Prinsess semla, prinsessapulla - a combo of a bun and princess cake

The winter time delicacies of Finland include a laskiaispulla. Essentially, a bun filled with either marzipan (the only right way ;) ) or jam and topped with whipped cream.The same bun is eaten in Sweden too, the home for Princess Cake, a lovely sponge cake filled with strawberry jam, cream mousse and whipped cream and topped of with green marzipan. Absolutely divine.

The Swedes, always being a bit better than us Finns, have now found a way to combine these two. Thimons bakery did it. On their Instagram account you can see a video of how the buns are done.

And the result is heavenly. And so pretty. And now - also glutenfree. :)

You will need: pulla (buns), whipped cream, marzipan (and a tiny amount of milk), green (and pink) marzipan and if you like, a bit of strawberry jam.

You can find my pulla recipe here . But for your convenience, it can be found at the bottom of this page, too (without the saffron mentioned in the original recipe.)

FILLING
250 g almond paste
2 tbsp milk

Grate the almond paste, pour into a bowl, add the milk and beat even with an electric mixer.

METHOD
Take out your green marzipan and roll it flat with icing sugar. Place the marzipan sheet on top of your bun, try to ease out most of the crinckles. Cut off the excess marzipan around the bun, leaving about 1 cm everywhere so taht you can press the ends underneath the bun.

Cut the top off. Add a good dose of the almond paste filling, pipe a generous amount of whipped cream, add an optional squirt of starwberry jam, replace the lid. Almost done now! For extra pretties, add pink marzipan flowers as ornaments and sprinkle with some icing sugar.

Almost (!) too pretty to eat. :)





PULLA (BUN) RECIPE

Ingredients:
5 dl milk, at around 45 degrees Celsius
2 tsp Psyllium
½ tsp salt
2 dl sugar
1 tbsp ground cardamom
2 eggs
2 dl flour (gluten-free mix)
5 + 2 dl of rice flour
2 bags of yeast


Method:
Heat the milk up to about 45 degrees Celsius. It needs to be hotter than your hand, because it will sit for a while until the yeast is added. Add the salt, sugar, cardamom and psyllium and whisk shortly with an electric mixer. Leave to sit (and swell) for about 2 minutes, whisk again and give it another 2 minutes.

In the meantime, mix together the rice flour and yeast. To the milk, add the eggs, whisking well. Add the yeat and rice flour, mix well. Finally, add the gluten free flour mix a spoonful at a time until the consistency is right.  Whisk well, for at least 3 minutes. Then, let the dough stand (and swell) for about 10 minutes.

Then, flour your hands and scoop out the dough. It will be a bit looser than a standard dough, but you should be able to manage it in your hands nonetheless. Gently roll them into balls in your hands, place them on a lined baking tray. You will probably need to flour your hands before each rolling session.

Cover the rolls/buns with a cloth and let them rise for about 30-40 minutes.
Before placing the rolls in the oven, gently brush them with a lightly mixed egg and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 200 degrees Celsius, for about 12 minutes, until nice and golden brown.

This recipe will make about 15 rolls.

Super-simple and crunchy bread rolls, gluten free - too good to be true?

Once I started eating gluten free bread, it seemed like all hope of ever getting a crunchy crust in a bread was lost. Then, all of a sudden, it was not. It was actually about an hours labour away. If, by labour, you mean mixing up a couple of ingredients with a fork, letting the dough rest for about 30 minutes and baking them in the oven. I like to call it lovely labour, because it really is just that.


Please indulge yourselves with my

Simple and crunchy bread rolls

7,5 dl warm water (at about 40 degrees C)
1,5 tbsp psyllium
1,5 sachets of dry yeast
1,5 tbsp honey (sugar will do, too)
1,5 tsp salt
1,5 dl rolled oats (gluten free)
2 dl oat flour (gluten free - you can also use buckwheat)
approx. 3-4 dl gluten free flour

Method

Pour the warm water into a large bowl. Add the psyllium and stir well. Let the psyllium swell up for a couple of minutes, stir again and add the yest and the honey. Mix well. For the mixing, all the way through, use a (wooden) fork. No need to get your hands dirty with this dough! Also, using a fork will mean that the dough will be wet enough.

