Calla flower cookies or cūkauši, another name for the cookies in Latvian, are delicious, sweet, light and crispy cookies, which are simple and fast to make, using a few ingredients. The name for these cookies comes from their similarity to the calla flower.
The cookie base is made using 3 ingredients – egg, sugar and flour. Typically, in my childhood, we used to put a slice of a sugared candied fruit jelly inside the cookie. But it can be replaced with a slice of homemade jelly or buttercream. If you don’t have any, the cookie tastes nice also on its own.
Ingredients
- 1 egg (room temperature)
- 70 grams (1/3 cup) sugar
- 50 grams (1/4 cup) all purpose flour
- approximately 40 grams (quince or other) jelly cut in small slices
- powdered sugar (optional)
Directions
- Set the oven to heat to 180 degrees Celsius or 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Insert parchment paper or a silicone baking mat in a baking tray, grease it with some oil and dust with some flour.
- In a bowl mix the egg with the sugar using an electric mixer or a whisk till it’s light and fluffy.
- Sift in the flour and mix with a spoon to integrate it.
- Using a teaspoon put the batter on a baking tray leaving some distance between the cookies as they will flatten and expand while baking. As we will need to shape the cookies while they are still hot, do not put more than 6 to 8 cookies on the baking tray at a time.
- Bake the cookies for 5 – 8 minutes till they start to lightly brown around the edges.
- Remove the baking tray from the oven and right away remove each cookie from the baking tray with a sharper spatula, put a jelly slice in the middle and squeeze together the sides of the cookie around the jelly slice to form a flower.
- Sprinkle the ready cookies with some powdered sugar and enjoy!