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Farmer Cookies

[Miranda] — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 03:11:49 +0000

My sister-in-law, her boyfriend and her little 6 year old son arrive in New York today from Sweden to visit. It is Isaac's (6) first time away from Sweden and I figured that any Swede away from home would be happy to find a cookie they recognized waiting for them on arrival. So I decided to bake a tin of Farmer Cookies "Bondkaka" to have at hand for their visit. It is a staple from my Mother-in-Law's repertoire and was happily recognized by small hands. A deceptively simple cookie, it is incredibly morish and elicits an 'mmmmm' from everyone who tries it because I think it takes one by surprise - the eye and the taste buds are both fooled, it is more like a rich almond shortbread than a humble tea biscuit. And it is delicious. These fat golden coins of a cookie are a the farm hand's gold.

The recipe is super simple. I've made this both by hand (making a mound of flour and cutting in all the ingredients on a work surface) and in the food processor, both work just as well and neither is more complicated than the other really. Ingredients: 2 1/4cups of all purpose flour, 3/4 cups of sugar, 3/4 cup chopped almonds, 200g cold butter, 1 tsp baking soda, 1 tbsp water, 1 tbsp of light molasses or corn syrup. Recipe: Make a mound of flour on a work surface, add the remaining ingredients, quickly cut in the butter, kneading lightly. Or, add all the dry ingredients to a food processor bowl with large blade, add butter, blitz to sand, add wet ingredients until combined, knead lightly. Form into two logs, 4-5 cm thick, wrap in plastic, refrigerate for at least two hours until hard. Cut into 1/2 cm slices, place on a baking tray (lined or non stick), bake in centre oven for 6-8 minutes until golden at 200C/400F.

Schwartzwald Torte: Swedish Birthday Cake

[Miranda] — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:16:14 +0000

Happy Birthday Husband! A specially requested cake, for a special day, the Schwartzwald Torte is reserved for only very special people on very special occasions in Sweden. At first I was confused by the name, but this is not the "Black Forest Gateux" of the British 70's, nor the German Dessert "Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte" either. It is in fact a Swedish cake called Schwarzwaldtårta which is related to the traditional Black Forest cake only by name. It consists of layers of hazelnut meringue with whipped cream in between. The whole cake is also covered with whipped cream and decorated with chocolate. Special indeed. This cake needs to be assembled immediately before eating, so while the birthday boy slept, I whipped up this gastronomic monster (literally) in the kitchen. As you might imagine, this is rather a fun cake to assemble and one can be as artistic or garish (depending on how you look at it) as you like. Great fun can be had where abstract use of chocolate is required. The result was greatly appreciated by said birthday boy and that is all that matters! Embrace the 70's chef in you and give it a go next time a special occasion calls for a special cake.

This recipe is from "Sju Sorters Kakor - Swedish Cakes and Cookies"

Oven temp: 175C/350F, 3/4cup hazelnuts, 1cup sifted icing sugar, 4 egg whites, 2 cups whipping cream, 1 tsp vanilla essence, 1/3cup further of ground hazelnuts. Chocolate & cocoa to decorate. Draw 3 circles, each one 23cm in diameter, on baking parchment. Place 2 on one baking sheet and the third on another. Grease and flour the circles. Lightly toast the nuts in the oven. Rub off the skins with a clean teatowel/kitchen towel. Grind nuts and mix with powedered sugar. Beat egg whites until stiff (you should be able to hold the bowl up side down). Carefully fold in the nut mixture, spread the mixture over the circles. Bake in the centre of oven for around 10 minutes. The meringue should be the colour of biscuits, firm, but not hard. Let cool. Whip cream for filling and stir in the vanilla and nuts. Layer the meringues with cream in between. Spread cream over the top and sides. Arrange chocolate and dust with sifted cocoa.

