Festive Edible Gifts, that is all.

white chocolate peppermint bark

chocolate peanut toffee

salted caramels

Swedish Crisp Bread with Caraway

Here's something you absolutely must make for your Christmas smorgasbord, if you want it to be authentically Swedish. Crisp bread is definitely a must. You can vary the spices, but caraway is one of my favorites - it will go very well with christmas ham or sharp cheddar.

This is a pretty basic recipe, and you can use it as a base to play with. Feel free to add other seeds if you prefer! The one piece of equipment that you might not have is a knobbly rolling pin, a kruskavel. It looks like this. Not absolutely necessary to have, but it does help here.

The traditional shape is large rounds with holes in the middle - the holes are actually for storage, because these were traditionally hung on a stick, from the ceiling.

Swedish Crisp Bread with Caraway

25 g fresh yeast
500 ml (2 cups) tepid water
2 tsp salt
600 ml (2,4 cups) coarse rye flour
600 ml (2,4 cups) wheat flour
2 tsp caraway seeds, bashed in a pestle and mortar
2 tsp sesame seeds
2 tsp linseed

Crumble the yeast into a bowl and add some of the water. Stir until the yeast is dissolved, then add the rest of the water, and all other ingredients. Mix by hand or with a machine until the dough starts to form. Add extra flour if it's too sticky. You don't have to knead it much, just enough to get a proper dough that holds together. Remove the dough to a clean bowl, cover and leave to rise for one hour.

Shape the dough into a large, thick rope and divide into 15 pieces. Roll out each piece into rounds, using a lot of flour so it won't stick. Roll it as thinly as you can (the crisper it will be!) and finish by doing a few rolls with a knobbly rolling pin, a "kruskavel". If you don't have one, prick the dough all over with a fork. Use a small glass or a cookie cutter to remove a hole from the middle of the round.


Or use cookie cutters - I couldn't resist making a cat.

Place directly on a baking sheet and bake at 200°C (that's for a convection oven, use 225°C in a regular oven) for 10-12 minuter. You have to turn them after half the time or they will burn.

Recipe in Swedish:
Knäckebröd med kummin

Coconut Macaroons

Do you know how easy it is to make Coconut Macaroons?  Of course you do not, because up until yesterday I didn't either and I know what you know.  We know all of the same things.  Obviously you know how I can fold up my ear and get it stuck in my ear socket, obviously.  And I know how you secretly watch that one reality show.  See?  We know everything about each other.

Back to how we both didn't know how easy coconut macaroons were until we found THIS recipe.  Four ingredients, no time at all BUT, IMPORTANT TIP: do NOT over-fold the egg whites.  Gently incorporate them into the coconut mixture, even to the point where you still see chunks of the egg whites throughout. If you over-fold, your cookies will come out flat.  But you knew that, because I knew that.    

Sourdough Kitchen

Sourdough, wood-fired, free range - all these buzzwords have been criticised as being yuppie, floaty concepts that will be gone in the next chew-and-swallow of the food trend cycle.  The thing is, the artisan, slow-food model has been around a lot longer than industrial innovations like quick-rise yeast or factory farming.  Once upon a time, all bread was sourdough.  Home bakers discovered that if they left flour and water to ferment and "catch" wild yeasts, it would produce a risen loaf with a pleasant sour tang.  It was only closer to the industrial revolution that yeast was isolated from its wild form, where every house's sourdough starter would be slightly different, and standardised.

In the news recently, a major bread manufacturer has announced an "innovation" in which new additives will mean bread will remain fresh for up to 14 days.  This makes me want to throw up.  Thank goodness then for all our local bakeries and suppliers - Natural Tucker bread from Footscray Market Deli, Hausfrau (bread from Noisette), Waldie's, good ole Bakers Delight (closet pullapart lovers, hands up) and my personal favourite, Sourdough Kitchen.

This is where the old Bowerbird boutique used to be in Seddon and I love the quiet, cool vibe inside.  The terrazzo floor is quaint and strangely soothing as you lean back against dove-grey walls, accented by peasant chic handmade lace doilies.

Everything here is sourdough, from the white casalinga made with organic flour to vegan tray-baked pizzas, fat fruit buns and (no kidding) sourdough croissants.  The bread range begins with classic casalinga and earnest wholegrain before dallying into spelt, sultana and rosemary, and pepita-studded pumpkin territory.  The more standard loaves are available by the half which is a fantastic way for smaller households to never be out of fresh bread.

