Rowan Fudge ‒ Pihlajatoffee

This time of the year you really notice how many rowan trees there are in the city center as they all bear loads of delicious-looking (and very bitter) red berries. Too bad there are almost as many cars so we can only use the berries for throwing them at friends or admire them with dignity. Luckily this pet of the Finnish thunder god grows in some more peaceful places as well. After all, it is the first tree you should plant on the yard of a new house.

The recipe is an adaptation from the lingonberry fudge in the cook book Härkäpapua Sarvista (Irina Somersalo & al., Multikustannus 2007). The amount of brandy I added is so small you can't really taste it but this is easy to fix if you wish. And with the same basic method you could prepare salmiakki fudge or even garlic fudge which was also suggested by the book.

- 2 dl oat cream
- 3 dl dark sugar
- 2 tablespoons margarine (or coconut oil)
- 1 dl rowan berries
- 1 tablespoon brandy

In a saucepan, heat up the cream, the sugar and the margarine, stirring often until the basic fudge mass is ready. It may take some experienting to figure out the right time between caramel sauceness and lollipop hardness. After about 40 minutes it should have turned into a dark brown pile of thick bubbles. If you drop a bit into a glass of cold water, it should form a firm bullet but not become rock solid yet.

See all your berries are clean. Crush them a bit and add into the mass in small batches. Add the brandy as well and let the mass come to a boil once more.

Spread as a thick layer into a casserole covered with parchment paper. Let it cool down and refrigerate for a few hours. Cut in pieces.

Nutritional values / 547 g:
energy 1381 kcal
fat 41 g
protein 2 g
carbohydrates 244 g
fiber 5 g

Rectory's Makeshift ‒ Pappilan hätävara

Pappilan Hätävara (literally Rectory's Makeshift, sometimes Finnish Trifle) is the traditional dessert you can put together in three minutes when surprise guests arrive or the movie you're watching goes for a commercial break. In the most simple form you just crush some dry bun pieces or biscuits on bottom, juice them up with apple juice, place lingonberry jam or fresh strawberry pieces in the middle plus whipped oat cream on top and stir with a spoon.

This time I thought I'd prepare a bit more time consuming version. Chocolate compliments both rhubarb and spruce tips so I decided to combine all three of them. After all, the period when you can get both rhubarb and spruce tips fresh is so short it has a rather luxurious cling to it. I also had an idea about oat and hemp biscuits but was out of rolled oats so I just used some hemp seeds I had in the closet.

- 300 g rhubarb
- 2 dl spruce tips
- 1 tablespoon water
- 2 tablespoons dark sugar
- 100 g white chocolate (I prefer soy based to rice based varieties)
- 2 dl soy yogurt (or nut yogurt)
- 1 dl roasted hemp seeds (or oat bisquits)

In a sauce pan, dissolve the sugar into the water and heat up. Chop the rhubarb and add most of it as well as the spruce tips into the pot. Keep cooking until you have a soft compote. Remove from the stove and throw in the fresh rhubarb pieces.

While the compote cools down, melt the chocolate carefully in bain-marie (I've managed to completely liquefy it several times when using a microwave). It doesn't matter at all if there are some little chocolate pieces left. Combine withe the yogurt and let it cool down as well.

Arrange the hemp seeds, the compote and the sauce into your serving bowls in layers. (I got three from this amount). Refrigerate if not eating on the spot.

Nutritional values / 720 g:
energy 1579 kcal
fat 58 g
protein 37 g
carbohydrates 131 g
fiber 21 g

Lingonberry Rieska ‒ Puolukkarieska

The simplest version of lingonberry rieska consists only of smashed lingonberries, cold water and rye flour. For my lazy day breakfast today I adapted a bit more complex recipe from here. From what I've learned from earlier experiments, when using store-bought oat yogurt or lingonberry cram that has already been sugared it's better to leave the syrup all out. The amount in the original (1 tablespoon for this batch) makes these way too sweet for me and destroys the tartness of lingonberries but feel free to adjust it to your own taste buds.

- 3.5 dl rye flour (coarse type)
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 0.5 teaspoons herb salt
- 1 teaspoon dark syrup
- 1 dl lingonberries
- 1.5 dl oat yogurt (or soy)
(- wheat flour)

Mix the baking powder and salt with the flour. Crush the lingonberries with a fork. Mix everything. Heat up a frying pan. Shape the paste into flat, round breads. (I got six small ones.) The paste is very sticky so you may need to use wheat flour as an aid. Fry lightly on a dry pan from both sides.

Enjoy buttered with oat milk or coffee while still hot.

Nutritional values / 462 g:
energy 924 kcal
fat 8 g
protein 26 g
carbohydrates 184 g
fiber 39 g

Apple Pie ‒ Omenapiirakka

Here's a weird fact about me: I only eat apples during autumn. This is when you get domestic apples. Every imported one I've ever tried has been just plain watery. Granny Smiths have a nice structure and some sourness but even they seem to lack in taste. And I really haven't found a satisfactory explanation for this. You'd imagine apple trees produce the same apples everywhere. Maybe this has something to do with that EU's ridiculous restriction concerning size and shape of fruits and vegetables (yeap, the infamous cucumber directive) that might prevent selling small (and tasty) apples. Or maybe stores just believe that size is the only thing that matters for the customers. Or maybe it's the climate. Please tell me if you have a clue.

