I know, I know. Spring is in full swing here in Estonia and I'm baking cinnamon rolls? I blame Joy the Baker, author of the Best Baking and Dessert Blog according to Saveur. Joy's Cinnamon Sugar Pull-Apart Bread has been taking Estonian foodbloggers by storm, and I've fallen for it as well. But I cannot possibly blog about the cinnamon sugar pull-apart bread - or about Finnish korvapuustit or voisilmäpullat or about Swedish kanelknutar - before I have blogged about the wonderful cinnamon bun recipe I've been using for well over a decade, if not longer.

These are smallish cinnamon rolls, at least when compared with its American counterparts. It's not a Classic Cinnabon for sure (a respectable 220 grams and a whopping 880 kcal!!!!), more like a delicious and less decadent alternative :D

The step-by-step photos were taken back in November 2008 :)

Cinnamon Rolls
(Kaneelirullid)
Makes 36 small pastries



50 g fresh yeast*
50 ml (about 3 Tbsp) lukewarm water
300 ml milk
100 g unsalted butter
0.5 tsp salt
85 g caster sugar (100 ml)
1 tsp ground cardamom
600 to 650 g all-purpose flour

Filling:
100 g unsalted butter
85 g caster sugar
0.5 Tbsp ground cinnamon

For brushing:
1 small egg

Take a large mixing bowl, add the lukewarm water. Crumble the fresh yeast into the water, stir until combined.
Melt butter in a small saucepan, then add the milk (the resulting mixture should be about 37C aka body temperature) and slowly pour into the yeast mixture.
Add sugar, salt and cardamom. Now add the flour, a cupful at a time, mixing and kneading until you've got a nice soft and shiny dough.
Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let it prove in a draught-free warm place until doubled (for about an hour).

Meanwhile, make the filling. Melt the butter slowly, then add the sugar and cinnamon. Let it cool a little.

When the dough is risen, then gently knead it again and divide into three pieces. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll it into a 23x30 cm rectangle on a lightly floured surface.



Spread with the butter mixture, right to the edges:



Then roll it up rather tightly, starting from the longer side:



Using a sharp knife, cut the roll into inch-long lengths (about 2-3 cm):





Transfer each roll onto a baking sheet:


Bake in a pre-heated 220 C oven for about 12-15 minutes, until nicely golden brown. Transfer to a metal rack to cool.



NOTES:

* If you're not planning to eat all the cinnamon buns on the day of baking, you may want to place some of the warm buns into a large plate/bowl and cover with a kitchen towel while cooling - this helps to keep them soft longer.
* If you prefer using instant dry yeast, then mix the yeast with the other dry ingredients, add milk, water and melted butter and stir until combined.

Västerbotten is an excellent hard cow's milk cheese from Sweden that reminds me (and many others) of a good youngish Parmiggiano Reggiano, but it's somewhat sweeter. Sadly it's not available in Estonia, but we've got good friends in Sweden who bring us a chunk every time they're popping over to Estonia. It is produced in the far North of Sweden, and the recipe and process has remained pretty much the same for the last 150 years or so. The Swedes love it, and it's considered the Emperor of Swedish cheeses (hence the crown on the packaging? See below ;))

You can read more about this cheese here (includes a link to the US supplier), here (Anne's Food), here and here (Wiki).

Although it's an excellent cheese for the cheese board, it's also a great cooking cheese. So far I've tried honeyed Västerbotten cheese spread, which was unusual but delicious (sweet and creamy). I got another half-a-kilo chunk of Västerbotten for my birthday (thank you, Annika & Markus!!!), and wanted to try the classic Västerbotten cheese tart. It's so simple - a plain shortcrust base, topped with a mixture of eggs, cream/milk and cheese. There are hundreds of similar recipes in the Internet, here's the way I made it.

You can serve it either hot or cold, accompanied with a nice sauce or perhaps a green salad. When cold, the tart can be cut into very thin and elegant slices that would be great as an appetizer.

