Ready for Sweets???
Like any good Minnesotan Scandanavian/German small town, the emphasis of holiday eating was definitely on the sweets! Part of my inspiration for the sweets to offer up at the tea was the fact that I haven’t been home to partake in the consumption of our traditional holiday treats since 1999 and while we try to make time to make at least one item from my line up of traditional treats it just isn’t the same without ALL of them, LOL! I actually didn’t get to make all of them as my body had other plans for me and limited my baking adventures. But no one will leave hungry. If you do, it’s your own fault, LOL!
I spoke very nicely to DH last week and got him to make his famous cream scones and lemon curd in the morning while he was also baking cardamon coffee cake for his own party that evening. That is not one of my family traditions, but rather an activity that DH and I like to partake in together and it’s traditional for afternoon tea! I cheated a bit on this front and bought some double devon cream and pumpkin butter for putting on the scones. So, go ahead and help yourself while they are still slightly warm!
Oh, and in case you are thinking I’m a huge overachiever (okay, so I kind of am) I DID NOT PAINT THE CHINA! Though, a unanimous vote amongst the atendees said I could have… *sigh*
Here, we have a traditional Swedish cookie called Pepparkakor or Pepper Cookies. It is similar to a ginger snap, but much thinner and with many additional spices - cinnamon, ginger, cloves, nutmeg, mace, orange zest etc. I *love* these, though I must find a way to make them without all the work of rolling the dough as that proved to be a bit too much for my ailments. I think these are Amanda’s favorite and she likes them with some pumpkin butter spread on them. Like yesterday, the recipe will follow for those interested.
These are pecan crescents. I called my grandmother for her recipe only to find out that it comes from the tried and true Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. It’s the Sandies recipe, just with the dough rolled into logs and curled slightly, LOL! Go figure :-)
Come Thanksgiving, my aunt Karen is not allowed in the homes of any family or church member without a tin of these chocolate covered carmels in hand. If she doesn’t have them in hand she is sent home to get some, LOL! They are that good. Well, her’s are that good. I’m afraid I need a bit more practice making them at this altitude, but they were good anyway. (You can see the lemon curd there in the upper left corner).
We ended it with some Ost Kaka fresh from the oven. Everyone liked it! :-) I didn’t get a picture of it though, I forgot. Though you can see the cheese curd I made for it as it is straining here. I’ll share a cheater recipe for you that doesn’t involved making your own curd if any of you would like to try it.
I had hoped to also have my great grandmother’s sugar cookies and homemade lefse, but it just wasn’t to be. Though Ashely and I are hoping to make some lefse before Christmas sometime, but for sure this winter at some point. But, Snow helped out and brought some maxi-fours (rather larger than normal petit fours) from the famous area Bavarian bakery and Amanda brought Ferrero Rochers (which we actually didn’t open so I brought them to SnB on Monday night).
Swedish Pepparkakor Cookies
yields 6-7 dozen 3-in cookies
3 C Flour
2 t Soda
3 t Cinnamon (heaping)
1 t Ginger
1.5 t Cloves
1 t Cardamom
1 t Nutmeg/Mace (Mace is the strong outer shell of the nutmeg, but can be hard to find)
1 C Butter, softened
1 1/2 C Sugar
1 Egg
1 T Dark Corn Syrup (You can also use molasses here)
2 T Grated Orange Zest
Blend flour and spices together in small mixing bowl. In large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar. Blend in the egg, dark corn syrup and orange zest. Add the dry ingredients gradually, mixing thoroughly. Chill the dough for easier handling. Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut with desired cookie cutters. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet or line pan with a Silpat. Bake at 400 degrees F for 5-8 minutes. Remove from pan immediately and cool on wax paper.
Aunt Karen’s Chocolate Covered Caramels
2 C Sugar
2 C Cream
1 C White Corn Syrup
1 C Butter
1 t Vanilla
—————
For Chocolate Dip
2 C Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
1/4 Bar Parrafin Wax
In a large kettle (3.5 qt or larger) combine sugar, syrup and 1 C cream. Bring mixture to a full boil. Slowly add remaining cup of cream, keeping mixture boiling. Continue to boil until mixture reaches 250 degrees F (subtract 2 degrees per 1000 feet of elevation above sea level). Stir occassionally. Remove mixture from heat and add butter. Stir until well blended (it takes a lot of stiring to fully incorporate the butter). Stir in vanilla. Pour hot mixture into a butters 8 X 11 inch pan. Cool at room temperature for several hours. Cut into pieces and freeze.
In a double boiler, melt the paraffin wax and then add the chocolate chips. Stir to mix. Using a fork, dip frozen caramels one at a time into the chocolate. Lift from chocolate and tap off excess chocolate and place on waxed paper to cool and set. Store caramels in the refrigerator. Serve at room temperature. You may also freeze them to last longer.
I’ve also made them with chopped pecans in the caramel. Just add them in when you are adding the butter. It will give you a bit of a “turtle” taste to them.
No-Fail Ost Kaka
12 oz Carton of Cottage Cheese, rinsed well (I recommend small curd)
4 Beaten Eggs
1/2 C Sugar
3 T Flour
1 pt Half and Half (or Table Cream)
Blend together the eggs, sugar, flour and cream into a custard like base. Pour into an oven proof cassarole dish and even sprinkle the cottage cheese curd over the custard. Bake at 275 degrees for 10 mintures, then stir. Bake at 300 degrees for 20 minutes and stir again. Continue stirring every 20 minutes until thickened. It can take up to 2 hours. Let the top brown for another 10 minutes or so and remove. Let cool slightly.
In Sweden Ost Kaka is traditional served with a generous amount of preserves on the top. Growing up we ate it as is and it was a side dish. I now eat is as dessert, though will omit or severely cut the sugar in the custard mixture if I wish to dress it with preserves.
What? No Kringla? My North Dakota roots demand Kringla as well as pepper cookies. :) I make mini-Kringla and dip into chocolate or almond (traditional) and then roll in nuts/sprinkles/coconut. My very old great aunt (99 years!) laughs very hard at “caribean kringla”.
Comment by Kate — 12/7/2005 @ 12:24 pm
For the record, those caramels were wonderful, so I think you’ve got it mastered.
I think I might attempt your OstKaka for my daughter’s godmother, who adores custards of all sorts. I think she’d really love this.
Comment by Snow — 12/7/2005 @ 12:32 pm
I can’t get past the caramels…oh my they are my favorite!! I do love pepper cookies, too;-)
Comment by margene — 12/7/2005 @ 1:14 pm
Kristi;
Thanks a lot for the recipes! DH’s grandmother was Swedish and made pepparkakor for them but I don’t have a definitive recipe! I’m going to try yours — it sounds great! I’ll let you know how they turn out.
Comment by Kathode Ray Tube — 12/9/2005 @ 7:27 pm
ohhh… your cookies are pretty wonderful! And Swedish to boot - my mom would like that!
Comment by CEce — 12/13/2005 @ 11:56 am