a cool room (or in fridge)
Otherwise they dry out easily
Recipe:
Quickly knead 110g sugar, 110g ground walnuts, 215g butter and 260g flour to a dough, let rest in fridge for 30min. Form a roll about 1inch thick, cut into pieces. Roll each piece into a crescent. Bake at 320-360°F in preheated oven, each baking sheet about 10 mins.
Get out of oven and let cool just a bit, gently wrap in a mix of powdered sugar and 2-3 tbsp. vanilla sugar. (If Vanilla sugar is not common in your local grocery store, you can diy)
In this short video, my granny shows how to roll Vanilla Crescents:
This recipe for Austrian beef roulades is very special to me. We made my granny's famous beef rolls every christmas – for our family of more than 40 people. At christmas holidays the family is then squeezed into the tiny flat of hers in the 20th district of Vienna and fattened “in shifts” because the dining table has only got room for about 8 people.
Everything you can also use for beef escalopes, as you need thin, large slices without bones. In Austria, we often use the parts of the beef called "round".
You put the filet of beef on a board in front of you. Evenly beat very thinly with the meat tenderizer. Salt and peppers on both sides. Take a handful of the stuffing and place it in the middle of the escalope. The short sides left and right are folded in. Roll the roulade in with both hands. Fix it on the ends. When using roulade skewers or toothpicks, the roulade is fixed as if you would "sew" it.
In this video, I show you how to roll and fix beef roulades with skewers:
For roulade clips, roulade rings, or silicone roller binders, the roulade is enclosed with two or 3 pieces, depending on the size of the roulade. Binding with kitchen yarn works much like tying a package. For example like here:
The roulades can be stored in the sauce for a few days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze them and heat them up again in the sauce.
We always make tagliatelle pasta or spiral noodles (fussili) as side dish, cranberry jam and pickled red peppers.
Traditional Austrian goose roast with potato dumplings and red cabbage
Austrian caraway pork roast with perfect crunchy crust
Viennese Tafelspitz (prime boiled beef) step by step
Sugared Pancakes aka Austrian "Kaiserschmarrn" is a very classic and sweet Austrian dish, wich is not only eaten as dessert, but also for lunch and dinner (or any other time of the day). It's sort of a fluffy thick pancake which is all "messed up" in the pan and typically served with stewed plum or applesauce and mixed with raisins.
Jump to recipeAustrian Cream Cheese Crepes (Palatschinken)
Topfenstrudel (Curd/ cream cheese Strudel) with Vanilla Sauce
Legend says, that Emperor (=Kaiser) Franz Josef (husband of Empress Sisi) loved his sweet desserts after lunch, but one day, the cook messed up the pancakes. The Emperor liked the newborn dessert so much, that it was finally named after him. There are a few other legends, one of them referring to Empress Sisi's and her obsession with dieting. She seemed to dislike the rich dessert, and therefore the annoyed Emperor ate it up, saying “Now let me see what 'Schmarren' (=trash) our chef has cooked up.”
A "Schmarrn" in Austria and Southern Germany also means something like "nonsense" or something which is really messed up...
There are lots of different methods how to make Kaiserschmarrn. The most traditional would be to separate the eggs and beat the eggwhite until stiff. Mix the other ingredients. Only then gently fold in the eggwhite. This adds volume to the batter and makes it more "fluffy". Some also add a sip of sparkling water to make it even more "fluffy".
On stovetop, you heat up butter in a pan. (The pan should be able to go into the oven as well. So the handle must not be of plastic or rubber etc.)
You add the batter and let brown on one side (on stovetop). Then you put the pan to the oven (about 180°C / 360°F) for about 10 Minutes, until the batter rises and is not liquid anymore. It should look like a giant pancake now 😉
Then you sprinkle some sugar on top and flip the large pancake. (Probably with the help of a plate.) Bake for another 5 minutes or so.
Take out of the oven and with 2 forks, "mess up" the pancake (tear it apart). Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with stewed plums or apple sauce. If you don't have that at home, a spoonful of jam does the job too 😉 (or any other fruit compote, stewed fruits, canned fruits, fruit sauce, berries etc.)
