Posts Tagged ‘baking’

 

Chewy chocolate cookies

Thursday, May 7th, 2009

I’m getting married in just over a week! So now everything is about baking, cooking and making sure everything will work out. We’re having a nice small dinner with just our closest friends and family and I’m really looking forward to it all.

Today I went shopping for food with my mother. I bought most things we need for the food, except for vegetables, and then bought extra things. How can I say no to an apple mint plant for the garden? Or a wild strawberry plant? I simply couldn’t! In about a week we’re going out again to get fresh vegetables and the last few things we need and then we’re set to go.

The afternoon was spent baking two types of cookies. For dessert we’re thinking a little buffet with cookies, cake, a nut tart and cinnamon buns. Coffee and tea to go with it.

Cookies

I posted the recipe for the jam cookies here. The other recipe is not my own, but it already exists on the net so I figured a translation into English would be fine.

Chewy chocolate cookies: Makes 30-40 cookies.

  • 100 grams (3.5 oz) baking margarine
  • 100 ml (1/3 cup + 1 tbsp) caster sugar
  • 2 tbsp golden syrup (I guess corn syrup or maple would be fine too, although maple would be tastier!!)
  • 1 tsp vanilla essence
  • 200 ml (1/2 cup + 1/3 cup)  flour + possibly 2 tbsp extra
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda  (bicarbonate of soda)

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (350F). Cream together margarine, sugar, syrup and vanilla essence. Sift in flour, cocoa powder and baking soda and quickly work together to a dough. Put parchment paper on a baking/cookie tray. Divide the dough into two pieces and make two rolls about the length of your cookie tray. Put rolls on the tray and flatten them a bit with your hands. Use a fork to make nice grooves and to flatten more. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes. Don’t overbake them! Let them cool on tray for just a minute or two and then cut them diagonally into about 2 cm/about 1 inch strips while still warm. If you cool before cutting you’ll end up with cookie crumbles. Leave on tray until completely cool.

Recipe in Swedish can be found here.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments »

 

no knead bread

Monday, January 26th, 2009

I swear I will never bake any other bread than this again. Don’t hold me to it though, because I’m actually already eyeballing a recipe for a no knead, whole grain, fruit and nut bread that I really want to make. It will require a trip to the store though, so not now.

Anyway, I know this bread has been making the rounds. Everyone has blogged it and those who haven’t wish they had. I didn’t actually get around to making it until yesterday even though I’ve wanted to for ages. I’m not the kind of person who usually plans her baking ahead of time, unless it’s for some grand event, so I’m going to say that’s why I hadn’t made it until just now. It takes many, many hours of rising.  I recently found the quicker version of this bread though and that helped me spring into action. It’s so good! The crust is amazing! The taste is awesome! It takes barely any active time! I could go on forever… still, it will take a good 6-8 hours of rising, and then another hour of proofing, and almost another one of baking… not to mention the time it takes for it to cool enough to eat. It’s almost torture.

No knead

The recipe for the quicker version is here. The only thing I did differently is that I used flour instead of oil to keep the dough from sticking to much. I floured my work surface well and let the dough proof for an hour with more flour sprinkled on top instead of the suggested method of misting it with oil.

p.s. This is the second loaf of this bread I have made in two days. It’s that good.

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Posted in Uncategorized | 11 Comments »

 

Cinnamon, nuts and fruit granola

Sunday, January 11th, 2009

Granola

For xmas I decided to give away homemade gifts. Not only because I was poor and couldn’t afford buying amazing gifts but also because I thought it’s something everyone will appreciate. All of my friends and family got the same gifts (to make my life easier); a jar of vanilla sugar, a box of three different truffles and this amazing granola.

I’m not going to lie and say this granola is healthy, bla bla bla.. It isn’t! But it does have a few redeeming factors, like the fact that it has sesame seeds and flax seeds. And that 1/3 of my rolled oats are the extra fibre kind with oat bran and wheat bran in it. And aren’t nuts supposed to be health food anyway? What about fruit? I could eat this every day for breakfast, with just some plain soygurt and possibly some berries.  Yum!

Cinnamon, nuts and fruit granola:

  • 2 cups extra fibre rolled oats (or 2 cups oats + 1 tbsp oat bran & 1 tbsp wheat bran)
  • 4 cups rolled oats
  • 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
  • 2 tbsp sesame seeds
  • 1 cup chopped mixed nuts (I like hazelnuts, almonds and walnuts)
  • 1 tbsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • 1/3 cup golden syrup/maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup chopped dried fruit (apricots, raisins, figs, papaya…)
  • 1/3 cup flax seeds

Preheat oven to 300F. In a big bowl, mix together oats, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, nuts, cinnamon, salt and brown sugar. In a separate bowl, stir together oil and syrup until combined. Add vanilla extract.  Pout the oil mixture over the oats and stir it well so everything gets well coated. Lightly oil a big baking tray and spread the oat mixture in an even layer. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. After 20 minutes the granola needs to be stirred. Fold it over so it bakes evenly. Take the granola out and let it cool. Add in chopped dried fruit and flax seeds and store in airtight jars. Makes a ton! (Or about 8-9 cups).