Västerbottenspaj or Västerbotten cheese tart
(Västerbotteni juustu pirukas)
Serves 6



Pastry:
200 g plain flour
pinch of salt
100 g cold butter, cubed
1 egg

Cheese filling:
3 eggs
200 ml fresh cream (single, whipping, double or even half-and-half)
200 g Västerbottens cheese, coarsely grated
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Make the pastry first. Combine flour and salt in a bowl of your food processor, then add the cold butter and process until you've got coarse crumbs. Now add the egg and process again, until the dough comes together.
Flatten the dough into a disc and wrap in clingfilm. Place into the fridge for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.
Roll the pastry on a lightly floured surface into a circle large enough to fill a 26 cm springform or tart tin. Transfer the dough into the tin, pressing it gently to the edge and up along the sides. Blind bake in a 200 C oven for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven.
For the filling, whisk the eggs and cream until combined, then season with salt and pepper. Fold in the grated cheese. Pour over the partially baked pastry base.
Return into the oven and bake for another 25-30 minutes, until the filling is set and the tart is golden (do not brown).

I was translating some Swedish recipes the other day, when I came across the word 'långpanna'. I knew it was an oven sheet, but wasn't sure about the size of it. A quick internet search revealed that it's the deep-sided oven sheet, about 30x35 cm in size, that's used for baking kärleksmums. Although I know about quite a few Swedish cakes and pastries, I hadn't heard about these 'love yummies', but was intrigued. They are described as a slightly lighter alternative to regular brownies and are apparently sold pretty much in every café in dear old Sverige. This must be indeed the cake - a friend of mine - Airi - who lived in Sweden for quite a few years during her 20s, instantly recognised the cake at a party last weekend, where I brought it along.

Our little family loved it - not too chocolatey or rich, but still with a good amount of cocoa and very satisfying.

Both Anne and Dagmar have blogged about that particular cake as well, good Swedish foodbloggers as they are ;)

Kärleksmums
(Kärleksmums ehk kohviglasuuriga kakaokook)
Makes about 30 squares

150 g butter, melted
3 large eggs
250 g caster sugar
150 ml milk
240 g plain flour/all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla sugar

Coffee-chocolate glaze:
75 g butter
2 Tbsp strong coffee
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp vanilla sugar
about 200 g icing sugar/confectioner's sugar

desiccated/shredded coconut, to decorate

Preheat the oven to 200 C/400 F.
Whisk eggs and sugar until thick and pale. Fold in the melted butter (cooled!) and milk.
Combine the dry ingredients, then fold quickly and gently into the wet ingredients.
Spoon the batter onto a lined cookie sheet (abut 30x35 cm).
Bake in a preheated 20 C oven for about 15-20 minutes, until the cake feels springy when touched with a finger. Take out of the oven and let cool.
For the glaze, melt the butter over a low heat, stir in the rest of the ingredients. Spread the glaze over the cooled cake base.
Sprinkle with plenty of shredded coconut.

Cut in to squares before serving.

Today is Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Tuesday in many parts of the world, but Estonians and Scandinavians are celebrating lenten bun day or semla day instead. I've been baking my own semla buns for umpteen years now and even shared two of the recipes with you - perfect simple buns and decadent lenten buns with marzipan and raspberries. I've just finished baking a batch of the former and will be stuffing them with lots of creme chantilly once the buns are cool enough. Cannot wait to devour them!!!

However, last year I also tried dark lenten buns, inspired by a recipe in a Finnish food magazine Ruokamaailma. There's chocolate everywhere - in the yeast dough, in the whipped cream, in the marzipan filling, so if you're into chocolate, you'll love this. I'd happily make them again (photos here are from February 2010), but I think I'd skip the marzipan-chocolate filling step completely.

Chocolate semlor recipe
(Tõmmud vastlakuklid)
Makes about 16 buns



Dark yeast dough:
350 g plain/all-purpose flour
50 g caster sugar
0.5 tsp fine salt
35 g Dutch-processed cocoa powder (75 ml/5 Tbsp)
one sachet of fast-acting instant yeast
75 g butter, softened
250 ml lukewarm milk (one cup)
egg, for brushing

Filling (optional):
50 g dark chocolate
75 g marzipan

Cocoa Creme Chantilly:
200 ml whipping cream
1 Tbsp Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 Tbsp caster sugar

icing sugar/confectioner's sugar, for dusting

Mix flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt and dry yeast in a large bowl. Add the butter and using your fingers, work it into the flour mixture.
Pour in the milk and work the mixture into a nice yeast dough that doesn't stick to your hands and the bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen cloth or clingfilm and place into a warm and draught-free place to rise. Leave until doubled in size:



Knead the dough lightly, then roll into a large 'sausage' and divide into about 16 equal-sized chunks:



Roll into small round balls, place onto a cooking sheet and leave to rise for another 15 minutes.