Latte, $3.50

Great coffee made with Genovese that rarely disappoints.

Pork and fennel sausage roll, $5

The menu is small but confident.  The generous pork and fennel sausage rolls are truly the best in Melbourne!  Sweet pork mince is augmented by the occasional aniseed zing of fennel seeds, rolled in luscious, buttery puff pastry.  An abundance of sweet homemade chutney arrives alongside.

Pizza, $5.50

Three types of square-cut, tray-baked pizza all get the vegan tick.  Here we have wafer-thin potato and rosemary on a chewy sourdough base.  A scattering of salt flakes could take it to the next level.

Sandwiches, $7.50

Hearty, freshly-made sandwiches on thick-cut bread.  Here, bitey cheese complemented tasty pastrami and tangy baby pickles.  Delicious.  Did you know that Sourdough Kitchen are very community-minded, supplying local food co-ops and donating excess bread to the Western Region Health Centre?

I am hopelessly enamoured with Sourdough Kitchen's pain au chocolat - light croissant dough rolled around a Callebaut dark chocolate stick.  The croissants are also fabulous, the sourdough starter giving them a faint but tantalising sour tang.  Sourdough is healthy, ergo, sourdough croissants are healthy.  Right?  Right?

* Okonomiyaki recipe coming next week!




Sourdough Kitchen (Facebook)
172 Victoria Street, Seddon
Phone:  9687 5662
UPDATE AUGUST 2012 - NOW OPEN SEVEN DAYS





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Baked Sweet Potato Fries

UH OH, HEALTH KICK SIRI TIME.  That's a lie, I'm baking cookies later.  WATCH OUT, NUTRITION, HERE I COME!  No seriously, coconut macaroons.  WHY HELLO THERE, SLENDER FIGURE, LOOK AT YOU!!!  I think my love handle just gave birth to a love handle.  MMM, BAKED SWEET POTATO FRIES... FULL OF VITAMINS AND MINERALS.  They're still called "fries" you freaking idiot.

Whatever, these are baked, they're a vegetable, they have the perfect balance of salt, spice and sweetness, and they're delicious.  Here's what you do...  

Preheat oven to 450.  Buy the sweet potato spears in a baggie, or cut your own to 1/4 inch fries.  Throw them in a bowl and toss them with olive oil, paprika, salt, garlic powder and a pinch of sugar - all to taste.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, until they're crispy.  Eat up!

Blackberry Mini Tarts Recipe

Last week Driscoll's held a wonderful event for bloggers that I got to have a hand in planning. Bloggers brought dishes made with fresh blackberries, got insider cooking tips from cookbook author and cooking teacher Rick Rodgers and an inspiring food photography tutorial and demo from food photographer Caren Alpert.

I learned about pastry tampers, (the secret to quickly forming small tart shells in mini muffin pans) improvising with FedEx boxes and tin foil to get more light in food photos, ate a fabulous of dinner made from Rick's recipes, and tasted some divine desserts from some of my fellow bloggers. I particularly loved Irvin's tangy lemon and blackberry pie. I hope he posts the recipe soon! Rick made a cream cheese crust pastry with a savory filling and a blackberry topping. It was surprisingly similar to my dessert recipe.

I got the original recipe from the Land 'O Lakes website. I adapted it for Thanksgiving using cranberries and no nuts or glaze, then tweaked both the ingredients and the techniques to make it work with blackberries. Driscoll's blackberries are so good right now that I wanted to use them raw. I like desserts with at least some tangy flavor and blackberries have such a great balance of sweet and sour, thanks to a good ratio of natural sugars and organic acids. You could top the custard filled tarts with any kind of fresh berry you like. What makes this recipe so easy is that you mix the dough and the filling in a food processor. You could probably do it using a stand mixer if you prefer.



Blackberry Mini TartsMakes 36

Crust;
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling:
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
pinch salt

2 6-oz packages blackberries, each berry cut into two or three pieces

Heat oven to 325°F. Combine flour, butter, cream cheese and salt in food processor. Blend until dough forms a ball.

Divide dough into 36 equal pieces. Place 1 piece of dough into each ungreased mini muffin pan cup. Press dough evenly onto bottom and up sides of cup or use a pastry tamper! Bake for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile in a bowl or food processor, cream together the sugar and butter then mix in egg, vanilla and salt. Spoon about a teaspoon into each tart crust then bake another 10-12 minutes until the crust is golden and the top of the custard begins to brown. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes then remove from pans using a knife if necessary. Place about 3 pieces of berry in each tart shell.

