Bosse

Nööbi

Sour cherry hand pies.

Sweet and salty crunchy coated nuts

about 750g of various nuts (walnuts, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts, cashews)
150g unrefined sugar
1 tsp ground cardamom
a pinch of smoked paprika or chilli powder
200ml ground almonds
2 - 3 tsp salt flakes

Heat sugar and 100ml water until all sugar has melted. Add cardamom, paprika and all the nuts and cook, stirring, for a good 5 to 7 minutes.
Turn the heat down, add the ground almonds and stir. Add a splash of water if it looks too dry to stick. Add salt and mix very thoroughly through.
Taste.
If you are satisfied with the flavour, spread the mass on a baking sheet in a aingle even layer. Separate very large clusters using two forks. Dry in a 90C oven for about half an hour.

Yesterday was Shrove Tuesday and bakers all over the country (and all over the Nordic) were, and probably still are, whipping up fluffy lenten buns. I made my own this year. Two times even. The first version seemed to be too buttery and not airy enough. Wasn't happy with the shape either. After careful consideration and armed with a scientific approach, I tweaked the recipe to alter the structure of the bun. Second try resulted in perfectly round buns with a texture quite similar to the ones you'd get from shops or good bakeries. I do not consider it to be perfect, yet, but still very close.

I prepared two different fillings. After quaffing them all down, most of the family expressed their preference for the classic marzipan.

 Toast Skagen (couldn't find löjrom!) and a muffin made of leftovers.

Last week, during a casual trip to the small grocery store on the corner of the street, I found this darling bottle of milk.
I couldn't have been more excited! Organic whole milk from Riido Farm, produced less than 8 km from our house.
Cute as a button, too!

Semlor - Swedish lenten buns


30g butter, melted
2 quail eggs or 1 small egg white
160ml milk
15g fresh yeast
50g sugar
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/8 tsp salt
300g flour
milk and a bit of sugar, for brushing


Sieve flour into a bowl. Heat milk to 38°C. Mix yeast with sugar and warm milk. Pour into the flour, add cardamom, salt, quail eggs and butter. Mix it all together and knead into a smooth dough. About 7 minutes with a machine or a bit longer by hand. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 50 minutes.

Divide the dough into nine equal pieces. Briefly kneading each piece between your palms, roll the bits of dough into beautiful spheres and place on a baking tray, leaving enough space between them. The buns will be double the size after rising and baking. Cover the tray and leave to rise in a warm place for 30-40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 210-220°C. Brush the buns with sweetened milk and bake in the oven for 8 minutes. Do keep an eye on them as they will brown quickly. If the buns are not done after about eight minutes, then the oven is not hot enough. If the buns seem to get burnt then the oven is too hot.

After removing the buns from the oven brush them again with sweetened milk. This prevents the crust on top from going too brittle or tough while cooling.


Traditional filling

135g quality marzipan, ca 60% almonds
3-4 tbsp milk
300ml double cream
icing sugar, to taste

Finely chop or grate marzipan into a bowl. Add three tablespoons of milk.
With a serrated knife, cut the tops off the buns. Not too much, about half a centimetre is enough. Now dig a hole into each bun, removing a spoonful of crumb from each. Place half of the breadcrumbs into the bowl, discarding the rest. Using a fork, mash the marzipan and crumb mixture into a nice soft paste. Add a bit more milk if it is not soft enough, but it should not be runny.

Use this marzipan paste to fill the cavities of the buns.
Sweeten double cream with icing sugar, about two-three spoonfuls, and whisk until fluffy.
Top filled buns with a good heaping of whipped cream and replace the bun caps on top.


The most common alternative filling consists of whipped cream or curd cheese paste mixed with some sweet and sour jam, like cowberry, cranberry or blackcurrant.


Serve alongside a steaming cup of coffee or on a deep plate, submerged in warm milk infused with vanilla.

I made florentines again.
The pretty ones with a chocolate coating.

Few years back I bought a tin of florentines which intrigued me enough to try to create my own version. I tried many hapless recipes before settling for this one. These are probably the most popular biscuits in our household. There is a recipe bouncing around the internet for florentines made with eggs, but I'm having none of that, I desire the more classical version. If you leave out the macadamias and add some candied orange zest, then it will be truly classical.

Single origin organic vanilla pods. From left to right: Papua New Guinea, Congo, Madagascar, Tahiti.

I even whipped out the vanilla extract I made exactly two years ago. It's as easy as one-two-three, stick a glorious amount of halved vanilla pods in alcohol, keep it well sealed and give it a shake once in a while. I waited eight months before trying mine, but six months should be just as fine. If it's not airtight though, the alcohol will evaporate after a while and the extract might go off.

Making vanilla sugar is even easier. It takes just sugar and vanilla pods. Using a spice grinder, grind dried out vanilla pods into powder to mix with sugar. Or buy ready made powdered vanilla and mix this into caster sugar. Done!

Florentines

200g flaked almonds
100g hazelnuts
150g macadamias
100g sugar
150ml double cream
40g butter
1 tbsp runny honey
orange oil
vanilla

Toast and skin the nuts if you didn't buy them already skinned. Chop hazelnuts and macadamias into reasonably sized pieces. I kept smaller ones whole, halved about one third and quartered the rest.

Take a saucepan, heat butter and sugar until melted, add the cream, honey, vanilla and orange oil. Let simmer for a few minutes until it looks syrupy. Add all the nuts and stir well for even coating. Cook for a couple more minutes. It should be rather sticky.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Spread or press the mixture into even flat rounds, about 6-7mm thick. When made too thin, the biscuit will be hard and too brittle. One heaped old soupspoon was enough for the larger ones, about 8cm diameter. Bake for 5 to 8 minutes, depending on the size. Florentines will harden as they cool.

After florentines have cooled down, it is possible to coat the underside with chocolate. Temper about 200g chocolate and drop a spoonful on the underside of each biscuit, spreading with a spatula or butter knife. If you have all the skills and equipment of a chocolatier, then you probably have a simpler solution to this.