swedish teas

Well, I don’t know if they’re really Swedish.

But that’s what Jaclyn’s mom calls them and she gave me the recipe.

She lives in Nova Scotia, but I thought Nova Scotian Swedish teas would be just too long for a title. And possibly a little confusing.

You might look at them and call them jam cookies or thumbprint cookies, but as we have established, they are really Swedish teas.

These Swedish teas are rich and buttery and pleasingly soft. You can taste the brown sugar shining through.

The original Swedish Teas have been a staple in my house for years, and now I have converted them to be gluten-free.

I’ve changed the technique a bit without gluten, so I’ll give you the two versions.

P.S. Speaking of Swedish tea, did you know that Earl Grey Cream tea is very popular in Sweden? It is the perfect accompaniment for these Swedish tea cookies.

original swedish teas

bakes about 36 cookies

1 c. butter, at room temperature

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

2 egg yolks

1/4 tsp. salt

1 3/4 c. wheat flour

jam (I like apricot and plum best)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two cookie trays with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together. Add the vanilla, egg yolks and salt, and mix well.

Stir in the flour.

Roll into balls and place on lined cookie tray. Use your thumb or finger to make a small indentation on the top of each cookie.

Place a small dollop of jam in each indentation.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. They are done when they are slightly golden brown along the edges, but not crackling.

gluten-free swedish teas

bakes about 36 cookies

1 c. butter, at room temperature

1/2 c. brown sugar

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

1/2 c. sweet white sorghum flour

1/3 c. ground almonds

1/3 c. tapioca starch

1/3 c. cornstarch

1/4 c. sweet rice flour

1 tsp. xanthan or guar gum

1/4 tsp. salt

jam (I like apricot and plum best)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two cookie trays with parchment paper.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together. Add the vanilla and egg yolks, and mix well.

In a separate bowl, stir the sorghum, ground almonds, tapioca starch, cornstarch, sweet white rice flour, xanthan gum and salt together. Combine well.

Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture.

Use two teaspoons to drop small balls on the lined trays. Leave room for them to spread when baking.

Dip your thumb or finger in a little sweet rice flour to keep it from sticking. Use it to make a small indentation on the top of each cookie. Place a small dollop of jam in each indentation.

Chill in the fridge for at least 10 minutes.

Bake for 6 to 7 minutes. They are done when the edges are slightly golden brown.

Leave them to cool on the pan for at least 15 minutes before transferring to a rack – they are fragile just out of the oven.

tom yum pak

Tom yum pak. It sounds like a greeting: Come, have soup with me.

It’s not a direct translation from the Thai, but tom yum pak means something like this: fragrant hot and sour vegetable soup.

You might have met its cousins, tom yum goong (prawn soup) and tom yum gai (chicken soup), which seem to be more popular in Thai restaurants.

Indeed, I haven’t been able to find tom yum pak in Victoria, so I conjured this up. It’s based on my memory of tom yum pak from the delicious Siam Bistro in Ottawa.

This is not a creamy, coconut milk Thai soup. It’s clear and full of lemongrass and sour lime and hot pepper. The vegetables are fresh and cooked until they are just crisp.

We made a Saturday night dinner of it with chicken satay and peanut sauce. I’ll post those recipes one day when I remember to take a picture of them.

In the meantime, tom yum pak.

tom yum pak

makes 5 to 6 bowls

6 c. chicken stock

2 tbsp. butter

6 kaffir lime leaves

3 garlic cloves, sliced

2 – 3 tbsp. ginger, sliced

1 small onion, chopped

4 stalks lemongrass, peeled and chopped

1 – 2 red chili peppers, roughly chopped

2 tsp. sugar

1 large tomato, chopped

1/3 head of cauliflower, broken into small, bite-sized trees

2 large carrots, chopped on a diagonal angle (to look pretty)

1/3 c. lime juice (about 1.5 limes)

1/2 tsp. lime rind, grated

1/2 c. cilantro, chopped

4 green onions or an equivalent amount of chives, finely sliced

1 – 2 tsp. Thai fish sauce

salt and pepper to taste

In a big pot, bring 2 cups water, chicken stock, butter, lime leaves, garlic, ginger, onion, lemongrass, chili pepper and sugar to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

Place a big bowl under a fine colander. Strain the soup, keeping the liquid. Fish out the lime leaves, and put them back in the liquid.

