Chocolate mousse cookies

Today I share with you the last of the seven bakes for Christmas.  We of course bake 

other things but we only cook seven types of cookies. We also bake  Christmas cake, Christmas pudding, kransekake (see here) and chocolate roulade ~ a true family favourite  (see here), along with other things that catch our fancy, it is a foodie time of year where we perhaps eat a tad too much but come together as a family and share in this culinary feast.  This year as we all know is different and many families and friends are separated for reasons beyond their control and we are the same in this household.  Today for the first time I made chocolate mousse cookies as my daughter is not a Norwegian spice kind of girl, give her her Asian heritage spice and away she goes but not the warmth of Norwegian cookies, so  these are for her...

Chocolate Mousse Cookies

Chocolate Mousse Cookies

You will need:

3 egg white

200g sugar

2 tsp vanilla sugar

250g good quality dark chocolate

200g walnuts ~ these could be omitted

2 tbsp corn starch

♥  Whisk the egg whites until stiff.

♥  Add the sugars and continues to whisk till they form a lovely glossy meringue.

♥  Melt the chocolate over a Bain Marie and allow to cool until it is room temperature but still completely melted, you do not want it beginning to form a solid again.

♥  Carefully fold the chocolate into the meringue.

♥  Add the chopped walnuts and corn starch and continue to fold in gently.  You do not want to loose the air or make the meringue change it's consistency, if over mixed it will become a runny mix.

♥  Put a tablespoon of mixture onto lined baking sheets, leaving a good amount of space between each one as they will spread out quite a bit.  

♥  Bake in a preheated oven at 175 degrees Celsius for about 10 minutes.

♥  As you take them out of the oven they will appear to be very soft, leave them on the baking sheets to cool for several minutes and they will stiffen up a bit.  

♥  Very carefully transfer them onto a cooling rack to cool completely.  these meringue like cookies are very fragile.

These cookies melt in the mouth

These gorgeous mousse like meringue cookies are delicious but do not last very long.  Bake and eat within 3-4 days

The best way to describe them are  something akin to a chocolate brownie and a meringue.  

Delicious!

♥  How are your preparations coming along?  ♥

Farmer Biscuits

The Scandinavians bake or at least used to, from we think the 1800's onwards “syv slag”, meaning seven

Bondekjeks ~ Farmer biscuits

sorts of cookies for the Christmas period.  We do not really know why seven or indeed exactly how it came about.  One theory is to do with coffee houses that sprung up in the late 1700s and the cookies they offered to accompany the coffee. This then they believe filtered through to ladies visiting each other in their homes and being offered something alongside the coffee.  A housewife was thought of as mean and stingy if she offered fewer than seven cookies and showing off if she offered more!  You just cannot win, can you!

That said in today's world many no longer bake seven varieties, after all, who has the time?  Although for me it has become a part of the lead up to Christmas and something I find comforting and warming to do and has become important to me so I will continue. 

The cookies I have chosen to showcase today has a very unpretentious name, that of Famer's Biscuit.  It originated in Sweden and was apparently presented to the King of Sweden many many years ago as being one of the most unassuming sounding biscuits but one that surprisingly packs a real punch and hits all the right notes of a biscuit.  It has almonds which add the all-important crunch to a good biscuit and golden syrup that adds a hint of caramel but allows the biscuit to also be a little chewy.  A truly winning combination.

I really urge you to give these a go, they are soooooo moorish. To ensure the best bake, the dough needs chilling for a minimum of an hour.

Bondekjeks ~ Farmer Biscuits ~ Vanilla almond cookies 

❤️  You will need:

190g softened butter

150g sugar

1-2 tbsp golden syrup, depending on taste

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract 

250g plain flour

150g chopped almonds (keep the chunks on the larger side)

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

❤️  Mix together the butter and sugar until light.

Add the golden syrup, vanilla and almond extract.  Stir thoroughly.

Add flour, baking soda and salt.  This will form a crumbly dough but do not worry.

