All posts by Johanna

Giveaway: Celebrating Kokblog 10 Year!

August 7, 2015 Johanna 48 Comments

Last month Kokblog turned 10! Yay!

Not sure how ten years can pass that quickly. It feels like yesterday! Anyway…
Thanks to kokblog and all my readers, many great things have happened. I have got to know several interesting people, which has led to several interesting meetings and collaborations. All this and many other things have led me to become a full time illustrator. Thanks!

So why did I start kokblog? Ever since I was a young girl I have always enjoyed drawing. The drawings of ordinary things or situations I find interesting, something I experienced during the day or in my past. Cooking has also been an important part of my life, in my own kitchen or with friends. Several years ago, I even used to work-train people in a large scale kitchen.

In 2003 I came to New York to work on my final master project (Fine Art and Design). During these few months I didn’t have much money so I paid my tutor in Sunday dinners!

At this time I started to draw things I cooked and ate. I started kokblog as a way to collect my recipes and drawings. It was also a place to share recipes with others and an excellent platform to show my work. I think that kokblog was one of the first cooking blogs to use illustrations instead of photographs.

This year has been especially amazing, in April my first cookbook, Fika was released. I celebrated big with a classic Swedish kafferep* and with several events in NYC, Boston, London and Sweden.

To celebrate Kokblog, I’m having a giveaway of one of my prints. It’s a drawing of different kinds of coffeemakers (pictured below). The artwork is printed on an 8.5 x 11 inches (about 216 x 279 mm) heavyweight matte archival & acid free paper.

To participate, leave a comment below and tell me which is your favorite kokblog recipe/ post. You have until Friday August 21st to enter. I will contact the winner by email so please make sure to use an email you regularly use. The winner will also be announced here.
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We have a winner!

First of all I want to thank you all for participating in my giveaway. It was a great pleasure to read through your comments. And I’m deeply honored by your sweet words about kokblog and my work. Thank you all.

The winner is Inés, who announced kanelbullar as her favorite recipe on kokblog. She also likes my sourdough starter diagram which is based on a method by Iban Yarza. Inés, I really hope you and your husband (who can’t live without coffee) will enjoy my coffeemaker drawing. Congratulations!

I would also especially thank Ginger Garza who asked her local library to order the Fika so more people can have fika (coffee break) and kafferep* with friends. That really warms my heart as from the time I started to read I’ve been a big fan of libraries. Thanks Ginger.

kokblog-coffee-print-05 * Kafferep is a larger and more formal version of fika (coffee break). It’s a coffee gathering where several different varieties of buns, cookies and cakes are served. A kafferep is often held at birthdays, funerals or just as a good excuse for old ladies to meet and chat.Popular posts & recipes on Kokblog

Body Cakes (kroppkakor)- Swedish potato dumplings with salted pork
Pierogi (Polish dumplings) – with my not so traditional fillings
Kanelbullar (Cinnamon Buns) – collaboration with Anna Brones
Sourdough Starter Diagram
Cooking in Marrakesh – Semolina Pancakes
Sopa de Ajo (Traditional Spanish Bread Soup) by Ibán Yarza
Elderflower Gravlax
Glögg – (Swedish Mulled Wine)
Sticky Chocolate Cake – (Swedish kladdkaka)
How to Turn Your Desk Into a Cheese Board by Tenaya Darlington
Mushroom Confit by Andrew Janjigian
Fika – The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break – (Behind the Scenes)
Cheese Calendar – Collaboration with Tenaya Darlington

If you can’t get enough of kokblog and me? You can follow me on instagram, twitter and/or facebook. You can also check my portfolio for a selection of my work.

Red Gooseberry Jam with Thyme

July 27, 2015 Johanna 1 Comment

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Every morning my husband walks out and pick handfuls of red & black currants, strawberries, raspberries or red gooseberries. He cooks the berries slightly into a sauce together with cardamon & cinnamon and serves it together with his oatmeal. Unfortunately I’m not a porridge girl so I just simply have it with some Swedish traditional filmjölk.

