{low carb} Austrian Topfenknödel: Delicious Curd Cheese Dumplings

Austrians are very fond of their “Mehlspeisen”: typical Austrian sweet dishes involving lots of gluten. A gluten-fest if you will [Mehl =

flour, Speise = dish] and that fondness knows no limits. However, as I try to cut out gluten and try to stick to a low-carb diet, indulging in curd cheese dumplings or Austrian Topfenknödel didn’t seem possible – or so I thought.

When I was craving my Mum’s Topfenknödel really, really bad I decided to adapt her recipe. After a few trials and errors, I can now say that I am pretty pleased with the result. Below you will find the recipe for low-carb (and keto-friendly) light and fluffy curd cheese dumplings.

How to make the curd cheese dumplings:

1. In a bowl, soften both the cream curd cheese and farmer’s curd cheese. Add the zest of 1 lemon and your preferred sweetener.
2. In the meantime, melt the butter and then add it to the mixture in a thin stream while whisking continuously.
3. Add the psyllium husk and sift in the flour.
4. Finally, add 2 eggs and whisk until mixture is well-combined.
5. Bring a pot of water to a simmer.
6. With wet hands, form about 10 dumplings.
7. Carefully drop the dumplings into simmering water and let them cook for about 9 minutes.
8. In the meantime, heat a pan over medium heat and grind nuts in a food processor. Then pour all ground nuts into the pan and stir until roasted. Add a tiny bit of sweetener.
9. Once your dumplings are cooked and the nuts are roasted, carefully take one Knödel at a time out of the boiling water with a slotted spoon and gently toss them into the nuts and sugar mixture to coat them.
10. Repeat until all dumplings are evenly coated.

In Austria, we either fill these dumplings with fresh fruit or enjoy them with stewed fruit. I prefer eating them with stewed berries.

Low-carb Topfenknödel

Serve these light and fluffy curd cheese dumplings on home-made berry stew.

Just add the berries and the lemon juice to a pot and heat slowly over medium heat until the mixture starts to boil. Reduce heat to low and cook on low heat until the berry stew starts to thicken. Then add sweetener to taste. Let it cool before serving.

Once everything is ready, you just have to plate the ingredients. And then just dig in.

Can you see how light and fluffy these dumplings are? And that although they are gluten-free and low-carb.

Have you ever tried classic Austrian Topfenknödel or any other traditional dishes?