Some days call for soul food. Like really you need it to take another breath on this damaged world we live in. Please tell me I am not the only one. While I am often drawn towards hot semolina for breakfast. I recently remembered “Quarkkeulchen”. Something my mom made only every once in a while. It’s a Saxonian dish, very regional in Germany. Not a lot of people know about it. It’s a shame because souldfood coming out of a pan is always a good idea. And Saxonian Quarkkeulchen are pretty much the best there are.
As so many great dishes it is actually a meal made of left overs. Here you traditionally use boiled potatoes. But let’s be honest there is no such thing as left over potatoes. At least not in this house. Maybe the reason why it’s not often made.
It’s this time of year again where we celebrate together and I serve up some Finnish delicacies. Once again I’ve some baked goodies for you. Omenakakku – this Finnish Apple Cake is more like a breakfast cake. It’s dense, it’s rich and with the addition of the rolled oats and herbs it has an interesting flavor. I haven’t come across anything like it yet.
I know you also want to have some dinner choices and I promise one of those days I will get around to it. But not today. Since I am planning of staying married we have a couple more celebrations ahead of us. But let’s not procrastinate any further.
Here is what you need for omenakakku – Finnish Apple Cake.
250g butter, room temperature
200 g sugar (I used 150g regular and 50g brown sugar)
4 eggs
350g flour
150g rolled oats
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground ginger powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
300 g finely chopped apples
1 handful cinnamon-basil leaves, chopped
1 handful mint leaves, chopped
1. Preheat oven to 180°C. 2. Mix butter and sugar until slightly foamy. 3. Add in eggs and beat. 4. Now add in flour, baking powder, rolled oats and spices. Mix well. 5. Grate apples, chop herbs and combine with dough mixture. 6. Pour dough into baking tin. 7. Bake approx. 30-40 min – it depends on the size of your tin. Make sure to test the dough. I personally like a cake slightly underbaked.
You can serve the omenakakku the true Finnish way with whipped cream and cranberry jam. I had it with a bit of butter. As I said before it feels a bit like a baked breakfast choice. It fills you up pretty good and sustains for quite some while too. You might actually be able to leave out the sugar altogether to make it a bit more healthy. I will give that a shot next time.
I will leave you to your weekend for now. While you read this I will roam the city of Oslo and have a short vacation. If you like of hop over to Instagram to follow along.
In all my time blogging I have never shared a muffin recipe here. Not because I don’t like them. Not because I don’t bake them. No I didn’t share because I am very protective of my recipes. Some at least. Today I feel like sharing tough. Not any muffin recipe no. Pumpkin Muffins – perfect fall dessert and my all time favorites. I’ve used to make them quite often but it’s been almost 10 years I last made them. Ingredients were hard to come by back then. Nowadays it’s a bit easier though.
I can not even say why those muffins are something special. They are sweet but not too sweet, they are always moist and soft even when days old – in case they last that long. I used to bake them for my host family and it’s actually a recipe from my host mom from back in the day.
But without further ado here are the ingredients to make Pumpkin Muffins:
2 eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
8 oz / 230g pumpkin pie filling – you can buy it on amazon or make your own
3/4 vegetable oil
1,5 cups of flour
1 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cups semisweet chocolate chips
If you want to make the pumpkin pie filling from scratch: cut up a pumpkin. I have used the regular halloween pumpkin as well as Hokaido. But in oven on low temperature until soft. Thats it. I have not done cooking it because I feared the taste will diffuse in the cooking water.
How to whip up your pumpkin muffins:
In a large bowl beat eggs, sugar, pumpkin and oil until everything is smooth.
Combine flour, baking soda and baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
Add to pumpkin mixture and mix well.
Fold in chocolate chips
Fill greased muffin pan.
Bake at 200°C/400°F for about 16-20 minutes.
This makes about 12 muffins. Hope you enjoy them as much as I do.
It’s time for our annual Finnish get-together. How awesome of you to join me for the fifth time and celebrate with me. I promised you dinner last year unfortunately the recipe I was going to serve needs to be in the oven for 5 hours or so. Not very ecological when cooking for 1-2 people. So instead let’s have some hot steaming porkkanavesirinkelit – Finnish for carrot rolls. Could be part of your dinner too however I enjoy them in the morning.
Here is what you need:
100 ml of warm water
50 ml of milk
50 ml vegetable oil
7g of yeast which equals one pack of dry yeast
1/2 tsp of sugar
3 spritz of agave sirup
1/2 tsp of salt
100g grated carrots
500 g flour (I used 350 whole grain and 150 wheat)
Here is how it’s done:
Dissolve yeast in warm water, milk and add sugar, salt and oil. Add too carrots and mix well. Now add flour and knead dough until it comes off your fingers. Let rise in a warm place. I prepared the dough at night and let it sit over night.
Form little balls and gently press flat. Let them rise a bit more while you start heating a pot with 2 l of water and add 2 teaspoons of salt for cooking. Preheat oven 200-degree.
Make a hole in the middle of the buns with your thumb and drop them into the water a few at a time. Allow to boil for about a minute and bring them to baking paper to dry.
Bake the rolls about 15 minutes until they have a beautiful color. Serve with salted butter or marmalade.
Now I would suggest you enjoy them still warm and fresh out of the oven. At least that is how I prefer homemade fresh rolls.
As you know I love a good winter hence my winter wedding. However it seems like yet another winter where Berlin is not really blessed with snow. We’ve only gotten one or two days with a tiny bit of snowflakes. Nothing stayed on the ground of course. While I haven’t given up completely on winter yet I see the signs for spring all over. And therefore I was wondering if those rolls might actually be a perfect addition to an Easter brunch. What do you think?
Well for now let’s enjoy the cold weather. Happy Friday
today I have a quick home cooked salad for you. cooked salad you wonder. Yes! I love food that is warm. I also like salad. So I often mix the best of both: cooked veggies and some cold ingredients. For today I raided my pantry and I came up with a glass of cooked chick peas and can of tuna. This is how the Chickpea Salad with Tuna was born.
Are you ready. Here is what you need:
🖤 chopped shallot
🖤 chopped clove
🖤 glass of pre-cooked chickpeas
🖤 handfuls of chopped tomatoes
🖤 twig of rosemary
🖤 salt, pepper, lemon juice
🖤 can of tuna
🖤 handful of lettuce/spinach/chard, etc
Let’s get cooking:
Preheat olive oil in pan. Add chopped shallot and clove. Saute.
Add chickpeas and let simmer for a bit.
Add tomatoes and rosemary.
Let simmer until everything looks good but is not all broken up.
Remove from heat.
Add tuna and spice to liking.
Add salad greens and serve immediately.
Next time I do this dish I will probably add a bit of avocado too.
Let me know if you give this a try and how you’ve liked it.