Gooseberries are one of our favorites. When really deep red and totally soft and ripe they taste a little like grapes. Last week I picked the ones we had left and made some jam.

Red Gooseberry Jam with Thyme

2 cups red gooseberries
a bunch of fresh thyme, cleaned and striped from branches
½ – ¾ cup (100 – 150 grams) natural cane sugar*

Clean the gooseberries and remove the top and tail. Place the gooseberries together with the sugar and thyme in a medium sized pan. Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat until your desired thickness has been reached (between 15 – 30 minutes).

To check the consistency, take a spoonful of jam onto a chilled saucer, leave to cool for a minute or so before run your finger through it. It’s ready if the jam wrinkles up. If not, let it cook for another few minutes before testing again.

When ready, remove the jam from the heat and pour into a clean sterilized jar. Screw on the lid and turn the jar upside down to create a vacuum. Let cool completely.

Store the jam in the refrigerator for up to a month. If you want to store it longer, place the jam in the freezer.

The jam is nice on top of aged cheese and toast.

* I recommend to start with the lower amount and add more sugar if you want a sweeter jam.

Related recipes

Sofi’s Caramelized Rhubarb Jam
Pear Marmalade (and the boy who poisoned a whole scout camp)
Canning How To – Prepping & Sealing Jars – by Amy Pennington
Rosemary Flavored Plum Jam – by Ilva Beretta
Orange Blossom Jam – by Anissa Helou
Cherry compotê – by Rachel Alice Roddy

Pantry Confidential in my Kitchen

June 24, 2015 Johanna 6 Comments

A couple of weeks ago I was baking cardamom buns for the wonderful ladies Hana Choi and Christine Han at Pantry Confidential. If you are interested, you can read the interview and get a sneak peek into my kitchen here. The post also includes the Fika book recipe of Vetebullar (base dough for cinnamon and cardamom buns).

Hana has a background in journalism and food with a Grande Diplôme at The French Culinary Institute. In 2011 she started her blog style fare, where she shares beautiful things mixed with recipes and reviews of places she visits in NYC or when traveling. Christine is an anthropologist and photographer, based in NYC. She use photography as a tool to tell people’s stories. And she does that really well. Her specialities are food, weddings and travel.

Together they run Pantry Confidential, were they peek into food lover’s home kitchens around the city of NY. I really like their concept and I find it really fun to get a look into the kitchens of other food personalities. Here are a few of my favorites: Michael Harlan Turkell, Olga Massov, Yossy Arefi and Kristin Appenbrink.

So when Hana contacted me three years ago and asked if they could come to my kitchen, I was obviously super flattered. But as I was in the middle of packing my kitchen stuff in the East Village, on our move to Brooklyn, I asked to postpone it. Then a year past while I was waiting for building approvals and what else you need to start a major house renovation. We definitely had a “gut” job ahead of us. Our new place was unlivable with plants growing into the kitchen and many other issues I don’t want to talk about.

During this time we rented a friend’s apartment. As the kitchen wasn’t really mine we decided to wait a little bit longer. The following year we finally lived in the house with a barely functional kitchen and a bathroom. But that was pretty much everything that was working. Our first night in the house we didn’t even have proper heating (and that was in February 2013).

The year after when our kitchen was almost ready we decided to take a break from renovating. We were almost ready but hungry to fully work on our own projects. Then Hana gave birth to her daughter Lana so Pantry Confidential took a year off. This year we were all finally ready.

It’s not everyday my food gets this kind of exposure (normally I just take a quick photo to document the process for potential drawing later). At first I was nervous and worried if the bread would be baked properly or if the cardamom buns looked good enough in front of the camera. But as soon as Hana and Christine entered my home I felt totally relaxed. Both of them are so professional and they made me feel I was just baking with friends. And in the end, I was.

Thanks Hana and Christine! It was a great pleasure to have you in my kitchen. You are welcome back anytime.

Follow these lovely ladies on Instagram: Hana, Christine and Pantry Confidential.