Christmas 2011: Deck the Halls

[Miranda] — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 01:24:40 +0000

Happy New Year to you all and a warm welcome to 2012! What a wonderful Holiday season it was. Fall and Winter were a busy time and I didn't get to spend as much time on personal projects (i.e. Create & Borrow) as I would have liked to (thanks advertising), but then came Christmas, my favourite time of all and a first for my husband and I, a Christmas in New York. There was much to prepare as we (I!) embarked on a traditional Swedish Julbord with all the pre and post trimmings. I pickled herring, cured gravlax, baked saffron bread, pickled vegetables, baked a ham, rolled meatballs, grated Jansson's Delight, hung gingerbread and much, much more. It was such a treat to spend Christmas together watching movies and indulging in apple cider with a side of New York skylline. Here is a collection of my Instagram photos from the holiday. Since a few of the items I made this holiday I have posted before, you can check out the Peppermint White Chocolate Cookies, Paper Snowflakes and Gingerbread Christmas Tree Decorations on previous posts. The holiday decorations are now packed away and the apartment has relinquished it's grotto status, but I know I am looking forward to next year's celebreation already. In the mean time, savor the memories, turn to the first page of that brand new note book, ready those New Year's resolutions....and begin.

Vintage Knitted Baby Cardigan

[Miranda] — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 02:58:02 +0000

Here is a mid-knit photo of this lovely vintage baby cardigan, actually called a knitted hood saque in the original pattern which you can find HERE. A wonderfully appropriate moss stitch adds to the vintage feel as well as the cotton ease in dusky pink from the Lion Brand Yarn store. This is destined for a friends new baby girl born in July. Speaking of the the Lion Brand store, here is a picture I took of their window this Summer. They always have the most incredible knitted window dispays. Such an inspiration. And while we're on the subject of knitting, here is a little knitting glossary I find useful for new patterns. Fall is upon, it's knitting season again, let's get crracking on those Christmas presents folks! Happy knitting.

Bunting - Handmade Appliqué Bunting

[Miranda] — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 16:24:20 +0000

This was a fun way to test out my applique skills and try a new project. I've always wanted to make bunting for a party and Charlie turned 3 this weekend - her favourite colour is yellow and she was planning a party in the park - it seemed like the perfect opportunity for birthday bunting! The instructions for the bunting are very simple, as you would imagine. Cut multiple Isoceles triangles in pairs of your chosen fabrics, the long sides of mine measured 22cm and the shorter side 15cm. Work out how long you want your bunting to be (allowing length at each end to tie up the bunting) and space the flags evenly along your bias binding (or folded cotton ribbon in this case) to work out how many you need. Since I was appliqueing the letters and hearts on before sewing everything together, this gave me an opportunity to decide where her name should sit and where the hearts would go. I then appliqued the Libery Print fabric letters and shapes onto one side of the unsewn flags. Once that was done, I machine stitched the flags (right sides together) with a quarter inch seam, trimmed the seam inside the point, turned inside out (with a knitting needle) and ironed flat before pinning in place to the ribbon and sewing together. I hope it is a success and since yellow is her favourite colour (such a sunny colour to have hanging around!), I'm hoping she'll want to hang this in her room and celebrate being 3 and Charlie every day.

Missoni ipad case

[Miranda] — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 23:49:35 +0000

No pressure! I have only one piece each of these incredible Missoni fabric designs and I decide to make an ipad case for my friends birthday from one of them so better get it right first time Miranda!! And this is how it went.

It would not have been possible without finding Heidi's blog Sew.Craft.Create. and her ipad case tutorial. This is her design and for personal use only. Hats off to Heidi! I followed her instructions to the letter except for the lining for which I decided to use 1/8" thick foam instead of the binder card to give the whole thing a more tactile 'real' feel. I think it worked nicely. This was my first zip as well so pretty pleased with that! My friend works as a fashion photography agent for some of the most well know photographers in the business. I hope they appreciate her even more now with her Missoni ipad case - one of a kind just like her! I chose the grey version of the fabric with it's subtle mirror of the classic Missoni pattern to back the case and a plain grey to line it. On the back I appliqued a simple lower case 'd' for her initial (I'm new to applique so this as a little brave!!), but I think I just about got away with it ;) Happy to take requests if anyone feels they can't live without one of these lovely cases!

