Sunday, January 30, 2011

kladdkaka

chocolate, if you love it and you´re craving it, kladdkaka is the pefect cake for you.  
it´s delicious and super easy to make. it takes about 45 minutes from the moment you pour in the first ingredience until the cake is done. this is poblably one of the reasons to why this brownie like cake is so popular among young swedes. kladdkaka is perfect for dessert, fika or when you get unexpected visitors. 


                          photo:http://bambii.blogg.se/


swedish kladdkaka, sticky chocolate cake
2 egg 2 eggs
2,5 dl sugar 1 cup sugar
4 msk cacao 4 tablespoon cacao (unsweetened)
2 msk vanilapowder         2 tablespoon vanilla extract
100 gram butter 1/2 cup butter (melted)
1 dl flour 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsk salt 1 pinch salt
175 degrees celsius 347 degrees farenheit 
1. preheat oven to 347 degrees faarenheit (150 degrees C) and grease an 8-inch pie plate.

2. whip the eggs and the sugar together until it´s porous. stir in the flour, cocao powder and salt. make sure you don´t whip it so the air disappears. pour in the vanilla extract and the melted butter. pour the mixture into the pie plate.

3. bake the kladdkaka in the middle of the owen for 15-20 minutes, depending on how sticky you want the kladdkaka. 

4. sift some powdered sugar over the cake. serve warm with vanillia icecream, or refrigerate overnight and serve cold with whiped cream.
ENJOY america!


Saturday, January 22, 2011

kanelbullar

kanelbullar has been a big part of the swedish "fika" traditions for more than 60 years. the taste of the buns, combined with rich moist filling is what´s making them so special. newly baked kanelbullar and a cold glass of milk is a must if you havn´t tried it.
  

recipe                                      
   
dough, metric measurment                                           doug, us measurment
25 gram fresh yeast, 7 gram powder yeast                        2 teaspoons powder yeast
50 gram butter                                                               1/4 cup butter        
3 dl milk                                                                        1 1/4 milk
1/2 dl granulated sugar                                                   1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 krm salt                                                                       a pinch of salt
8-9 dl flour                                                                     3 1/2 cup flour

filling                                                                            filling
50 gram butter (room temperature)                                 1/4 cup butter
1/2 dl granulated  sugar                                                  1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 msk cinnemon                                                              2 tablespoons cinnemon
1 egg                                                                             1 egg
pearl sugar                                                                     pearl sugar


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

2. melt the butter over low heat. 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 nearly all of the flour. knead the dough until smooth and shiny, about 5 minutes. place the dough in the bottom of a bowl, cover with a dry towel, and place to rise until nearly double in size. takes about 30 minutes.

4. mix the butter, sugar and cinnemon in a bowl til it´s smooth.
 
5. turn the doug out onto a lightly floured surface. flatten the dough with the palms of your hands. use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a larger rectangle. spread the softened butter and cinnemon mix over the rectangle. roll the rectangle up and cut into 2 cm/ 0.8-inch thick slices. place the slices on a cookie sheet or put each bun in a muffin cup, cover with a clean dry tea towel and let rise for 20 minutes. 

6. brush the tops of the buns with the beaten egg and sprinkle with pearl sugar, I couldn´t find pearlsugar in the store so I used white sparkiling sugar. it doesn´t look exactly like the classic swedish kanelbullar, but they are still very delicious. 

bake buns in the center of the oven until the are golden brown, about 8 minutes.
let the buns cool on a rack.











ps. in Sweden estate agents says that if someone just baked kanelbullar before they show a house to buyers, the price they are willing to pay rises.

Thursday, January 20, 2011

fika

"fika" is typical for Sweden and a very important part of every swedes everyday life. to fika means to take a break, to enjoy some cake, drink coffee and to spend time together. as a swede in the United States I feel it's my duty to share this great swedish tradition with everyone.

I hope you'll enjoy my blog and that you will start baking swedish cookies!