Cookiepops

I was up until midnight baking these darn (good) cookies
last week. My daughter wanted to take them to
her music class so what am I mom to do..??

I got a special 'cookiepop pan' from Target and used
half the batch for that, they turned out soooo bad. Well,
they tasted good but were just way to thick!
So, I had to lick my wounds and try to make 10 decent
cookies by hand (note so self: BUY SOME COOKIE CUTTERS!!).
Anyho, the cookies turned out really cute and yummy
and the kids loooved them. Abbie was so proud :)
This was my first time making Royal Icing btw and
I think I did a pretty good job if I may say so myself!

Royal Icing
1 pound powdered sugar
5 TBSP meringue powder
1/2 c. water

Combine the meringue powder and water with a whisk attachment using an electric mixer. Beat until peaks begin to form. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. Increase speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form. (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) If using an extract, add it then beat for a few more seconds to incorporate.

This "stiff" icing is perfect for outlining and even for building gingerbread houses and monogramming. To fill in your cookies, add water to your icing a little at a time until it is the consistency of syrup.

Sugar cookie (makes aprox 30 medium/small cookies)
recipe from Sweetapolita.

6 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups unsalted butter (softened for about 2 hours at room temperature)
2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure lemon extract

1. In large bowl, sift together flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

2. Use an electric mixer to cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat in eggs.

3. Add flour mixture and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined. Stir in vanilla and lemon extract.

---

4. Remove 1/2 of dough from bowl, make a ball, and place on a large piece of plastic wrap on counter.

5. Wrap the sides of wrap over the ball, then press down with the palm of your hand and make a disc about 2″ thick. Finish wrapping the disc with the plastic wrap. Repeat with 2nd half of dough.

6. Chill both discs of dough for about 45 minutes.

7. Remove one disc and remove plastic wrap. Place on top of a large piece of parchment paper , then place 2 wooden dowels on either side of your dough, then another sheet of parchment paper.

8. Roll dough so it’s flush with dowels–they will ensure that your dough is even thickness.

9. Preheat your oven to 350 F. Slide your parchment paper and dough onto a board, then place in refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

10. Remove from fridge, and cut your shapes using the cutters of your choice

11. Place sheet with cookies into freezer for 15 minutes before baking. Then bake 10-12 minutes, or until edges are golden brown.

12. Cool sheets on wire racks for 10 minutes, then gently remove cookies and place on wire racks to finish cooling.

To make the cookiepops. Follow step 1-10. Press a cookiepop stick in
the cookies and cover with dough. Flip over. Then follow step 11-15.

Roasted marshmallow cupcake

I have sooo many great recipes to share with you guys. I finally got over my sinus infection and feel like cooking (and eating) again. Woopdido! This past week I made some great dishes and of course I'm going to post all the recipes here.

Lets start with these Roasted Marshallow cupcakes that I'm making for my daughters birthday party on Saturday. I'd never made them before and wanted to try them out before serving them at the party. My husband (aka the marshmallow hater) did not like them and even told me he wouldn't even bring them to work cause 'people might think its weird to have a marshmallow
on a cupcake'. My daughter however loved them and even told me while I was editing the pictures in Photoshop that she wanted to eat them. So sweet :)

• For the Cupcakes

  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • 3/4 cup warm water
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 18 cupcake liners

• For the Topping

  • 1 bag of jumbo marshmallows
    
    
• 1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cupcake tins with cupcake liners.

  2. Whisk cocoa powder, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, warm water, milk, sour cream, butter, and vanilla, mixing until smooth.

  3. Fill each muffin cup half way (about 2 ounces each). Bake until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 15 to 18 minutes.

  4. Let cake cool slightly and change the oven to broil.

  5. Make the topping: Place one marshmallow vertically in the center of each cupcake. Put the cupcakes back into the oven (careful not to knock any marshmallows off) and watch them closely, as the marshmallows will roast in a matter of seconds.

  6. When the marshmallows appear golden brown on top and puffed slightly, take the cupcakes out of the oven and carefully press the marshmallows down, using your hand or a spoon, to cover the whole top of the cupcake.

Brownies 1.1

So, Im at it again. My body was screeeaming for some brownie
action and I just had to make HALF a batch a couple of days
ago. My hubby is doing p90x so he was a debbie downer
and wouldn't have any, so I ended up eating 2 pieces
and ditched the rest in the trash (I HAD TO!! Or else I would
have ended up eating the whole darn thing!!).



This time I tried a recipe I found online. The recipe calls for
1 stick of butter and the frosting another 3tsp so I ended up
skipping the frosting.. I didnt want to cheat on my crappy diet
too much (can't wait for these darn weddings to be over so I
can get off my no-carbs-diet grrr).