Add the rolled oats and the oat flour along with the salt. Mix well.

Gradually, about 1 dl at a time, add the rest of the flour until a somewhat loose dough is formed. Again, the dough must be wet enough for you to still be able to stir it with the fork!

Cover well (I have to admit, for this dough, I like to use a large Tupperware bowl which I can seal tight. Once the lid pops (if I have time for a second run, if not, I just scoop the dough out instantly), I re-set it and wait for another pop.) and leave to sit and rise for about 30 minutes.

 The dough after 30 minutes. 

Take out baking trays, cover them with baking sheets and ladle the dough directly onto the trays. The rolls will look weird at this stage, but do not worry. Once you get them into the oven, the will go lovely and round.
The dough should yield for about 12 rolls. Sprinkle with flour (or something else) and place them into a hot oven.

Bake at 230 degrees C for about 30-35 minutes. Make sure that the crust is hard before taking them out of the oven! Also, knock the rolls from below - you should get a hollow sound if they are ready to be taken out. The rolls might start getting quite dark and feel even too hard when you finally do take them out. But please bare with me; if you take them out too early, about 5 minutes later they will go flat. When they are properly baked, the inside will be chewy and you WILL have a great crunchy crust - even on the next day. And the rolls will be nice and round, not flat.

Hot from the oven.

Enjoy my dears!

Gluten-free Christmas baking - Cardamom rolls with saffron

I am lousy at taking photos of my bakings, so I am sorry to tell you that this time around, again, there won´t be many photos to showcase. This is mainly because I am always trying out new things or making my own adjustments to the recipe and I am not sure if what I am trying to do will succeed at all, so I just concentrate on baking. :)

I have dreamed of having a nice, soft cardamom roll for as long as I have stopped eating gluten. I have tried many recipes and they work, somehow, but mostly, the result is either a soft but a flat, really flat, version or then a beautifully shaped, hard, rock-type of a ball.

In my childhood, cardamom rolls were the type of homey treat I guess cookies are in the States or scones in Britain. The usual version (originally a combo of milk, yeast, cardamom, sugar and wheat - give or take eggs and a dash of salt, sprinkled with sugar) were baked often and devoured as a snack or with tea.

In February, during Laskiainen, Shrove Tuesday, the same roll is filled with whipped cream and yam or marzipan. The marzipan version is a Swedish tradition and a tradition I followed as a child - and I still think that is the only proper "laskiaispulla".

During Christmas, the rolls were made more posh with saffron. The seasoning gave them a beautiful colour and a lovely taste, as well as a bit more luxury.


Yesterday, I dove head into the bun thing. Earlier on, I discovered this recipe:
http://keliakia.blogspot.fi/2011/02/nyt-se-onnistui-pulla.html

It seemed good, but I had some concerns.

See, before my gluten-free life began, I loved making bread. I dare to say I was really good at it. I enjoyed the feeling of creating gluten in the dough. It was a full-on process, chemistry. And it was good. And that is why it took me so long to realise that gluten-free baking is not such a vivid, fun process. Once I adapted and turned my thinking upside-down, baking bread, rolls and other (often yeast) bakes got a lot easier.

Here´s my list:
1. In a normal dough, you create gluten with your kneading. This, together with yeast, will make the bread/roll inflate with air and give you nice, soft results.

In a gluten-free dough, you need to whisk the dough (I know, sound silly) to create the air bubbles, because there is not gluten to help you out with it.

2. When making a normal dough, you will let it rise twice. In the middle, you will smash out the air bubbles and wake up the dough with a bit more kneading. Then you let the dough rise again.

In a gluten-free dough, you must not let it rise more than once. You can not knead the dough even once. After you have swelled the psyllium (if you are using any) and the flour (yes, that too, because gluten-free flour tends to be a lot drier than what flour) you have to gently form the dough into balls, or whatever is your desired shape, and then let them rise, rather quickly.


For me, these 2 thigs were the most important lessons to learn.


And ta-daa, on to the recipe, finally!


