Vorarlberg Käsknöpfli

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 400 g flour (spaetzle flour or double-purpose flour)
• 4 eggs
• 400 g cheese, mixed, 2 parts mountain cheese, 2 parts Emmental, 1 part Räskäse
• Milk
• Salt
• 1 large onion(s)
• butter

Instructions

Working time approx. 15 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 30 minutes; Total time approx. 45 minutes

with mountain cheese, Emmental and Räskäs

Buy a ready-made cheese mix or grate the various cheeses and mix them together. Slice the onions into rings and set aside. For the dough, mix the flour with the eggs, a good pinch of salt, and milk to form a thick dough. The dough shouldn’t be too runny, so you get nice little dumplings, not long spaetzle. Using a spaetzle grater, shave one portion of the dough at a time into hot, salted water. When the dumplings float to the top, they’re done. Skim the dumplings and place them alternately with the cheese in a warm bowl and keep warm. Meanwhile, fry the onion in plenty of butter until crisp and golden. Once all the dough has been used up, stir the dumplings in the bowl vigorously with a fork. If the dumplings are too dry, add a ladleful of broth. Before serving, spoon the onion and butter over the dumplings. Traditionally, Käsknöpfli are eaten with potato salad or apple sauce.