Makes 16 servings

0.5 cups butter (1 stick/113gram)
1 cup (2.3dl) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/3 cups (1dl) cocoa powder (I used Trader Joes, my new fav!)
0.5 cups (1.2dl) flour
0.25 tsp salt
0.25 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat in cocoa, cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook!

Giant chocolate chip cookie

I got one of these cookiezilla cookies sent to my hospital room
when Abbie was born 3yrs ago.I think it tooks us 2 weeks to finish it, lol.
Today was the hubbsters B-day and we celebrated by
going to Knotts Berry farm and by making this ginormous cookie.
He's taking this to work tomorrow for their monday meeting, yeay
for you workmates that get to chomp down this goey chocolate
deliciousness!

You will need

1 Cup (2 sticks or 225gram) softened butter
3/4 Cups (1.8 dl) sugar
3/4 packed cups (1.8 dl) brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 1/4 cups (5.3 dl) flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips (4.5 dl)

Mix butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until fluffy.
Add eggs, one at a time. Beat well.
Gradually ad flour, salt and baking soda
Cover a pizzapan in waxpaper. Put dough on top and put
waxpaper ontop. Lightly press down on paper and use rolling pin
to make a round pizza size cookie. Pull off waxpaper.
Bake on 375 for about 30mins.

Let cool and eat as is or decorate w/ your fave frosting.

Sweet smell of home made bread..

My sweet Mr. Viking bought me a bread hook for my
kitchen aid a couple of days ago and OF COURSE
I had to break it in! On Thursday I spent a
couple of hours at the dr's office, found out I
have a bad sinus infection and my ears are
ringing like CRAZY and driving me nuts. To get
my mind off of my puffy face and ringing ears
I decided to spend some time in the kitchen
and made some bread, and cinnamon rolls and
swedish sunny buns. Lol. To top it off I also
made a meatloaf. I think I spent like 7hrs in
the kitchen that day. OMG. Lets kick it off
with some great TEKAKA. Its swedish and means
tea cake. Its not a cake, and you dont have to
eat it with tea. I love mine with a little bit
of butter and a slice of cheese.. mmm.



10 Tekakor

5 dl (2 cups) milk
4 dl (1.7 cups) oats
0.5 msk (tbs) salt
1 msk (tbs) light baking syrup (they have it at IKEA)
150 gram butter (one stick is 113 gram)
1 envelope yeast
8-9 dl (3.5-4 cups) self rising flour



Heat milk to 100 degrees. Mix with oats, salt and syrup.
Let stand for 20mins.

Melt the butter and blend with the oatmix.

Blend your yeast with a little bit of the flour and
mix it with the oatmix (make sure the oatmix is warm enough for
the yeast to activate!)

Mix in the flour, a little at a time, intil you have a sticky
dough.

Cover and let rise for 30mins.

Kneed your dough on a floured counter top, cut into 10 pieces
and roll out to round 'cakes' (about 0.5 inch thick)

Place your tekakor on a waxpapper covered cookie sheet,
let rise for 30 mins

Bake on 440 F (225 C) for about 10mins.

Cupcakes

2 days ago I whipped up some cupcakes and frosting.
I need to practice my piping skills before Abbies birthday
so I just made some plain vanilla cupcakes and some
white chocolate frosting. I used some Marabou Vinter (winter)
chocolate from Sweden. Its a white chocolate with a small hint
of vanilla. I dont like the chocolate at all, so I dont know what
I was thinking making frosting out of it. It was YUCKY!
At least the cupcakes looked cute and Im pretty proud
of my first attempt at piping :) I call them my diet friendly
cupcakes, cause I dont like the taste and therefore will
not eat them lol.


But aren't they puuurtey? :)

German Pancakes

I saw a recipe for these a couple of weeks ago and have been thinking
about making them ever since. This morning one of my friends posted
the exact same recipe on Facebook and I took it as I sign that I HAD
to make these.

I had never heard about these or seen one until a couple of weeks ago
when I saw one on one of my fav. food blogs, so I didnt really know
what to expect. It's kind of like a souffle/pancake/omelet.

I served mine with powdered sugar and blackberries. Yum!



3 eggs, room temperature
1/2 (1dl) cup milk, room temperature
1/2 (1dl) cup sifted bread flour or all-purpose flour*
1/8 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
7 teaspoons butter
Powdered (confectioners') sugar

*Bread flour is a high-protein flour. The high protein helps the pancake rise. All-purpose flour may be substituted but the results won't be as spectacular.

