Tag Archives: Anna Brones

Fika – The Art of The Swedish Coffee Break (my first book)

kindvall-fika-cover-3

Breaking news: Fika – The Art of The Swedish Coffee Break by Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall will be in the bookstores April 2015. It’s a celebration of Fika, the coffee break that Swedes do daily: either at work, at home, in a cafes, on the train or during a walk in the woods. The book is loaded with cookie, cake and bread recipes developed from both our Swedish heritage. They are new, adaptations or renditions of old classics, such as cardamom buns, pepparkakor, chokladbiskvier and skållat rågbröd.

It has been such a sweet journey with Anna; developing the recipes, test baking (again and again), writing, editing and drawing it all. It has also been such a pleasure to work with our publisher and editor Kaitlin Ketchum at Ten Speed Press and with Elizabeth Stromberg, who did such a wonderful work creating the beautiful design of the book.

If you like, you can already pre-order the book in several online bookstores: Random House, Amazon (US), Amazon (UK), Barnes & Noble and iBooks.

I’m so excited that I can’t walk straight! And I think I need to sit down and have some fika!

© Johanna Kindvall

related links
Fika in Saveur Magazine, January & February 2015
I’m Working on a Book (post)

 

Toscakaka med Apelsin (Swedish Almond Cake with Orange)

Toscakaka med Apelsin (Swedish Almond Cake with Orange)
by Anna Brones

When spring rolls in, I always think of my mother giving me a package of pink, yellow and blue feathers. They had thin metal wire at the tips, to be wrapped around branches. From the kitchen window I could see my mother cutting thin branches from the birch tree. She would bring them inside, set them in a large glass vase, and I would get to work attaching the feathers.

In Sweden, just like at Christmas you decorate a tree, at Easter time you get out the påskfjädrar and decorate a collection of branches, a tradition that dates back to the late 1800s. And my mother was sure that we always had a few bags of påskfjädrar on hand so as to make our house a colorful celebration of the season.

Many people in Sweden celebrate Easter, whether or not they have religious leanings. In fact, today it’s mostly celebrated as a secular holiday, one where everyone gets time off to celebrate the long weekend. Easter weekend is a time to gather with friends and family and eat good food together. There are the traditional Swedish holiday dishes like pickled herring, but whatever is served on the table is always an indicator of the season, with spring-friendly foods. And there are eggs of course. After a winter of heavy foods, the Easter celebration can be refreshing.

If you’re lucky, you may be gifted a cardboard egg, full of sweets, and if that isn’t enough for you, there’s sure to be an assortment of cakes to go with coffee. Because in Sweden, there is always cake and coffee.

Which brings us to the question: what kind of cake to serve?

Toscakaka is a classic Swedish recipe; you’ll find it in many an old cookbook, and it’s often an option at pastry shops. Its almond and caramel top makes it a step above ordinary cakes, which makes it a good option for a festive and celebratory meal. But the magic of this recipe is when the caramel seeps into the cake during baking, making for a moist and flavorful cake.

As we come out of the winter and citrus season, we thought it only fitting to celebrate the arrival of spring with an infusion of orange. The orange zest and juice in the cake pair well with the rich caramel on top, and giving it the perfect balance of flavors. You’ll often find this type of cake made with baking powder, but we opted to make it rise by separating the eggs and whisking the egg whites, similar to making a meringue.

Glad påsk!

Anna & Johanna’s Toscakaka with Orange

one 9” cake

cake
3 ½ oz (100 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (3 ¾ ounces, 106 grams) blanched almonds
3 egg yolks, room temperature
3 egg whites, room temperature
1/2 cup (3 ¾ oz, 106 grams) brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 ½ oz, 100 grams) natural cane sugar
1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces, 71 grams) all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon orange zest + 3 tablespoons orange juice

almond & caramel topping
3 ½ oz (100 grams) butter
1/3 cup (2 ½ ounces, 71 g grams) brown sugar
3/4 cup (3 ¾ ounces, 106 grams) blanched almonds

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).

Grease a 9” spring form pan and sprinkle some breadcrumbs evenly.

Grind the blanched almonds for the cake in a food processor until almost finely ground; there could still be a little chunks of almonds left.

Cream together butter and brown sugar until well blended and creamy. Add one egg yolk at the time and mix it well together. Sift in the flour and carefully fold it into the batter together with the ground almonds. Add in the milk and orange zest. Stir as little as possible until you get an even and sticky batter.

In a grease-free bowl, whisk the egg white with an electric whisk (or by hand). When soft peaks forms add in the cane sugar little by little. Whisk until stiff peaks forms. Carefully fold the sugar and egg white mixture into the batter and keep folding until the batter is evenly blended. Be careful not to over stir.