Pour the strained liquid back into the pot, and return to heat.

Add the tomato, cauliflower, carrots and lime juice. Bring to a simmer. Cover and cook until the cauliflower and carrot are tender-crisp – about 10 minutes. Take out the lime leaves.

Stir in the lime rind, cilantro and green onions.

Add fish sauce, salt and pepper to taste.

chocolate cheesecake

I am a picky cheesecake eater.

I prefer baked German cheesecake made with a fresh cheese called quark. I have never liked a New York style cheesecake, with a graham cracker crust and strawberry sauce on top. (Possibly because I don’t believe in graham cracker crusts and am allergic to strawberries.)

But it’s not just the crust and strawberry sauce that are the problem with a New York style cheesecake. It’s the way the white innards are too whipped and bland – a good cheesecake shouldn’t need a sickly sweet sauce on top. It should stand up on its own.

My mother’s chocolate cheesecake does.

It has a simple almond crust. (And by simple, I mean: just almonds.) She drizzles a bit of chocolate on top for looks, but it doesn’t need that extra chocolate. This last time she also sprinkled more almonds on top, just because she had extra.

It has a lovely chocolate-y tang. It’s firm but not dense. And the almonds – which soften slightly below the cake – provide the perfect foil of nutty crunch.

It’s rich, so you can feed a lot of people with this cake or even – sacrilege! – freeze extra pieces for later. My mother loves freezing things. This cake actually works after she freezes it, unlike other experiments I have tasted that do not thaw as well.
















chocolate cheesecake

makes 10 to 12 slices

1/3 c. almonds, chopped and toasted
1. lbs (500 g.) cream cheese (not low-fat)
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate, melted
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. cold water
1 envelope (1/2 oz. or 7 g.) unflavoured gelatin
1 c. whipping cream, whipped
1/4 c. strong coffee

Grease an 8 or 9 inch (20 to 23 cm) springform pan and cover the bottom with parchment paper.

Sprinkle the nuts evenly over the covered bottom. (This will be the crust, so to speak.)

Beat the cream cheese at the lowest speed until it’s smooth. Blend in the melted chocolate and sugar and mix well.

Take out a small saucepan, but do not heat it up. Pour the cold water in. Sprinkle the gelatin on top. Let it stand 5 minutes to soften.

Once the 5 minutes have passed, stir over low heat until the gelatin is dissolved.
Stir the warm gelatin mixture into the cheese mixture.

Fold the whipped cream in. Fold the strong coffee in. Pour into prepared pan.

Chill at least 3 hours. Drizzle with melted chocolate and possibly extra almonds.

Leftover cake may be frozen. Separate the pieces with parchment paper or wax paper to freeze. A piece will thaw out in less than an hour at room temperature.

butterscotch pudding

When I was about 10, individual servings of pudding hit the big time. And by big time, I mean my lunch.

These puddings were the highlight of my lunch, which otherwise consisted of rye bread and some kind of meat or cheese from the German delicatessen. (Not exactly easy to trade.)

Even then, I was quite discriminating in my pudding tastes. No low-brow Jell-O or no-name brands for me. I insisted on Laura Secord chocolate or butterscotch puddings.

But one day, it hit me. I could make my own pudding.

I don’t know where I got this butterscotch pudding recipe from, but my handwriting tells me I was probably in Grade 5. (When it was still cool to make little circles over certain letters.)

I just came across this old recipe card and thought I should try it again. I mean, how could I resist a recipe where I wrote at the end, “Then eat your heart out on that butterscotch pudding”?

I made it and I did eat my heart out.

This pudding tastes homemade, without even a hint of processed butterscotch flavour. Brown sugar and butter make the butterscotch and that’s really all you need.

I did add some Frangelico because I love the little hazelnut monk. I bet you could add any nice liqueur you’d like, or just more vanilla.

Then eat your heart out on that butterscotch pudding.

butterscotch pudding

makes 2 bowls

2 c. + 1/4 c. milk

3 tbsp. cornstarch

1 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 c. brown sugar

pinch of salt

2 tsp. Frangelico

2 tsp. vanilla extract

In a heavy-bottomed pot, heat 2 cups of milk over medium-low heat.

While it’s heating, mix the cornstarch and 1/4 cup of milk in a separate bowl till it’s smooth.

