As I mentioned at the beginning of the newsletter, I am writing on Fat Tuesday. There is a traditional filled bun served in many countries. Wikipedia has this definition: “A semla, fastlagsbulle (Swedish) or fastelavnsbolle (Danish and Norwegian) is a traditional pastry made in various forms in Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Norway, Denmark and Estonia, associated with Lent and especially Shrove Tuesday”.

A friend of mine, Karin Andersson made us a batch of semla buns for our Swedish Society board meeting Monday night. They are yummy and not too sweet!

Semla

For the buns, makings about 18:

• 6 Tablespoons butter
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 2 Tablespoons dried yeast (2 packages)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cardamom
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs (using 1 at a time)
• 1 1/2teaspoons baking powder
• 3 3/4 cups flour (you may need a little more)

In a small saucepan, heat milk and butter over medium heat until butter is melted. If the temperature of the mixture is hotter than 98 degrees (body temperature), then set aside to cool. When it reaches body temperature add the yeast to the milk and let stand five minutes.

Add salt, sugar, cardamom and 1 egg to the milk mixture.

Sift together 2 cups of the flour and the baking powder, then add to the milk mixture.

Continue to add flour until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Cover, place in a warm place and let it double in size, about an hour.

Knead the bread on a floured board adding a little more flour as needed. Shape the dough into 18-20 round rolls. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes beat 1 egg in a small bowl and brush the rolls with the egg.

Bake rolls for 5-10 minutes in a 450 degree oven until golden brown. Let cool on a rack.

Cream Topping (which really goes between the bun)

• 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar for the mixture
• Powdered sugar for decoration

Whip the cream and confectioner’s sugar together until light and fluffy. Cut the top off the rolls and place a good sized dollop of whipped cream on the bun and replace the top. Dust the top with the extra powdered sugar.

Filling (this is optional and would be done before you do the whipped cream topping)

• 3/4 cup ground almonds or one 3.5 ounce tube of almond paste
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cream

Cut the top off each roll. Make a well in each roll by pulling out a few bits of the roll. Combined the roll bits with the almonds, sugar, and cream until lightly mixed. Fill the well in each roll with the filling and then you can pipe the whipped cream layer around the outer edges of the filling.

You can freeze the buns, but once you mix the filling and topping, they must be eaten the same day.

Deep Dark Chocolate Cheesecake

Crust

• crushed chocolate wafer cookies (about 1 1/2 – 2 cups)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted

Filling

• 9.7-ounces 70% cocoa bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 4 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 4 large eggs

Topping

• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 6 ounces ~70% cocoa bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• bittersweet chocolate curls

For crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter 9-inch-diameter springform pan with 3-inch-high sides. Pulverize cookies until finely ground; add sugar. Add melted butter and mix until well blended. Press crumbs evenly onto bottom (not sides) of prepared pan. Bake just until set, about 5 minutes. Cool while preparing filling. Maintain oven temperature.

For filling:

Stir chopped chocolate in a double-boiler until melted and smooth. Remove bowl from over water; cool chocolate until lukewarm but still pourable. Blend cream cheese, sugar, and cocoa powder in until smooth. Blend in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in lukewarm chocolate. Pour filling over crust; smooth top. Bake until center is the only part that looks wet, about 1 hour. Cool 5 minutes. Run knife around sides of cake to loosen. Chill overnight.

For topping:

Stir cream, 6 ounces chocolate, and sugar in heavy medium saucepan over low heat until smooth. Cool slightly. Pour over center of cheesecake, spreading to within 1/2 inch of edge and filling any cracks. Chill until topping is set, about 1 hour.

Release pan sides. Transfer cheesecake to platter. Top with chocolate curls. Let stand 2 hours at room temperature before serving.

SUNFLOWER SEED AND OATMEAL COOKIES

• 1 1/3 cup unbleached flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened slightly
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 3/4 cup sunflower seed kernels (unroasted, unsalted seeds for heart health)
• 1/2 cup wheat germ

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside. In another bowl combine the oats, sunflower seed kernels and the wheat germ. Set aside.

In large mixer bowl cream the butter until fluffy then add the sugar slowly, creaming them together completely. Add in the eggs and vanilla. Add the sifted flour mixture into creamed mixture. Blend well. Fold in the sunflower seed mixture.