Cardamom rolls with saffron

Ingredients:
5 dl milk, at aroun 45 degrees Celsius
2 tsp Psyllium
1 small container of saffron (about 1-2 grams)
½ tsp salt
2 dl sugar
1 tbsp ground cardamom
2 eggs
7 dl flour (gluten-free mix)
2 dl of rice flour
2 bags of yeast


Method:
Heat the milk up to about 45 degrees Celsius. It needs to be hotter than your hand, because it will sit for a while until the yeast is added. Add the salt, sugar, cardamom, saffron and psyllium and whisk shortly with an electric mixer. Leave to sit (and swell) for about 2 minutes, whisk again and give it another 2 minutes.

In the meantime, mix together the rice flour, yeast and the gluten-free flour mix. (The original recipe suggest putting in only half of the flour mix at this point and the rest after the swelling time. You choose and tell me how it went)

To the milk, add the eggs. whisking well. Next, add the flour mix. Whisk well, for at least 3 minutes. Then, let the dough stand (and swell) for about 10 minutes. No more than 15, though, you do not want to kill the yeast.

Then, flour your hands and scoop out the dough. It will be a bit looser than a standard dough, but you should be able to manage it in your hands nonetheless. Gently roll them into balls in your hands, place them on a lined baking tray. You will probably need to flour your hands before each rolling session.

Cover the rolls/buns with a cloth and let them rise for about 30 minutes.
Before placing the rolls in the oven, gently brush them with a lightly mixed egg and sprinkle with sugar. (On a Christmas roll, raisins are typically used but they are not my cup of tea.)

Bake at 200 degrees Celsius, for about 10-12 minutes, until nice and golden brown.

This recipe will make about 15 rolls.

Let me know if it worked out for you!

Gluten-free donuts

Gluten-free donuts

I swear, Finland is the mecca of donuts. Wherever you go, you can count on one thing - there will be donuts for sale. Really, every gas station at the outskirts of sheer existence sells donuts, or rather munkki as it is called in Finnish. 

The Finnish version usually is a round bun-like donut which is covered with sugar and sometimes filled with jam or custard cream. The garnish can also be pink or white sugar-water mixture, but then the munkki is called "Berliinin munkki" (Berlin donut) or "Piispan munkki" (bishop´s donut).

Growing up eating donuts, I sometimes miss the flavour so much. I remember being on maybe 3rd grade in school and how we had handicraft amongst us girls on Friday mornings for about 2 or 3 hours. Our teacher let us leave the school yard during the break to go to the nearby grocery store. Every Friday we would buy a Berliinin munkki and eat it before getting back to our needleworks. The store was called Vähänen, I think, and I doubt it exists anymore in its´s lovely, quirky appearance, at least.

Anyway, Yesterday I tried out the actual donut with the hole in the middle.

Ingredients:

5 dl milk

1 egg

1 dl sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cardamom

22 g dry yeast

about 9 dl of gluten-free flour mixture

75 g melted vegetable shortening

Coconut butter for frying.

Sugar for sprinkling and/or chocolate and sprinkles.

Heat the milk to about 40 degrees. Add the egg, sugar and cardamom. Mix.

Add the yeast to about 2 dl of the flour and add to the mixture.

With an electrical mixer, beat the ingredients until fully combined.

Add the salt and the remaining amount of flour. With the mixer, beat the mixture for a couple of minutes.

Add the melted shortening and mix well.

Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes before pouring it over gluten-free flour.

Roll the dough and cut it into about 18 pieces. With plenty of flour in hands, roll the pieces into balls and leave onto a baking sheet for about 20-30 minutes to rest. If you want to make donuts, make a hole in the middle and stretch it out carefully. Cover the donuts with a piece of cloth.

Place the coconut butter into a pan and heat it to 180 degrees.

Place the donuts into the hot oil and fry them on both sides.

If you want sugar-covered donuts, cover them with sugar immediately. Otherwise leave them to cool and cover as you like once room temperature.

Enjoy while still warm, crunchy and fresh!

Coconut butter heating up.

Frying.

 Frying the other side.

Gluten-free red currant - white chocolate cake

The perfect cake for autumn! This is such a fresh cake - and super easy to make.