Once the hot milk has just started boiling, whisk in the butter, brown sugar, salt and milk-cornstarch mixture. Keep whisking until it’s fully incorporated.

Stirring often, bring to a low boil for 10 minutes.

Remove from heat. Stir in the Frangelico and vanilla. (It will seem a bit thin at this point. Don’t worry – it will thicken in the fridge.)

Scrape into pretty bowls.

Refrigerate until it has thickened – about 3 hours.

a soup among friends

Sometimes, there is a recipe that gets passed around between friends because it’s easy and delicious.

This is one of those recipes.

My friend Lorelle in Winnipeg gave it to me, and now I’m cooking it in Victoria. Lorelle says her friend gave it to her from a cookbook. (A friendly cookbook, I like to think.*) 

Now, I’d like to pass this along to you, with a couple of changes.

I whipped it up for dinner last night in 45 minutes flat. (I use speed terms like “whip” and “flat” whenever I can make dinner in less than an hour.)

It is full of different veggies, but the lentils and coconut milk bring it all together into one unified soup. My favourite part is the little bursts of green pea.

We ate ours with cheese toast, but don’t be afraid to heat it up all by itself for your lunch tomorrow. It worked for me.

You could also try this with a bit of raita swirled in. Besides being delicious, the cucumbery-yogourt could help calm the soup down if you put in too much curry paste.

Soup’s up!

*  Lorelle says the cookbook is called Good Food Fast, edited by Pamela Clark. I'll be checking it out soon. 

A note: I know my amount of curry paste is vague. This, I almost learned the hard way, is because curry pastes differ in intensity and spice. I used about 1 tbsp. of Thai Kitchen’s red curry paste and it was certainly piquant. However, Lorelle uses 3 tbsp. of her local brand of mild curry paste, which is not Thai. Plop in a glob in the beginning, and add more later if you need to.

red lentil coconut curry soup

makes 4-5 bowls

Glob of curry paste

2 tbsp. butter

4 – 5 c. vegetable or chicken stock

14 oz. (400 ml.) can crushed tomatoes

2 large carrots, chopped finely

2 celery sticks, chopped finely

1 sweet potato, chopped

1 zucchini, chopped

1 medium yellow-fleshed potato, chopped

3/4 c. red lentils

1/2 c. frozen peas

2/3 c. coconut milk

3 tbsp cilantro, coarsely chopped

Prepare your vegetables and set aside.

Heat a big soup pot over medium-low heat. Melt the butter and plop in the curry paste. Cook for one minute or until it’s fragrant.

Add stock, tomatoes, carrots, celery, sweet potato and zucchini. Simmer covered for 5 minutes.

Add potato and lentils to the soup and bring it back to a boil. Reduce heat. Simmer uncovered for 10 to 15 minutes, until the lentils are tender.

Add peas and return to a boil. Simmer until peas are just tender.

Remove soup from heat and stir in coconut milk and cilantro.

Share with your friends.

sophisticated marshmallow squares

That is the existential question for the marshmallow square:

Can I be sophisticated?

I would argue yes. Especially when that marshmallow square is made up of dark chocolate, cashew butter, almond butter, and pristine white mini-marshmallows.

(No kiddie pink and green mini-marshmallows here.)

The good thing is, it tastes a lot like the squares you may remember from potlucks in your childhood. Except that this square is grown up and sophisticated, just like you.

Note: You may use any nut butter you please, including peanut. I happen to love almond and cashew.

sophisticated marshmallow squares

makes about 20 squares

8 oz. (250 g.) semi-sweet chocolate

1/4 c. cashew butter

1/4 c. almond butter

1 tbsp. butter

8 oz. (250 g.) white mini-marshmallows

Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler. (Or in a bowl suspended over boiling water.) Stir in the butter. Remove from heat.

Stir in the nut butters. Let it cool for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, line an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with parchment paper. Cut 1-2 inch diagonal slits in each of the corners to help it sit more snugly.

Pour the marshmallows into a separate bowl. Pour and scrape the melted chocolate mixture on top. Stir it all together with a big spoon until every single little marshmallow is coated.

Press the mixture into the prepared baking dish. Refrigerate until set – probably just over an hour. Enjoy your grown-up treat.

canadian boterkoek

Boterkoek literally means “butter cake” in Dutch.

