new trend - sju sorters kakor

the famous swedish "sju sorters kakor" is now a big baking trend according to an article i read earlier today. but not only in sweden and scandinavia... they are also working on publishing a book about these delicious small cookies here in the states. 

keep your eyes open for the baking book about "seven kinds of cookies" and if you want to try baking on of these trendy cookies right now look at my recipe about "hallongrottor" (http://itstimetobake.blogspot.com/2011/02/hallongrottor.html). that´s just one out of hundreds "sju sorters kakor" recipes out there. 


i think i need to bake more of these trendy cookies this week, so keep your eyes open!
http://www.dn.se/mat-dryck/reportage/sju-sorters-kakor-till-kaffet

smulpaj med äpplen och nötter

crumble appel pie with nuts

when the summer is over and the fall is getting closer the great apple season starts in sweden. this season means alot of good apple pies to me and my family. one pie that most swedes loves to eat is smulpaj. it´s problably one of the easiest pies you can bake, it only takes around 30 minutes.

this recipie is one that i found on the internet the other week and it´s made by the food creator sara ghisler (http://www.tasteline.com/Recept/Smulpaj_med_applen_och_notter_2).

I hope you will like it. 

ingredienser                                          ingredience

100 gram smör                                        1/2 cup butter

2 dl socker                                             a little more than 3/4 cup sugar 

1 tsk kanel                                             1 teaspoon cinnemon 

2 dl mjöl                                                a little more than 3/4 cup flour

1 dl hasselnötter (hackade)                     1/2 cup hasselnuts (chopped)

4 st äpplen                                             4 apples (depending on the apple size)

kanelsocker                                           cinnemon-sugar

3 msk strösocker                                     3 tablespoon sugar

1 tsk kanel                                             1 teaspoon cinnemon    

1. preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius/ 392 degrees fahrenheit.

2. peel the apple and remove the core, cut the apples in smal pieces. turn the appel pieces in the cinnamon-sugar mix. take a pie pan and spray it with melted butter and then place the apples in the pan. 

4. place room tempreture butter, sugar, flour and nuts in a bowl and crush/crumble (mix it together) with your fingers (you can also use a kitchen aid mixer).

5. cover the apples with the crumbles and sprinkle some more chopped nuts on top. place the pie in the oven for about 20 minutes (it took a little longer time for my pie to be baked, around 35 min). the top should be golden brown and crisp.

enjoy this great smulpaj/ apple pie with some vanilla icecream.

I am already longing for fall.

(photo http://www.tasteline.com/Recept/Smulpaj_med_applen_och_notter_2)

leila.

my biggest rolemodels when it comes to baking is a swedish chef named leila lindholm. she makes the most delicious, beautiful cakes and the most adorable baking books (my two favorites are "a piece of cake" and "one more slice").

i was looking through some of her recipes online and found a list of seven tips she wrote for people that loves baking. 

leilas 6 best baking tips. 

1. always use ecologic eggs. the taste and the color of the egg makes a hugh difference to your cakes and cookies.

2. use high quality ingredients, the best thing is using ingredients that are organic.

3. use fresh ingredients . don´t use flour that has been sitting in the counter for to long.

4. how much flour you should use in a dough depends on which type of flour you decide to use. where the seed has been growing and how it´s grinded. doughs are often suppose to be stickier then you think.

5. it´s never a bad idea to use a kitchen aid mixer when you are baking. that makes it easier to work with the dough for a longer amount of time and slowly (10-20min).

6. you should never whip in the flour when you are baking soft cakes. 

http://www.dn.se/mat-dryck/reportage/leilas-7-basta-baktips

thank you leila for all your great recipes. 

hallongrottor

hallongrottor is one of the swedens famous ”sju sorters kakor” (seven types of cookies). in the middle of the 19th century people often gathered to have ”kafferep” enjoy ”sju sorters kakor” and drink coffee together. 

30 hallongrottor

200 gram smör                              1 cup butter

0,75dl strösocker                          1/3 cup sugar

1,5 tsk vaniljsocker                       1 1/2 teaspoon vanila ex 
1 tsk bakpulver                             1 teaspoon baking powder

4,5 dl vetemjöl                             2 1/2 cups flour 

0,75 tsk kanel                               3/4 teaspoon cinnamon 

0,75 dl hallonsylt                          1/3 cup rasberry jam.

