Swedish Thin Gingerbread Cookies – Hemgjorda Pepparkakor

Here comes a recipe that symbolizes Christmas for me more than most things. Gingerbread cookies are incredibly delicious, but I must admit I usually stick to the store-bought dough. This year, we’re not celebrating Christmas in Stockholm, which requires some creativity. This might not be the most creative recipe, and I know that many of you probably make your own dough each year, but for us, it was a first! Make it today, and start Christmas Eve off by baking some delicious, crisp, gingerbread cookies in the morning! On the picture above, you see me and my lovely co-baker of the day, Alexandra.

Recipe / Recept 

1 cup brown sugar 

1/3 cup of water / 0.75 dl vatten

1/3 cup of corn syrup (half white, half dark) / 0.75 dl sirap

150 g of butter / 150 g smör 

1.5 tbsp of cinnamon / 1.5 msk kanel

1.5 tbsp of ginger / 1.5 msk ingefära

1 tsp of ground cloves / 1 tsk kryddnejlika 

1.5 tsp of baking soda / 1.5 tsk bikarbonat

2.9 cups of flour / 7 dl mjöl 

1. Bring sugar, water and syrup to boil. / Koka upp socker, vatten och sirap.

2. Take of the heat and stir in the butter. / Ta bort från värmen och rör i smöret.

3. Mix in all other ingredients. / Blanda i alla andra ingredienser.

4. Wrap the dough in plastic foil. / Vira in degen i plastfolie.

5. Let sit in the fridge for 8 hours or over night. / Låt stå i kylen i 8 timmar eller över natten.

6. Preheat the oven to 340 F. / Sätt ugnen på 175 grader.

7. Roll out the dough super thin, make sure you sprinkle the surface you’re baking on with plenty of flour. / Kavla ut degen, se till att ytan du bakar på är strödd med mjöl.

8. Push out different patterns with molds. / Tryck ut olika kakor med formar.

9. Bake for about 6 min or until a little brown on top. / Grädda i ca 6 min eller tills kakorna är lite bruna på toppen.

10. Let cool. / Låt svalna.

11. Done! / Klart!

Dark Chocolate Fudge with Seasalt – Mörk Choklad Fudge med Havssalt

Here’s a recipe that takes you no more than 30 min and is PERFECT for your Christmas dessert table (maybe that’s just in Sweden, but perfect for dessert anyway…). This fudge only requires a few ingredients and is hard to fail when doing! Try it yourself.

Recipe / Recept 

1.25 cups of sugar / 3 dl socker 

1.25 cups of heavy whipping cream / 3 dl grädde

0.4 cups of light corn syrup / 1 dl ljus sirap 

2 tbsp of cacao powder / 2 msk kakao

1 dark (70% or higher) chocolate bar / 1 mörk (70% eller högre) chokladkaka

50 g of butter / 50 g smör

1 tsp of salt / 1 tsk salt

sea salt for sprinkling / havssalt för strössel

1. Bring sugar, cream, syrup and cacao powder to boil. / Koka upp socker, grädde, sirap och kakao.

2. Boil until thickened, this varies in time, but about 20 min. Try if it’s ready by dripping down some of the batter into a glas with ice cold water, if you can shape the batter – it’s ready. If not – let it boil for longer. / Koka tills smeten tjocknat, det kan ta olika lång tid, men ca 20 min. Prova om den är klar genom att droppa ner lite smet i ett glas med iskallt vatten. Om du kan forma smeten, är den klar – om inte, låt den fortsätta koka.

3. Remove from heat. Stir in chopped chocolate, salt and butter. / Ta bort från värmen, rör i hackad choklad, salt och smör.

4. Pour into a brownie pan with parchment paper. / Häll i en ugnsform med bakplåtspapper.

5. Sprinkle with salt. / Toppa med salt.

6. Let cool in the fridge. / Låt svalna i kylen.

7. Cut in pieces. / Skär i bitar.

8. Done! / Klart!

Ginger Cookies – Ingefärskakor

This is not your classic gingerbread cookie – but a slightly spicy ginger cookie. A fast and delicious cookie that you mix together in 10 minutes, but still gives you all the delicious Christmas Flavors. Inspired by a recipe from the Swedish magazine “Hembakat”.