Enjoy!

Let’s Get Ready to Rum Ball!

I want to thank a Twitter follower of mine, RookieKoo, for giving me the idea for today’s Michael Buffer-inspired post title. Of course, if you’re not familiar with the iconic boxing ring announcer’s catchphrase, then none of this will make any sense, and you’ll just have to trust me when I tell you it was an amusing reference.

There are hundreds of ways to make rum balls, but this one’s my favorite method. It’s very easy, especially if you have stale brownies lying around. I know, that never happens, which is why I’m linking to an all-purpose brownie recipe below the post. This will also work nicely with store-bought brownies, but stay away from anything that’s frosted. We don’t want to add any additional fat into the recipe, since that will hinder the absorption of the rum.

The amount of rum you add depends on how cakey and/or dry your brownies are, but for a half-pound, you’ll probably need between 1/4 and 1/3 of a cup to soak the crumbs sufficiently. A proper rum ball should be a fire hazard. By the way, I’m not responding to any comments asking about how to make these without using rum. In my humble opinion, you can’t.

The other issue I'm not going to be a big help with is altering the type of chocolate. I used a quality dark chocolate (70% cocoa), which worked beautifully for this, and hope you do the same. I don't have a lot of experience working with chocolate, so I'm not sure what will happen if you want to use white, milk, or other kinds of chocolate for the coating.

I realize these are more of a candy, than a cookie, but after about a half-dozen rum balls, culinary semantics will be the furthest thing from your mind. I hope you give them a try on your holiday dessert table. Enjoy!

Ingredients for about 20 small rum balls:

8 ounces stale chocolate brownies, crumbled

1/4 to 1/3 cup dark rum, or as needed

4 oz dark chocolate (I used Lindt Dark Chocolate 70% Cocoa)

NOTE: For a quick and easy brownie that will work well for these rum balls, check out this recipe from Allrecipes.com. I recommend checking out the comments on that recipe page before starting.

Holiday Cooking: Caviar Sill

Sill is a must on the Swedish christmas table, preferrably in several varieties. I'm not a huge fan so I usually don't bother with it, but I did make my own a few years ago and here's the recipe for that. You have to make a trip to your closest Ikea for some of the ingredients.

You might find a neutral canned herring elsewhere but Swedish caviar is definitely quite unique. It's really a sandwich spread (some people love it on their eggs, too) with salted and sweetened smoked caviar mixed with other things to make a pinkish paste. Do pick up a tube if you see it and yes, it does come in a tube... just like toothpaste. The most popular brand name is Kalles and it's made by Abba.


Caviar Sill
50 ml mayonnaise
100 ml crème fraîche
100 ml Swedish style caviar
1 small red onion, finely diced
10 cm (four inches) leek, finely diced
50 ml finely chopped dill
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp lemon zest
salt, pepper
1/2 tin Abba's five-minute sill (about 200 g)

Cut the sill into smaller pieces. Whish all other ingredients together and add the sill. Keep in the fridge - it'll be fine for a few days.

Recipe in Swedish:
Kaviarsill

Christmas Candy: Knäck

Knäck - Swedish christmas candy that actually translates to.. crack. Really. I find that pretty funny. Especially since many people also find it horribly addictive. It's really a creamy almond toffee - but that doesn't sound half as fun. Wanna give it a go? There are many recipes, but I prefer this one. As opposed to most of them, this is made in the microwave, which means it's really fast.

For variations, check these out:
Peppermint Knäck
Crisp Bread Knäck
Dark Walnut Knäck

Swedish Crack - Knäck
makes around 40

100 ml cream
100 ml golden syrup
80 g / 100 ml sugar
3 tbsp finely chopped almonds
tiny paper cups

Mix cream, sugar and syrup in a suitable container. This means something that can take a lot of heat, go into the microwave, and still have high sides so the whole thing doesn't boil over. I have a quart-sized Pyrex glass pitcher that's absolutely perfect. Put it the microwave on the highest setting, for exactly 7 minutes. (You might need to try this a couple of times - if it doesn't boil for long enough, it'll be very soft and chewy. If it's boiled too long, it'll be rock hard.) Remove very carefully - it's super hot - and gently fold in the almonds. Pour into tiny paper cups very fast, if it cools down it'll be a lot harder to pour. Place in the fridge until they're set. Keeps well in an air-tight container.

