I’m often inspired to visit a place because of it’s food. And if it was something else like a world wonder that drew me to a destination, inevitably I would be out in search of it’s local cuisine and culinary treasures. Zurich has been on my to-visit lists for a while now. The picturesque streets and river walks look like something out of a movie, but more than anything I am eager to check out their dessert scene. With some many preserved sweet treats like Tirggel flat honey cake and regional cookies, it must be a treasure trove of historical confections. Which has inspired me to try my hand at one of their treats. This Zurich-inspired recipe it’s traditional, but it can give me wanderlust one bite at a time.
In Switzerland there is no shortage of delectable cookies and many regions in the country have cookies specifically their own. The name “Lakerli” comes from the German Word for delicious (lecker)- a fitting name for this sweet Zurich treat. The Zuri-Lackerli is reminiscent of a colorful marzipan sweet being made of peeled almonds, sugar and flavorings like lemon or orange zest. The Zuri-Lackerli are often colored with tumeric, cocoa powder or sandlewood to get a nice colorful variety. Most of the ingredients for this can be purchased at the Schwarzenbach colonial grocery store in Zurich’s Old Town, including the special wood mold used to form the cookies. More reason to get myself to Zurich. Without the mold I just made the cookies pipped out in rectangle strips since I knew I was going to be crumbling them. I figure if you can’t enjoy them in their traditional form why not have some fun and give them a new form and in this case it was in the form of cheeescake.
I’ve been reading about all of the cakes, tarts, and chocolate and I want to try them all. There is even an hour similar to the British afternoon tea called “Zvieri” at 4pm when you snack on coffee, hot chocolate or Ovaltine with something sweet like a small chocolate bar or a fancy slice of cake. To me this cheesecake encapsulates it all. It could be something enjoyed at Zvieri and it has all those lovely flavors like almond and honey that are found in a lot of the traditional desserts. A little slice of decadence inspired by a cookie I can’t wait to get my hands on in Zurich!
Check out https://www.zuerich.com/en/visit/zurich-sights for more.
“Zuri-Lackerli” Cookies
INGREDIENTS:
1 1/4 lb of almonds, peeled and finely grated
1 1/4 lb icing sugar
3 egg whites, beaten
1 tbsp lemon zest
1 3/4 oz icing sugar
4 tbsp lemon juice
DIRECTIONS:
1. Mix the almonds and icing sugar, add the egg whites, work into a firm dough.
2. Dust your hands with icing sugar and form rustic cookie forms. I chose to make rectangular almost biscotti shaped cookies. You can also roll out to approximately 1 cm thickness and cut dough into rectangles.
3. Lay the rectangles on a tray lined with baking paper and leave to stand for approximately 2 hours.
4. Bake for approximately 5 minutes in the middle of an oven pre-heated to 430 degrees F.
5. For the glaze mix together the remaining icing sugar and lemon juice.
6. Brush the still hot “Lackerli” with the glaze and leave to cool.
Sweet Somethings: