Alice Medrich's Buckwheat Linzer Cookies (Gluten Free)

Pardon the unassuming photograph and let me assure you that these cookies are delicious. They're both gluten and nut-free, and a great way to highlight the unique earthy flavour of buckwheat. I added orange zest and rum, which I feel is a great extra touch. You can use any jam that's dark and not too chunky, and vary the size and shape of the cookies to your taste.

The gluten free flours result in an extremely tender and delicate cookie, a bit more rustic than the traditional linzer cookie but in a very good way. It's the kind of cookie you can imagine forest fairies or something of the like eating with tea. 

I think that the dough is also improved by the cream cheese, adding a touch of tang and also more tenderness. Because there isn't any gluten, there's no concern about overworking the dough, making these surprisingly easy to make.

While mine weren't very pretty, working with colder dough (I rushed the refrigeration step) will yield cleaner cuts and nicer-looking cookies- but the important thing is that they're delicious. Take care not to overbake the cookies, though; they are brown to begin with, so it can be tricky to tell when they're done.



Buckwheat Linzer Cookies
Slightly Adapted From Flavour Flours, by Alice Medrich

70 g. Buckwheat flour
65 g. Oat flour
55 g. White rice flour ( I used Thai white rice flour)
170 g. Butter
100 g. Sugar
Pinch of salt
Pinch of baking soda
70 g. Cream cheese
1 TBSP Rum (or water)
Zest of one orange

Blackberry, raspberry or red/black currant jam, about 1/2 C.

Preheat oven to 170℃.

Sift together the flours, salt and baking soda. Separately, beat together the sugar, cream cheese, butter and orange zest. Add the dry ingredients and rum/water. Knead to form a homogeneous mass and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Roll out between sheets of baking parchment and cut with a circular cookie cutter or glass. You can also form a large, thick log of dough prior to refrigeration and then use a wire or very sharp knife to cut circular slices, but then you will need to make sure the dough is very firm.

Cut out smaller shapes in half of the circles (I used a flower cookie cutter) and bake on a parchment-lined pan for 20-25 minutes. Let cool on the pan.

Spread the cookies without cut-outs with your jam of choice and top with the other half. Dust with powder sugar if desired.

Sakura Mochi for a Sakura-less Season, and Salted Cherry Leaves (Sakura-Ha)

Spring is rapidly flying out the window, and much to the chagrin of GTA residents everywhere, it's been a bad year for cherry blossom sightings. The erratic, cold start to the season led to a lack of flowers, instead with the trees skipping straight to leafiness. Nonetheless, I made one of my favourite sweets (and a favourite of my little sister), the beautiful and delicious sakura mochi. They differ from regular daifuku mochi in that they're made with whole rice grains as opposed to pounded, smooth mochi, and that they are garnished with aromatic salted cherry leaves.

The idea of obtaining salted cherry leaves might seem difficult, but if you can find a non-pesticide treated cherry blossom tree with young, small leaves, you can do it in minutes. The mochi themselves are also very simple, with the most crucial step being, in my opinion, letting the mass cool down enough before attempting to shape it into balls.

I also used homemade anko (red bean paste) as the coarser, less refined type (tsubu-an) that I like can be hard to get. All of the ingredients are really inexpensive, and yet this is a very impressive sweet to make- and goes really well with a pot of green tea. You can also preserve the cherry blossoms themselves in salt, but it can be harder to find clean ones as insects like to bury into them and you really don't want ones with pesticides.

Make sure you use the mochigome rice, lest you end up with a mess that's either too sticky or not sticky enough. Also don't overdo the food colouring.... cherry blossoms aren't usually blood red (though that would be very cool).

Sakura Mochi
from Wagashi Maniac

200 g. Mochigome/ mochiko rice, rinsed well
Pinch of salt
300 g. Anko paste (non-fried red bean paste)
65 g. Sugar
160 ml. Water
Red food colouring
10-14 Salted cherry leaves (Sakura-ha) (recipe follows)

Soak rice in water overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, drain and crush the rice with a rolling pin or pestle until the grains are broken up, but not too small (most of the grains should be in halves). Spread in an ever layer on the bottom of a cheesecloth or other cloth-lined steamer or metal colander (anything with lots of holes for steam to get through). Set over a pot of boiling water and cover with a lid. Steam for 30-45 minutes, or until translucent and tender throughout.

Transfer the rice to a cool bowl and mix in the salt. 

In a small saucepan, bring the 160 ml. water and sugar to a boil until sugar dissolves. Pour this syrup onto the rice and mix in well. Add a couple of drops of red food colour and mix in until the desired pinkness is achieved. This is done best with a large spoon or rice mixing paddle.