This recipe in Swedish:  Müsli med nötter och frukt

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Posted in Uncategorized | 7 Comments »

 

Simple cardamom cake

Sunday, December 16th, 2007

I love baking, and cooking too. But baking has a special place in my heart. The summer when I was 14 we moved to a new house and I didn’t have any friends. It was the summer holiday in between semesters and I just didn’t know anyone in this new place we lived. I spent the entire summer reading semi erotic fantasy novels (47 of them!) and baking cookies and cakes until we were all ready to burst from all the baked goods. I piled on the pounds but it was still nice. However, I didn’t bake this cake that summer, I know that for sure. It’s a very simple and incredibly tasty cardamom cake that requires little work but really delivers. I couldn’t get any good photos of it, when I last baked it the sun had already set and I am too tired to make a new one. Instead I give you this photoshopped version, it’s a cardamom girl cake!

Cardamom cake

This cake is really good just the way it is. Or you can slice it and serve it with some fruit salad and soy cream. Either way it’s absolutely delish! It’s an old fashioned Swedish recipe that doesn’t use eggs, so veganizing it was a no-brainer. It’s also not incredibly sweet but has fantastic flavour.

Cardamom cake:

  • 125 g (½cup) vegan margarine
  • 300 ml (1 1/4 cups) sugar
  • 2 tsp ground cardamom
  • 250 ml (1 cup + 2 tsp) soy milk
  • 500 ml (2 cups + 1 tbsp) flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder

Turn the oven on to 180 C. Melt margarine in a pot. Turn of the heat and add sugar, cardamom and milk into the margarine. Sift together the flour and the baking powder and add to the wet mix. Stir carefully with a whisk until the lumps are gone (but don’t overmix it).  Grease and flour a pan. It looks cuter in a bundt pan but a normal sponge cake pan will do just fine. Pour batter into a the cake pan and bake in the middle of the oven for about 45 minutes or until the cake is golden and a toothpick inserted to the centre comes out clean. When the cake is done, let cool for about 5 minutes then flip onto a plate. Remove the pan while the cake is still warm and let it cool completely. Let mature in a bag for a day before eating, it tastes even better if you do!

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Posted in baked goods, sweet, vegan | 14 Comments »

 

Vegan checkerboard cookies

Monday, October 8th, 2007

We were going to a party on Saturday night and everyone there was supposed to bring something baked and delicious. I made some pretty fab coconut cupcakes frosted with a lemon icing (from VwaV). As a present for the birthday girl I bought a nice stoneware jar, light blue with polka dots and filled it with simple checkerboard cookies. I spent the day slaving away in a hot kitchen, no time to wash my hair, put on make up or be fancy in any way. Although I did make up for that later, the photo shows a less charming me.

First a photo of the cupcakes. They were lovely and Alex ended up eating about a third of them.

Coconut cupcakes with lemon frosting

It never ceases to amaze me just how vegan friendly some of our old Swedish cookies are. I KNOW you have checkerboard cookies in other countries too, but it’s also a very Swedish thing. Many recipes are so simple, no eggs, no milk, just butter/margarine. Hey, that’s almost too easy! I flipped through a Swedish cookies and cakes classic, we’ve had it in my home since forever. In Swedish it’s called Sju sorters kakor. Not long ago they translated the book to English, it’s called Swedish Cakes and Cookies. This recipe is from that book, the only thing I changed was the margarine, mine’s vegan, theirs isn’t. It’s one of those recipes that doesn’t even belong to a certain author or anything anymore, it’s so old and well used it’s public property now. They’re not terribly sweet, but they’re lovely with coffee or tea.

Who needs to wash their hair, there are cookies to be made!

Swedish checkerboard cookies: makes LOTS and LOTS!

  • 450 – 500 ml (1 3/4 cups + 2 tbsp – 2 cups) wheat flour
  • 100 ml (1/3 cup + 1 tbsp) sugar
  • 200 g (2 sticks) vegan margarine
  • 2 tsp vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla essence (but make sure to use a little more flour!)
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder

Mix together the sugar, margarine and flour until it forms a ball. (Kind of like when you’re making a pie crust). Divide the dough in two parts and mix each part with a flavouring. One of the doughs with cocoa and the other one with vanilla. Divide each dough into two pieces and roll them out to two rolls (I made three of each because I am hardcore!). Put two different coloured rolls next to each other and put two more on top of that making a checkerboard pattern. Press it a little so the doughs stick together and wrap it in plastic film. refrigerate for a little while. Turn the oven on to 200C (390F). Take the log out of the fridge and cut into 3-4 mm (1/6 inch or so) slices. Put on a baking paper on top of a baking tray and bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Let cool. Enjoy!

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Posted in baked goods, soup, UNhealthy, vegan | 10 Comments »

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