Tag Archives: Nordic baking

March: San Francisco Book Events

Illustration of Kantine, SF 
by © Johanna Kindvall

Big news! I will be in San Francisco for some book events (and some hiking, eating, and drinking) between March 10 to March 16, 2019. I will be doing a book signing with special treats at Kantine, special Fika & Smörgåsbord classes at 18 Reasons, and an author’s talk at Omnivore Books on Food. If you are in the Bay area and would like to learn more about Nordic treats or just say hi, please sign up or come by to any of my scheduled book events and classes listed below. I’m super thrilled and would like to meet you all. A special thanks to my dear friend and awesome writer Larissa Zimberoff who invited me down to San Francisco in the first place! And thanks to all the lovely people at Ten Speed Press (my publisher) for your constant support.

Illustration of Omnivore Books, SF 
by © Johanna Kindvall

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Sunday March 10
Special Fika & Smörgås event
at Kantine, San Francisco
btw 3pm to 5pm
The Kantine kitchen will create
Scandinavian dishes inspired by my books!
Come by for a bite and a chat.
I will be there with signed books.
Address: 1906 Market Street, SF

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Monday March 11
Flavors of Sweden: Cinnamon Buns, Three Ways
hands-on baking & cooking class at
18 Reasons – 
San Francisco btw 6:00pm to 9:00pm
more info & tickets –> SOLD OUT

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Tuesday March 12
Author’s Talk
at Omnivore Books, San Francisco
Talk & book signing
btw 6.30pm to 7.30pm
Its a FREE so come by and hear
me talk about Smörgåsbord,
Nordic breads & Fika.
If you are in the San Francisco area,
I hope to meet you there. Its FREE!
Address: 3885a Cesar Chavez Street
more info –> here

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Wednesday March 13
Flavors of Sweden: Smörgås & Fika
hands-on baking & cooking class at
18 Reasons in San Francisco

btw 6:00pm to 9:30pm
more info & tickets –> HERE

Illustration 
by © Johanna Kindvall

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If you don’t have any of my books yet, you can easily
get them in almost any online bookstore around the worlds!
Fika – The Art of Swedish Coffee Breaks
Smörgåsbord – The Art of Swedish Breads and Savory Treats

How to make struvor (Swedish rosettes)

Last summer, when I helped my mother pack down her house that she’d lived and worked in for almost 50 years, I found her old struvjärn. Obviously I snuck it out right away, slightly afraid that she or any of my siblings might object! In Sweden struvor (rosettes in English) are a deep fried pastry that’s most common around Christmas but I think they work all year round, by themselves or together with chocolate sauce and ice cream.

These cookie-like pastries are made with a struvjärn which is preheated in hot oil, dipped into a pancake like batter, and then deep fried until golden brown, crisp, and light. The iron tool comes in many different decorative designs like stars, snowflakes, butterflies, and hearts. They are best eaten freshly made, dipped in granulated sugar spiced with cardamom. The granulated sugar gives an extra crunch to this airy deliciousness.

The batter for the rosettes is pretty much the same batter you use to you make Swedish pancakes or crepes. In general the batter is just flavored with a pinch of salt and occasionally with a dash of vanilla. In US it’s common to add sugar to the batter but in most Nordic recipes it’s not. The Finnish struva, which are called tippaleipä (similar to funnel cake) are made with yeast and simply piped out with a pastry bag (or a bag with a cutoff corner). Talking about it on InstagramI learnt that there are several similar pastries around the world, (see list below). If you know of any other variations and types, please share in the comments and I will add it to my list.

The recipe here is originally a recipe by Johan Sörberg which I liked because he suggests to add a few tablespoons of porter to the batter. Instead of porter you can use stout or any other beer. Except for the addition of cardamom to the topping, I haven’t really changed this basic recipe more than made it work in both metric and imperial measurements.

Serve the rosettes as they are or together with vanilla ice cream. They are also delicious to  dip in chocolate sauce.

Struvor (Swedish Rosettes)
plenty to feed 6 to 8 for dessert or a special fika

batter
1 ¼ cup (300 ml) whole milk
2 eggs
pinch of salt
2 ½ tablespoon porter (or stout)
1 ¼ cup (6.25 oz, 180 g) all purpose flour

1 cup (250 ml) neutral vegetable oil such as sunflower oil, plus more if needed

topping
granulated sugar
ground cardamom, to your liking (or ground cinnamon)

Whisk together milk, eggs, salt, and porter. Sift in the flour and mix until a smooth batter.

In a saucepan, heat up the oil to at least 355°F (180°C).

Prepare a plate with enough sugar to dip the finished pastries in. Add the ground cardamom to your taste and mix well.

When the oil has reached the right temperature, dip the rosette iron into the hot oil and let it heat up for a few seconds, then dip it in the batter. The batter should just reach the top edge of the rosette (if the rosette is totally covered you will have a problem releasing the fried rosette from the iron).

