Finally Autumn

My favorite season of the year has finally arrived, Autumn! After a long, humid and frustrating summer in NYC I can´t in words express how I feel. Autumn is for outdoors, for walks with my dog Betsy, for a nice cup of tea and for many other fun and enjoyable moments!

With autumn comes my sister´s new designs. Her recent addition is a beautiful girl´s jacket in corduroy. As I am currently working on translating her site with regards to not language but also, sizes and prices, you will notice that there is limited information on the website. If you are interested in seeing other views of the jacket please visit KINOKO. Please pay attention to the beautiful lining. If you are interested in buying the jacket this can be done through paypal or credit card, just let me know.

Tonight´s Fika is Drömmar

Fika is a Swedish term for coffe break/afternoon tea. It is both a verb and a noun. Swedes love to Fika and we do it at work, at home, in the bakery, coffee shop with co workers and with friends and family. My husband has a sweet tooth and very quickly memorized this term. When the clock turns 9pm in our home our dog Betsy starts wining and walks towards the cabinet where we keep her treats and my husband yells out in excitement "it´s Fika time!!!!". The other day I finally decided to make Drömmar for our Fika.

Drömmar (dreams) is one of my favorite Swedish cookies. I want to believe that they are named after big fluffy clouds that exists on pretty days and in wonderful dreams. These cookies have a rare ingredient which we in Swedish call Hjorthornssalt. In English it is called Hartshorn according to wikipedia. In the USA I have had a very hard time finding the English translation and the item itself.  Hjorthornssalt is a raising agent and is often used in Scandinavian cookie recipes. I obtained a small bag of Hjorthonssalt from my last trip to Sweden in order to bake various Swedish cookies. I have not yet attempted to bake these cookies with the substitute which might be called Bakers Ammonia- Ammonium Carbonate.

Drömmar

Following is the recipe for 90 Drömmar:

165 g Salted butter

335 g (4dl) granulated sugar

135 g (1 1/2 dl) oil ( i used canola oil, don't use olive oil)

365 g (6 dl) flour

5 g ( 1tsp) Hjorthornssalt

5 g (1 tsp) vanilla extract

1) Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Celcius/ 302 degrees Fahrenheit

2) Mix butter and sugar with an electric mixer until the color is white

3) In a separate bowl mix flour, Hjorthornssalt and the vanilla extract

4) Add oil together with the flour mix to the butter and sugar mixture

mix. Use the electronic mix for for a few seconds and than use your hands to form a smooth dough. 

5) Shape 90 equal round marbles and place on a baking sheet. Dont place them to close as they will expand during baking

6) Bake in the middle of the oven for 25-30 minutes

Fun facts: one of my favorite memories from childhood is when we would have Fika at home at night. My mum would steep a pot of earl grey tea and serve with Swedish Kanelbullar (Cinnamon buns). 

Baking Tip: Be careful with the oven temperature. If it is too hot the cookies will flatten. You can decorate the cookies by dipping them in chocolate or add almonds to the marbles before baking.