Alternatively, you can bake on stovetop only. (If all your pans for example, have a plastic handle.)
In this case, turn stovetop on medium heat and put a lid on your pan, so that the batter can rise without burning. (Probably a lid from some other cooking pot)
If you also don't have a lid for your pan, you can also do without. You just tear apart the pancake as soon as the bottom side is slightly crispy and brown. You will have to stir the batter more frequently to prevent it from burning. It may not be as fluffy as with the traditional baking method, but this is probably how it's done in most of the Austrian kitchens! ;D
If, for example: your boyfriend is away from home a few days, and you have, meanwhile devastated the apartment, then you can do the following:
The second option is indeed as much work as the first, but much more fun. For the baked version of Austrian Schinkenfleckerln you need a lot of dishes, but it pays out. I want to keep telling myself that I eat healthy, therefore I added some parsnips. Friends of mine often make this recipe with roasted leek, which is even better than parsnips!
If something didn't work out for you, please let me know in a comment below!
Viennese potato goulash, in our family, is the typical leftover dish the day after family celebrations. For the party itself we often cook plenty of sausages (when there are a lot of guests, it's just the easiest dish). The remaining sausages go into the goulash. And, like most hosts, we overestimate the amount of food regularly. So then, tons of sausages remain and we eat potato goulash the rest of the week. (That does not disturb us in any way 🙂
Unlike the original (Hungarian) goulash, the Viennese potato goulash is not with beef, but with sausages, and because of the long cooked potatoes, its juice is thicker and "creamier" than beef goulash. Another difference is that the Viennese potato goulash is usually not that spicy.
As a side dish to the goulash we usually eat bread or rolls.
Ingredients:
Directions:
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This recipe for traditional Austrian Krautfleckerl ("cabbage pasta") is perfect for rainy autumn days or cold winter nights. It is a perfect dish if you want to include more cabbage to your diet, and is oh so delicious with the caramelized bacon and onions.
You can freeze this dish and also prep it in advance (it is much better on the next day!).
"Fleckerl" is a typical Austrian pasta that looks like the cook failed to cut square pasta. You can replace it with any short pasta of choice, you can also use tagliatelle pasta and break it to short pieces before cooking.
Save this recipe for later on Pinterest:
Here is the video to the Austrian Krautfleckerl recipe. It's in German, but I guess the recipe is not too complicated to do anyways... Enjoy!
This recipe for Austrian Topfenstrudel ("curd cheese strudel") with vanilla sauce requires 10 minutes of working time and 30 minutes of baking time. Apart from a bowl, a wooden spoon, baking paper and a loaf pan, no other equipment is required.
Jump to recipeHere is a video, where you can see how I make it. (sound only available in German so far, sorry...)
For the quick and easy version of Austrian Topfenstrudel you need to buy ready made Strudel dough. If not available in your local grocery store, you can replace it with filo dough or puff pastry dough.
Alternatively, you can make your own strudel dough. It takes a bit more time but is quite fun! Here is my video tutorial for Topfenstrudel with homemade strudel dough.
If not available in your local grocery store, you can replace curd cheese preferably with farmer's cheese. Cream cheese is possible too. I do not recommend cottage cheese though, although the taste ist similar to curd.
Save this recipe for later on Pinterest!
After baking, you can freeze the strudel, as long as the used ingredients have not been frozen before. Before serving, you can bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes.
You can also freeze the vanilla sauce.
Shelf life for the Topfenstrudel is about 4 days (store in the fridge).
Every person on Earth should have a beloved one who makes him such fluffy apricot dumplings like the ones of my grandmother. Here comes my delicious Granny recipe for Austrian Apricot Dumplings with farmer's cheese/cream cheese and breadcrumbs.
Instead of the apricots you can fill the dumplings with other fruit like strawberries or plums. They are also very good with nougat cream.
My granny's secret for the dumplings is that she roasts some breadcrumbs with quite a bit of sugar and butter, before the dumplings are rolled in them and are served when still fresh and warm.