❤️  Roll the dough into small sausage-shaped logs, making the diameter the size of the desired cookies.  I tend to roll mine out to somewhere between 4-6cm.  With this mixture being a bit crumbly, I find if I roll the sausage log too long the middle becomes hollow.  Therefore, I make about 6 small logs from this dough.  See photograph.

Six logs from the cookie dough,
notice that there are crumbs on the board
indicating this is a crumbly dough

❤️  Cover the dough logs in cling film or an airtight container and place in the fridge for an hour or preferably overnight.

❤️  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Take out the number of logs desired, this mixture will keep in an airtight container for about a week.

Slice the log in to about half centimetre slices and place on a lined baking sheet.  If you have rolled the same number of logs as I have (6) then I can get about 6-7 slices from each log. The cookies will spread a little so leave enough room between cookies on the baking sheet.  See photograph.

I mark out how many biscuits
I can slice before I cut.

❤️  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until slightly coloured. Cool and eat.

❤️  These cookies will store for a few days if kept in an airtight container.

I like this recipe as I keep a few logs in the fridge and just slice them up and pop them in the oven if an
unexpected visitor arrives, lovely newly baked cookies made to order!  Although here in the UK that is not likely to happen this December, but still who doesn’t like a freshly baked cookie? Perhaps this year we will have to just eat them ourselves or better still make a few local socially distanced deliveries to friends in the neighbourhood who we would otherwise have been spending an hour or two with over cookies and coffee.

Bake a few Bondekjeks (Farmer biscuits) you won't regret it

❤️  VARIATION: I know many cannot eat nuts so a good variation of this is to omit the almond extract altogether and replace the chopped almonds for dried cranberries.  This makes then for a very Christmas type taste along with the vanilla of these cookies.  

❤️  NOTE: You could freeze the dough logs if you wanted to make them ahead, just remember to allow to defrost thoroughly beforehand and then ensure they are chilled before slicing and baking.

So far we have baked two of the seven types of cookies for Christmas...

Bondekjeks to the left and pepperkake on the right

♥  Will you be baking any cookies in December?  ♥

Spelt Crisp bread

December 19th

Spelt Crispbread

In Scandinavia, crispbread is hugely popular at breakfast time or elevenses and even on cross country ski trips as a 'niste' (picnic/packed lunch).  The Danes were very good at importing this as their tradition but you find it all over Scandinavia.  It is wonderfully healthy, very tasty and does make for a great alternative breakfast or when visitors pop by (it keeps for about a week if kept in an airtight box), just throw on some savoury toppings.  Here is my version, hope you like it!






Spelt Crispbread

Melt the butter before adding
ingredients
for the spelt crispbread

You will need:

100g butter
75g rolled oats
75g rye flakes or Special K
25g sesame seeds
1/2 tbsp honey
150g stoneground spelt flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
100ml (or thereabouts, plus or minus a few ml) of boiling water



Topping:

Dough before flattening into
the spelt flour crispbread

1 tbsp linseed
1tbsp sesame seeds




♥  Melt the butter slowly.

♥  Remove from heat and add in the oats, flakes, sesame seeds and honey.  Mix well.

♥  Stir in the flour, salt and baking powder and add in the boiling water.  The consistency should just hold together, do not make it too sticky, so add the water a little at a time.  Make sure everything is well-mixed together.

Spelt flour crispbread after flattening

♥  Turn out the dough onto a lined baking sheet.

♥  Initially, using hands wet with cold water spread the dough as thinly as possible on the baking tray.

♥  If the spread is not thin enough, I tend to wet a wooden rolling pin with cold water and roll the mixture to ensure it is a bit thinner.  Be careful as the mixture if you re-roll without water will stick to the rolling pin!

♥  Bake in a cool oven of 150 Degrees Celcius for 30-35 minutes or until it has changed to a slight golden brown colour.

Cut bite-size pieces once the
spelt flour crispbread has cooled

♥  Cool on the baking tray as moving it at this stage will definitely result in crumbles everywhere.

♥  Once cooled, using a sharp knife, cut out strips the size of the crispbread you desire.  I like to cut
them into large bite sizes.  I also like to incorporate the rough edges to make it look more homemade.