Pour the batter into the greased and breaded spring form pan.

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 25 minutes at the lower part of the oven. While cake is baking prepare quickly the almond & caramel topping.

Melt the butter together with the brown sugar. In the mean time chop the rest of the blanched almonds roughly. When the butter and sugar is melted add the almonds and stir together until it thickens.

Take out the cake from the oven (if the cake feels too wobbly let it bake a little longer). Poor the almond & caramel over, carefully spread it evenly. Bake the cake for another 10 – 15 minutes or until cake had got a nice color and a toothpick comes out clean when inserted to the thickest part of the cake.

Remove the cake from the oven and let cool. Once cool, remove the cake from the pan.

*

This post was also published at Foodie Underground.

 

Other articles by Anna & Johanna

Mazainer – Swedish Pastry Classic
Lussebullar – Swedish Saffron Buns
Kanelbullar & kardemummabullar
and
Anna is also my partner for my 1st book (Ten Speed Press, Spring 2015)

I’m Working on a Book

Just want to let you know I’m working on my first book which is a collaboration with Anna Brones who invited me into the project about two years ago. It will be an illustrated cookbook, with stories and recipes inspired by both our Swedish roots. The book is scheduled to be published by Ten Speed Press in the Autumn 2014.

So lately both of us have been working extra hard in our separate kitchens (Anna in Paris & Portland and me in Brooklyn & at the countryside of South Sweden) developing recipes, licking pots, sniffing, making notes, sweating and burning our fingers. I’m of course super excited and it’s a great pleasure to be working on this specific book project together with Anna.

I’m also busy with other great project. For example I just finished the drawings for the book The Culinary Cyclist and illustrations for the Public Art project, Overlay by Walczak & Heiss, which is in process to be installed at the new14th street corridor in Denver. There are many many other things on my table, but most of them are too early to announce. I will keep you posted.

 

 

Jansson’s Temptation

Introduction to the Swedish Classic: Jansson’s Frestelse
by Anna Brones

Translating Janssons frestelse is always a funny thing. It doesn’t quite have the same ring to it in English. But if anything, this dish sticks true to it’s name: tempted you will be.

Commonly part of the Swedish Christmas table it’s a classic dish that also makes its way onto the menu at Easter. In true Swedish fashion, the gratin-style potato dish is full of cream and butter; there’s no better way to eat potatoes. A traditional dish that’s sure to tempt everyone at the table.

Jansson’s Temptation
serves about 4

8 big potatoes
1-2 yellow onions
about 20 Swedish cured sprats*
1 ¼ cream or half and half
salt (but just if necessary the sprats can be very salty)
handful bread crumbs
butter

Peel the potatoes and cut them in thin strips. Slice the onion thinly. Saute the onion in a little butter until they soften. Layer the potatoes and the onions in a baking dish. Open the tins of anchovies and poor the juice over the potatoes. If you want the anchovies in smaller pieces cut them into halves and divide them over the potatoes. Pour half of the cream over. Sprinkle some bread crumbs and divide small lumps of butter over the dish. Bake in the oven at 440°F (200°C) for about 45 min. Just before it’s finished baking, poor over the rest of the cream.
In Sweden they serve it with beer or milk!

* In Sweden they call this fish type of cured fish ansjovis but its not real anchovies (which is called sardeller in Swedish). I, Johanna have cooked Jansson’s with anchovies without knowing it wasn’t correct. Its tasty and flavor full BUT but doesn’t get the correct flavor. We really recommend to get get hold of some Swedish cured sprats. IKEA sells them as skarpsill at IKEA.
(the recipe was adapted by Johanna Kindvall from the Swedish cook book Vår KokBok)

This article was originally published on Foodie underground on 29 March 2013

So who is this guy Jansson? Some say the dish got its name from the opera singer Pelle Janzon who happen to be a great gourmand.

 

A Semla for Fat Tuesday

It’s Fat Tuesday (12 February 2013) and Scandinavians celebrating this day by eating Semlor (Fastlagsbullar or Fettisbullar). This semi-sweet cardamom rich bun is filled with almond paste and heavy whipped cream. My Finish grandfather used to eat this bun soaked in hot milk, which is still a common way to enjoy this bun. However my absolute favorite way, is to use the hat of the bun to scoop a mixture of cream and almond paste into my mouth, before biting into the rest of it’s loveliness. Happy Fat Tuesday everyone!

Recipe by Anna Brones
Recipe by Ibán Yarza
Article about Semlor at Foodie Underground.