Now brush with a beaten egg wash and bake in a preheated 220 C/430 F oven for about 15 minutes, until the buns are nicely cooked. Transfer onto a metal rack to cool, and cover with a kitchen towel (this keeps the buns soft and moist).



Cut a top off each lenten bun.

If you are making the marzipan and chocolate filling, then scoop out about a heaped teaspoonful of the bun. Melt the chocolate, add finely chopped marzipan and the scooped-out bun parts and combine. Distribute the mixture into the hollowed-out parts of the buns.



Combine sugar and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl. Add the cream and whisk until thick and fluffy. Spoon onto the filled buns and top with the cut-off slices of buns. Dust with icing sugar and serve.

It's not always about lamb's tongue in Nami-Nami kitchen, you know. Most of the time I cook - and we eat - perfectly "normal" food. Here is one of my favourite weekday dishes. It's not exactly quick - that is to say, it won't be on your table within half an hour of walking in the door - but if you're at home anyway, just unable to stand in the kitchen watching keenly over your Sauce Bearnaise, then this is for you. It needs about 15 minutes of active involvement and then it simply cooks in your oven. Ideal for a mum like me :)

I've made this both with hot smoked salmon and cold smoked salmon over the years. I slightly prefer the latter one, but it's lovely with both.

Smoked salmon and potato gratin
(Kartulivorm suitsulõhega)
Serves 4

750 g potatoes
100 g smoked salmon, sliced
handful of fresh dill, chopped
2 large eggs
200 ml fresh cream
100 ml milk
freshly ground black pepper

Wash the potatoes, peel and cut into thin slices or matchsticks (I used the thick julienne cutter in my food processor).
Butter a medium-sized oven dish (I used a 30 cm round dish). Scatter half of the potatoes in the dish, sprinkle with dill and layer with salmon slices. Top with the remaining potatoes.
Season with black pepper.
Whisk eggs with cream and milk and pour evenly over the potatoes.
Bake in a pre-heated 175 C oven for about 1 hour, until potatoes are cooked (the exact time depends on the thickness of your potato slices or matchsticks).

Here's a post that I've been mulling over for ages. I received the review copy of Trina Hahnemann's latest cookbook, The Scandinavian Cook Book – A Year in the Nordic Cuisine, early last summer (I'm talking 2009 here, folks!), and loved the book a lot. The choice of recipes was inspiring and the photography by Lars Ranek was utterly delicious! I've tried several of the recipes, but somehow never got around to writing up a review post. It's about time, as I really do think the book is worth buying if you're into Nordic/Scandinavian food.

But first, a little detour. Living in Estonia, we think we're rather different from our two southern Baltic neighbours, Latvians and Lithuanians. We tend to look more up north for inspiration and identification, you see. But when you look from a distance - say, the USA - there are many more similarities between Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians (yes, also in culinary sense) that we often give credit to. I guess it's the same when you try to make sense of the Scandinavian cooking when living in the centre of the culinary region (say, Stockholm :)). Differences between your own cuisine and that of your neighbours seem much bigger when you're in the midst of it, than they look from afar...

For me, living just on the outskirts of the region that's traditionally considered to be Scandinavia (that is, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland; Finland is usually not included on the list), there are many more similarities that there are differences between the various. I'm slightly biased, as I'm most familiar with Danish food, having spent a year studing there in early 1990s. But I have been to Norway and Sweden on many-many occasions, trying to sample local food, that I feel I'm at least somewhat authorised to generalise here :)

The cookbook follows the seasonal trend - furthermore, the recipes are given in monthly chapters. It has most of the recipes one would think of when thinking of Scandinavian dishes - Danish pastries, rye bread, several smørrebrød recipes, gravlax, cardamom buns and cinnamon rolls, Captain's Stew (I should blog about that as well, totally addictive!), Biff Lindström, couple of herring recipes, kransekage almond cakes, meatballs with lingonberry jam, rødgrød med fløde (the famous Danish tonguetwister), the Danish summer soup koldskål (similar to this one), Swedish crayfish feast, Västerbotten cheese tart, glögg, Swedish Lucia bread Lusekatter and Christmas ham, caramel potatoes, risalamande, to name just some of the 100 or so recipes included in the book. Granted, I would have wanted to see a recipe for Jansson's Temptation, syltkyssar, Toast Skagen, Tosca Cake or some other Scandinavian classics, but having just completed my first cookbook, I know one has to draw a limit somewhere..