Spelt flour crispbread ready for their toppings,
what would you choose to add?

A great elevenses snack spelt flour crispbread

Elevenses: Spelt flour crispbread with savoury toppings followed by some of the Norwegian Christmas bakes.

  ♥  Hope you have time to enjoy yourself and not be too busy to slow down and take some 'me' time out of your day  ♥

Nothing Biscuits

December 14th

It's the weekend and I don't know about you but I need some joy, so let's begin with some baking, I just love the name of these cookies, Nothing Biscuit.  These are new to me and I love the idea that these 'Ingenting' biscuits are derived because after eating and especially around Christmas time we always say we can eat nothing more, yet we seem to be able to manage to slip one of these Nothing biscuits down with a cup of tea or coffee.  Go on, give them a try...

Thanks to the wonderful Bronte Aurell and her equally lovely book Fikka & Hygge from which these cookies come from, our 6th of 7 bakes this Christmas 2019.

Chill the dough for a minimum of 30 minutes

Ingenting 'Nothing' Biscuits 

You will need: 

For the base:

300 g plain flour
2 egg yolks
175g butter
2 tbsp double cream
25g icing sugar
1/2 tsp lemon zest


For the meringue topping:

2 egg whites
pinch salt
275g caster sugar

Cut out 5 cm diameter circles,
the dough should be 3-4 mm thick

1 tsp vanilla sugar or extract
1 tsp white wine vinegar
3 tbsp finely chopped almonds ~ these can be omitted, but I wouldn't!
(I also use 1/2 tsp of cornflour in my meringue mixture, but Bronte does not do this, so it is up to you)



Put all the ingredients for the base biscuit in a mixer/food processor and whizz together until it forms a smooth dough.

Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of half an hour.

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to about a thickness of 3-4mm.

Using a fluted cookie round cutter (I used one with 5cm diameter), stamp out the circles, you should have enough dough for about 30-40 bases.

Place on a greaseproof paper-lined baking sheet.  Leave to one side whilst you make the meringue topping.

Spoon on the meringue, you can go
close to the edge as they will not swell much

For the meringue, beat the egg whites with the salt until very stiff.  Slowly add the sugar, vanilla, white wine vinegar and cornflour if using. and continue to whisk.  Keep whisking to ensure the meringue begins to look shiny. and forms stiff peaks.  Fold in the chopped almonds.

Pipe or spoon (I spooned) the meringue onto of the bases, you can go close to the edge as the meringue
will not spread much.

Bake in a preheated oven at 160 Degrees Celcius for about 18-20 minutes, or until the base of the biscuits is cooked and the meringue is slightly coloured.

Cool on a wire rack and see if you could not eat anything else or perhaps squeeze one or two of these in ...

See the chopped nut in the meringue topping.  These are sweet melt in the mouth cookies.

Ingenting  'Nothing' Biscuits

These may just be my current favourite sweet bite. 

♥  Hope all your preparations are going well, 

what do you have left to do?  ♥

World's Best Cake

December 8th

Verdens Beste ~ World's Best Cake

The World's Best Cake.

That's quite a statement.  But then the name was derived by the Norwegians and they are nothing if not a determined group of beautiful people.  And this is a beautiful cake.  Is it the Best Cake In The World?  I'll leave that for you to decide.

This is a layered cake made from sponge, vanilla custard and meringue topped with almonds.  There are many many versions of this cake out there, after all apart from the Kransekake (see here ) this is Norway's official cake, voted so by the Norwegian public in 2002, with 69% saying this was their favourite celebration cake in Norway.   It began it's life way up north inside the Arctic circle in Trøms on an island called Hinnøya in Harstad. (We sailed over to the north of Norway a few years ago, here's the post, Arctic Norway , with lots of beautiful Norwegian scenery, to give you an idea of the area that this cake generates from.)

A small cafe opened in the 1920s and was run by Hulda Ottestad and sister.  About ten years or so later they bought for the extortionate sum of 200 kroner, about £20 in today's money, two recipes from Denmark that they thought would work well in their cafe.  Both used a lot of almonds, an expensive ingredient, so mixing the two recipes, one of them being the Danish kongekake (kingcake) and limiting the number of almonds used they created, Verdens Beste.  It was not originally known as The Worlds Best Cake but instead was known simply from the area in which the sisters came from, Kvaefjord, thus it was called Kvaefjord kaka.

