The Great Scandinavian Baking Book

HAPPY ST. LUCIA DAY!!!!!!!! I have NO idea what St. Lucia Day is!!!! Which is why instead I have deemed this day Happy Scandinavian Holiday Fun Day!!!!

Really. I know nothing about St. Lucia day, other than it’s a holiday tradition in Sweden where special pastry buns are consumed and when young ladies wear green garland crowns on their heads that have candles in them. Which sounds like quite a fire hazard. But I understand there are battery operated candles now? But what about back in the day? You were walking around with flames on your head? AWESOME!

Apartment Therapy has kindly already done a post telling us more about St. Lucia Day.

But as I like to shout every so often, I have a strong, secret, Inner Scandinavian Person living within me. I love everything Scandi. Especially MOOMINS. And Astrid Lindgren. And TOMTES.

So I was thrilled as punch when I saw that darling darling Heather from Audrey Eclectic was hosting a blog party of sorts, celebrating St. Lucia Day! You must hop on over as soon as you’re done here, to see her post and what the other participating blogs have planned. I wanted to have some Scandi fun too, so I thought now was the perfect time to discuss ‘The Great Scandinavian Baking Book’ by Beatrice Ojakangas, and show you all the most divine Scandinavian treat!

One thing you should know about Scandinavian baking. Actually two things. ALMONDS. And CARDAMOM. Scandi folks use cardamom the way Americans use cinnamon.

Another thing you should know about Scandinavian baking is that there are millions upon gazillions of holiday Christmas treats.

I just could not decide what the heck to make, everything in this book looks so entrancing. But I wanted something that looked relatively easy-ish for the blog, plus I was nervous about messing up a recipe right before the St. Lucia blog party!

I chose a Norwegian recipe, called Tosca Squares.

Imagine a lemon bar. Now take away the lemon and add almond filling instead, with an almond/butter/sugar glaze on top.

My first words upon trying one, after they were done:

"OMG."

Andrew wanted to know how many he could eat at one go, without getting into trouble.

There is an incredible amount of butter used. More than what you see here. It’s OK. When you taste these, you’ll realize how incredibly OK it is.

You start by making a shortbready crust. You don’t roll it out, you smoosh and spread it into the pan. You may be worried like I was about getting it nicely into the pan. Don’t worry. Just smoosh and spread, it doesn’t have to look pretty, no one will see.

You partially bake the shortbread crust and then make the almond filling and pour it on top. Then bake again.

After the shortbread and the almond filling have baked together, you make the almond glaze that goes on the tippy top. This comes together very quickly, so wait until your cake is actually out of the oven, and then make the glaze and pour it over the top.

Lovely and shiny, yes?

Here you can see the layers ~ the crust, the squidgy middle layer (such a Nigella word!) and the gooey topping. (it's gooey warm out of the oven, but the topping will harden into a nice, smooth glaze as it cools.)

OH FRIENDS!! It was better than I hoped it would be. It’s MARVELOUS. You must try it. It’s better than awesome. I don’t even have a word for what that could be.

NORWEGIAN TOSCA SQUARES

Makes 16 squares

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter (5 1/2 tablespoons), room temp
3 tablespoons sugar
1 egg yolk
1 cup all purpose flour

Filling:
2/3 cup blanched almonds (I just used about a 1/2 cup almond meal ready prepared)
5 tablespoons soft butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 whole egg
1 egg white

Icing:
1/4 cup butter (4 tablespoons)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup chopped or slivered almonds
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon milk or cream

Directions:
Lightly butter a 9" inch square baking pan or a 7" 1/2 x 11 inch pan. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter with the sugar until smooth. Blend in the egg yolk and flour until dough forms. (Mine stayed crumbly, and I just gathered it together and smooshed into a cohesive dough ball) Press into the baking pan evenly and build up the edges about 1/2 inch. Bake 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, pulverize the almonds in the food processor (or just use almond meal like I did) or in a food chopper. Blend almonds with the butter and sugar. Beat the egg and egg white until fluffy (I just did it for about 4 minutes) and fold into the butter and almond mixture. Pour into the partially baked crust.

Bake 10-15 minutes until the filling is set. (I did 15 min.)
To make the topping, melt the butter in a small saucepan. Add the sugar, almonds, flour, and milk. Heat, stirring until thickened. Simmer 3-4 minutes, then remove from heat. Spread mixture over the baked cake. Cool and cut into squares.

~ from 'The Great Scandinavian Baking Book'

SO GOOD, you guys! This needs to be in your holiday lineup of treats. I've never had a treat like this before and I have so many other recipes from this book earmarked to make this holiday season. I think I'm going to have to exercise A LOT in the coming weeks.....