So if you're looking into buying a cookbook with a lovely selection of Scandinavian recipes, then do buy this one.

Brunsviger is a lovely soft Danish pastry - basically a yeast-dough tray-bake with a caramel topping. Trina introduces the recipe like this:

"This soft, breadlike cake originated in Funen, Denmark. I think it deserves to become world famous. Sweet and tender and best the same day it is baked, it is traditionally eaten in the morning or with the afternoon coffee, but I also think it is perfect with a cup of tea. The only problem with this cake is that I can eat almost half of it all by myself."

You'll find the original recipe here (and in Danish here). Below is a very lightly adapted version that I've been successfully making on several occasions now.

BRUNSVIGER
(Taani pehme suhkrukook)
Adapted from The Scandinavian Cook Book
Serves 12 to 16



40-50 g fresh yeast
250 ml milk, lukewarm
2 large eggs
500 g all-purpose/plain flour
2 Tbsp caster sugar
0.5 tsp salt
75 g unsalted butter, melted

Caramel sugar topping:
150 g soft brown sugar
150 g unsalted butter

POUR THE MILK INTO A BOWL, add the yeast, and stir with a wooden spoon until the yeast has dissolved. Add the eggs and mix well, then add the sifted flour, sugar, salt and finally, the melted butter.
Stir the yeast mixture with a wooden spoon (or simply use the dough hook on your KitchenAid) to make a dough. When the dough comes cleanly from the edge of the bowl, transfer to a floured counter and knead for about 5 minutes. Return the dough to the bowl and let rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
LINE A 25 BY 35 CM BAKING DISH WITH PARCHMENT PAPER and press the dough evenly in the dish. Cover with a dish towel and let rise again for 15 minutes.
MAKE THE GLAZE. Melt the brown sugar and butter together in a pan over a moderately low heat, stirring until the mixture is smooth and the sugar is no longer crunchy. Do not let it boil.
PREHEAT THE OVEN to 200 C. Press your fingers down into the risen dough, making small indentations across the surface. Spread the glaze evenly over the dough, leaving a 1-2 cm border. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the sugar has melted, and is brown and sticky. Let the brunsviger cool a little before cutting into pieces and serving.

Other foodbloggers reviewing this book:
Anne's Food
Icelanding cooking, recipes and food
Gourmet Traveller
Wrightfood: recipes & culinary adventures from a Brit in Seattle

I'll be posting some Estonian recipes during this week, and there's a good reason for that. I got an email from a reader on the other side of the world (Down Under, actually) today, who is organising a surprise party to an Estonian friend this weekend. She'll be using various Estonian recipes I've posted here on Nami-Nami over the last five years, but I've promised to give her some more food tips and ideas, so she can choose.

We hosted a pretty crazy culinary tasting party at our house last Friday - surströmming tasting party. K's colleague had brought us a selection of fermented Baltic herring, an (in)famous Swedish 'delicacy' from 2009 and 2010, both fillets and whole fish. We served these with boiled 'almond potatoes', flatbread (tunnbröd) and condiments. I prepared a selection of savoury and sweet dishes to go alongside and after the challenging fish degustation. One of the dishes on the table was a plate full of piopular Swedish cookies 'syltkyssar' - literally, jam kisses (hope my Swedish is correct here :)). These are pale round shortbread cookies, usually filled with thick raspberry jam. I didn't have any raspberry jam at home, so I used a good blackberry conserve instead.

Thumbprint cookies syltkyssar
(Moosimusid)
yields about 20-30 cookies, depending on the size



200 g unsalted butter, softened
100 ml icing sugar/confectioner's sugar
240 g plain flour/all-purpose flour (400 ml)
100 ml potato flour/potato starch
a pinch of salt

thick raspberry or blackberry jam

Cream the butter with sugar. Mix flour, salt and potato starch, sift into the butter mixture. Combine with a wooden spoon.
Using your hands, take small chunks of cookie dough and roll into small balls. Place on a cookie sheet and press a thumb print onto each cookie.
Place a tiny spoonful of jam into the indent.
Bake in a preheated 180 C oven for about 15 minutes, until the cookies are light golden.