Anyway, apples make a nice pie as well. You'll need rather bitter apples for this. This should come up as a nicely thin and crunchy pie with those juicy apples.

The bottom:
- 100 g margarin
- 3 graham flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking powder
- 2-3 tablespoons of water

The top:
- 5 small apples
- 1/2 dl sugar
- cinnamon
- ginger
- cardamom
- (50 g blue-style soy cheese)

Mix the dough ingredients by hand and spread the result evenly on a buttered pie plate. Cut the apples in chunks and lay them on the pie. Mix the spices the sugar and sprinkle it on the pie. If you want to add some extra twist lay pieces of blue-style soy cheese on top of the rest. Bake in a 200°C oven for half an hour.

Nutritional values / 753 g (with the cheese):
energy 1784 kcal
fat 81 g
protein 35 g
carbohydrates 217 g
fiber 27 g

Strawberry Rhubarb Ice Cream ‒ Mansikka-raparperijäätelö

This is among the best tasting ice creams I've managed to lick so far. The rhubarb breaks the overarching sweetness and makes this a truly fresh tasting delight. Which is a must on a sunny summer weekend like the ones we've had lately.

- 400 g strawberries
- 1 rhubarb stalk
- 2 dl sugar (by the way, I always use my sugar brown)
- 2 dl soy cream
- 3 dl soy milk

Blend half of the strawberries and half of the rhubarb with the cream, the milk and the sugar. Chop the rest of the strawberries and the other half of the rhubarb. Combine all. Put the wanna-be ice cream into freezer until it looks perfect. (A few hours should do.) Remember to stir occasionally so you won't get yourself just a big ice cube.

Nutritional values / 1235 g:
energy 1160 kcal
fat 29 g
protein 17 g
carbohydrates 206 g
fiber 12 g

Rhubarb Sima ‒ Raparperisima

It may be a bit too late for this recipe but at least it's now here for the next May Day. Besides, I imagine this would taste great in the summer when rhubarbs actually grow here. And I've heard that garden angelica also makes a good mead.

Different varieties of mead are probably known everywhere in the world. A part of Finnish May Day celebration is nowadays a sweet but zesty mead called sima (usually very mild in alcohol for the reasons I've ranted about before). In the 18th century it was only enjoyed by wealthy people but when the ingredients grew more wildly available it became an appropriate symbol for May Day that has a strong working class echo in Finland. Sima is usually sweetened with muscovado (fariinisokeri) and bittered with lemon but since I don't find lemon an especially typical Finnish fruit I thought I'd try a recipe I found from Härkäpapua sarvista (Irina Somersalo & al., Multikustannus 2007). I scaled down the amounts and it still seemed to work so here you go!

- 1 rhubarb stalk
- 1.5 l water
- 1.5 dl muscovado (or a combination of normal sugar and dark syrup)
- ginger
- a yeast crumble

Chop the rhubarb in small pieces. Put it in a jug together with muscovado and ginger. Boil the water and pour it on them. Stir. When the water has cooled down a bit add the yeast. (Do yourself a favour and don't exaggerate with the yeast. More yeast won't bring more alcohol, more sugar does.) Let the jug stand in a warm place for the next day.

Filter the sima and bottle it. Add a teaspoon of sugar to every bottle to get sparkling sima. Loosen up the tops a bit every day so the bottles won't break. The sima should be ready in about 3-5 days. A common trick is to put some raisins in the bottle so when they float, you know the sima is ready.

Nutritional values / 1.5 litres (counted from the ingredients):
energy 510 kcal
fat 0 g
protein 1 g
carbohydrates 124 g
fiber 2 g

Apple Goodness ‒ Omenahyve

My parents came for an Easter visit and since it's a couple of hours drive we decided we should prepare them a lunch. Of course they had eaten on their way here. Which was great since that way it didn't matter so much that I managed to bake a raw seitan roast. I kept it in the oven for 1.5 hours but apparently the frozen cranberries I stuffed it with barely managed to melt during that time. So we just ate potatoes and brown sauce with fried mushrooms and veggies.

Since I had exhausted all our baking powder and white flours the night before when trying to make a swiss roll (It came out a raw mush as well. Maybe there's just something wrong with our oven, not my cooking skills.) I made apple crumble for dessert. Luckily it came out perfect. Even my parents liked it though they usually make fun of everything I do. (Blame the oven!) Next time I think I'll try to add some rhubarb to bring more bitterness instead of the lemon juice.

- 5 large, bitter apples (or 10 small)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- nutmeg
- cardamom
- 1 dl sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla sugar
- 2.5 dl rolled oats
- 100 g margarine (for example Keiju 70%)
- 1 dl talkkuna

Cut the apples in slices. Sprinkle them with the lemon juice, the cinnamon and dashes of nutmeg and cardamom. Lay them on an oiled casserole. Sprinkle the sugar on top. Rub the margarine together with the oats, the kama and the vanilla sugar by your fingertips. Cover the apples with the crumble. Put the goodness in a 225°C oven for 30 minutes or until the crumble on top looks golden brown.

Serve with ice cream or vanilla sauce.

Nutritional values / 1060 g:
energy 1756 kcal
fat 69 g
protein 21 g
carbohydrates 248 g
fiber 27 g