White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies

It's May....a month that according to the Norwegian song "Kom mai, du skjønne milde..." is supposed to be both beautiful and mild. On sunny days - like those we had on the last couple of randonee ski tours - Norway is definitely showing itself at it's best - clear blue sky, peaks all around still covered by crisp white snow, a belt of luscious dark green pine forests right below the peaks, only to be divided by fields of light green farm land running down to the dark blue fjord down below.

The song doesn't tell you anything though about those other days in May that aren't even close to being beautiful or mild...those days where the temperature drops below zero again and small snow crystals come sailing down from up above. Today is one of those days... Depressed by the weather? Well, I guess some people are...but not me! I thank God for every bit of snow that we still get, as that means that we still will be able to ascend on ski's some of the peaks on this season's to-do-list. Plus, such days are great to spend in the kitchen trying to find new great snacks to bring along on our adventures out in nature...like these soft though chewy White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies.

The recipe comes from The Hummingbird Bakery and can be found in the fabulous cookbook Cake Days - Recipes to make every day special.

White Chocolate and Cranberry Cookies
(makes about 12)

Ingredients:
135 gr unsalted butter
80 gr caster sugar
80 gr soft light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla essence
190 gr plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100 gr dried cranberries
60 gr white chocolate chips

Preparation:
1.) Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius and line two baking sheets with baking parchment.
2.) Cream together the butter and both types of sugar, using a hand-held mixer. Break in the egg and add the vanilla essence and mix until both are completed absorbed into the butter sugar mixture.
3.) Soft together the flour, salt, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda, then add to the creamed mixture in two batches, mixing by hand until a dough forms.
4.) Stir in the cranberries and chocolate chips.
5.) Break off pieces of the dough - about two tablespoons in size - roll them into balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Allow six cookies per tray, making sure to space them apart from each other as they will spread during cooking.
6.) Place on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cookies are a light golden on top.
7.) Leave on the sheets for about 10 minutes to cool and set before transferring to a wire rack.
8.) Store in an air tight container and bring along on your next hike!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Pine Nut Cantuccini

One of my best friends here in Norway bought her first own apartment a couple of weeks ago....and as she is a passionate baker like I am .... not to forget a trained culinary chef (which I am definitely NOT), the kitchen that came with the apartment didn't meet her demands. So, off we went to the nearest IKEA (a 4 hour drive from our village of Molde....yes, IKEA stores are far apart here in Norway, strangely enough) to get one of those flat packed kitchens.

Putting all the cabinets together wasn't a problem, but there were some electric sockets that either needed rewiring or to be moved, and some plumbing needed to be done. So, all of a sudden her apartment got run down by handymen. What keeps handymen happy? Coffee, cakes and cookies!

So I made some Chocolate Pine Nut Cantuccini in my own kitchen (which also could do with an IKEA make-over) to bring over....Ok, cantuccini might be a bit fancy, and not as butch as these handymen...but these are delicious! First the rich chocolate taste hits your palate, then the pine nuts add texture and right in the end....a hint of lemon. You really have to make these at least once!! The recipe is from the Dutch cookbook TIP Bakken, which unfortunately seems not to be available anymore.

Chocolate Pine Nut Cantuccini
(makes about 30)

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 egg yolks
175 gr sugar
175 gr all-purpose flour
40 gr cacao
1/2 tsp of baking powder
a pinch of salt
125 gr pine nuts
1-2 tsp of lemon (or lime) zest

1.) Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius.
2.) Mix the egg together with one of the egg yolks and the sugar until it forms a light and airy mixture.
3.) Sift the flour, cacao and baking powder into the egg/sugar mixture, and add the salt, pine nuts and lemon/lime zest as well.
4.) Knead the mixture until it forms a dough.
5.) Shape the dough into rectangulars which are approximately 3 cm wide and 1 cm thick, and place them unto a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

6.) Whisk the last egg yolk with a fork, and brush the dough with it.
7.) Bake the cookies for 10 to 15 minutes on the middle rack of the oven.
8.) Remove from the oven, and let the cookies cool down a bit. Then cut the rectangulars up into smaller pieces, approximately 1 cm wide.
9.) Put the pieces back unto the baking tray lined with parchment paper, and bake them  another 15 to 20 minutes on the middle rack of the oven, until crunchy.
10.) Let the cantuccini cool down on a rack.

Serve these cookies with your favourite type of coffee....whether it's a latte or an espresso....dip them into the cofee and enjoy!

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

With the sun hiding behind the clouds again, it still feels like summer inside - especially with these Oatmeal Coconut Cookies. The taste of coconut just makes me dream of hanging in a hammock on a tropical beach.

These cookies remind a bit of coconut macaroons, but the combination with rolled oats and hazelnut gives it a different taste.