Recipe in Swedish:
Min enklaste knäck

Cranberry Pistachio Pudding Cookies

'Tis the Season to reach out to your neighbors, bake them cookies, and then make fun of them on your blog.  Oh I'm ONLY KIDDING.  Besides, I was just going to make a joke about their names but now I WON'T because you are making such a fuss about it Marge, Earl, Merv... that's THREE different neighbors WHAT?  They don't read blogs!  The word isn't even in the dictionary yet, they don't know what it means.

Anyway, back to the Season and goodwill and what not.  I got the idea for these cookies on Pinterest, and then adapted them from this recipe.  Easy as pie, and so festive, just look at the bursting red and green colors...

    

No really, those are cranberries, they're red.  Ok they're organic so they sort of look black but the IDEA was there.  By the way, I wouldn't be mad at you if you decided to put chocolate chips in these.  Not mad at all.  

Cranberry Pistachio Pudding Cookies

(Makes about 16 cookies)

Printable Recipe

1 cup flour

1 pkg. instant pistachio pudding mix

1 stick butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 large egg plus 1 large egg white

2 cups dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350.  In a small bowl, whisk together flour and pudding mix.  In a larger bowl with an electric mixer, beat butter, brown sugar and baking soda until smooth and creamy.  Add egg and egg white and continue to beat until incorporated (it might look runny).  Slowly mix in dry ingredients.  Add cranberries and stir.  Drop cookies onto parchment-lined baking sheet, two inches apart, and bake for 8-10 minutes.  Let cool.    

Hello from the Land of the Garbage Plate

I’m currently in Western New York visiting my family, so I thought I’d repost this video I shot way back in 2007, featuring my attempt to eat this region's most infamous culinary creation, the Garbage Plate.

The original Garbage Plate was created at Nick Tahou’s in Rochester, but this version was shot at my favorite local lunch spot, Charlie Riedel’s, in Canadaigua, NY. I highly encourage you to read the original post here for more information, as well as some very entertaining reader comments. Enjoy!

The Three Must Buy Cookbooks of 2011

I always write a series of "best of" cookbook posts around this time of year. I've recommended a lot of cookbooks in 2011*, but there are three, you simply must add to your collection. They are written by three amazing women who I admire tremendously and feel honored to have gotten to interview or at least meet. They are not just wonderful cooks and writers but cultural anthropologists who dig deep into how people cook, preserving traditions and making food from other places accessible. These books would make great gifts, but really, I recommend buying them for your own collections, that's how good they are.


There are lots of books about Spanish food. I know, because I have plenty of them, but The Food of Spain
is truly the mother of all Spanish cookbooks with over 600 pages. It has stories, history--it's a true treasury that took years of work to complete. I know this because Claudia Roden told me about the work that went into the book when I interviewed her last year (Claudia Roden interview part 1 and 2)

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Claudia Roden's recipes work. They make sense and give just the right level of detail. In this massive tome she uncovers so many more recipes than what you will find in run of the mill restaurants. In The Food of Spain you will discover many fascinating cultures that have influenced Spanish cuisine and recipes both familiar and rare. It's as much a book about food as it is a cookbook.

Dishes you will want to try include Eggplant with Bechamel and Cheese, Fish Stew with Peppers and Tomatoes, Migas with Bacon, Onion Coca.






What can I say about Paula Wolfert that hasn't already been said? She is the most well-known authority on Moroccan food and The Food of Morocco is one of her most important books. Having lived in Morocco for years, she has a depth of knowledge that is just unparalleled. But if you have spent any time with her, you will be struck by her genuine enthusiasm for capturing the details of the cuisine and her drive for perfection. Her recipes are meticulous. Like Claudia Roden, she goes well beyond the surface to discover the history and varied influences that make for such a rich cuisine. Her latest book is over 500 pages. You can read my interview with her from 2009 here.

The book also has plenty of tips and advice to help you get it right, from the different types of couscous to explanations as to why steaming is better than boiling. There are lots of shopping resources too.

Dishes you will want to try include Lamb with Onions, Riffian Split Pea Soup with Paprika Oil, Almonds and Hard Cooked Eggs, Double Cooked Red Chicken Marrakech Style, Barley Grits Couscous with Fresh Fava Beans





It might seem surprising that I put Lisa Fain in the same category as Claudia Roden and Paula Wolfert, but if you spend some time at her blog or reading her wonderful cookbook, The Homesick Texan
, you will see why I do. Lisa Fain's passion and connection to her Texas heritage and food shines through in everything she writes. She treats the cuisine of Texas with such respect and warmth that you can't help but appreciate it too, even if you are not "homesick" for it.

