No 39 - Swedish Christmas Biscuits

About 10 years ago (om ti år siden) I lived in Denmark.  I like the tradition of having the Xmas celebration at night on 24th - we had already started doing that with friends when we lived in London.  In the dark it somehow seems much brighter and more celebratory.  The day-time version does drag on doesn't it...?      Long after I would like to go for a bike ride, or a walk, or just get outdoors.  You never want to go back outdoors after dark.

Anyway another of the Scandinavian Jule traditions I adopted came  from their range of baked goods.  I still make Christmas Cake (that's from my NZ background), and Christmas Puddings (that's for my UK life), and now I also make Peberkager as well.  The only difference is that not having any kids I don't make them big, and decorated with icing to hang on the tree.  This year however I did make a batch for a friend with 2 children and she reckoned her kids (all three of them she said - referring I suspect to her husband, who is a prodigous baker himself) would enjoy the process of icing them and hanging them up.

Swedish Ginger Christmas Biscuits

140 g butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup treacle

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp ginger

1/2 tsp ground cloves

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla essence

4 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

icing to decorate

thin ribbon to hang them up

Melt the butter, sugar, treacle and spices in a saucepan over a low heat.  Cool

Stir in the egggs and vanilla.  Stir in the sifted flour and baking powder and make sure it is well mixed.  Divide the dough into 3, wrap each portion in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge for at least two hours.

Heat the oven to 180 degrees C (170 for fan ovens).  Line some baking trays with non-stick paper.  Roll out a portion to about 4 mm thick, cut out shapes and put them on the trays.

Use a piping nozzle to make a hole in the top of each one.  Bake for 5-10 minutes.  They should be firm but they will only be crisp once they have cooled completely.  Cool them on a rack.  Repeat with all the dough portions.

Decorate, thread with ribbon and hang them on your Christmas Tree.

No 38 - Mudcake

While I was as University I worked nearly full time 5 nights a week in a local restaurant.  The owners were head cook and maitre d' together and ran one of the most 'hip' restaurants in town.  They eschewed formal 'cheffing' qualifications and pulled together everyday dishes from a wide range of ultures and countries where they had travelled.  Dishes on the black board menu hailed from around the Mediterranean, Middle East, North and West Africa, Mexico, Indonesia & Japan - and anything else that was tasty, unfussy, fresh & personal.

Daily changes in the blackboard menu reflected that which was seasonally available and as much as possible was purchased from local producers. (And this was the 1980's)

Sue grew a wide range of herbs, and fresh herbs featured abundantly.  My own garden supplemented this on occasion.  We sometimes used quient afternoons when all 'prep' forthe evening was complete, to make up jars of colourful preserves that were displayed on open shelves between the otherwise open kitchen andthe dining room: salted lemons, spiced mandarins, red capsicum jelly, asparagus and red pepper strips, pickled carrot sticks for the antipasti platters, pickled qualis eggs, feta cheese in herbed olive oil & garlic......

Only the desserts and puddings were relatively unchanging -homemade icecreams, cakes, special mousses, and guest appearances using seasonal fruit.

This mud cake was a standard.  I don't recall it ever going off the menu, and it was always in demand.

Mud Cake

Sift together:

2 cups flour

1/2 cup cocoa

1 and 3/4 cups raw sugar (I use golden sugar in UK)

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp baking soda

then whisk in

2 large eggs

2 cups water

1/2 up oil

And really whisk it lots.  Introduce lots of air.  Give your whisking arm a work out.

This is a really runny mix - don't be alarmed by that.

Line he base of a 9 inch loose botton tin and grease the sides.  Pour in the mix and bake at 180 degrees C (fan oven) for 1 hour. 

Let it cool in the tin.

When it is cold use a large knife to slice it into 3 layers horizontally.  Put raspberry jam generously between the bottom and middle layer.  Put raspberry jam AND some of the icing between the middle and top.  Put icing all over the top and sides.

The Icing:

1.5 cups icing sugar

1 cup cocoa

125 g butter

juice of 1 lemon

100 g sour cream.

Sift the dry ingredients, soften the butter and beat all the ingredients together.  I make this in advance, put it in the fridge for a while, then microwave it just before I use it - that seems to improve the texture, makes it  easier to spread, and makes it go really glossy.

No 37 - Lime Marmalade and Pear Cake

As promised I have been working on using up lime and ginger marmalade.  And there were some pears looking neglected in the fruit bowl that went into this cake  (pears and ginger always seem to go well together don't you find?)- so it was very moist, slightly gritty as pear cakes are (as pears tend to be) and was very popular at work - even without icing, which tends to just get stuck all over the place on the trip up to London.

Lime and Ginger Marmalade & Pear Cake

6 oz butter

2 oz butter

1/4 cup golden syrup

2 eggs

5 ox marmalade

10 oz flour (wholemeal if you like texture and believe in making cakes a bit more healthful)

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ginger (if your marmalade doesn't have it already - or you like extra)

2 grated pears

1 tsp soda disolved in 1/4 milk

Cream the butter sugar and golden syrup, beat in the eggs, then the marmalade.  Sift in the dry ingredients, addn the grated pears and lastly stir in the soda and milk.

I useda 9" ring tin for this cake - so that it cooks slightly faster.  Grease it well.

Bake at 160 degrees C for 1 hour to 75 minutes.  Cool it in the tin for about 15 minutes.

You could ice it with icing made from icing sugar and  lemon or lime juice - and sprinkle on chopped toasted walnuts if you like some class to your cake.  We just like cake - and this one is quite good as a pudding - still warm with lashings of custard......

No 36 - Lime Marmalade Cheesecake.

As promised recipe that can use Lime Marmalade....  I am not a fan of gelatine type cheesecakes prefering by far the baked kind, but this went down a storm at home and at work.  (Make sure it is well chilled before you transport it anywhere)

Lime Marmalade Cheesecake

Base (for a 9" loose bottom baking tin):
50 g melted butter
1/4 cup (50g) of castor sugar
1/2 packet of gingernuts smashed up in the blender (of use a strong paper bag & a rolling pin).

Put a circle of baking paper in the bottom of the tin, and press this mix into place.  Chill it while you are making the filling.

Filling:
225g soft cream cheese (full fat)
2 eggs (whites and yolks separated)
1/2 cup castor sugar
juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
150 ml cream
4 Tb lime marmalade
15g gelatine powder dissolved in 4 Tb boiling water

Soften the cream cheese and beat in the egg yolks and half the sugar.  Add the lemon, marmalade and cream and blend well.  Then stir in the well dissolved gelatine mix.

Set that aside until it is on the point of setting.  Meanwhile beat the egg whites until stiff and whisk in the remaining sugar until you get meringue consistency.  Fold this into the cheese mix, pour it over the base, and gently shake the tin to level the top.

Chill fo 3-4 hours. 

Topping:
another 4 Tb Lime Marmalade (that's the best part of half a jar of my runny batch gone by now....)
50 g chopped toasted nuts
Whipped cream

Warm the marmlade (your's won't be runny like mine) enough to make it soft spreading consistency (runny is really good) and spread it over the top and sides.  Coat the top and sides with the chopped nuts. 

Decorate or serve with whipped cream - if your cholesterol count will allow.