Wait for the rice to cool down and absorb the syrup completely, mixing periodically and keeping covered. In the mean time, divide the anko paste into as many pieces as you wish to make mochi (10-14, depending on what size you want) and roll into balls. Rinse the salted cherry leaves in cool water to remove excess salt.

When the mixture is completely cool, fill a bowl with water- you'll need this to keep your hands moist when handling the rice so it doesn't stick to you. Divide the rice into as many pieces as you have balls of anko paste and form spheres, then flatten them with the palm of your hand (use the water!). Place the anko in the centre, fold in half and roll back into a ball shape between your hands. Place the finished mochi onto a wet plate.

When all of the mochi are done, place a cherry leaf onto each one. Allow to set for about half an hour in a cool place for better texture.

Salted Cherry Leaves/ Sakura-Ha

12-24 young, small cherry blossom tree leaves, rinsed
about 1/2 C. Salt

Bring a cup of water to a boil and place in a pan or bowl. Next to it, prepare a bowl of ice-cold water. Using a spatula or strainer, quickly dip the leaves into the boiling water for about 10 seconds, then place in the cold water to blanch.

Sprinkle the bottom of an airtight tupperware container with salt. Make a layer of cherry leaves, then top with more salt liberally. Repeat until all the cherry blossom leaves are covered in salt. Top with enough water to cover the leaves, then put something heavy (like a saucer or other non-rusting object) on top of the leaves to keep them submerged. Close the lid and keep refrigerated for up to a year.

Vegan/Gluten-Free Black Bean Brownies

I normally avoid "healthy" adaptions of baked goods like the plague, on the grounds that they're usually only marginally better for you in reality, or not worth eating after the sheer amount of change to the original recipe making them a veritable Frankenstein of the trendy superfoods-du-jour. Or both. I especially abhor "skinny" versions of recipes for many reasons, mostly coming down to my hatred for the prevalent thinness-obsessed culture. But I digress! Healthy recipes are certainly a good thing, provided that a) they're supposed to be that way and not merely butcherings of classic recipes with less fat/sugar/more kale n' quinoa and b) actually taste good!

I was very suspicious of the idea of a healthy brownie from the start, but the thing about these is, I trust the presence of black beans to be a good idea. After all, I love all kinds of bean-filled sweets. Anko paste in mochi, red bean fritters and mooncakes, mung beans and black-eyed peas as well. I've even read some european recipes using white beans as a peasant-friendly, economical filler ingredient, and I hope to try that one day as well. A brownie with black beans didn't seem like such a bad idea, especially if it was promised to be moist and fudgey (my preferred state of brownie).

These are far from one-trick ponies. They don't only have the protein kick of black beans (and the fibre!) but also are both vegan and gluten-free. You can easily make them without nuts, too. The cocoa powder completely replacing flour makes them very chocolatey despite the absence of actual chocolate. The flaxseed binding them in the place of egg adds omega-3s to the mix. They're very accommodating to unrefined sugar, too. You can really use any oil you like to bake with- but a nut oil is the best in my opinion. I used almond. Along with the walnuts, they ensure that these brownies are moistened with only the healthiest of lipids.

And they really are nice and moist! While not really much like a typical brownie, they've got a nice chocolatey taste and go down great with a cup of tea. I won't be stopping my search for the perfect (butter-containing) brownie anytime soon, but these are going to the permanent collection of recipes-to-return-to. Even if you're skeptical, try them out- they're definitely tastier than a protein bar and far cheaper to make. It's good for you and tasty. Fantastic.

Black Bean Brownies
Adapted from Minimalist Baker

1 3/4 C. Cooked black beans, drained and rinsed if from a can
3/4 C. Cocoa powder
2 TBSP Ground flaxseed
5 TBSP Water
3 TBSP Coconut oil, or other favoured vegetable/nut oil (e.g. walnut, almond)
1/4 Tsp. Salt
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1/2 C. Fine raw cane sugar 
1 TBSP Agave syrup
1 1/2 Tsp. Baking powder
1/3 C. Walnut pieces, or chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 180℃.

Line a muffin tray with paper cups, or grease with oil. Combine water and flaxseed in food processor and let sit about 10 minutes.

Add the remaining ingredients (except for the toppings) and blend well. Make sure there's no bean pieces left whole. You might want to add a tablespoon or two of water if it is too sticky.

Distribute between muffin cups with a spoon. Push any nuts or chips into the top with a spoon. Bake for about 25 minutes.

Let cool in pan for half an hour before removing.