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. NOTE: It is very important that you preheat your oven. Place oven rack on the middle rack of your oven. Place a large, heavy ovenproof frying pan or a cast iron skillet (I like used my 10-inch cast-iron skillet), in the oven until hot and sizzling. While pan is heating, prepare your batter.

NOTE: Use a shallow pan, not more than 3 inches deep (pie pans, cast iron skillets, oven-proof fry pans, baking dishes, paella pans). Like I said before, I prefer using a cast iron skillet or pan because it acts as a heat reservoir, retaining the heat and distributing it evenly.

2. In a large bowl, beat the eggs until light and frothy; add milk, flour, vanilla extract, and cinnamon; beat for 5 minutes more. The batter will be thin, but very smooth and creamy.

Using a pot holder, remove the hot skillet from the oven; add the butter; tilting the pan to melt the butter and coat the skillet.

3. Pour the prepared batter into the hot skillet, all at once, and immediately return the skillet to the oven.

4. Bake approximately 20 to 25 minutes or until puffed and golden brown (bake until the pancake puffs up around the edges - it may puff irregularly in the center).

It turned out really yummy. Next time Ill top mine w/ apples or
strawberries and I would probably add a little extra cinnamon.

Domestic Viking vs. the perfect Brownie

I love Brownies. Thats like my one and only food obsession. I've
been one of those ppl that don't mind baking it from a box, cause they
always turn out great! But now I put my foot down and decided Im
gonna find the perfect brownie recipe. Last week I made a batch
following a recipe from Leila Lindholms A piece of Cake. They turned
out ok, but not great. So I actually ended up making a second
batch, following the same recipe but took them out of the oven 5mins
sooner than the recipe tells you. They were still just so-so. Which surprised
me, cause all other things I've made from this book has turned
out amazing.. So, Im still on the quest for the perfect brownie and
yesterday I tried a recipe I found online. I doubled the cocoa powder
and they turned out pretty darn good.. but still not perfection. Ill try
southern livings recipe next week.

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used 2/3 cup dark organic cocoa powder)
  
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour an 8 inch square pan.
2. In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter. Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder. Spread batter into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes. Do not overcook

Karsbader wreath

I've been working on this almond paste filled wreath all afternoon.
The first dough didn't rise, not sure what went wrong, but I
ended up trashing it and made a second one. This is a classic
Swedish pastry and I know you'll love it. You'll find almond paste
in the bakery aisle at your local grocery store (I live in so.cal and
buy mine at Ralphs or Whole Foods).

For the Karlsbader Wreath you will need.

1.) 100 gr butter (1 stick is 113grams)
2.) 2 dl (0.8 cups) milk
3.) 25gr (fresh) yeast. Read the instructions on the package if using dry yeast (I had to use 2 envelopes).
4.) 1 pinch of salt
5.) 1 dl (0.5 cups) sugar
6.) 2 egg yolks
7.) aprox. 7 dl (3 cups) flour (I use organic)

Filling:
1.) 100gr almond paste
2.) 50gr butter

Melt butter, add milk. Mix yeast with a little bit of the liquid. When
the yeast is a little bubbly add the rest of the liquid. Mix in salt, sugar,
egg yolks and flour (a little at a time). The dough is perfect when it isnt
sticking to the bowl anymore. Cover and let rise for at least 30mins.
Roll out dough to a large rectangle. Grate the almond paste and mix
with butter. Spread the mixture on the dough. Roll it up and make
a wreath . Use knife to score the dough. Cover and let rise for 30mins.
Bake at 390 F (200C) for 15-20mins.

Yuuuum!

Ruffle Cake

Im planning on making this for Abbie for her B-day.



Looks easy enough.. huh? I better start practice tomorrow
or we'll end up with a BIG ruffle mess. Not cute.

Payback time..

Its payback time.. eee.. I mean, time to return a favor. My birthday
was a couple of weeks ago. One of my friends was super sweet and
baked me a oooey goooey swedish(!) sticky cake (kladdkaka.. kaka
means cake in swedish, no joke). I will make it for you guys some day.
Ok back to my birthday.. she brought over a whole freaking kladdkaka,
even though she knows Im on a diet. Of course I had to break my diet
to eat the deliciousness that is a kladdkaka and I felt bad about it for
daaays (ok, for like 2 seconds.. then the chocolate hit my mouth).
So, today it was my sweet friends birthday and of course I had to
bake her something to return the favor (aka. payback.. she's been
doing a sugar detox, sorry girl, no sugardetox for you today!)
and I made her some fudgy chocolate brownies. Yum in my tum!

You will need.