Also check out my recipe for Cinnamon Buns (kanelbullar)

Fika Book Events in June – London and Göteborg

June 1, 2015 Johanna Leave a comment

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Our book tour and celebration of Fika continues to London and Gothenburg, Sweden…

Fika London – Wednesday June 3

Come chat with me while having fika. I will be there with Fika books. On the menu they have kladdkaka (chocolate sticky cake), Swedish Pancakes and Cinnamon Buns. And more!
Looking forward to meet you all.
Address: 161 Brick Lane, London
Time: June 3, btw 5-7pm.
More about the event on Fika London’s facebook event page.

Nordicana 2015, London – Saturday & Sunday June 6 & 7

On Saturday and Sunday, I will be talking food at Nordicana – Nordic Noir festival in London together with Anna Brones and Brontë Aurell (Scandinavian Kitchen) with moderator Signe Skaimsgard Johansen. It’s on the panel “Honest cooking: the simple art of Scandinavian food”. Anna and I will also be there with Fika books.
Time: Saturday June 6 @ 2pm and Sunday June 7 @ 2.15.
Get your ticket here.

Viktor’s Kaffe, Göteborg- June 14

Our first Fika event in the land of fika will be at Viktors Kaffe in Gothenburg. I’m extra happy as I lived five years in Gothenburg while I studied architecture at HDK.
Time: in the evening of Sunday June 14 from 5pm.
Address: Geijersgatan 7, close to Götaplatsen.
Both Anna and I will be there, with books while having fika. So if you are in town come by and say hello. We looking forward to meet you.
More about Viktors Kaffe here.

At the end of May I went to Boston to share some fika with everyone at America’s Test Kitchen. I had a great time and it was hard to leave so I ceriously considered hiding under the table in their impressive cookbook library. On this trip I also visited Google, but just because it was a good excuse to have a 10 o’clock fika with friends.

Fika: Cardamom Biscuits

May 29, 2015 Johanna Leave a comment

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A couple of years ago I had the honor to have lunch with Russell at London Eats here in Brooklyn. It felt like we had known each other for years. Like me, he is very much into baking. And he does it pretty well. In December he has the wonderful tradition of baking 12 cakes and cookies, which he share on his blog. As Russell lived in Sweden for a while, you can also find some Scandinavian pastries on his site as well.

The other day I baked Cardamom Biscuits based on one of Russell’s recipes. But don’t confuse this kind of biscuit with a typical American biscuit. In UK a biscuit is a sweet or savory small cracker (or cookie) while in US a biscuit is like a small soft scone. In Sweden you call it kex.

The recipe is based on Russell’s recipe for Abernethy biscuits. Instead of using Caraway seeds, which is the tradition for this kind of biscuit, I used cardamom as the flavor. The result was fantastic. It really is a perfect snappy biscuit that works beautifully together with a strong cup of tea, coffee or a glass of milk.

Cardamom Biscuits
(about 40)

Adapted from Russell’s (London Eats’) Abernethy biscuits

240 grams (little more than 1 2/3 cup) all purpose flour + extra for dusting
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
85 grams (3 ounces) butter
85 grams (3 ounces, little more than 1/3 cup) caster sugar
2 teaspoons whole cardamom, crushed
one egg
one tablespoon milk

Mix together flour and baking powder in a bowl. With your fingertips rub in the butter until it resembles a coarse meal (a little like breadcrumbs as Russell describes it). Mix in the sugar and the crushed cardamom.

Beat the egg in a small bowl and add it together with the milk to the flour mixture. Work the dough together with your hands until you can shape it into soft ball. If the dough feel too sticky or too dry, add more flour or milk. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap. Let rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC (355ºF). Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.

On a floured flat surface roll half the dough thinly (less than 1/2 cm thick, about 1/8 inch). Cut out rounds with a small glass. Place them on the prepared cookie sheet and make neat patterns with a wood skewer. Repeat until all dough is all used up.

Bake the biscuits for about 10 – 15 minutes. The should have a nice color. Watch them carefully so they don’t get too dark. You may need to turn the baking sheet once to get an even color.

also check out my other fika related recipes here.