What is interesting about this cake to me is that no one actually knows the original recipe any longer as it was only handed down by word of mouth and we all know how that can alter things.  What is known is that it should be a layer cake and that it must include the sponge base, vanilla custard, or some say rum custard and a meringue topping.  There is also some debate as to whether you should add whipped cream in with the custard.  My version would always include the whipped cream.  If you are going for the calories and celebrating, let's go the whole hog.

This is not a difficult or very time-consuming cake but the slightly tricky part is cutting the sponge in half and reassembling.  Just take care and have something large to slide one half of the cake onto.  I use a Mary Berry cake lifter to help me.  Here is how to make it!

Verdens Beste

You will need:
♥  a rectangular tin lined with greaseproof paper,  the pan should measure as close as possible to 35 x 25cm

CAKE BASE
♥  150g butter
♥  150g sugar
♥  5 egg yolks
♥  150g plain flour
♥  1 tsp baking powder
♥  1 tsp vanilla paste or seeds from 1 pod
♥  100ml whole milk

CAKE FILLING
♥  300ml of double cream
♥  300ml good quality thick custard or homemade custard, chilled

MERINGUE
♥  5 egg whites
♥  1 tsp cornflour
♥  2-3 drops of white wine vinegar

Adding egg yolks one at a time

♥  250g sugar
♥  50-75 g slivered almonds



1  Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celcius.


2  Whisk the cream and sugar together until light and pale.


3  Gradually add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing well between each one.

Adding in the vanilla seeds.

4  Stir in the vanilla paste or seeds from a vanilla a pod.


5  Sift in the flour and baking powder.  Folding in carefully. 


6  Pour in the milk and continue to fold.  I can never get this to be a smooth consistency and it does not seem to matter, but obviously the less lumpy the better!


7  Spoon the mixture into the grease papered tin and set aside.

Add the almonds before baking

8  The meringue topping:  using a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks.  Add the sugar gradually whilst still mixing and also add the cornflour and the white wine vinegar, you want the consistency to be of stiff peaks.  This could take 3-5 minutes of whisking. 


9  Spread the meringue evenly over the sponge mixture and scatter with the almonds.



10  Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. The meringue should be firm and not too coloured.

Cut the cake in half horizontally with
a serrated knife

11  Leave to cool in the pan for a few minutes.  Then CAREFULLY lift out without cracking the meringue.  Any moving of this cake I feel is the hardest about making it!! Leave to now cool completely.


12  Whip the cream until firm, do not over whip so it becomes lumpy though!   Fold in the chilled thick custard.


13.  Taking a serrated knife, cut the sponge base of the cake in two horizontally.  Again this is a little tricky with the meringue on top, but not impossible.  CAREFULLY, lift off the top half and put to one side.

Add the cream/custard
to the bottom half

14  Add the cream and custard combo and spread it onto the bottom half of the cake.  Again CAREFULLY place the top half of the cake back onto the bottom half, meringue is facing up at the top.


15  Set aside in the fridge for an hour or so before serving.  The cake is great on the same day but I actually prefer it on the second day!

A few cracks will appear with the cutting and moving
of the cake, just try not to split it completely.

The Worlds Best Cake was enjoyed at Crochet club
when we made our Christmas Crochet Baskets

♥  Is this the Worlds Best Cake?  ♥

Dream biscuits

December 7th

Don't be afraid or scared but the secret ingredient in these dream biscuits was once made from ground male deer's antlers and boy did it smell like it!  I recall my Norwegian grandmother using this and it smelt terrible.  Today the secret ingredient is actually chemically made but the one consistent is the smell.  Be warned it truly is awful but it really does make the difference as the leavening agent and makes these biscuits and many others in Norway aid the melt in the mouth crispy taste.  If you cannot get hold of any ammonium carbonate, (try a chemist) then, of course, you could use baking soda but it will not be quite the same.

