Gluten-free Stockholm, Stockholm with kids, shopping in Stockholm, design in Stockholm - FABULOUS STOCKHOLM

Stockholm is so close by that it is easy to forget how fabulous it is. 

Well, I just started this entry with a lie. No, you can not forget how good Stockholm is, the problem is I just do not visit it often enough!

This time I spent 3 fun-filled days there with my daughter. We went to Junibacken, Gröna Lund, shopping, eating, had ice cream, goodies, sushi, meatballs, pancakes, cotton candy, strawberries...

The owl in the book we saw in the Junibacken book store was overwhelmingly cool and cute. Shame the book was more for babies and toddlers than for pre-school-aged.

You gotta love the Swedes. Gluten-free meatballs AND pancakes. All for the regular price at the Junibcaken restaurant.

More gluten-free goodies. This time from Edelweiss cafe at the Gallerian shopping centre. Mandelhorna, or almond horn. And I actually got to choose what to eat! They served about 20 different cakes, cookies or pastries and around 6 (!) of them gluten-free. I chose this one and it was heavenly. 

I will bake these later and let you know!

More indulgences. A gluten-free whopper. Supposedly available at all Burger Kings in Sweden. Also, Maccie D and Max sell gluten-free burgers. 

Designtorget is all about the little things, such as these. I actually was looking for extra legs about a year ago and found none. And there they were, at Designtorget, ready to be picked. Just look at the shapes and the colours! 

I would like to get this HAY table, so I took a photo of the price tag. My daughter fell in love with the rug - and I understand her. I wanted to get one for her room a long time ago, but kinda just forgot about it. Maybe in the near future, then.

Finally, some photos from the Kungliga trädgården (is that correct?), or from the Royal garden. Love the flowers, so pretty.

Rainy day chores

Rainy day today. So we cleaned. And since the light from outside was so pretty due to the rain, all soft and nice, I took some photos of my girl´s room.

The cardboard boxes are from H&M home, the Beagle Boys poster (in an Ikea Ribba frame) is my husband´s and dates back to the 80´s I would think.

The curtain fabric is from Marimekko (Karkuteillä), that and the cushions I sew myself. The fabrics of the cushions are from Ikea. And Puppy, erecting his/hers tail.

Bunting from Maileg.

Another Maileg bunting, which was set across our "library room". Later on, a lot of other stuff was hanging on the same thread, but this illusion was kept for a solid (maybe) 3 minutes.

Enjoy it while you can!

Gluten-free churros - churros sin gluten con chocolate

I had never before baked churros, let alone eat any. 

But I have been drooling over the sugary, cinnamony smell of them in Cadiz (Spain) and sipped tea in a cafeteria, jealously watching the Spanish families gather over their morning coffees and a tray of warm, possibly crunchy (really, I don´t know) churros, dipping them in hot chocolate. 

(And what did I have - a cup of hot tea.)

Anyway, yesterday morning I finally had time, due to HOLIDAY. So me and my daughter, aged 5 ½, collaborated and baked churros. They were ridiculously simple to prepare and soooo yummy.

The recipe I used originated here:

http://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/gluten-free-churros-recipe/

But, as in Finland we do not have all of the ingredients, and since I never really follow a recipe to the full,  this is how they were done by us.

Ingredients

2,5 dl milk
4 tablespoons (56 g) salted butter
186 g gluten-free flour mix (I used one with wheat-starch, but a naturally gluten-free mix will do, too)
1 teaspoon of xantham gum
4 eggs

½ dl sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Coconut oil, for frying

Chocolate sauce
100 g dark chocolate
1 dl of heavy cream
1 teaspoon corn starch

Directions

• Cook the milk, butter and salt in a large saucepan until the butter is melted and the mixture begins to boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the flour and stir vigorously. Return the pan to the heat and continue to stir vigorously for about 3 minutes, until the mixture begins to pull away from the sides of the pan and comes together in a ball. A thin film will form on the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for about 3 minutes.
• Transfer the dough to a blender. Pour the eggs on top. Pulse and whisk until the mixture is smooth and uniformly well-blended. Can take a couple of minutes! Set the dough aside to cool. Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a shallow baking dish, and set it aside. The mixture will be used to garnish the churros. 
• While the dough is cooling, chop about 150 grams of coconut oil to a heavy-bottom pot and heat the oil over medium heat until the temperature of the oil reaches about 160 C. The original recipe suggests piping the dough, but mine was way too thick for that. So, just use your hands to roll them into thin tubes.  Fry until golden brown and firm. (About 1-2 minutes.) Remove from the oil and toss in the cinnamon-sugar mixture to coat. Repeat with the remaining pastry dough.
• Once the churros are ready, make the chocolate sauce. Place the chocolate and cream in a small, heavy-bottom saucepan. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is melted and the milk begins to simmer. While the chocolate is melting, in a separate small bowl, whisk the cornstarch into a small amount of cream (or milk) until smooth. Pour the cornstarch and cream mixture into the saucepan, and stir to combine until it simmers again. Pour into a small container for dipping.
•  This will create quite a heavy sauce. If you want it to be more liquid, add more cream or milk, or simply just temper some dark chocolate - that is what my Spanish friend told me to do next time. In the area he lives, that is the way to eat churros. That and less sugar than on my version. But well, if the sugar-coating is done by a 5 year old, what can you really expect?