350 g soft butter
6 dl (2.5 cups) sugar
3 dl (1.25 cups) good quality coco powder
1 dl (0.4cups) molasses or swedish light syrup (its NOT pancake syrup, you can buy it at IKEA's foodmarket)
0.5 tsp salt
6 eggs
3 dl (1.25 cups) flour.

Beat butter and sugar until smooth and fluffy. Mix in coco powder, salt and syrup/molasses. Mix in the eggs, one at a time. Fold the flour into the batter. Poor batter in buttered pan and bake at 350F (175C) for 30mins. Cake should be sticky in the middle.



ps I only made half a batch, thats why Im using a smaller pan

Apple of my Eye

Meet Mackenzie, or Kennis as I call her. Abigail, my soon 3yr
old little princess, had a really hard time saying Mackenzie or Kenzie when
she was born, so Kenzie became Kennis. Kennis will be 8 months
next week and Abbie now knows how to say Kenzie,
but I still call her Kennis.. Im the only one that still does.
People might think it sounds funny, but I can just blame it on my
Swedish background. I can pretty much get away with anything over
here.. people just smile and say 'oh, she's Swedish'.

Mr.Viking's (who really isn't a Viking at all, he's from the midwest..
as far away from a viking as you can get) bff is getting married
in London in May and my baby brother (not technically a baby..
but you know) will marry the love of his life in Sweden in June.
I had a baby 8months ago and I need to get my butt in shape
(evening gown shape), so the recipe I'm about to post is nothing
I will make at the moment. But I wish I was, because these
muffins and to D I E for. Or atleast break-your-diet-worthy.
I made them after I had Kennis and my extended family came
over to see her. I made them for Thanksgiving and for Christmas.
I made them for my birthday and I will make them for Abbies
birthday. I am obsessed with these darn muffins. I can't have any
at the moment, but YOU can. So go make them.. NOW!!

Cinnamon Apple crumble muffins

You will need:

Muffins
100 100 g butter
2 2 organic eggs
1.5 1.5 dl (0.6 cups) granulated sugar
1 1 tsp vanillasugar (or vanilla extract)
2 2 dl (0.85 cups) organic milk
4 4 dl (1.7 cups) all purpose flour
2 2 tsp bakingpowder
1 1 pinch of salt

Filling:
2 large apples
1 1 tbs butter for pan
2 2 tbs sugar
2 2 tsb cinnamon

Crumble topper:
75 75 g cold butter
2 2 dl (0.85 cups) oats
1 1 dl (0.6cups) flour
1 1 dl (0.6 cups) sugar

1. Turn your oven to 350F (175C).Whisk eggs, sugar and vanillasugar (or vanilla extract)
until fluffy. Mix in melted butter and milk.

2. In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder and salt. Fold your flour mix in
the batter. Make sure not to mix to long. Use a spatula, NOT an electic mixer.
Place cupcake liners in a muffin pan.

3.Peel and slice the apples. Put sugar, cinnamon and butter in a hot pan.
Sear the apples until brown and soft.

4.Mix the apples with your cake batter. Save some apples for topping.
Poor the cake batter in the cupcake liners.

5. Cut the butter into small pieces and pinch it together with the oats,
flour and sugar in a bowl.

6.Top your muffins with the crumble mixture and 1-2 pieces of apple.

7. Bake for aprox 20mins.

O M G chocolate cheesecake

This chocolate cheesecake will have you go O M G.
It's amazing and you better make it for a large group
of people of throw it away after you've had one piece,
if not you'll keep running back and fort to the fridge
until its all gone (trust me.. I know!).

You will need
1 x 8oz bag semi sweet chocolate chips 24oz cream cheese (I used fat free and it came out great!) 1 x 14oz can sweetened condensed milk 20 creme filled cookies (I used fakie oreos from Ralphs) 4 (preferably organic) Eggs
2tbs vanilla extract

1.) Put oven on 300f
2.) Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl.
3.) Mix creamcheese in bowl with electric blender
until soft and smooth. Add vanilla and
eggs (one at a time) and blend
until smooth. Add melted chocolate.
4.) Crush your cookies in a ziplock bag
5.) Take a 9-10' springform pan and
evenly divide the cookie crumbs all
over the bottom and up along the sides.
6.) Poor in your cream cheese mixture
7.) Bake in oven for 1hr. Turn oven off
after 1hr and let cheesecake stand for another
30 min (oven turned off and door closed).

Take out of oven and let the cake cool down.
Let chill in fridge for 7-8hrs. Serve w/
whipped cream, ice cream or just
dig in. No matter how you choose to
eat it, trust me, you will go O M G!