These biscuits are found all over Scandinavia and there are many slight variations all over the internet but for today's recipe, I used the wonderful Bronte Aurell's one from her fabulous book,  Fikka & Hygge, she states hers are Swedish, but I promise we make and eat these in Norway too!


So today I give you the 3rd recipe of 7 biscuits for the run up to Christmas.  ENJOY!

Dream biscuits


You will need:
♥  120g butter
♥  200g caster sugar
♥  2 tsp vanilla extract
♥  80ml neutral-tasting oil, sunflower/rapeseed for example
♥  240g plain flour
♥  0.5 tsp hartshorn/ammonia carbonate
♥  0.5 tsp grated lemon

 *  Cream butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.

*  Add vanilla and oil and beat till combined.

  *  Add flour, hartshorn, and lemon and mix only briefly until a sticky dough texture.

*  Cover and place in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes.

* Preheat oven to 190 degrees.

* Roll chilled dough into small balls.  Each should weigh 15g each.  Do not overwork the dough.

* Place balls on greaseproof lined baking trays.  Leave space between as they will spread a little.  Leave them as balls, no need to push them down or flatten them.

*  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  The dream biscuits will not change much in colour and stay pale, remove when there is a slight colour change and gently cracked tops.  Please do not open the ven for the first 15 minutes or so as this will affect the biscuits.

*  Cool on a wire rack.

* Store in an airtight box, they should last for over a week and remain crisp, thanks to the hartshorn.

Dream biscuits, crispy and with a crunch

♥  What have you been baking recently?  ♥

Meatballs Norway Style

December 6th ♥

Kjøttkaker

Not specifically Christmas but certainly very Norwegian are kjøttkaker literally translated to meat cakes.  The Norwegian's answer to homemade burgers.  My daughter requests these every time we
travel to Norway or whenever mamma comes here.  They are a staple in Norway, quick to make, easy to freeze and a great standby dinner.  In this busy month, there will be many families eating kjøttkaker.

We laugh in our family saying any time a Norwegian visits us here in England, it does not matter what food we serve them they will ALWAYS comment on the potatoes, usually something like,  'Oh these potatoes are lovely,'  as if they had never eaten potatoes before.  In Norway a meal is not a meal without potatoes and if truth be told preferably boiled potatoes at that.  Kjøttkaker, therefore, is usually accompanied by boiled potatoes, gravy and kålstuing (cabbage in white sauce) and tyttebær (similar to cranberries).  My daughter prefers chips, after all, she is not 100% Norwegian!



Mamma's Kjøttkaker (Meat cakes/meatballs)

You will need:
♥  500g good quality beef mince
♥  water
♥  salt
♥  pepper
♥  0.5 tsp nutmeg
♥  1 heaped tsp cornflour for the meat
♥  1 heaped tsp cornflour for the gravy
♥  gravy browning

♥  Place the mince, a good amount of seasoning, nutmeg and cornflour into a mixer, add enough water to make the meat soft and pliable, add gradually whilst mixing.  I use a Kenwood mixer, but you could mix by hand, although mamma always says the Kenwood or equivalent is the best for the job.

♥  Once all the ingredients are mixed well together.  Leave to stand whilst you heat up a large frying pan with a big knob of butter and on medium heat, melt the butter.




♥  Next, using a tablespoon, spoon out a small palm-sized amount of mince into your hand, see photo and shape into a ball.

♥  Place each kjøttkaker into the frying an and with the edge of the spoon slightly flatten the ball into more of a burger shape, see photo for clarification.





♥  Fry the kjøttkaker on both sides until brown, we are not cooking them all the way through, just browning them at this stage.  You may need to remove them once browned to make room for the remainder.










♥  Next, and this may seem off place the kjøttkaker into a pan of boiling water and simmer with the lid on for 15-20 minutes.  This cooks them all the way through, ensures that the meat cakes stay moist and produces the stock for the essential gravy.
















♥  Whilst the kjøttkaker are simmering, make the gravy thickening.  Place a tablespoon of cornflour into a container that has a lid (an old jam jar would be excellent) and fill halfway with water.  Place lid tightly back on and shake vigorously to ensure there are no lumps in the cornflour mix.