We're in the middle of a heatwave here in Estonia, and there's no end in sight. On the contrary, the weather forecast announces that the temperatures will soar even higher during the next few days. I'm not a hot weather person, and the heat has seriously affected my enthusiasm and ability to cook and stand by the stove. We've been eating sandwiches, tabbouleh, lots of hummus, and sugarsnap peas, carrots and radishes from our own garden. And this Danish dessert, koldskål.

The traditional koldskål starts with an eggnog base that's topped with buttermilk, but modern versions often substitute raw egg yolks with thick yogurt. That's what I've done here as well. The traditional topping is kammerjunkere, but you can crumble some cantucci biscuits on top or use granola or müsli. I love the cardamom-scented "skorpor" you'll find at your nearest IKEA (those are the ones I've used here). Most of the recipes I've seen use lemon juice or vanilla extract for seasoning. I opted for elderflower cordial, as I've got fond memories of my host mum Kirsten using elderflower cordial to season lots of different desserts during my summer in Denmark back in 1993. I LOVE the floral notes elderflower cordial adds, and I think my host mum would approve :)



A great dessert to enjoy during those hot summer days. (There aren't many blog posts about koldskål, but you can check out Gitte's recent post. My favourite Danish foodblogger Zarah Maria, has only briefly mentioned this wonderful dessert).

Danish buttermilk soup
(Külm petisupp marjade ja kuivikutega)
Serves four



200 g thick yogurt or creme fraiche
4 Tbsp sugar
750 ml (3 cups) buttermilk
2 to 3 Tbsp elderflower cordial or lemon juice

To serve:
strawberries, raspberries or other soft fruit
crispy biscuits or 'skorpor'
couple of fresh mint or lemonbalm leaves

Combine sugar and yogurt in a bowl, stirring until sugar dissolves. Stir in the cordial and buttermilk, whisk until combined. If necessary, place to the fridge to cool.
To serve, divide the koldskål into bowls, top with some biscuits and lots of strawberries. Garnish with mint or lemonbalm leaves and serve.
D

It's Shrove Tuesday here in Estonia today, which means that people eat copious amounts of vastlakuklid aka Lenten buns aka semlor today. For the past decade I've been baking my own Lenten buns using this excellent recipe of mine. However, this year I decided to be a bit more adventurous, so I flirted with chocolate Lenten buns and marzipan-raspberry buns. Both were excellent and worth sharing with you. I start with the pink ones (after all, the pink-and-red-filled Valentine's Day has just passed).

The recipe is very slightly adapted from the Finnish Kotiliesi. Note that these can be on your table within two hours from starting. But when I mixed the dough on Sunday morning I realised that I didn't actually have the time to bake and fill the buns. So instead of quick-rising the dough in a warm place, as usual, I transferred the bowl to a very cool garage, where it had about 24 hours time to prove and rise slowly. It did wonders to the dough, I must admit - the flavour was even better than usual, so I'll be slow-proving my yeast doughs in the future as well.

Decadent Lenten Buns, filled with marzipan and raspberries
(Vaarikased vastlakuklid)
Makes about 16



Yeast dough:
300 ml milk
25 g fresh yeast or a sachet of dried instant yeast
85 g sugar (100 ml)
a pinch of salt
1 tsp ground cardamom
half of a beaten egg
450 g all-purpose/plain flour (about 800 ml)
75 g unsalted butter, softened

For brushing:
half of a beaten egg

Filling:
150 g marzipan
2-3 Tbsp milk
200-250 ml whipping or double cream
2 tsp vanilla sugar (or ordinary caster sugar and 1 tsp vanilla extract)
200 g raspberries (frozen are fine)