1. place 30 muffin cups on a cookie sheet. preheat the oven to 200 degrees celsius/ 392 degrees F.

2. put the butter in a bowl and add sugar, vanilla extract and baking powder. soften until it´s room temprature. mix the dough with a hand mixer (or use a spoon) until it´s smooth and shiny. 

3. add cinnamon and flour and mix until the dough is smooth. roll the dough to a long roll and cut it into 30 pieces.

4. roll each dough part to a round ball and place them in the muffin cups. use your finger and press on the middle of the dough balls and place a spoon of rasberry jam in the cookie. 

5. bake the cookies in the middle of the oven for about 12 minutes. let the cookies cool on a rack and store them in a plastic container.

the rasberry and the cinnamon are a perfect mix and they give the cookies their classical taste. 

                                             enjoy 

metrics vs. us measurments.

for everyone that´s confused when it comes to using american measurments instead of metrics. here are some numbers that will help you if you want to bake your favorite swedish cake with american measurments (or the other way around).

dl = deciliter, msk = matsked

tsk = tesked

1/4 cup = 0,6 dl or 4 msk

1/3 cup = 0,8 dl or 5,3 msk

1/2 cup = 1,2 dl

3/4 cup = 1,8 dl

1 cup = 2,36 dl

1,5 cup = 3,56 dl

2 cup = 4,74 dl

3 cup = 7,1 dl

4.23 cup = 1 liter

1 teaspoon = 5 ml. the same as a metric (tsk) tesked  

1 tablespoon = 15 ml. the same as a metric (msk) matsked

here are some communly used temperatures when you bake

fahrenheit             celsius

257                       125 

302                       150  

347                       175 

392                       200 

437                       225

482                       250   

don´t forget to keep on baking.

kärleksmums

share it with your loved ones.

valentines day is coming up and so I thought it would be a great time to bake kärleksmums (love cake). in sweden we often share this cake with someone else when we go for fika, that´s why we call them kärleks(love)mums(yum-yum). 

bottom

300 g smör                               1 1/2 cup butter

4 ägg                                       4 eggs

6 dl strösocker                          2 1/2 cup sugar

3 dl mjölk                                1 1/3 cup milk 

9 dl vetemjöl                           3 4/5 cup flour

5 tsk bakpulver                         5 teaspoon baking powder 

2 tsk vaniljsocker                      2 teaspoon vanilla extract 

4 msk kakao                              4 tablespoon cacao (unsweetened)

glazing - topping

120 g smör                                1/2 cup butter

8 msk kallt, starkt kaffe             8 tablespoons cold, strong coffee 

(this is optional, you can replace it with water if you don´t drink coffee)       

7 dl florsocker                           3 cup icing sugar  

2 msk kakao                               2 tablespoons cocoa(unsweetened)

1 msk vaniljsocker                     1 tablespoons vanilla extract  

garnish 

kokosflingor                               shredded coconut

because I made my kärleksmums for valentines day I used heartshapes sprinkles instead of shredded coconut. I had alot of problems finding shredded dry coconut here in the states, mostly it´s sweetened.

1. preheat oven to 347 degrees faarenheit (150 degrees C).

2. whip the eggs and the sugar together until it´s porous. 

3. melt the butter and let it cool for a bit, then mix it with the dough. 

4. mix the dry ingredients; flour, cocoa powder and baking powder, stir into the dough. make sure you don´t whip it to hard so the air disappears. pour in the vanilla extract and the milk.

take a (långpanna) cake pan and spray it with melted butter or cover it in cookie sheets all the way to the edges (should be 30x40 cm, 13x9 inch form). pour the mixture into the långpanna cake pan.

bake the kärleksmums in the middle of the owen for about 20 minutes (until it´s not sticky).
let the cake cool.

glazing

1. melt the butter

2. poor in the cold coffee, mix and let it cool.

3. stir in the dry ingredients and stir the mixture until the glazing is smooth (the cocoa powder in the states isn´t as strong as the swedish, so taste the glazing and see if  you need to poor in more). 

spread the glazing on the cake and sprinkle the  shredded coconut or the heartshaped sprinkles on the kärleksmums. 

cut into squares.

surprise and eat it with someone you love.

happy valentines day 

scones

sunday morning and I was having daniel over for breakfast. I didn´t have the time to bake something advanced, but what´s better than some newly baked bread in the morning? I decided to look for some recipies on scones online, and I found a new one that I hadn´t baked before. it´s super easy and super good!

