Gluten Free Cardamom Cookies

Delicious and easy to make - these buttery gluten free cardamom cookies are the perfect addition to your autumnal cup of tea. These cookies are melt-in-your mouth good when they are hot from the oven, and as they cool down they will become a bit more crispy. They keep their texture and flavor for several days, uncovered on the kitchen counter and I imagine you could keep them fresh for even longer if you put them in a sealed cookie tin.

My favorite tea to sip on while eating these cookies is an apple and cinnamon tea, but they also go really well with a cup of coffee or milk! :)

Ingredients:

110 gr butter

30 gr sugar

8 gr vanilla sugar (1 packet)

pinch of salt

130 gr gluten free flour mix

100 gr buckwheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cardamom

1/4 tsp cloves

1 egg

Instructions:

1. Take the chilled butter out of the fridge, cube it and place in a large bowl.

2. Mix the sugar, vanilla sugar, and salt with the flours and spices.

3. Add the dry ingredients into the bowl and use your hands to loosely combine them with the butter.

4. Add one egg and use a spatula to mix it, and then use your hands to knead the mixture into a homogenous dough.

5. Wrap the dough with plastic foil and let it sit in the fridge for 30 minutes.

6. Flour your work surface, or place the dough between two layers of plastic wrap before rolling it out.

7. Once you've rolled the dough out to a thickness of about 0.5 cm, take your cookie cutters and cut the desired shapes. Repeat the process until you've used up all of the dough.

8. Place the cookies on a baking pan lined with baking paper and bake for 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

Baked Savory Crepes with Cheese and Swiss Chard

Baked sweet crepes filled with cheese are a popular dessert in Croatia and have been enjoyed throughout my childhood. This recipe features baked crepes with cheese but in a savory version. The crepes are filled with cooked Swiss chard, cheese and pancetta or bacon bits. It is a great and filling lunch recipe, and the crepes can be eaten warm and cold so you don't have to worry about leftovers. Just place the leftover crepes in the fridge and you can have a snack or lunch ready for the next day too!

Ingredients:

For the crepes:

1 egg

pinch of salt

400 ml milk

80 gr gluten free flour

80 gr buckwheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp brandy

For the filling:

230 gr cooked chard

300 gr cottage cheese

100 gr sour cream

50 gr pancetta or bacon

For the topping:

100 gr sour cream

100 ml cream

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, mix one egg with a pinch of salt and add in the milk.

2. Add the dry ingredients: gluten free flour, buckwheat flour and the baking powder. Add a teaspoon of brandy to the batter to make sure the crepes don't soak up a lot of oil. Cook the crepes.

3. Prepare the filling by chopping the cooked chard into small pieces. Squeeze the chard with your hands to drain the excess water, and place it into a bowl.

4. Add the cheese, sour cream and pancetta or bacon and mix well.

5. Fill each crepe with the filling and roll it up. Place it into a greased baking tin.

6. Prepare the topping by mixing cream and sour cream and pour it on top of the crepes. Bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

7. Serve warm. Bon Appetit!

Fig and Matcha Cheesecake Bars

These gluten free, no-bake cheesecake fresh figs and matcha bars are so decadent and so easy to make. The bars are low in added sugar, because the figs add their own natural sweetness. To make the recipe easier and quicker to make, I've used some plain gluten free cookies that I had in my cupboard. The brand and ingredients in your cookies of choice will vary, and so will their sugar content. The ones I had are quite sweet for my taste, so they added the perfect amount of overall sweetness to the cake. To completely control the sugar content in the cake, you can use a homemade cookie recipe (those cookies have minimal sugar, but you can also omit the added spices if you'd like to use them to make these cheesecake bars).

The main thing to point out is that you will need to let this cake rest overnight in the fridge so the bars can firm up and hold their shape. I know it's hard because you just want to dig in immediately, but try to have a cup of tea instead, lick the mixing bowl and go to sleep knowing you'll have an amazing breakfast waiting for you!

Ingredients:

220 gr gluten free cookies

45 gr butter

570 gr cream cheese

425 ml coconut milk

50 gr cacao butter

10 gr matcha powder

10 gr vanilla sugar

300 gr fresh figs

Instructions:

1. Take the gluten free cookies and grind them until their texture is like fine sand. Transfer to a bowl.

2. Melt the butter and pour over the cookies. Take the cookie and butter mixture and transfer to your cake pan. Gently but firmly press the mixture into the pan to create the cheesecake base.

3. In a bowl, mix the cheese, vanilla sugar and coconut milk. Melt the cacao butter and add to the mix.

4. Once all the ingredients for the filling are well mixed together, add the matcha powder. Mix it in with a spatula until you get a uniform green colour.

5. Pour the cheese mixture on top of the cookie base.

6. Take the fresh figs and slice them. You can adjust the thickness of the slices as you wish. Place them on top of the cheesecake layer.

7. Place the cake into the fridge overnight so it can set and firm up.

8. Before serving, slice the cheesecake into bars and sprinkle with some more matcha. Bon appetit!