Swedish desserts

Categories: Cookies, Christmas
Yield: 96 servings

2 c Sifted all-purpose flour
3/4 c Sugar
2 Egg yolks
1 c Butter
1 ts Almond extract

Sift together flour and sugar onto bread board. Make a well in
center and into this drop egg yolks, butter and extract. Mix into a
smooth dough with finger tips. Force through cookie press onto
ungreased cookie sheets in O and S shapes. Bake in moderate oven
(375) 8 to 10 minutes. Yield: 8 dozen spritz. (Note: Store cookies in
air-tight container. You may want to let them sit a day to "ripen"
the almond flavor!)
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SWEDISH FRUIT COMPOTE

Yield: 6 servings

1 pt Blueberries
1 pt Blackberries
1 pt Strawberries
1 sm Container raspberries (about
1/2 c Frozen apple-juice concentrate
1 c Water
1/4 c Maple syrup
1 tb Potato or cornstarch
1/4 ts Cinnamon
Mint leaves (for garnish)

Clean all berries separately. Pick over and discard inferior
berries. Hull strawberries, cutting the larger ones in half. Set all
berries aside in separate bowls.

Combine apple-juice concentrate, water and maple syrup in a medium
saucep Place potato or cornstarch in a small bowl and stir in 1/4 cup
of the apple-juice mixture. Then add starch back to pan. Add
blueberries and cinnamon and bring to a simmer (mixture will be cloudy
at first) until mixture turn clear and transparent.

Carefully stir in blackberries and strawberries and remove from heat.
Refrigerate and let cool completely. Gently stir in raspberries.
Serve in goblets or large wine glasses and garnish each portion with
a sp of mint.

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SWEDISH CHOCOLATE CAKE

Yield: 1 cake

1 c Shortening
1 1/2 c Sugar
3 Eggs
2 oz Baking chocolate
-(unsweetened), melted
2 c Cake flour
2 t Baking powder
1 t Salt
1/4 t Baking soda
1 c Cream, heavy
2 t Vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a Bundt pan and sprinkle with about
2 T dry bread crumbs, until it is well-coated. This makes a much better
crust than flour does.

In a large bowl, add the sugar to the shortening and cream well. Blend in
the eggs, one at a time, and beat well. Stir in the melted chocolate.

Sift together the dry ingredients. Combine the cream and vanilla extract.
Add to the chocolate mixture alternately with the dry ingredients,
beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Pour the batter into the pan
and bake for 50-60 minutes. Cool the cake in the pan a few minutes before
removing.

NOTES:

* A rich chocolate Bundt cake that does not need to be frosted, which makes it an easy dessert.

* This is not an authentic Swedish recipe because their flour is different
enough to cause problems in baking. However, the results seem authentic.

: Difficulty: easy to moderate.
: Time: 20 minutes preparation, 1 hour baking.
: Precision: measure carefully.

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Swedish Spice Cake

Bread crumbs, fine, dry
3/4 c Butter
1 1/2 c Sugar
5 Eggs
2 t Vanilla
2 1/4 c Flour
1 1/2 t Baking soda
1 t Salt
5 t Cinnamon
2 1/4 t Cardamom
1 1/2 t Ginger
3/4 t Cloves
1 1/2 c Sour cream

Grease a bundt or 10 in tube pan; sprinkle with bread crumbs; shake
out excess; set aside. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar
until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, stir in vanilla.
Sift in flour with baking soda, salt and spices. Add to sugar
mixture alternately with sour cream, beginning and ending with flour.
Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 325 for about 1 hour. Cool
in pan 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack. Dust top of
cake lightly with sugar.