Milk Chocolate Lemon Cookies

This type of cookies is called "snitt" in Swedish - translates into "cuts" which is exactly the method for making these. Just like Italian cantuccini, you shape long logs of dough, bake and slice. These are not re-baked like biscotti though, instead they're left to cool and that leaves them crispy on the edges with a soft, chewy middle. These particular cookies are full of milk chocolate and lemon zest. Truly amazing.

Milk Chocolate Lemon Cookies

makes 40 or so

150 g butter, softened

140 g caster sugar

140 g brown sugar

1 egg

2 tsp vanilla sugar (or 1 tsp extract) 

1/2 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

240 g all-purpose flour

100 g milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

zest from 1 lemon

Start by creaming the butter and both types of sugar very, very well. (My butter was, as usual, not softened, so I just creamed it for much longer.) Add the egg and vanilla and beat until mixed. Add the dry ingredients - baking soda, salt and flour - and mix until combined. Finally add the chocolate and the lemon zest. 

Shape into four slender logs and place on lined baking sheets. Bake at 175�C for 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a minute before cutting them, diagonally, into cookies. Leave to cool completely. 

These freeze very well but lose some of their chewiness. 

Homemade Chocolate Shell

Magic Shell is an ice cream topping I first came into contact with in the US - where else? Well, you can find a version of it in Sweden too, nowadays. Or you can, as I have, make your own!

It's essentially a pourable chocolate topping that freezes instantly when poured over ice cream. It hardens into a crunchy chocolate shell. And it's yummy! My version has three ingredients, whereas the commercial obviously has many more. Mine does taste a little bit of coconut, but that's more of a feature than a flaw to me. If you don't like that, seek out a coconut oil with no flavor, there are plenty of those.

Let's get to it!

Homemade Chocolate Shell
250 g dark, high quality chocolate
200 g coconut oil
100 g corn syrup (substitute white baking syrup if you're in Sweden)

Simply melt all three ingredients together in the microwave. Use short intervals and stir well, to make sure nothing burns.

When everything is nice and smooth, stir it together, and pour into a squeeze bottle or a jar. This recipe makes quite a lot, but it will keep for a long time at room temperature. If you put it in the fridge, it'll go solid - don't do that.

Very promising book

I just got Veckans Favoriter ("Weekly Favorites") by Sara Begn�r in the mail. I have to say, she is one of my favorite Swedish cookbook authors. Her recipes are easy to make, approachable, no weird ingredients that you can't find at the store, pretty healthy but still fun, playful and very flavorful. This book focuses, as the name implies, on weeknight dinners. Lots and lots of them! I'm seriously stuck in a rut, which is also why I have nothing to blog about, so I'm definitely eager to try some new things. 

Flippin Burgers vs. Svenska Hamburgerk�ket

Flippin' Burgers

Hamburgers are always in style, or so it seems. In Stockholm, there's an on-going competition for the title "best Burger", and various lists are posted all the time. I don't really eat out that much so I haven't tried all the supposedly "best" ones, but I have tried Flippin' Burgers several times. And I have to say, they're definitely my favorite. They now have a bigger place, with more seats, but you still have to show up right when they open (4 pm) or be prepared to wait. However, it will be worth it.  The burgers are fantastic - fat and juicy and bursting with flavor. I especially recommend coming so hungry that you can have a double burger - they're incredible.

Fries are fine, but nothing special. But they're served with a very vinegar-y mayo, which is nice.


Svenska Hamburgerk�ket

Svenska Hamburgerk�ket has a pretty off-beat location, in H�gersten. You order at the bar, pay, and get your food. Sit anywhere. It's not huge, but it wasn't full with people either so no wait when we were there. The menu has slightly more options than Flippin' Burgers does, especially with some seasonal specials. We went for the classics, though, to try them out. How did they add up? Well, pretty well, but not as good. The burger itself seemed to release much more juice, which left the meat a little dry and my hands very greasy. It also had more toppings, which is of course optional, but I felt that they weren't of the best quality. Cheese didn't taste like much.

Fries however were very yummy! Better than Flippin'. But no free dipping sauce...



The milkshake from Flippin' Burgers, made with Ben & Jerry's ice cream. This one was made from their Chew Chew Caramel - delicious obviously. Svenska Hamburgerk�ket has pretty good milkshakes too, but not like this. So to sum it up? Best burger is at Flippin' Burgers. But both places are good, and I'll gladly eat at both.

Flippin' Burgers
Observatoriegatan 8
Stockholm
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Svenska Hamburgerk�ket
Tellusborgsv�gen 78
H�gersten
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Whittard instant tea and hot chocolate

Another find from my recent vacation! I haven't found Whittard - a UK brand -in Sweden before, but I did find these in a small design shop in Ystad. They had a rather large selection of these two type of goods - instant tea and hot chocolate. It's been a super warm summer here, so while hot chocolate seems a bit out of season, ice tea is most definitely more current. This is a refreshingly fruity flavor, with mango and passionfruit. It doesn't really taste much of tea, but it's nice and not too sweet.