Recipe / Recept

2 cups of flour / 5 dl mjöl

1.2 cups of sugar / 3 dl socker

2 tsp ground ginger / 2 tsk ingefära

1 tsp cinnamon / 1 tsk kanel 

1/2 tsp baking soda / 1/2 tsk bikarbonat 

125 g butter / 125 gram smör 

1 egg / 1 ägg

1 tbsp of light corn syrup / 1 msk ljus sirap 

1. Mix all dry ingredients together. / Blanda alla torra ingredienser.

2. In a food processor, mix the dry ingredients with the butter. / I en mixer, blanda mjölblandningen med smöret.

3. Add the egg and the syrup. / Lägg i ägget och sirap.

4. Heat the oven to 320. / Sätt ugnen på 125 grader.

5. Roll small balls of the dough. / Rulla små bollar.

6. Press down gently with a fork. / Pressa ner försiktigt med en gaffel.

7. Bake for about 10 min. / Grädda ca 10 min.

8. Let cool. / Låt svalna.

9. Done! / Klart!

Delicious Christmas Saffron Cake – Ljuvlig Julig Saffranskaka

And then there was only a week left until Christmas… Time flies and yet another semester in DC has passed by, maybe the quickest one so far. In the mist of finals, there really is no time for any sort of Christmas feeling – which is sad, since december usually goes by quicker just because of that. Nonetheless, this year I’m spending the holiday’s in Florida, which comes with great light and great material for blogging… 🙂 The first thing out is a lovely saffron cake that I made today – it’s really easy and the recipe comes from the Swedish master baker Leila Lindholm. I served the cake with a salad that my mom made based on oranges and pomegranate. Lots of Christmas feeling all in all, and a great way to get in the right mode. Try it!

Recipe / Recept

3 eggs / 3 ägg 

1 cup of sugar / 2.5 dl socker 

0.4 cups of milk / 1 dl mjölk

0.5 g of ground saffron / 0.5 gram saffran 

1/2 stick of butter / 50 g smör

2 tsp of baking powder / 2 tsk bakpulver 

1.4 cups of flour / 3.5 dl mjöl

a pinch of salt / en nypa salt 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. / Sätt ugnen på 175 grader.

2. Whisk eggs and sugar until white and fluffy. / Vispa ägg och socker tills vitt och fluffigt.

3. Heat the milk and saffron. / Värm mjölk och saffran.

4. Add butter and let the butter melt. / Lägg i smör och låt det smälta.

5. Add the milk mixture into the egg mixture. / Lägg i mjölk blandningen i äggblandningen.

6. Add the rest of the ingredients. / Lägg i resten av ingredienserna.

7. Grease a baking mold. / Smöra en form.

8. Bake for about 25 min. / Grädda i ca 25 min.

9. Let cool. / Låt svalna.

10. Done! / Klart!

Gingersnaps with Blue Cheese – Pepparkakor med “Blue Cheese”

In Sweden we celebrate Christmas on the 24th. That means that today is the day before Christmas…. Here comes a little suggestion for a fun gingersnap cookie appetizer. This goes best with the type of Swedish Gingersnaps that you can buy in the store. They’re called “Annas” and is thinner and not as spicy as traditional gingersnaps. Now matter which cookies you choose, put a little bit of blue cheese on, a small walnut, and a red currant berry on. This is delicious and fun, and a flavor combination that never goes wrong!

Recipe / Recept

Gingersnaps / Pepparkakor

Blue Cheese / Grönmögelost 

Walnuts / Valnötter

Red Currants / Röda Vinbär 

1. Start with putting a little blue cheese on the cookie. / Börja med att lägga lite ost på varje pepparkaka.

2. Crack the walnuts in small pieces, top every cookie with a little walnut piece and a berry. / Dela valnötterna i små bitar. Toppa varje pepparkaka med en liten valnötsbit och ett bär.

