Category Archives: sweet

Pear Marmalade

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the scout 2

I don’t know what this has to do with marmalade… but I have a friend who once poisoned a whole scout camp, just because he didn’t wash his hands!

for the marmalade you need

some pears
less than a ¼ part of brown sugar
small piece of fresh ginger, minced
a splash of water

Peal the pears and chop them into small pieces. Pour the sugar over the pieces and stir. Add the ginger and a little water. Bring mixture to boil, then lower to a gentle heat and cook for about an hour until pears are soft. If you want a smoother texture, process the jam in a blender. Pour the warm jam into a clean jar, screw the lid on and turn the jar upside down on the counter. Leave to cool. Serve with ripe goat cheese or / and aged cheese that has been taken out of the fridge for at least a half hour.

Note: as this jam is not conserved I suggest you eat it while its fresh!

Chocolate Cake with Licorice

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chocolatecake

My favorite sweet is licorice; sweet, salty or both. Unfortunately its hard to find my favorites outside Scandinavia. This has made me dream of making my own licorice treats.

This winter I finally got my hands on some licorice powder. I was so totally happy that I wanted to tell the whole world about my treasure. One person I told was a sale’s women in my favorite candy shop in Malmö (Sweden). She was impressed (or rather amused) and offered me a taste of some of their exclusive chocolate bars. One of them was a dark chocolate with a touch of licorice. I was sold…

for the Chocolate Cake

2 eggs
1 cup (250 ml) sucanat
4-6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 pinch of salt (only if you’re using unsalted butter)
2/3 cup (150 ml) pastry flour
4 oz (a little more than 100g) butter, melted

Whisk eggs and sucanat in a bowl. In a separate bowl sift flour together with cocoa powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the eggs and stir until combined. Pour in the butter and stir until smooth.
Pour the mixture into a greased 9” pie form. Bake the cake in the oven at 350 F (150°C) for about 15-20 minutes. The cake should be sticky inside. Let the cake cool off.

Ganache with Licorice

2/3 cup (150 ml) cream
½ cup (100 ml) sucanat (use no sugar if chocolate is sweetened)
3.5 oz dark chopped chocolate (I used Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa)
1 teaspoon licorice powder*
two table spoons butter

Bring the cream and the sucanat to a boil. Lower the heat and add the chocolate and the licorice powder. When chocolate is melted take the pan aside and add the butter. Stir until smooth.
Spread the ganache over the cooled chocolate cake and let it cool for at least an hour.

At last I have to say that I got very inspired by the lovely recipes in the new Swedish cook book, Lakrits, Mint & Choklad (Licorice, Mint & Chocolate) by Elisabeth Johansson.

*licorice powder is a licorice flavoring in powder form. Unfortunate I haven’t found this product in the USA. However it may be possible to buy it online from Panduro Hobby (folow this link if you are in the UK)
You can also find licorice flavoring at Essence Fabriken in Stockholm. They take orders by phone or fax. Hopefully they take orders from other countries than Sweden.

Raw Stirred Cranberries (rårörda tranbär)

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kokblog_turkey

When I was a child, I often helped my mother picking lingonberries. Unfortunately we didn’t live in the north where there are lots of them so it was kind of tedious. I also didn’t like the taste so I couldn’t really get the point of wasting my time. It was different with blueberries.

Well it is even harder to find fresh lingonberries in NYC. But luckily there are plenty of cranberries. You may even find organic berries. Uncooked Cranberries Preserved Jam or what you may call, Raw Stirred Lingonberries (rårörda lingon) is a very common side dish to plenty of Swedish dishes. I have also heard that it is very similar to a cranberry and orange relish that is common on a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. In my jam or relish I used lime instead of orange and (of course) sucanat instead of white sugar.

½ kg (1 lb) cranberries or lingonberries
150 ml (0.6 cup) sucanat
peals of one lime

Rinse the berries carefully. Crush the berries with a potatoes masher to make the berries softer. Add the sugar and start stirring with a big spoon. Keep stirring and stirring and stir until the sugar is completely melted and you have a nice consistency. For quicker results, run the berries very briefly in the food processor before adding the sugar. It will make it easier to stir. But please don’t use the food processor too long as it will mash them and its nice to see some whole soft lovely berries in the jam. Finally add the lime peals and let the jam rest overnight.

Serve the jam with duck, chicken, turkey, meatloaf, body cakes (kroppkakor), potaoe panncakes, patties or meatballs. M likes it on his breakfast oatmeal (if there is any left…)

Carrot Muffins

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kokblog_carot

When my sister and I were young and innocent, we used to be out in the vegetable garden ‘helping’ our father. Both of us loved picking and eating carrots directly from the earth. But if one carrot was too small or not fully ready to eat, we kindly placed it back into the earth, so the carrot could continue growing. Our father wasn’t as happy as we were. He wondered why some carrots seemed to stop growing and withered and others didn’t!

2 eggs 200 ml (0.8 cup) sucanat
75 gram (2.6 ounces) butter
100 ml (0.4 cup) milk
250 ml (1 cup) flour
1 ½ tablespoon bicarbonate
4-5 carrots
200 ml (0.8 cup) walnuts
2-3 tea spoons cinnamon
some grated nutmeg
some juice from a fresh lime

Whisk eggs and sucanat until fluffy. Heat up milk and margarine and pour mixture over the egg mix while mixing intensely. Blend flour and bicarbonate before you stir it into the cake mixture. Peel the carrots and grate them nicely. Add the carrots and chopped walnuts. Squeeze some limejuice over the mixture and season with cinnamon and nutmeg. Bake in the oven at 200°C (392F) for about 10-15 minutes, depending on how big muffins you chose to make.

Pear and Almond Tart

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pears

I didn’t have much candy or chocolate this Easter. Besides eating plenty of herring, eggs and lamb I had some lovely cakes… this one was crunchy and juicy at the same time.

crust
300 ml (1 ¼ cup) flour
100 g (3.5 oz) butter
2 tablespoon sucanat
3 table spoon cold water

filling
2 pears
4-5 tablespoons rum or juice from one lemon
100 g (3.5 oz) butter
4-6 table spoon sucanat
120 ml (½ cup) almonds

Mix the crust ingredients together and let them rest in the fridge for one hour. Place the crust in a greased 9” baking tin and trim to fit. Stick this shell a few times with a fork and pre-bake for 10 minutes at 200º (400F).

Peal and slice the pears thinly. Soak the pear pieces with rum or juice from a lemon. Roast the almonds at 200º (400 F) for about 8-10 minutes. When they have cooled down chop them into smaller pieces. Melt the butter and then add sucanat and the roasted almonds. Divide the soaked pears in the pre-baked shell and pour the filling on top. Bake in the oven at 200º (400F) for about 15-20 minutes. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.