The creme brulee hot chochaolate.. well, I'll have to get back to you on that when it gets a little bit colder!

Red Quinoa Salad with Sesame-Honey Dressing

We've been away for almost two weeks this summer. It's been very nice and a lot of fun - but I sure haven't been cooking much. We've relied on super-quick dinners, like hot dogs, to make sure the kids would eat. Boring. And when I got home, I was craving veggies, and craving cooking.

So I saw this shared on facebook, from the often-inspiring Two Peas and their Pod. I changed some things, but pretty much went with it. We ate some meat with it - pan-fried pork - but it's a good meal in itself. You could serve it along side chicken or fish too, though... or add some avocado.. or feta cheese.. yeah - feel free to adapt as much as you want!

Red Quinoa Salad with Sesame-Honey Dressing
serves 4 (and maybe with some leftovers, too)

400 ml red quinoa (regular white is fine too - my store was out)
800 ml water
1 tsp salt
3 small carrots, coarsely grated
200 g edamame beans, shelled and cooked
200 ml cabbage, finely cut
1/2 cucumber, diced

dressing:
about 100 ml light soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp runny honey
1 tbsp sesame oil
grated ginger - about a teaspoon

Start by putting the quinoa in a strainer and rinse with cold water. Rinse really well. This is necessary to remove the bitterness from quinoa. When rinsed, place with the water (twice the amount of quinoa you're using) in a saucepan, add salt and bring to a boil. Cook for 15-20 minutes - the type of quinoa will determine the time. All the little "tails" should be released and the water pretty much absorbed. If it's soft but there's still water, just drain it.

Mix the cooked quinoa with all the veggies. Whisk together the dressing and toss with the salad. And you're done! This can be prepared well in advance, if you'd like.

the cutest plates!

Since Dante is just over two, I can still get away with buying cute kids tableware. (For a long time, yes?) I found these on a recent trip to Copenhagen. They're from the Danish company Smallstuff - one of many really good Danish designers. They make so many fun things! And Dante likes having his food separate, so these are perfect. He prefers the cupcake one - pink is his favorite color.

Quick dinner idea

Next time you're roasting potatoes, try adding some tomatoes, olives and feta cheese for the last fifteen minutes. It makes for a more complete side dish and it's delicious. 

Gorgeous tea towels

My favorite tea towels (kitchen towels) are made by Bungalow. I've bought mine from Illums Bolighus in Copenhagen - these ones were just picked up last week, but I have three more that I bought last summer. I  love that they're so bright and fun, but they're also really good towels. They're block-printed by hand and very reasonably priced. Swedish customers can find some of the at Broarne.

Golden Cookies

These are Swedish classics - kolakakor. They taste like caramel, and get their flavor from vanilla and golden syrup. My little boy doesn't like caramel - or at least he doesn't think he he does, so I decided to rename these golden cookies for his birthday party. They're ideal to serve to a crowd - they bake up quickly, they're sturdy and they freeze very well.

I got the basic recipe from renowned pastry chef Jan Hedh's latest book, Gofika at Olof Viktors caf�. However, I added a pinch of salt as well, and about half a tablespoon of canola oil, as the dough was too dry to shape.

... and no, no photo, apparently. So sorry.

Golden Cookies
about 40 cookies

160 g butter, at room temperature
130 g sugar
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
1/2 tsp salt
70 g golden syrup
1 tsp baking powder
320 g flour
1/2 tbsp canola oil if the dough is too dry

Mix together butter, sugar, vanilla, salt and syrup. Gradually add the baking powder and flour. Mix into a coherent dough - it'll just look like sand at first, but as you keep going it will slowly come together. Add a little bit of oil if it really doesn't.

Shape into four slim logs and place on two baking sheets. Flatten gently with a fork to make a pattern.

Bake at 175�C for about 10-12 minutes. They should become lightly golden. Let the cool for a minute  and then cut quickly into cookies. let them cool completely before breaking apart.

Smashed lamb burgers

I've made so many variations on lamb meatballs and burgers, but I rarely use  a recipe. Hence the sketchy proportions in this recipe. It's really blog-worthy though, because the kids ate like crazy. I served these with plain bulgur wheat, a tomato salad, and tzatziki. The smash-method is excellent for cooking burgers or meatballs like these, since they get a lot of crispy surface in a short time, so they absolutely don't dry out.

Smashed lamb burgers
400 g lamb mince

2 garlic cloves

1 egg

Handful of breadcrumbs

2 tbsp chopped coriander 

zest from 1 lemon

Salt

Olive oil for frying

Crack the egg in a bowl. Grate the garlic cloves and the lemon zest into the bowl. Add a large handful of breadcrumbs (I used panko, a Japanese variety.)  Add the lamb and coriander and salt. Mix everything together.

Shape loose meatballs, no need for exact roundness. I got about 16 from this batch.

Heat olive oil in a frying pan, over medium-high heat. Add about 6 meatballs at a time, and fry for a minute without touching them - you want to develop a slight crust. Turn them over, so that the crust is up, and smash down with a spatula. Fry the now-flat patties for a minute or two on each side.