Most similar recipes have semolina as a main ingredient. This recipe hasn't. That's why the dumplings are extra soft and fluffy. But this is also why they fall apart more easily, if you for example, add to much butter. You can prevent this by letting the batter rest in the fridge for 1h.
I also tried it without the resting time and in some cases it worked out, other times the dumplings fell apart while cooking! To be on the safe side, you can also use the steamer (about 30 mins) or steamer insert for your pot. I don't know how long to steam them with a steamer insert, but my guess would be 20 mins or so...
Many fill the apricots with sugar cubes so that they become sweeter. We mostly cook with frozen apricots and leave the core in. For this, my grandma likes to serve the dumplings with apricot jam on the side.
Apricot dumplings clearly have the fluffiest consistency when they are served fresh. Apricot dumplings are also very suitable for freezing. I have tested the following variants of freezing for you:
So that she has apricots for dumplings all year round, my grandma always freezes lots of apricots in portions during the apricot season! The frozen apricots should be used without thawing, otherwise they will be too soft. If you want to remove the core and fill the apricots with sugar cubes, you should do this before freezing.
If the apricots have not been frozen before, the dumplings can be frozen well uncooked (not rolled in breadcrumbs). It is best to freeze them individually so that they do not stick together. Once the dumplings are frozen, they can be stored together in a larger container. As in the recipe, they can be cooked in a saucepan without thawing (possibly a few minutes longer cooking time). Then roll in fresh breadcrumbs as in the recipe.
Freeze cooked apricot dumplings
Even if the dumplings have already been cooked, they can be frozen to cool. It is best not to roll in crumbs yet so that the crumbs don't soften. For this, however, fresh apricots should be used and not previously frozen.
The crumbs can also be frozen when they have been roasted. They thaw very quickly. It is best to take it out of the freezer a few hours beforehand. The crumbs are then probably not as crispy as they are fresh, but they are a great alternative to apricot dumplings in particular.
The potting mix can also be frozen very well. Thaw in the refrigerator overnight before use or take out of the freezer a few hours beforehand and allow to thaw unpacked. In the microwave, on the stove or in the oven, however, I would not defrost the dough under any circumstances; the butter would probably melt here and the egg would freeze.
The dumplings can be kept in the refrigerator for a few days and can be eaten cold or warmed up in the microwave. The crumbs would soften in the steamer. I haven't tried to warm them up in the oven yet, but you have to be careful here that they don't dry out or burn the crumbs.
My grandma always picks up old, hard rolls and turns her own breadcrumbs in a crumb mill. Instead of a crumb mill, a blender also works very well.
Old white bread, baguettes and rolls can be dried and collected on an ongoing basis. It is best to cut into smaller pieces before drying. This way, the bread rolls dry faster and are easier to grind. As long as they are dried well, they can be stored for a very long time.
If you urgently need to make apricot dumplings, but only have fresh bread and no breadcrumbs at home, you can of course also dry the small-cut breads (baguette, white bread, etc.) in the oven and then grind them into breadcrumbs.
If you don't have breadcrumbs at home but have bread cubes, you can of course use them and grind them in the blender.
Dark or wholemeal bread (rye dough, sourdough) instead of white rolls made from wheat and white flour would theoretically also work, but the taste did not convince me. I am otherwise a whole grain fan, but with this recipe I would really stick with breadcrumbs made from wheat and white flour. What I haven't tried yet would be homemade crumbs made from whole spelt or einkorn. In theory, they should work better than rye bread crumbs, but I haven't tried that yet.
Tafelspitz is THE classic Viennese festive dish! (Directly to recipe)
It is, for example, often found on the menu of Austrian wedding celebrations and you can definitely impress your guests when serving them a festive Tafelspitz menu! Usually, I serve Tafelspitz with horseraddish, spinach, roasted potatoes and chives sauce.
Tafelspitz is the part of the beef called bottom steak. Its preparartion is more than easy, so let’s go for it! Instead of the very expensive Tafelspitz, you can use any other beef parts that are good for boiling.
