One thing I enjoy doing as and when I have the time, energy, and opportunity, is baking. And eating the results, of course. I hadn't managed to do any baking for a long time - quite possibly not since last December when Teen and I had a pre-Christmas baking extravaganza with my mum - but having run out of bread a few days ago, and having taken the bread-baking teen back to university the previous weekend, I decided it was time I got busy in the kitchen again.
I say 'got busy' - I confess I used a packet mix and my proper electric mixer, both of which the teen counts as cheating. I take the view though, that if my options are a) cheating or b) going without freshly baked goods, I'll cheat every time! We had a selection of bread mixes to choose from, so I decided that focaccia would make a nice change, and since we had an open tub of sundried tomatoes in the fridge and a full tin of black olives in the cupboard, there was scope to make it more interesting too.
I hadn't realised just how (relatively) quick and easy it would be - so instead of taking half the afternoon and us going for a dogwalk while the dough was rising slowly, it was ready about 2pm, so we had a nice post-lunch snack before heading out! I might have to do this again sometime soon... Points to improve next time include mixing some of the toppings through the bread before putting it in the tin, and making sure the toppings are pressed in well enough that they don't all immediately fall off when a piece is picked up.
I have been wanting to make some cardamom flavoured Swedish biscuits, which I've been given in the past, but haven't found a recipe for these in any of my (numerous) Swedish recipe books. However, one of my trusty online sources came up with something that looks exactly right, so I tried that this evening. Fortunately I decided a half batch would be plenty, as it didn't work quite the way it should. Thie dough spread far too much in the oven (clearly I didn't need to flatten the logs at all before baking!) and was a bit overdone. Still very tasty though - imagine if you can the best version of a biscuit-toffee hybrid! - and my husband and I polished off over half of it in one evening!
Not to be defeated, I had a look for another recipe. Teen has my trusty Swedish cakes and cookies recipe book 200 miles away from here, which at least explains why I couldn't find it, so I had a look in my Nordic Baking Bible (as it should really be called!). The recipe there was for slightly chewy biscuits rather than the crumbly crunch I was really after, and used ginger rather than cardamom, but it seemed like one to try.
Success! These are possibly underdone by 30-60 seconds, but they look the way they should. I'm very happy with them and think I'll be making them again. They need only store cupboard ingredients (butter, sugar, syrup, flour, baking powder, cardamom), and could easily be made vegan if I'd had a suitable butter alternative to hand. (Given that I now have several vegan colleagues I must start keeping a vegan baking fat in the fridge so that I can make appropriately inclusive offerings. I'd welcome any recommendations for good ones to try!)
Next up might have to be a birthday cake for my mum!
Comments