If using instant yeast, then mix flour, sugar, yeast, cardamom and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the lukewarm milk, whisked egg and mix until you've got a soft dough. At the end add the softened butter and knead into the dough. Cover the bowl with a clingfilm and place into a warm and draft-free place for about an hour. The dough should rise nicely and about double in size during this time.
Dust your working board with some flour and roll the dough into a long "sausage". Cut that into 15-16 chunks and form these into a nicely-shaped round balls (see my previous post for one way of doing this).
Place the dough balls onto a large baking sheet that has been covered with parchment paper. Cover the buns with a kitchen towel and let rise another 15-20 minutes.
Brush with the rest of the egg, then bake in the middle of a pre-heated 225 C oven for about 15 minutes, until the buns are lovely golden brown.
Remove from the oven and transfer to a metal rack to cool.
When cool, then cut off a top from all the buns. Using a teaspoon, scoop a small hole into the middle of each bun.
Put the scooped-out bun pieces into the food processor alongside the marzipan and some milk. Process until smooth, then spoon the marzipan filling back into the buns. Like this:



Whisk the cream and sugar until thick and fluffy. Gently stir in the raspberries (use a slotted spoon to add the raspberries - you don't want the "raspberry juice" you get when defrosting the berries). Spoon or pipe the cream onto the buns, then replace the "lids".
Dust with icing sugar and serve.

Devilled eggs are a popular appetizer in Estonia - I've blogged about the classical version here. I love the traditional version, but recently I've been also exploring alternative ways of making and serving deviled eggs. Here's an idea snapped from the Swedish Arla site. It's full of Nordic flavours - dill and caraway seeds - with an addition of cooked shrimps. Slightly more festive than the traditional one, and very delicious.

Deviled Eggs with Shrimp Filling
(Krevetitäidisega munad)
Makes 12



3 heaped Tbsp sour cream
100 g peeled cooked shrimps/prawns
half a lemon, zested
0.5 tsp ground caraway seeds
2 Tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Boil the eggs for 8-10 minutes, then cool under cold running water. Peel the eggs and halve lengthwise. Remove the egg yolks and chop finely.
Put 12 shrimps aside for garnishing. Chop the rest of the shrimps as finely or coarsely as you wish. Mix with sour cream, grated lemon zest, ground caraway seeds and chopped dill and egg yolks. Season with salt and pepper.
Spoon the filling onto the egg whites. Place on a serving tray, garnish with whole shrimps and dill sprigs.

This recipe is targeted more to my Northern European readers, who just might have a small disc of gingerbread dough hiding in the back of the fridge. (You know, for those who were just too busy during Christmas to "bake through" all the home-made gingerbread dough they made in early December). This is a great way to use up any leftovers. I've made it with both proper curd cheese and the ricotta that's becoming widely available here in Estonia, and actually prefer using ricotta here. Instead of individual spices, feel free to use a mixed spice, apple pie spice, pumpkin pie spice or gingerbread spice of your choice.

The cake is excellent with some lingonberry jam.

Gingerbread Ricotta Cheesecake
(Kohupiimakook piparkoogipõhjal)
Serves eight to ten



about 350 g gingebread dough
500 g ricotta cheese
4 large eggs
85 g caster sugar (100 ml)
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
0.25 tsp ground cloves
a sprinkling of cardamom

Roll out the gingerbread dough into a circle about 28 cm across, then use this to line a 24 cm buttered and lined springform dish.
Whisk eggs and sugar until pale and frothy, fold in the ricotta and the spices. Spoon the filling over the gingerbread base.
Bake in a pre-heated 200 C oven for about 40-45 minutes, until the filling looks more or less set (yet still slightly wobbly - it'll cool and set once out of the oven).
Cool completely before cutting into slices and serving with lingonberry jam.

Did you know that the 'ansjovis' in Jansson's Temptation, the ever-popular creamy Swedish potato gratin, is not anchovis (Engraulis encrasicolus), but sprat (Sprattus sprattus)? Sprats in brine have been called 'ansjovis' in Sweden since 17th century, which is obviously rather confusing for an English-speaking recipe translator. That's why you see 'anchovies' in most English recipes. However, the Swedish 'ansjovis' are pickled in a rather sweet brine, so substituting regular anchovies wouldn't give you the same flavour sensation. It'd be still a tasty potato gratin, but not the same..

Photo updated in October 2010

Toast Skagen is a very festive and popular Swedish starter. It's not cheap - both good shrimps (preferably from the waters around the Smögen island) and whitefish roe (ideally from European whitefish/Vendance (Coregonus albula) or Powan (Coregonus lavaretus)) are pricy. But if you are looking for that special starter for a special occasion, then this is very elegant, good-looking and delicious*.