Below you can find a few tips for serving the Tafelspitz, preparing it in advance and the instructions for the traditional side dishes in Austria.
In this video you can see the preparation steps: (sorry it's in German, but at least you can see the preparation steps)
Tip: You can prepare Tafelspitz very well 1-2 days ahead. In this case, it should not be kept in the soup. Wrap it in foil and store in the fridge. Keep the soup in an extra pot. When the soup is still cold, you can very easily remove the fat on top. Before serving, heat up the Tafelspitz in the soup.
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Traditional side dishes to serve with Tafelspitz: spinach, horseradish with grated apples or horseraddish with rolls (Apfelkren, Semmelkren), sour cream sauce with dill or chives, roasted potatoes.
Also, all kinds of oven roasted vegetables like red beets or pumpkin fit very well.
Grate horseradish and mix with finely grated apples (or apple sauce) - Mixing ratio according to taste. I usually don't peel the apples.
Mix 1 cup of sour cream and ¼ - ½ cup of water to make it more liquid. Add a pinch of salt and 2-3 tbsp. dill or chives.
Cut 2 onions and roast them with oil or butter in a pan until brownish. Cut 1 kg (2.2 lbs) boiled and peeled potatoes in small pieces and add to the pan. Season with garlic and salt, pepper and caraway. Add ½ cup of the beef soup. (Tip: you can use a lot of salt, the poatatoes might need it...) Roast on medium heat until the potatoes are lightly brown.
Traditional Austrian goose roast with potato dumplings and red cabbage
Austrian caraway pork roast with perfect crunchy crust
In the following article, I present you two variations for Hollerkoch or Hollerröster (= elderberry compote or stew). Later in the post, I also collected a few tips for harvesting and preparing elderberries. [Directly to recipe]
The following recipes are intended to serve as an inspiration to pair the elderberries with other fruits and spices than traditionally. (Usually, elderberries in Austria are cooked with plums, and often refined with red wine, cinnamon and cloves)
As in the garden of my mother-in-law on the outskirts of Vienna, the elderberries were already ripe at the end of July, I wanted to make them a bit more summery. That's why I mixed the elderberries with a lot of apples and peaches.
I cooked half of it with some rosemary. That gave the whole thing a Mediterranean touch.
The other half of the harvested berries I served with sour cream. This is how my grandma always ate it as a child. Also yogurt would fit very well instead of the sour cream.
The elderberries, on the one hand, are preserved through the cooking process. On the other hand by the addition of sugar and lemon (acid). The more sugar and acid, the better preserved the berries are.
In addition, you have to sterilize your mason jars, by, for example, panning in rum or pouring boiled water over them.
The following recipe works out with relatively little sugar and I tried it for the first time. That's why I can not say anything about the durability. In principle, a well made elderberry stew can be preserved for a year or more.
This summery pasta salad with green pesto and Halloumi grill cheese is worthy of heating up the stovetop despite summer heat! (Directly to the recipe)
In addition, with this salad you can use up what grows in the summer in excess in the gardens: tomatoes, zucchini, and also eggplants! Since the salad stays freh for about 2-3 days, you may prepare a little more so you don't have to cook for a while during the summer heat.
Especially in summer, many gardeners have the problem: What do I do with the many tomatoes? And all the zucchinis! Of course you are happy about the abundant harvest, but eventually all the neighbors are taken care of and it still continues to grow ...
This recipe is one of many ways to master the abundant harvest. The salad is perfect for a picnic, as a gift for the barbecue or as a healthy alternative to the fries in the outdoor pool. (Although they are somehow a must, are not they?)
Did you make this recipe?! Please let me know in a comment or on Social Media! Let's keep in touch:
Vienna Sunday Kitchen is also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest. 🙂
While the eggplant, the zucchini and the garlic are roasted, the tomatoes stay raw. The fresh basil leaves are not cut, this makes the whole cooking thing a bit faster. The sunflower seeds provide a bit more bite between the teeth and the Halloumi is the star of the court, so to speak. But it can also be left out calmly, the salad tastes really good even without the grilled cheese! Mix with Pesto Verde and it's ready!