6 dl vetemjöl (or 3 dl vetemjöl and 3 dl fullkornsdinkel)    2 1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsk salt                                                                      a pinch of salt

2 tsk bakpulver                                                                2 teaspoon baking powder

100 gr smör                                                                     1/2 cups butter

1 ägg                                                                              1 egg

1 1/2 dl mjölk                                                                 3/4 cups milk  

(you could try to put some blueberries and vanilia yoghurt in the dough instead of milk, it gives the scones more taste and it´s super yummy)

1 ägg                                                                              1 egg

ev. pumpafrön                                                                 opt. pumpkin seeds

mix all the dry ingredients together and then pour in the egg and the milk. mix to a sticky dough. split the dough in four pieces and make them circular. put them on cookiesheets and spread the top of the dough with a raw egg and pumpkin seeds. 

250 degrees C, 482 degrees farenheit for ten minutes. 

eat your scones with cheese and marmalade. don´t forget to drink some delicious tea too.

have a good one!

vallmogifflar

taste as good as they look.

when I was a child my grandma use to bake vallmogifflar when me and my family came and visited them in osby. I´ve always loved the taste but never tried baking them before so I thought it was time to give it a try and also a great way to remeber my grandma by. 

50 gram smör                                            1/4 cup butter

5 dl mjölk  2 1/2 cup milk

50 gram jäst (14 gram torrjäst)                  2 teaspoons yeast 

1 tsk salt  a pinch of salt

1 msk strösocker 1 tablespoon sugar

1 ägg   1 egg

9 dl vetemjöl  3 1/2 cups flour 

brush the top with..

1 ägg 1 egg

vallmofrön                                                 poppy seed

250 grader celsius, 482 degrees farenheit 

1. preheat the oven to 250 degrees celsius/ 482 degrees F and place rack in center of oven.

2. melt the butter. let cool slightly, then pour in the cold milk. warm or cool the butter-milk mixture until it is around 40-45 celsius /104-113 degrees F if you use yeast powder, and to around 37 celsius/ 99 degrees F if you use fresh yeast. pour the liquid onto the yeast.

3. stir in the salt, sugar and the egg.

4. pour in the flour and knead the dough until it´s smooth. I needed more flour then the recipie said, so if the dough is to sticky just add some more flour. cover the dough with a dry towel, and place to rise until nearly double in size. takes about 30 minutes.

5. turn the doug out onto a lightly floured surface. split in into 4 pieces. use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a larger rectangle. cut the rectangel into triangles (6-8) and rowl the triangle into a vallmogiffel (the same scape as a croissant). put vallmogifflarna on a cookie sheet with the crease down. bent the vallmogifflar into the shape of half moons. cover with a clean dry tea towel and let rise for 30 minutes. 

6. brush the tops of the breads with the beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seed. 

7. bake vallmogifflarna in the center of the oven until the are golden brown, about 8-10minutes, depending on how big you make them. 

enjoy your vallmogifflar with sup or eat the for lunch with some turkey, tomatoes and creme cheese.

eating vallmogifflar brought back alot of great memories, thank you grandma.

bakpulver, baking soda, bikarbonat & baking powder.

many swedes that move to america have alot of problems baking. it´s not just that the ingrediences taste different, but they are also hard to find. 

one problem that I have had so far is knowing the difference between baking powder and baking soda. I did my research and this is what I found:

                                    baking powder = swedish bakpulver

                                     baking soda = bikarbonat 

baking soda/ bakpulver is stronger then baking powder/ bakpulver.

baking soda/ bikarbonat can give bread a bitter aftertaste. it´s best used in doughs that contains a sour ingredient like swedish fil, sour cream or naturell yoghurt. if you use baking soda/ bikarbonat in a white cake for example swedish sockerkaka you need to be careful because there can be a green, brown or yellow discoloration. you should use baking soda when the cake already has a brownish color, like carot cake or gingerbread. if you don´t have any baking soda at home when you are baking, use baking powder/ bakpulver. but don´t forget that you need to increase the amount to double (baking powder contains baking soda).

baking powder/ bakpulver is used for doughs with alot of butter and sugar. regular yeast doesn´t work well when the doughs are to sweet and it´s faster. it doesn´t leave any aftertaste and is normally used in cakes that are suppose to be eaten the same day as they are baked.  

good luck with your baking.