Shopping in Stockholm

My very new and favorite Sel (Salt) glass 50's inspired jar I am so in LOVE!

A couple of weeks ago I took Lilla A to Stockholm on the X2000 speed train. He loved it. It makes a 6 hour ride down to three and is nice to do a mommy and Lilla A adventure together. I love anything to do with baking and cooking dishes and gadgets. I can not tell you the hours I have spent drooling over all the wonderful things there is to buy to make your cooking and baking experience more enjoyable. I was lucky enough to make it to the new  HOUSE DOCTOR shop in PUB and buy me a few little goodies.

I just had to have the Sel container and at 150 sek kr that is one heck of a deal. (about 30 dollars) It is so convenient and fits my kitchen like a charm. My original thought was to find some sort of small tray or box to fit all my sauces and oils and vinegars. I came across this rack for letters, but thought what a great multi service product it would be for my sauces. It would be easy to clean and it could hold the weight of everything. Good buy at 195Kr. Thanks House Doctor!  

How to Raspberry and White Chocolate Muffins

I apologize for such horrible photos. I am getting better! 

There is nothing more satisfying than whipping up a batch of moist good to the last crumb muffins. I feel like I have been a bad lover to my little blog, and by adding this post maybe I will feel better by not posting anything in the last three weeks. Bad blog mommy. Shame on me, so here it is another wonderful Donna Hay inspired  recipe.

2 cups plain (all purpose)flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

someones got sticky fingers!!

3/4 cup cups caster(superfine) sugar you can make your own by blitzing in your food processor for a few seconds
1 cup of sour cream( I used fil which is curdled milk which is strained and looks like plain white thinned out yogurt) widely available in Sweden, but you could use buttermilk  which would be it's cousin. 
2 eggs
1/3 cup of vegetable oil (I used corn oil)
1 1/4 cups fresh or frozen raspberries 
3/4 cups of chopped white chocolate



Step one:
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C 350 degrees F
Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add the sugar and stir to combine


Step Two:
Place the sour cream, eggs, oil in a bowl and whisk until smooth. Stir the sour cream mixture through the flour and sugar mixture UNTIL JUST COMBINED.


Step Three:

I always over fill my muffins as it is more fun to add more stress when trying to remove them!!

Sprinkle over the raspberries and white chocolate stirring just a couple of times GENTLY!! You do not want hard dense and pink muffins here.
Line your muffin tins with paper liners and spoon into the liners until it reaches two-thirds full. Do not over fill you need room for them to rise. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until toothpick or skewer comes out clean when tested. Cool in pan for 5 minutes then gently remove and cool on a cooling rack. Makes 12 lovely gorgeous muffins. Cover and store for a few days if they last that long!!   
  

Pasta Puttanesca with tuna for a goat in love

served with fresh buffalo mozzarella on linguine pasta   

My goat is a vegg head and he loves anything to do with pasta, cream and habanero scotch bonnet peppers. It is not hard to cook for him, but it can be a little insensitive on his part when I have slaved over a good meal to watch him destroy my perfect seasoning with a fiery of hot peppers. I think what's the point. I could just be one of those microwave ladies and throw a dish in the microwave slather it with hot peppers and hot sauce and I am sure he wouldn't even notice the difference. He would just say "it was ok". Well, it was a rare change the other day when I whipped up a batch of my amazing pasta Puttanesca for him, and he didn't add a thing. Just ate, and ate and ate until he had the happy mans glow on his face.

serves 4

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

3 garlic cloves

6 anchovy fillets

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes 

3 cups of my homemade butter onion sauce (or a 450 g jar of good quality pasta sauce)

pinch of sugar

2 fresh basil sprigs

1/4 cup kalmata olives( I used green regular pimento olives) Kalmata olives can be a little over baring

1 heaping tablespoon of capers

salt and pepper to taste 

1 can of best quality tuna in water you can afford drained.

Directions:

Heat oil in a large sauce pan. Add the garlic, anchovies and crushed red pepper flakes. ( I use Dilip's red pepper flakes from Mill and Mortar  winter LARDER (see links on main page for store and web address)

and cook over moderate heat, stirring for 1 minute. Add the sauce and stir in the sugar, basil olives and capers. Season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Simmer sauce over low heat, stirring occasionally until it thickens.(About 20 minutes)  Season to taste, and discard basil sprig add the drained can of tuna and let simmer while you prepare the pasta. Serve scooped atop a lush amount of pasta and garnish with the soft dollops of buffalo mozzarella. Enjoy!

Shortbread Sandwich Cookies With Blood Orange Filling For Anna-Karin and Smilla

oh so pretty and comforting

Have you ever mindlessly wanted to bake till you drop? Well that is a constant desire in my little pea sized brain. I have visions of baking from dawn to dusk, and it is even worse with cooking. I am sure it is to compensate when I am feeling low or the weather has been crappy outside.
I was on such  a good pace with my blog. Adding entries regularly and enjoying it. Work was well, and my time in my Swedish language internship had not started yet, and I was feeling confident. Then.... we got the news....
A friend from Goat's past and (lilla A's godfather) S. good friend C, died in a horrific car accident that left two dead and one walking away from the scene physically unhurt, but scared for life.(He was wearing a seat belt)

I was all set to make an entry then I just couldn't it was so hard to be up beat and cheery. I never really had a relationship with the deceased but the people who mean the most to me did. It is a strange place to be. It is like grieving through osmosis. I wanted to post something for my pal A-K.Who like me loves, loves and loves baking even more than me, and something that perhaps would give her some sort of pleasure in her time of need. This is for S&A.K and the true meaning of friendship and food. It is like bread and butter they are hardly separated

try to make then the same size you want to sandwich these babies .

Looking  forward to seeing you both on sunday. Vad blir det för mat?.(what kind of food is it going to be)?  

Adapted from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2
Melting Moments a.k.a. Shortbread with Blood orange filling sandwich cookies.

175g butter, softened
1/4 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plain flour all purpose(sifted)
1/4 cup (cornstarch) corn flour(sifted)

Directions: Preheat oven to 180C or 350F
Place butter, icing sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl and beat with mixer until light and creamy.

shortbread!

Stir in the flour and the cornstarch until combined. 

baked until just golden!

look at that color, can 't go wrong with a blood orange!

a cookie spatula is a great investment  

Place mixture into a piping bag with a star or fluted nozzle and pipe them in rounds about 3cm, 1 inch onto a baking tray lined with baking paper or silicon sheets. Allow room for some spreading. Mine spread quite a lot, and I think I should of chilled them prior to baking. They are a real super tasting shortbread cookie. DELICATE so be gentle when you ice them and sandwich them. You should get 16 pairs out of this recipe, but I only got 13. I think mine where too big?? Let the cookies cool completely on their trays and then remove the icing from the fridge and ice them with about a couple of small teaspoons of the blood orange filling. Find two some what matching shapes and sandwich them together. Let chill in fridge to stiffen the filling, but let them rest 10 minutes before serving. A good cup of Earl Grey tea would go so nicely with these! 


Filling
60 g butter softened
1 cup icing sugar(confectioner's sugar)
2 teaspoons or one whole blood orange(small one)
2 teaspoons blood orange grated orange peel.

Melting moments shortbread cookies with blood orange filling sandwich cookies for those times of need

To make the filling, place the butter, icing sugar,blood orange juice and rind in a bowl and whip with electric mixer until fluffy and creamy. I set it in the fridge for at least 10 minutes prior to icing. A little firmer to work with. May these little comforting cookies find a place in your kitchen as they are super fast and easy to make.Enjoy, and thanks Donna for the inspiration!