Now dip the battered iron into the hot oil and let it fry until golden, less than a minute. Shake the iron or use a fork to loosen the rosette from the iron, let it fry a little longer to make sure both sides get a nice color. With a large tweezer or a slotted spoon, transfer the rosette to a paper towel to drain before dipping into the sugar & cardamom mixture. Repeat until all the batter is finished.

Best eaten fresh but leftover pastries can be stored, when completely cooled, in an airtight container. Leftover batter can be stored in the fridge for at least 1 to 2 days. The batter can also be used for thin pancakes.

NOTE: Rosette irons are available in many stores online. But you can also try to pipe the batter out with a bottle or plastic bag as when making funnel cake. 

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similar pastries around the world

Rosettes (US)
the Spruce

Tippaleipä (Finland)
similar to funnel cake but made with yeast – by Anna Billing

Funnel Cake(US)
made with baking powder and piped out – Smitten Kitchen 

Kokis (Sri Lanka)
with coconut milk, rice flour & turmeric 

Kuih Loyang (beehive cookies, Malaysia)
with coconut milk & rice flour – Lisa’s Lemony Kitchen 

Bunuelos de Aire (Mexico)
Abuela’s Kitchen

Kue kembang goyang (Indonesia)
made with coconut milk & rice flour – Borneo recipes

Filhós de forma (Portugal)
with orange – by Mónica Pereira da Silva

Frittelle croccanti Altoatesine (Italy)
(roughly translates to “South Tyrolean fritters”)

Churros (Spain)
Cannelle Vanille

Xuxos & Churros (Spain)
kokblog post

Krustader (Nordic)
made with a special type of iron that creates shell like cups – the shells can be filled with either sweet or savory fillings –
via Smagsløgene

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credits:
Animation & illustrations by Johanna Kindvall
Music in movie: Talkies by Huma-Huma

Joulutorttu – Finnish Christmas Tarts

kokblog-joulutorttu-with-coffee-02

My grandmother was phenomenal in the art of making puff pastry, so good that she made several batches every year that she portioned out to everyone in the family, neighbors and near by acquaintances that took the advantage of her skill. I’m sure she loved it and occasionally she tried to pass her technique along but to my knowledge nobody really understood how she did it with such grace and no fuss.

Every Christmas as long as I can remember my grandmother and later my mother have been treating me with Joulutorttu (Finnish Christmas Tarts). Joulutorttu are pinwheel shapes puff pastries filled with prune jam dusted with powdered sugar. Traditionally the tarts are shaped like fig. 2 in the diagram but they can be shaped as simple as a classic Danish (fig 1).

Well, last year I figured it was about time for me to learn the art of puff pastry and obviously much of it get shaped into joulutorttu. My version here is filled with jam where the prunes is simply cooked with just port. I’m sure my grandmother would have liked my progress, especially if shared with a strong cup of tea and a game of canasta.  

Both jam and puff pastry can be made beforehand so you can assemble just as many as you want and need all through the holiday.

Happy holiday everyone.

kokblog-joulu-method

Joulutorttu (Finnish Christmas Torts)
makes about 14

1 batch of puff pastry

prune jam
1 cup (about 200 grams) pitted prunes, cut in half
½ cup (120 milliliters) sweet Marsala wine (or port)

to finish
1 egg, beaten
powdered sugar

Cut the prunes in quarters and soak them in port for 1 to 2 hours. The prunes should become soft.

In a small pot, cook the prunes with the port on medium low heat until thick and the fruit has fallen apart, about 10 minutes. Add more wine (or water) if the jam seems too dry. Let cool slightly before placing the jam into a food processor. Pulse until smooth and thick.

Leftover jam can be stored in a clean glass jar in the refrigerator for up to a week. This jam is also awesome on on toast together with cheese.

Preheat oven 425°F (220°C).

Roll out portions of puff pastry until just over 1/8 inch (approximately 0.5 centimeter) thick. Cut out 3 by 3 inch (8 by 8 centimeters) squares, place a spoonful of jam on each square. Shape each square by cutting each corner, like in fig. 2 or shape them as shown in fig. 1. Brush corners with a little water before closing the shape.

Brush each tart with the egg and bake for 10 to 15 minutes. Serve slightly warm, dusted with powdered sugar, with heavy whipped cream.

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Links to other traditional Nordic holiday baking:

Joulutorttu with a ricotta puff pastry – by Peggy Saas

London Eats Joulutorttu

Ginger Spice Cake by Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall

Glögg – Swedish Mulled Wine

How to host a glögg party by Madame Fromage

Pepparkakor with diagram on how to build a gingerbread house
recipe & text by Anna Brones  – diagram & illustrations by Johanna Kindvall

Lussebullar by Anna Brones (illustrated by Johanna Kindvall)

Scalded Rye Bread with Raisins – kokblog recipe

More Swedish holiday baking in the Fika book.