Indeed, it is packed with butter, but the main flavour here is almond. If you don’t like almonds, you won’t like boterkoek.

Luckily, I do like almonds. Butter is also one of my main food groups, so this cake makes me very happy.

It’s dense and chewy, with a lovely almond flavour – almost like eating marzipan that has been turned into cake.

This recipe comes from my friend Tara, who is married to a man with Dutch parents. She discovered the happy marriage of boterkoek and icing by a lucky mistake.

One day when she made the cake, she forgot to press almonds on the batter before putting it in the oven.

Once it was baked and she realized her mistake, she made a little icing so the almonds would have something to stick to. She thought it tasted even better with the icing – and I agreed when I was lucky enough to try it – but her husband pronounced: “It’s not Dutch.”

And so I give you this non-traditional boterkoek with icing, which I feel compelled to call “Canadian boterkoek.” After all, we know from the authority: it’s not Dutch.

Note: If you need a gluten-free cake, the options are in the recipe. I’ve substituted ground almonds for part of the wheat flour and they work really well. Even if you can eat wheat flour, I’d recommend subtracting a quarter cup of wheat flour and adding a quarter cup of ground almonds instead.

canadian boterkoek

1 1/2 c. white sugar

3/4 c. butter, melted

2 eggs

1 tsp. almond extract

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. wheat flour (or 1 1/4 c. wheat flour + 1/4 c. ground almonds)

or for gluten-free:

1/3 c. sweet white sorghum flour

1/3 c. tapioca starch

1/3 c. ground almonds

1/2 c. rice flour

2 tsp. xanthan or guar gum

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line an 8 x 8 inch square or 9 inch round pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper with a bit of butter where it will touch the batter.

Mix the sugar and butter together. Stir in the eggs, almond extract and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, stir the flour(s) and salt together well.

Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Scrape into the prepared pan.

Bake 25 – 40 minutes, depending on the size of your pan.

almond icing

3 tbsp. butter

1 2/3 c. icing or powdered sugar

1/4 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. almond extract

(about) 2 tbsp. milk

a few sliced almonds to place on top

Cream the butter, icing sugar, vanilla and almond extract together.

Add the milk teaspoon by teaspoon until you have the consistency you like. (I like it a bit runny – right in between the texture of a glaze and an icing.)

Spread on cooled cake.

Press sliced almonds on top.

dahl for dinner, dahling

Sometimes during the late winter – OK, early spring in Victoria – I just need a recipe that’s easy, tasty and heats up well in my lunch the next day.

Yellow split pea dahl fits the bill exactly. And if you’d like another positive adjective, it’s also cheap.

My friend Angela in Halifax shared this recipe with me years ago, and it has well earned its spot in my regular winter meal rotation.

I’m not sure how authentic it is, but does that really matter when you like how it tastes? I think not.

I did do a bit of research and found that yellow split peas aren’t used for dahl in India, but are more often used in Indian communities in Guyana and Trinidad.

That’s fine with me. I had great Indian food in Guyana. Serve it up.

yellow split pea dahl

1 c. yellow split peas, rinsed

1 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. turmeric

2 tbsp. butter

1 tbsp. gingerroot, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. cumin seeds

1/2 tsp. fennel seeds

2 onions, chopped

1 small zucchini, chopped

3/4 c. canned tomatoes, drained and chopped

1 1/2 tsp. garam masala

1/8 – 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like it)

3 tbsp. fresh coriander/cilantro, chopped

2 – 3 tsp. lemon juice

In a large saucepan, bring the spit peas, salt, turmeric and 2 1/2  cups water to boil. Once it’s boiling, reduce the heat. Cover and simmer until tender, about 40 minutes. Check every so often to see if it needs an extra bit of water.

If you’d like rice, start cooking it now.

Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, heat the butter over medium heat. Add the ginger, garlic, cumin and fennel and cook for 1 minute.

Add onions and zucchini and cook until softened, about 8 minutes. Stir often.

Add tomatoes, garam masala and cayenne pepper and cook for 2 minutes.

Add the split pea mixture. Reduce heat and cook, stirring, for 10 minutes, or until a spoon dragged across the bottom of the pan leaves a trail. Stir in coriander and lemon juice to taste.

Serve over white or brown rice. My favourites are this one and this one.

Garnish with a sprig of cilantro.