Celebration of Austrian Desserts

We’ll start our tour of worldwide desserts in Austria. Many of the famous recipes we know today date back to before the 16th century probably the best known among tourists being the Apple Strudel. Up to the Renaissance, most desserts in Europe were made with honey as sugar was only affordable by the wealthy. Other famous Austrian desserts are the Sacher Torte first created at the Sacher Hotel, the Dobostorte named after European nobility and the Salzburg Nockerl said to celebrate the 3 small hills (or “Nockerln”) in the town of Salzburg near the Austrian border.

I’ll feature the Salzburger Nockerl because it is one of the most memorable desserts you can have in Austria, no one seems to ever forget the delicate 3 mounds of meringue on a bed of red raspberry sauce. Best of all, it is gluten free, low in sugar (only 4 tbsp) and easy to make. I use agave for most of my recipes whenever possible as it has one of the lowest glycemic values of the natural sugars without being chemically processed like Splenda. (More on agave on a future blog.) For this recipe, a little sugar must be used for the meringue to avoid weeping of the meringue after baking. The final result will have a soufflé like texture and taste light and heavenly.

Prepare the Raspberry Jam
2 baskets of organic fresh raspberries
¼ cup agave nectar
2 tbsp lemon juice
¼ cup fresh orange juice
Mix half the raspberries, the agave nectar, lemon and orange juice in a pan. Bring to a boil for 3 minutes whisking to break apart berries. Remove from heat and add the remaining strawberries and coat. Set aside

Preheat overn to 400 degrees F.

Pour the warm jam into a baking dish. Oval, rectangular or square dishes are fine as long as they are large enough to fit 3 mounds of meringue.

For the Salzburger Nockerln
5 egg whites
3 egg yolks
4 tbsp powdered sugar or bakers sugar
1 tsp tapioca flour, sifted
2 tbsp Grand Marnier
Grated peel of 1 lemon

Mix together the 3 egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of the sugar, tapioca flour, Grand Marnier and lemon peel in a bowl.
In a mixing bowl beat together the egg whites with 3 tbsp of the sugar until stiff but not dry.
Take 1/3 of the meringue mixture and fold into the egg yolk mixture till blended. Fold remaining meringue in mixture.
Spoon meringue in 3 even mounds over the raspberry jam.
Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden and enjoy immediately. Top with sifted powder sugar if desired.