Louise Elliot Design Stuffed Animal Toys

[Miranda] — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 23:22:21 +0000

A magical flea market find! On a random Sunday afternoon last Fall, I came across this collection of Louise Elliot Design 'Animals of the World' kits on a market stall in Woodstock, NY. Louise Elliot's designs have been around for 20-something years, a British lady who now lives in Australia, she has a range of self designed kits for making animals, dolls and characters with beautifully colourful printed fabric, ready for you to assemble yourself. They are very charming and have an old school fairytale appeal to their design. I was immediately drawn to them and bought all 6 of the rather faded, but unopened animal kit packets for a bargain $5! So far I've only had time to make the wonderful elephant, but I plan to sew the others to complete the little family one day. You can still buy these wonderful kits as well as her other designs on her webiste: Louise Elliot Design. Each one comes with hand illustrated instructions and an illustrated picture for a child to colour in. "Nandi the Elephant from India" as he is titled will one day sit happily next to "Fanni Nanny-goat from Switzerland", "Boris Bear from Russia", "Danilo Donkey from Portugal", "Ming Loong Dragon from China" and "Chandra Tiger from Bengal" - just as soon as I have time to stitch the world!

Wool and the Gang : Supremes Sweater Update

[Miranda] — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 00:23:09 +0000

I've promised myself to finish this beautiful Coral Crush coloured sweater before the Summer is out so that I can wear it in Fall with the remnants of a tan... It's coming along, this is the back and having knitted the front already, only the sleeves remain. The pattern is so fantastically simple that even I can't mess it up - back, front, sleeves, sew, done. I'll be happy to post a picture of it when I'm done - finally a piece I'm not (planning on) giving away - yet at least!

Wool and the Gang

Red, White and Blue

[Miranda] — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 03:14:59 +0000

Here is another one of my 4th of July desserts, a classic Summer Victoria Sponge with a little red, white and blue thrown in for celebratory purposes. The recipe came from Nigella Lawson's 'How to be a Domestic Goddess' which is beginning to look like it might need replacing soon with a fresh copy - it is so reliable and so well used! The recipe is seriously simple - See below - mix it all in the food processor and then bake. As I was making the cakes in someone else's kitchen using someone else's oven I was a little nervous and forgot to put the vanilla essence in - I was making it by hand and trying to look relaxed at the same time ;) Still, they came out very nicely and I just added the vanilla to the cream. Yum! Decorating is the best part, but my friend and I got so absorbed with decorating the top that I burnt the top of the Tarte Tartin that was warming under the grill - brilliant Miranda - nobody seemed to find much though as they were all such lovely people and apparently all loved Tarte Tartin with homemade bourbon ice cream. Don't mind if I do!

Victoria Sponge
225g soft unsalted butter
225g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 large eggs
200g self raising flour
25g cornflour
1 tsp baking powder (only if using food processor)
3-4 tbsp milk
2 x 21cm sandwich tins about 5cm deep, buttered

Cherry Pie

[Miranda] — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 14:52:50 +0000

I was lucky enough to spend my Forth of July weekend in CT staying at a friends parents' house. It's a gorgeous property overlooking a staggering view of National State Park and owned by the loveliest people you could hope to spend time with. I felt very honored to be invited. A wonderful weekend filled with all the good things you hope Summer weekends should be; friends, love, laughter, food and swimming!!

Since we were there for three days, I made three desserts! A Cherry Pie with homemade vanilla ice cream, a Victoria Sponge in red, white and blue (strawberries, blueberries and cream!) and a Tarte Tartin with homemade bourbon ice cream. All seemed appropriate for our American Holiday, with a little British touch thrown in by the Victoria Sponge, independence from the British is what 4th July is all about after all and a little nod to the French with the Tartin as it was the French who gave the American's the Statue de la Liberté even if it was only to spite the English. Ah, good times :)

Here are the photographs of my Cherry Pie. The recipe came from the July 2011 edition of Martha Stewart Living and although I can't find the exact recipe online, this is close. RECIPE. I hope you all had wonderful July 4th weekends and even if this is not your holiday to celebrate, I believe we should all take a moment to celebrate our independence! Life, love and liberty to all.