Place a teaspoon of batter 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes, do not over bake. Cool on rack. Makes 4-5 dozen cookies.

Gingerbread Men

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup dark molasses
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups flour

In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, bring the brown sugar, molasses, and butter to a boil. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Dissolve the baking soda in 1/3 cup of water and add it to the molasses mixture. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until well blended. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least 8 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Roll out the dough to a 1/8-inch thickness on a floured board or surface. Cut with a gingerbread man shaped cookie cutter. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until crisp and golden. Allow the cookies to cool completely before decorating. Makes about 4 dozen cookies depending on size of the cookie cutter.

CREAMY FROSTING

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or your favorite)
• Food coloring (optional)

Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and beat with a fork until smooth. Decorate as desired. Allow frosting to dry before stacking cookies. Makes enough to frost about 3.5 dozen small cookies.

Prinsesstårta (Princess Torte – A light sugar cake)

To make the cake you need these ingredients: (Double the ingredients if you make the torte like we did with two round cakes.)

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup sugar*
• 1/2 cup cake flour
• 1/2 cup potato flour (potato flour makes the cake light and spongy)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and butter the round cake pan (about 8").

Whip the eggs and sugar together until frothy. Mix the flours and baking powder together and stir carefully into the batter. Pour the batter into the pan. Bake in the lower part of the oven for about 40 minutes. Let the cake cool before removing from the pan. The cake has to be completely cooled before assembly.

Filling for the layers –

Bavarian Crème

You can make the filling from scratch or use vanilla pudding, prepared as directed by the package.

• Crème filling or one large box of prepared vanilla pudding
• Whip up 1 1/2 cups to 2 cups of Heavy Whipping Cream

Stir a little less than half of the whipped cream into the pudding until just combined.

Raspberry Filling

Purchase a can of prepared raspberry filling.

The Marzipan Top

This torte has a marzipan top which is an almond and sugar paste. You can purchase marzipan in a tube usually about 7-8 ounces. Cut open the tube and start kneading the paste. Add several drops of green and yellow food coloring and continue kneading until the color is smooth. You want a light green color. Form the marzipan into a ball and roll it out between two pieces of waxed paper. Sprinkle each side with powdered sugar as you roll it out – it really does help! You need the marzipan rolled out large enough to cover the entire cake including the sides.

Assembling the cake:

• Cut the cakes into 2 layers (4 total layers).
• Place one of the cake bottoms on your serving platter.
• Spread half of the vanilla mixture on that half.
• Place the other half of the cake onto the vanilla mixture.
• Spread a generous amount of Raspberry filling on top of that cake.
• Place the next cake bottom on top of the raspberry filling.
• Spread the rest of the vanilla mixture on that half.
• Place the other half of this cake onto the vanilla mixture.

Ice the cake with the remaining whipped cream topping- sides and top!

Carefully remove the rolled marzipan from the wax paper and center it on the cake. Smooth the sides as best you can, so that the cake is covered completely. Sprinkle the top with powdered sugar. The cake can be chilled, but needs to be served the same day as the marzipan becomes moist.

*Healthy Option: unrefined sugar (Sucanat or Rapadura)

CARAMEL APPLE CRISP

Preheat over to 375 degrees.

Ingredients for the crust:

• 1 cup quick cooking oats
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed firmly
• 1 3/4 cups unsifted flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cold butter

In a large bowl, combine everything but the butter. When ingredients well mixed, cut in butter until the mixture is crumbly. Keep 1 1/2 cups of the mixture for later. Press the rest in the bottom of a 9” x 13” greased pan. Bake 15 minutes.

Ingredients for the apple filling, prepare while the crust is baking.

• 1 cup walnuts, chopped
• 20 caramels, unwrapped
• 1 can (14 ounce) can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
• 1 can (21 ounce) can apple pie filling

Add the walnuts to the rest of the crumbly mixture. In a heavy sauce pan melt caramels with the Eagle Brand milk, using low heat, and stirring until melted and smooth. As soon as the crust comes out, spoon in the apple filling, top with the melted caramel mixture and sprinkle on the remaining crumbly mixture. Bake another 20 minutes. Wonderful served warm with ice cream!!