EASY AND FAST GLUTEN-FREE JAM COOKIES

If that isn't a winter sky,I don't know what is. Winter is here, we woke up with a thin layer of snow yesterday but nothing serious really, but this weekend, beginning tonight, should on the other hand be a white one. If it comes, let's hope the snow won't stay long because Tuscany (apart from the Apennines) is not made for snow.



Sometimes I take out my mother's old cookbooks and just sit and feel good no not only, I actually read them too get ideas and remember. I very often find pieces of paper with my father's writing on them, old seating lists for dinner parties sometimes with my name on them , often not. I love this even though it makes me miss them, my parents I mean, so much and it takes me back in time for a little while. I also find old cuttings from newspapers and magazines, recipes my mother wanted to make and today's recipe is one of them. I have no idea where it comes from, nor when it was published so I feel a little bad about posting it but it is a brilliant little cookie recipe, so simple to make and it is gluten-free as well so I decided to share it with you. And there is no need to be on a gf diet to make them, my family liked them a lot.






EASY AND FAST GLUTEN-FREE JAM COOKIES
around 25

125 g/ 4,4 oz butter, unsalted
3 tblsp sugar
1/2 egg
250 ml/ 1 cup potato or corn starch
thick jam of your own choice

- Stir butter and sugar until smooth.
- Add the half egg, stir well and then add the potato starch. Work the dough quickly.
- Make small balls that you put on baking sheets.
- Make a small hole in the middle and put a small amount of jam in each hole.
- Bake in the middle of the oven in a pre-heated oven (175°C/350°F) for about 15 minutes.

TUSCAN BEAN STEW OR FAGIOLI ALL'UCCELLETTO

Cold weather has hit us and I wish I could wear mittens when I write this because the indoor temperature in our house goes straight down when icy winds are keeping it prey. Fortunately the wind is no longer but that doesn't help us really, once the temperature is down, we're stuck there. At least I get a lot of stuff ironed because that is such an excellent way to warm up still little fingers.



The other day, I got a request in a comment for the recipe for fagioli all'uccelletto or what could be called Tuscan Bean Stew and I was very surprised to find that I never have posted the recipe of it in my over four years of blogging because it is such a typical winter dish here. There are small variations of course but on the whole it is made with white cannelini beans, tomatoes, sage, garlic and extra-virgin olive oil. It is often served or cooked with salsicce and that is such a great dish to eat on a cold, windy winter's day when you need to get warm and to feel comfortable. THis is one of those dishes that I have problems with in the sense I can't stop, one forkful follows another and I don't feel that my stomach is completely full, I suppose it is one of my glutton dishes! So annannan, here is your Christmas wish come true because I hope this is the dish you asked for!






TUSCAN BEAN STEW OR FAGIOLI ALL'UCCELLETTO

400 g/ 14,1 oz cannellini beans, cooked al dente
400 g/ 14,1 oz tomatoes, chopped
a sprig of sage leaves
1 clove of garlic, slightly crushed
a little chilli pepper, optional
salt
extra-virgin olive oil

- There are two schools of when to add sage and garlic, one adds them straight away to the oil, the other waits until the beans are added to the tomatoes. I do the in-between, I let the garlic cook a little in the oil before I add the chopped tomatoes and add the sage later on.
- After a couple of minutes, add the tomatoes to the garlic and leave it to simmer for about 5 minutes. Add salt as well. I add a little chilli pepper because I like it but not too much, there should just be a faint echo of it.
- Add the beans and the sage and continue to simmer for about 20 minutes or until the sauce has thickened.
- Serve as a side dish or with salsicce.

VIENNESE STRIESEL - Bread Baking Babes December Bread

Right now I am baking and baking, I am even baking too much, yesterday I had complaints from a family member but everything disappears pretty quickly anyway so I happily bake on. This month's Bread Baking Babes challenge disappeared very quickly too, the Viennese Striesel chosen by Katie of Thyme for Cooking, a perfect choice now when Christmas is coming up and it is not difficult, not time consuming to make. Well, it was a bit difficult for me because I had never made a braid with four strands before but I googled and found something that helped me but I suspect that you can make several variants of the four stranded braid because now I found another one that looked different from the one I managed to produce. But it really doesn't matter that much because you put two other braids on top of it so no one will notice if you make mistakes! That makes the Viennese Striesel even more perfect, doesn't it?



I tweaked the recipe a little because a) I really don't like candied cherries at all so I used dried cranberries instead and b) I found that I had no candied orange peel at home so I had to skip that too. But apart from these deviations, I was a good babe and did was I was told. The striesel didn't really do what I told it though because it was twisting and turning all by it's own force and as you can see it looks like some kind of primordial worm or snake peeking out of its den in the first photo. But this is just me never managing to reach the perfection I am striving for but it really doesn't matter as long as it is good! And it is!

I am not alone as you know, there are more Bread Baking Babes and I hope you will take the time to see their creations, here is a link to the complete list! And don't be shy, join in and be a Bread Baking Buddy, the last day is 21st of December. For more details check out Katie's blog!





Viennese Striesel
from an old cookbook put out by Fleischmein's Yeast called Breads of Many Lands


Basic sweet dough
1 package active dry yeast (I used 25 g fresh yeast because our house is cool now)
60 ml/ 1/4 cup very warm water (because of the fresh yeast, I didn't warm the water that much, finger warm is nough)
120 ml/1/2 cup milk
60 ml/1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tbs shortening, melted (I used butter)
650-700 ml/ 2 3/4 - 3 cups flour
1 egg

- Dissolve yeast in warm water
- Scald milk. Put milk, sugar, shortening, salt in bowl of mixer. Cool until just warm. Stir in 1 cup of flour. Mix in dissolved yeast.
- Whisk egg and add to dough. Add remaining flour and knead until smooth and satiny.


Viennese striesel
1 recipe Basic Sweet Dough
60 ml/1/4 cup seedless raisins
60 ml/1/4 cup candied cherries, chopped
2 tbs candied orange peel, chopped
1/8 tsp mace I couldn't find it and used a pinch of both nutmeg and cinnamon

frosting
120 ml/1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tbs milk
almonds or walnuts for sprinkling

- Add fruit and mace to basic dough before the last cup of flour. Mix in well. Add remaining flour and finish kneading until smooth.
- Shape into a ball, place in lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise until doubled, about 2 1/4 hours.
- Punch down. Divide into 9 pieces, shape each into a ball and let rest 5 minutes.
- Roll each piece into a rope about 38 cm/15 in long. Lay 4 strands on a lightly greased baking sheet, overlapping at the center. Braid from the center toward each end. With the side of your hand make a trench down the center. Now braid 3 strands, also from the center to each end, and place in the 'trench'. Twist the 2 remaining strands loosely together and place on top, bringing the ends over the end of the loaf and tucking in.
- Cover loosely and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours. Bake, 350F (175C) for 40 - 45 minutes. Remove and cool on a wire rack.
- Mix milk and sugar. When bread is cool, drizzle frosting over the top. Sprinkle with nuts.