♥  Once the kjøttkaker have been cooked, remove from the water and set aside.  Keep the used water and leave on medium heat, adding in the cornflour mix and gravy browning, stirring continuously.

♥  Add the kjøttkaker back into the gravy and you have Norwegian meatballs!

Serve with kålstuing (see below) boiled potatoes or chips and tyttebaer (cranberry jam) and enjoy an everyday meal from Norway.

If you are not going to eat them immediately and say have made them in advance and have put them in a fridge, they should last in the gravy and covered for 2 days.  Just gently heat up the kjøtkaker in the gravy when required.  Remember the meat is already cooked through, so you are only needing to heat them up.  The kjøttkaker also freeze well for up to 3 months.

Kålstuing (Cabbage in white sauce)

You will need:

♥  white cabbage
♥  butter
♥  flour
♥  milk
♥  ground nutmeg
♥  salt and pepper

♥  Chop the cabbage into thick strips, discard the hard centre.  Place the cabbage into a pan of boiling water and boil for 10 minutes.

♥  Meanwhile, make the white sauce.  Place a very large knob of butter in a saucepan and add two heaped tablespoons of plain flour.  Continually stir with a wooden spoon the flour into the melted butter, I always find this tedious, but do it for 3 minutes.  This is to remove the taste of the flour.  Gradually add milk and whisk continuously to avoid lumps forming, keep adding the milk until the desired consistency is reached. I like my white sauce to be quick thick, but it is personal preference.

♥  Sprinkle in nutmeg and seasoning to taste.

♥  Drain the cabbage and add to the white sauce.

Kjøttkaker and kålstuing

♥  Do you have any stand by meals?  ♥

Vanilla Fingers

December 3rd

Christmas cookies but maybe too good
to save just for Christmas?

Today is my little sister's birthday and in our household, although Advent has begun, we have lit the first candle, the star is in the window to welcome passersby and the kitchen is full of Christmas cheer, from tonight onwards we can begin to buy and wrap presents.  It has always been an unspoken rule that we wait for Nina to have her birthday celebrations and then can begin Christmas in earnest.  Do you have any December birthdays in your household, if so what do you do to ensure the day is separated to the run-up to Christmas?

SECOND COOKIE BAKE OF THE SEASON
The below cookies are vanilla flavoured and not the typical spiced type that we come to expect of Norwegian Christmas baking, although vanilla does feature heavily in the Scandinavian kitchen.   These are my husbands favourite, he says they have a gentle crunch and then they melt in the mouth.  Give then a try and tell me what you think.  Love to hear from you.

Roll out cookie dough into sausages

Vaniljestenger

♥  250g softened butter
♥  180g sugar
♥  1 large egg
♥  2 tablespoon of vanilla sugar or 2 drops of vanilla essence
♥  350g plain flour



Decoration
♥  1 egg white
♥  50g chopped almonds
♥  7 tablespoons of bakers sugar or the largest grains of sugar you can find

Method
♥  Whisk the butter and sugar together until a smooth consistency.

♥  Add egg and continue to whisk.

♥  Sift the flour and vanilla sugar into the mixture and then knead to a soft dough.

Cut each cookie sausage on the diagonal

♥  Divide the mixture into eight equal parts.  Roll each one onto a sausage shape to fit across a baking sheet covered with greaseproof paper.  You should be able to fix 4 on each of the two baking sheets.

♥  Gently press your finger along each dough of sausage to flatten the top.

♥  Brush each sausage with egg white and drizzle on the baker's sugar and the chopped almonds.


♥  Bake in a preheated oven of 180 degrees Celcius for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

♥  Cool for a few minutes on a wire rack and then cut each sausage into cookie size cutting on the
diagonal, see photo for clarification.

♥ Place in an airtight jar.  They will last for up to 10-12 days if you can resist not eating them all before!

Vanilla cookies have a gentle crunch and then melt in the mouth

 ♥  Do you have a family favourite cookie recipe you care to share?  ♥