Here are some more ideas for using up zucchini:
Simple zucchini cream soup with croutons
Light mushroom sauce with zucchini
Glazed pork with nectarines and sheep's cheese in zucchini
Thanks to this really simple recipe for walnut ice cream with maple syrup, I've just gained 3 kilos in the last few weeks! (directly to the recipe)
The recipe was so simple and delicious that I just had to do it again and again! So do not lose it. And if you do, promise not to do it every day, as I have in recent weeks! You just get too easily addicted to this ice cream ...
Here is the quick video tutorial. The recipe and some cooking tips you can find below.
Usually you have two alternatives when making ice cream at home: you have an ice maker or you have a lot of work. The ice cream machine helps to make a really creamy ice cream. If you do not have that, you have to regularly take the ice cream out of the freezer and stir it, so that the ice crystals that form are broken and the consistency becomes creamy.
With this recipe for maple walnut ice cream it's different.
Because, on the one hand, evaporated milk is used instead of normal milk (not to be mistaken with sweetened condensed milk), and on the other hand, the chopped nuts prevent the whole thing from becoming a hard block of ice. The evaporated milk is quite handy for certain ice cream recipes because it is less liquid than normal milk and thus less water crystals form during freezing.
Alternatives to evaporated milk:
The recipe also works with sweetened condensed milk, but then you have to use less maple syrup, otherwise it will be too sweet. You can also exchange the evaporated milk with whipping cream. This will add some extra calories, but will do the job.
The recipe is really easy: chop nuts, roast min pan, add maple syrup, whipping cream and unsweetened evaporated milk.
If you are lazy, the recipe will work out without roasting too, but then the taste will be slightly different and the ingredients will not mix that well. But also tastes really good!
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Raspberry Cream Cheese Ice Cream
The recipe for this simple and really quick asparagus cream soup with roux, herbal salt and almonds topping was the result of a rainy day, with lust for cream soup was no cream at home... (directly to the recipe)
... It was green asparagus in the fridge and a rainy day. That's why I had a taste for a cream soup, but was too lazy to go shopping for cream, sour cream or the like. The smoked almonds went into the pot because a pack of it has stood next to the stove.
For a white roux, I've just had the right things at home and therefore I made the soup more or less "old school", like grandma would do it. (But she would also add cream or sour cream)
Roux is used in cooking to bind sauces and soups. A white roux is used for lighter soups and sauces. Darker roux like blond or brown roux is cooked longer and used for darker dishes or sauces with a stronger flavour.
Melt butter in a saucepan, careful not to let it brown. Add about the same amount of wheat flour to the butter and mix with a whisk until it is a smooth, uniform mixture. Cook for 1-2 minutes on low to medium heat, while steadily mixing with a whisk. The roux should not get brown. Mix the roux with a cold liquid like milk or soup.
On this pic you can see how the white roux looked like, once the milk was mixed in:
Zucchini cream soup with croutons
5 favorite salads at the Viennese Heuriger
Beef Salad with green asparagus and fruity dressing
Once again, I did some research on a classic recipe of my granny. This time, I wanted to know the secret of her super fluffy apricot jam roulade.
As always, you will find the basic recipe at the bottom. I summarized the tips and tricks of grandma in the blog posting for you. (Directly to recipe)
So what are the secrets of Grandma's super fluffy apricot jam roulade?
My grandma and I shot a video with the instructions for the perfectly fluffy jam roulade dough.
If you liked the grandma video, you can see even more on the Youtube channel of Vienna Sunday Kitchen.
Have fun baking!
In the park just around the corner of my apartment, the elderflower bushes are just in full bloom. So I simply had to strike it and steal a few of the umbels ... The result is this elderflower mousse made with fresh elderflowers, whipped cream, cream cheese and sour cream (and a little bit of sugar and lemon juice).
Further down in the post, there are a few tips on collecting elderberry and a few ideas for combinations for the mousse. (Directly to recipe)