Red currant – white chocolate cake

BASE (Traditional Finnish oatmeal cookie recipe.)

Ingredients:

50 g vegetable shortening or butter

1 dl sugar

2 dl rolled oats (gluten-free)

1 tbsp of gluten-free flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 egg

Method:

Place the butter / shortening together with sugar in a pan. Heat the mixture until the butter melts. Add the rest of the ingredients and quickly mix them together.

Spread the mixture over a lined cake tin with loose edges. Bake for about 10-15 minutes at 200 degrees (Celsius) or until golden brown and set.

Note that the “cookie” is supposed to stay a bit chewy so do not overcook! Once baked, set aside to cool and continue with the white chocolate mixture.

CAKE

White chocolate filling:

200 g white chocolate

2 dl heavy cream

200 g quark (plain yoghurt is a good substitute)

0,5 dl sugar

4 gelatin leaves

1 tbsp boiling water

Red currant filling:

300 g red currants

1 dl sugar

2 dl heavy cream

200 grams of quark

5 gelatin leaves

First prepare the white chocolate filling.

Place the gelatin leaves in cold water.

Whip the cream. Add the sugar and qaurk.

Melt the white chocolate. (I always do the following: I boil water in a pan and place a steel bowl on top of it. Once boiling, I remove the pan from heat and only then place the white chocolate in the bowl. White chocolate liquefies already in about 40 degrees so you need to handle the chocolate gently to prevent it from turning grainy.)

Pour the melted chocolate into the cream-quark mixture. Mix well.

Dissolve the gelatin leaves into a small amount of boiling water and add to the mixture.

Pour the mousse into to cake tin and refrigerate for about 60 minutes. 

For the red currant filling, place the gelatin leaves in cold water. 

Bring the red currants and the sugar to boil in a pan. Sieve the berries and leave to cool.

While still somewhat warm, dissolve the gelatin leaves into the berries.

Whip the cream and mix with the quark and the cooled berries (should be about room temperature).

Pour the pink mousse over the white chocolate mousse and place back in the refrigerator. 

Let the cake set completely (at least 3 hours) before removing from the cake tin.

If you like, garnish the cake with whipped cream and/or red currants. Last time I made this, I did not use any garnish and I still think it looks great.

The cake is served here with white chocolate chip cookies. Recipe to follow!

New Orleans

I visited New Orleans for the first time in my life in the end of January this year. In other words, this entry has taken it´s time to get here, but as the city is absolutely marvellous and it has a great variety of gluten-free foods, I am writing this now anyway.

I don´t think I have ever been as mesmerized by a city as I was with New Orleans. I arrived late on a Saturday night and had to go to bed immediately as I had been travelling for over 24 hours at that point and had to get up at 7 am for a meeting... But just looking at the city and the architecture and all of the houses and the liveliness of it all - it really brought a smile to my face.

I stayed at the corner of Bourbon Street at Hotel Mazarin. I had a large room facing Bienville Street, literally 10 meters or so from Bourbon Street. So, it was loud - but so full of feeling and history. I really loved it. And wore ear plugs during the nights. :)

The nice thing about Hotel Mazarin was that it had a complimentary breakfast. Nothing major, but many gluten-free items; eggs cooked in many ways, bacon, fruit, yogurt and juices. I got my stomach full for sure!

I am a dessert person. No matter how full I am, there is always room for dessert. And sweets. And in New Orleans, you can just smell all the goodies onto the streets. Sugar, cream, chocolate... Candied apples in oh so many ways...

...dark chocolate cherries... (and white chocolate and milk chocolate)

...fudges...

...Mississippi Mud...

...Chocolate with nuts and marshmallows...

...and of course, pralines. A heavenly mixture of cream, sugar and maybe syrup, I would think. Mixed together with nuts, chocolate and the likes and cooked until the sugar granulates slightly. They are heavenly. And smell sooooo delicious!

I did not quite make Mardi Gras, but there were plenty of bead shops all around. many colours and lively people. Good stuff!

I hope to someday make a road trip from Florida to Texas (and then some) and really experience the Southern States. I think I´m going to love it!

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.