3. Done! / Klart!

Mintkyssar – Peppermint Kisses

This is a traditional Swedish candy, which is perfect any time of the year, but obviously extra suiting around Christmas. I must say that I first tried an original recipe, but boiling candy without a thermometer is too hard when it comes to something that needs to be precisely a certain temperature. Instead I turned to my dear friend google – and fund a super easy, to good to be true, recipe at http://www.Ica.se. A Swedish peppermint kiss is supposed to be kind of crispy and melt in your mouth. Be patient with the drying though, it needs at least 10 hours.

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Mintkyssar är ju så goda! Egentligen passar dom året om, men jag tycker dom passar speciellt bra precis runt jul. Jag prövade att koka ett vanligt recept först, men det var för svårt utan en termometer. Jag använde mig utav allas favorit google, och hittade ett recept som inte krävde någon kokning alls på http://www.ica.se. Detta recept resulterade i perfekt frasiga minkyssar som smälte i munnen!

Recipe / Recept

1 egg white / 1 äggvita 

1.4 cups of icing sugar / 3.5 dl florsocker

10 drops of peppermint oil / 10 droppar pepparmintsolja 

1 dark chocolate bar / 1 mörk chokladkaka

1. Whisk the egg white fluffy and firm. / Vispa äggvitan fluffig och fast.

2. Stir in the peppermint extract. / Rör ner pepparmintsoljan.

3. Carefully powder in the sugar, keep whisking. / Sikta försiktigt i florsockret medan du vispar.

4. Put the batter in an icing bag and make small round shapes. / Lägg smeten i en spritspåse och spritsa ut små femkronor.

5. Let dry. / Låt torka.

6. Melt chocolate in a water bath. / Smält chokladen i ett vattenbad.

7. Put a little bit of chocolate on each of the kisses. / Lägg lite choklad på varje kyss.

8. Let cool. / Låt svalna.

9. Done! / Klart!

Finally Some Christmas Feeling – Äntligen lite Jul-känsla

I’m officially done with finals and back in Stockholm. Finals really pushes you beyond your limits and makes you realize how much you are actually capable of. Although, these past two weeks have been mostly pasta and coffee. Not so much cooking or baking. Now I have the full break to focus on the blog and be in the kitchen again. This first “recipe” (mostly because I’m still very jet-lagged and sleep deprived) is more of a delightful Christmas decoration that smells amazing. It’s quick, fast and fun. You only need two things, oranges and whole cloves, and some red ribbon. Then you’re good to go. The next coming days the blog is going to be filled with Christmas suggestions, I hope you’ll enjoy it!

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Officiellt helt klar med slut-tentor och tillbaka hemma i Stockholm. Finals tänjer verkligen på alla gränser, och får dig att förstå hur mycket man egentligen orkar. Men bloggen har inte blivit uppdaterad, mest för jag oftast ätit pasta och druckit kaffe. Inte alls speciellt mycket mat eller bak. Nu har jag hela lovet att fokusera på bloggen och experimentera i köket igen. Det första “receptet” (mest för att jag fortfarande behöver ta igen sömn och är extremt jet-laggad) är apelsiner med nejlikor i. Luktar såå gott och är så lätt att göra. Det ända som behövs är hela nejlikor, apelsiner och rött band, sen är det bara att köra! Under de kommande dagarna kommer bloggen fyllas med julrecept och idéer. Hoppas du hittar något!

Recipe / Recept

Oranges / Apelsiner

Whole Clover / Hela nejlikor 

Red ribbon / Rött snöre

1. Push the cloves into the oranges in a pattern. / Tryck i nejlikor i apelsinerna i ett mönster.

2. Wrap ribbon around, make sure there’s enough left to hang it. / Dra snöre runt om, se till att det är tillräckligt för att kunna hänga upp.

3. Done! / Klart!