Oatmeal Coconut Cookies

(makes about 25-30)

150 gr butter / margarine
200 gr dark muscovado sugar
2 eggs
2 tbsp cream (27%)
400 gr all-purpose flour
100 gr hazelnuts (or walnuts), chopped
100 gr dried coconut
125 gr rolled oats

1.) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
2.) Melt the butter and mix in the eggs and the cream.
3.) Mix the flour, sugar, hazelnuts, dried coconut and rolled oats together in a large bowl.
4.) Pour the buttermixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients, and stir until well mixed. The mixture will be sticky, but will hold its shape when clumped together.
5.) Line a baking sheet with parchment and use a tablespoon to form small domes and lay them onto the baking sheet.
6.) Bake the cookies in 12 to 15 minutes on the middle rack of the oven.
7.) Cool on the baking sheet first and when firm on a rack. Store in a airtight container.

Enjoy!

Oreo Dream Cake

It's strange...but I still remember the first time I tasted an Oreo cookie. I was about thirteen years old and it was the first time I was in the United States. The friends we were visiting, probably thought that the tall and skinny girl from The Netherlands could use a couple more pounds and introduced me to all kinds of American sweets among which Twinkies, Ding Dongs and last but not least....Oreo cookies.

Of all the different sweets I got to taste, Oreo cookies definitely were my favourites. Not just because of the taste, but also because of the whole ritual of eating the cookie. I can't just pick up an Oreo cookie and eat it just like that. I have twist the two chocolate cookies opposite ways until one of them is released - then I lick the cream off, stick the cookies back together, dip them in milk (if milk is readily available) and finally...eat the cookies.

Oreo cookies were introduced to Norway in 2004 by "Deli de Luca" - a cross between a deli, a newsstand and a convenience store. The cookies became a hit, especially when fancy cafés started to use them to make Oreo Dream Cake - a type of cheesecake. With a lot of Norwegians loving to bake, it didn't take long before the larger supermarket chains began selling Oreo cookies as well. Whereas Deli de Luca only has stores in the larger cities, the supermarket chains made sure the cookies were available throughout the whole country. In 2005 the import of Oreo cookies came to a halt, which led to the launching of "Dots" - an Oreo cookie rip-off made by the Norwegian cookie company "Sætre"- in February this year. Finally I could make Oreo Dream Cake again.... or Dots Dream Cake to be precise.

Oreo Dream Cake
(cake tin Ø 24 cm)

450 gr Oreo cookies / Dots
100 gr butter, melted
225 gr Philadelfia cream cheese
2,5 dl confectioner's sugar
7 dl cream (27 % fat)
2 eggs
3 tbsp sugar
250 gr dark chocolate

1.) Keep 5 Oreo cookies aside for decorating the cake. Put the rest of the cookies into a plastic bag and crush them using a rolling pin.

2.) Mix the cookie crumbs with the melted butter in a bowl.

3.) Put the cookie butter mixture into a cake tin (Ø 24 cm) lined with baking parchment and spread out to cover the whole bottom of the cake tin. This will be the bottom of the cake.

4.) Mix the Philadelfia cream cheese with the confectioner's sugar until light and creamy.

5.) Whip 3,5 dl of the cream. When whipped, mix in the Philadelfia mixture.

6.) Use half of the Philadelfia cream mixture to cover the bottom of the cake. Keep the rest aside until later.

7.) Melt the chocolate au bain marie and let it cool down a bit.

8.) Whisk the eggs and sugar for approximately 5 minutes until light and airy.

9.) Whip the rest of the cream in another bowl.

10.) Fold the whipped cream into the egg/sugar mixture.

11.) Gentle fold the melted chocolate into the mixture.

12.) Use all of the chocolate mixture to cover the Philadelfia cream mixture in the cake tin.

13.) Cover the chocolate mixture with the rest of the Philadelfia cream mixture.

14.) Chill and serve. (The cake is at it's best when it has rested in the fridge for 24 hours. It can also be put into the freezer, to be served as an ice cake.) Before serving, crush the remaining Oreo cookies and drissle on top of the cake for decoration.

Enjoy!

Sætre's Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

In 2009 the Norwegian cookie company called "Sætre" came with a new series of cookies - all marketed under the name "Café Bakeriet" (Café Bakery). They have been my favourites ever since, because these cookies just taste so good!!

I guess the one called "Sjokoladeterapi" (Chocolade Therapy) is a pretty good runner up, but my favourite one is the one called "Havre & Bare Bær" (Oatmeal and Berries). They are soft oatmeal cookies with raisins and cranberries.

Best of all, the recipe for the cookies is printed right on the package, so that everyone can have their own go at baking these crumptious cookies. So guess what I did today....I made my own batch of Oatmeal and Berries cookies!

Here's the recipe. Enjoy baking!

Sætre's Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
(makes approx. 20 cookies)

Ingredients:
210 gr all-purpose flour
210 gr rolled oats
145 gr butter
55 gr dark muscovado sugar
90 gr sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp syrup (golden or dark)
110 gr raisins, chopped
75 gr dried cranberries, chopped
0,5 dl water


1.) Mix flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, rolled oats and salt in a bowl into a crumbly dough. Add syrup, cranberries, raisins and water and mix until it becomes a ball of dough.

2.) Shape the dough into a saucage, wrap with aluminium foil and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.

3.) Cut the dough into disks of 1 cm wide and place them unto a baking sheet, greased or lined with parchment or wax paper.

4.) Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Then lower the temperature to 175 degrees Celsius and bake the cookies for 10 to 15 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. Cool on a rack. Store in air tight container.