This beautiful appetiser was developed by one of the best-known Swedish culinary heroes, Dr Tore Wretman (1916-2003), who served a version of this dish in his Stockholm restaurant already in 1958. Skagen, by the way, is a name of a beautiful fishing port on the Northern coast of Denmark, which has been popular with Swedish and Danish artists for centuries. Who knows, perhaps Wretman was inspired by one of his trips to the area :)

Here's a recipe for a classic Swedish cake that I've been making for quite a few years. I'm sharing it with you, as I've got several Tosca-inspired recipes coming up, so I've got something to link to :) It's a simple sponge cake that's brought to another lever by a crispy and buttery almond topping. Here's a basic version that I love. But a friend of mine adds a large grated apple to the base, just to make it moister (though it's by no means a dry sponge cake to start with).

A true keeper and a star on any coffee table.

Have you tried a Tosca cake before? And which yummy variations on the theme can you think of?

Swedish Tosca Cake
(Toska kook)
Serves 8-10

3 large eggs
200 ml sugar
400 ml plain/all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
100 ml milk
125 g butter, melted and cooled

Tosca topping:
75 g butter
100 g almond slices
150 ml sugar
4 Tbsp whipping/double cream
1 Tbsp plain flour

First make the sponge cake: whisk eggs and sugar until thick, pale and creamy. Mix dry ingredients, then fold gently with milk and melted butter to the egg mousse.
Pour the batter into a buttered and lined 25 cm springform tin. Bake in a pre-heated 200 C/400 F oven for 20 minutes.
Mix the tosca topping ingredients in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Spoon onto the half-baked cake.
Bake in a 225 C oven for another 10 minutes, until the topping is lovely golden colour and cooked.

Read more about Tosca Cake:
Several variations on the Tosca theme on Anne's Food
Clivia's Tosca Cake
Evelin's Tosca cookies

Have you ever heard of an Ambrosia cake? If yes, then what's the cake like?

It seems that there is no one single Ambrosia cake. When googling 'ambrosia cake', the Internet search engine returns a number of recipes that seem to contain oranges in one form or another. This version is a Finnish recipe, known as 'Ambrosiakakku'. It's a simple sugar cake that goes well with a cup of tea. Most of the Finnish recipes only use candied orange peel to garnish and juice to make the glaze. I've also added grated orange zest to the cake batter to make the cake even more fragrant and tasty.

Ambrosia Cake
(Ambroosiakook)

Serves 8 to 10

150 g unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
200 g caster sugar
115 g plain/all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
grated zest of 1 orange

To glaze:
100 g confectioners/icing sugar
2 to 3 Tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

To garnish:
candied orange peel

Whisk eggs and sugar into a thick, pale foam. Add grated orange zest, slightly cooled melted butter, and baking powder mixed with flour.
Pour the batter into a 24-26 cm buttered springform. Bake in a preheated 180 C oven until the cake is done (test by inserting a wooden toothpick in the middle of the cake - it should come out dry).
Cool, transfer onto a serving tray.
Mix icing sugar and orange juice into a glaze and spoon over the centre of the cake, leaving about an inch from the edges clear.
Garnish with candied orange peel.

I've sang praises to cloudberries before on this blog, including recipes for Goat Cheese Mousse with Cloudberry Compote, Home-Made Cloudberry Jam, Squeaky Finnish Cheese with Cloudberries and Mascarpone, Rye Bread Canapés with Cloudberries and Blue Cheese. And I must admit that most of these recipes are extremely simple. But then when you've got such delicious and luxurious ingredients in hand, then there's no need to really get finicky, is there?

Here's a dessert I served couple of weeks ago at a dinner party we cooked when catching up with an old friend and her husband. Apparently it's very popular in Norway during the festive season, but serving cloudberries - either fresh or as a jam or compote with whipped cream is typical at home, too. I used a jar of cloudberry compote that K's mum had graciously given us.

From the recipe archives (originally posted in January 2007). Photo and post updated in December 2008.

At the tender age of 18 I moved to Denmark for a year as an exchange student. Wide-eyed and over-excited, I enjoyed the experience a lot. It was quite a life-changing experience. I didn't see my friends and family for almost a year, so I had to adjust to the new environment, make new friends and generally grow up quickly. At the age of 18, this was definitely something to cherish.

