Kladdkaka

Hej!

So this is a request for a member of my Swedish language group on livejournal (probably where all of my readers are from). I'll be honest and say that I've never heard of kladdkaka until that time. I looked it up and lo! and behold! The kladdkaka is actually popular in America, known as the dense brownie.

This recipe was fun to do because I couldn't find any English recipes and had to move on to translating Swedish. Of course, doing the conversions from decileters to cups was a bit annoying, but in the end it was all worth it.

This recipe was a great success with my room mates, my boyfriend, and I. I poured the batter into a 9x9 pan which resulted in a thinner brownie. Being the cook that I am, I figured that I can just cut it in half and stack them to make a double layer, yum-yum kladdkaka. I also added a layer of blackberry jam in the middle. Not traditional, but really completed the flavor.

Kladdkaka

Ingredients:
1.5 cups flour
1 cup sugar (or vanilla sugar if you have it)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa (I used kakao because it's a little healthier.)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla (omit if you're using vanilla sugar.)
9 tbsp vegan butter, melted
3 tbsp syrup (I used maple)
1/2 cup of vegan milk (I used soy)
Jelly (optional)
almonds or hazelnuts (optional)

P. Preheat oven to 400ºF
1. Sift and mix together the flour, sugar, and cocoa.
2. Mix the butter and syrup together until very well blended. Add the milk and mix thoroughly.
3. Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry the ingredients and mix mix mix! (this is the fun part)
4. Grease a baking dish and pour the batter into, making sure the top is as smooth as possible.
5. Add the almonds or hazelnuts to the top if you have them.
6. Put the kladkaka in the oven for NO MORE than 20 minutes (mine was in for about 16 minutes before I turned the oven off and let it sit inside for the next 4 minutes)
7. Take out and let it cool. If the outside doesn't harden a little, put it back in the oven for a few more minutes. Let it cool again. (mine was soft when I took it out of the oven the first time and got a nice stiffness as it cooled off.)
8. If you want to double layer it, cut the kladdkaka in half and put a layer of jelly of your choice on top of one half. Place the other half on top.
Enjoy with sweetened soy milk, coffee, or chai!
Be warned that this recipe really sits in your stomach like the dense brownie that it is. Not good to eat before doing anything other than relaxing.

Skål!

Hallongrottor

So it seems that vegan recipes were what people were more excited about. One person said he would be curious to see vegan hallongrottor, as he has tried and failed in the past. I found a few recipes, bookmarked them, then moved on thinking I'd do it later. Then I got a craving for them (damn you!). I searched a few more recipes and the majority of them had a lot of complicated ingredients. Then I found this recipe. The comments were positive, it came from a vegan Swede, only 5 ingredients, all of which I had. So why not? They're currently in the oven, waiting to be done and eaten.

The dough was a bit difficult to work with. It crumbled very easily. As a result, I had to make bigger cookies. Now, onto the results.

They're pretty good. The cookie came out soft and melted in my mouth. It crumbled a little too easily for my liking. But for having only 5 ingredients, they're pretty damn good. Pretty, too. If I had a working camera I would have taken a picture. I suggest eating them with a cup of soy milk or coffee. I'm having coffee with them and it's very satisfying!

Definitely something to add to the smörgåsbord.

Here's the recipe (by vegbitch)
Vegan Hallongrottor:

* 450 ml (just under two cups) flour
* 100 ml (just under ½ cup) sugar
* 200gr (7 oz) (just under 1 cup) vegan margarine
* 1 tsp vanilla extract (I used 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1/2 tsp almond extract)
* raspberry jam (I didn't have this, so I used lingonberry jam instead)

Turn oven to 175 C or 350F. Cream sugar, margarine and vanilla extract together. Mix in the flour and work into a dough ball. Fridge the dough for about 20 minutes. Roll the dough into about 30 little balls about 2 cm in diameter (or about an inch), flatten them a little and put on parchment paper on a baking tray. Make a little thumbprint in them (make the print bigger for more jam!) and fill them with some jam. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes (mine were in for about 20 minutes. Every oven is different) until they’ve turned just a little bit golden.


If you made these, tell me what you thought, send pictures, etc.
Hej då!

Mat

I remember reading once that you can learn a lot about a country based on their food. I'm sure Sweden is no different, but I'm not sure what the food is trying to tell me. I mean, what does surströmming, lingonsylt, knäckebröd, and köttbullar say?

I guess you could say they're of a social type with their smörgåsbordar and fika. They're a bit traditional with julbordar and kräftskivar and the Thursday pannkakor/ärtsoppor. But these aren't really foods so much as ways to consume the food. There is one thing that I've seen in almost all traditional Swedish plates, though. Potatoes.

Boiled new potatoes with dill, mashed, boiled with cream sauce, dumplings, mixed in with meats, made into pancakes. If you can do something with a potato, Sweden has done it. A direct quote from wikipedia*, "Potatoes are eaten all year around." This wouldn't be funny if that line wasn't standing alone as it's own paragraph. At least I got a chuckle out of it.

Meat also seems to be a big part of their diet, but there's not one meat that stands alone. It seems that every animal has a place on the table changed into nearly every shape. Balls, sausages, steaks, pate, chunks, patties, etc etc. Hell, even feet are welcomed.

As a vegan I'm faced with quite the challenge. I've found some vegan Swedish recipes, mainly meatballs, but for the most part I'm on my own. I'm fine with that. It's fun converting old favorite recipes into new vegan ones. I imagine it will be just as fun finding new and exciting ways to make rotmos med fläsk as a vegan entree. I'll be sure to share what I find.

Until next time
Tack så mycket
Erik

*I, by no means think that wikipedia has all of the answers, but it's a nice and quick go-to guide for basic information.