A new country meant lots of new foods, too (and over 10 kg extra weight upon return, sadly). Usually, the Danes would try to impress the exchange students by introducing them to 'typical' Danish items of kartofler med frikadeller (potatoes with meat balls) and rugbrød og leverpostej (rye bread and liver pate). Although delicious, these didn't impress me as such, as they're staple foods in in Estonia, too. But I had my first quiche, my first hotdog, my first spring roll and my first lasagne while in Denmark.

Whereas I broadened my international culinary horizons during that year, I also fell in love with one particularly Danish dish. You see, the Danes have the most delicious pudding for Christmas - risalamande or enriched rice pudding served with warm cherry compote. Risalamande contains either chopped or flaked almonds, and one whole almond is hidden in one of the bowls. The person who finds the almond will receive a special gift. You need to eat this pudding carefully, as you need to tell a whole almond from a chopped one by gently 'testing it' on your tongue. I guess you'll lose the gift if you can't show a whole almond, you see?!

I distinctly remember that when my host-mother 'mor Kirsten' served risalamande for the Christmas meal, every single child at the table found a whole almond in their pudding and none of the adults did.

What a coincidence, eh??

[PS Fancy a rice pudding and some chocolate? Try Pierre Hermé's Chocolate Rice Pudding (Feb 2006)]

Risalamande
(Mandliriis kirsikastmega)
Serves 8

Rice porridge:
1 litre of full milk (2.5% or 3.5% fat)
150 grams short-grain porridge rice
1 vanilla pod

To enrich the porridge:
500 ml whipping cream (35%)
100 grams of almond flakes (or blanched and chopped almonds)
1 whole almond (blanched or not; you may need more if you've got children eating)
2 to 3 Tbsp sugar

Cherry compote:
a large jar of stoneless cherries in syrup (370/680 grams)
1 heaped Tbsp cornflour/corn starch/Maizena
2 Tbsp cold water

First, make the rice porridge. Slowly bring the milk to a boil. Rinse the rice in cold running water, drain and add to the boiling milk together with the vanilla pod. Stir gently until the milk comes to the boil again, then reduce heat, cover and simmer gently for 45-60 minutes, until the rice has absorbed all the milk and become soft. Cool completely.

Whisk the cream and sugar, and fold into cooled porridge together with almonds. Add more sugar, if you wish.

To make the cherry compote, bring the cherries and syrup to the boil in a small saucepan. Mix the cornstarch with cold water, stir into the cherry compote and simmer for a few minutes, until the sauce thickens a little.

Serve the cold rice and almond porridge with a warm cherry compote. And remember the extra gift to the lucky one with a whole almond in their pudding!

I just realised that I've been posting nothing but dessert recipes in November. That's no good, is it? Hence this creamy-cheesy fish soup recipe today. A similar recipe has appeared in several Finnish food magazines and at least one local magazine. With a few tweaks here and there, I ended up with this lovely, creamy fish soup. Feel free to experiment with differently seasoned cream cheese. I used trout, as it's lighter, but salmon would work well, too..

A lovely weeknight dinner, and it should appeal to small picky eaters, too.

Creamy Fish Soup
(Juustune forellisupp)
Serves 4

1.5 litres fish stock
5 potatoes, peeled and cubed
200 g tub cheese spread (something like this), I imagine)
170 g tub flavoured cream cheese (I used tomato & pesto)
300 g fish filet, cubed (salmon, trout)

To serve:
fresh dill, chopped
black pepper, coarsely ground

Bring the fish stock* to the boil. Add potato cubes and simmer, until tender (10-15 minutes).
Meanwhile, cut the fish into large cubes, taking care to remove any pin-bones.
Remove the saucepan from the heat, stir in the melted cheese spread and cream cheese, spoonful at the time.
Put the saucepan back onto the heat, add the cubed fish. Simmer on a low heat for a couple of minutes, until the fish is cooked through.
Ladle into soup bowls, sprinkle with chopped dill and grind some black pepper on top.

* If using home-made fish stock, then good for you. If you're using good-quality fish bouillon cubes, then take just 1 cube for 1.5 litres of water - the fish and cheese give plenty of flavour -and saltiness - themselves and you don't want the soup to be too salty.