Unlike Roden or Wolfert, Lisa Fain is not an outsider, but a native who shares her own personal stories. And if she can make Texas recipes work in a New York apartment kitchen you have to know they will work for you too. Her book is a little over 350 pages.

Dishes you will want to try include Calabacitas (Squash and Pork Stew), Poblano Macaroni and Cheese, Coffee Chipotle Oven Brisket and Watermelon Salsa.


*Other cookbooks I reviewed and recommended in 2011:
Cooking My Way Back Home, Kokkari, Bi-Rite Market's Eat Good Food, The Family Meal:Home Cooking with Ferran Adria, 100 Perfect Pairings, Basic to Brilliant, Y'all


The Homesick Texan and The Food of Spain were review copies, I purchased The Food of Morocco

Duck, Duck, Fat: Dinner at Sun Ha Jang.

This past Saturday night was very exciting. First off, I may or may not have been on a date. But more importantly, I was taken to two (2) places in my City of Angels that I had never been nor had any prior knowledge of. That’s pretty rare.

I was sent an email a day or two before Saturday with a link to the prodigious Mr. Gold’s review of our restaurant destination: Sun Ha Jang. So I was aware and prepared for whatever lay ahead. That would be duck. Excitement mounted.

At precisely seven o’clock (right on time!) I was picked up and off we went. To Koreatown. And just as I was noticing the façade for a spa I sent my mom to as a gift for Christmas some years ago that left her with PTSD to this day (another story), we were parked smack in front of the restaurant.

Sun Ha Jang was bright, but not too bright, tidy, small and about halfway filled up. I think this was about seven thirty. We were seemingly the only non-Koreans in the house, which was a comforting sign. We were seated immediately and handed golden menus with those hologramy-winky pictures in them. We hardly perused the menu at all before our server came over to get our order. This was fine as we didn’t really know what we were doing and we were pretty much going to go for what was suggested from the review. The Roasted Duck. I’m guessing they were used to Korean food dilettantes coming in, clutching their reference guides Smart Phones since she just kindly nodded, and knew exactly what to deliver.

So right after we got our bottle of soju, a bottle of cold tea, and the usual assortment of panchan, kimchi and marinated bean sprouts, came the sliced duck. Our server was kind to us and guided us through The Process wordlessly. She gingerly placed the round, thick, marbled and fatty duck slices on the griddle in the center of the table with a generous smattering of whole cloves of garlic. Then she picked up a chunklet of kimchi and used it to plug the griddle's drain. We later realized this was to preserve all that glorious duck fat.

After just a few minutes we started to pick at the duck, flipping it and whatnot as I had read that we should by no means allow them to condense into chewy nubs. This was when our server hustled back over to assist, and also where I will insert my companion’s only sound bite from the evening for this post, “Aside from the yumminess of the duck and duck fat roasted garlic and the good company, what sticks in my mind the most was the maternal weariness with which the waitress took over as she watched my relative clumsiness in flipping the duck over on the griddle.”

Did you see that? I’m good company!

Anyway.

When the duck was ready to come off the griddle our server even showed us how to assemble and eat everything together. She made a whole presentation on Date’s plate. The result was not unlike a duck salad: the chopped, dressed lettuce with a few slivers of marinated onion, and a little julienned pickled radish, garnished with the duck topped with a few strands of sliced Korean leek and a small dollop of chili paste. It was fresh and clean, yet rich and unctuous. Each bite was crisp, cool and bright right alongside with being warm, supple and lush.

After a little more time and a lot more bites, the cloves of garlic were all roasty, with crisp outsides and warm, oozy insides. At this point I just wanted to eat bites of the garlic rubbed over slices of the now, ever so slightly brittled duck meat that remained.

But there was more. I knew it was coming and I was aflutter. Our server then brought us a bowl of rice cooked with beans and dumped it onto the griddle, sprinkling it with herbs and sesame seeds. And there it sizzled away as it cooked in that beautiful, seasoned duck fat until it was perfectly crunchety on the bottom.

And then I was sated.

I very much enjoyed my meal and my experience at Sun Ha Jang. I do so love a process. An interactive meal, so to speak. The company was pretty great too.

And then we were off, into the night. Off to destination number two, and as mentioned above, yet another new experience for me, a bar called 1642. This place serves only wine and beer, is perfectly dark and plays almost-but-not-too-loud-and-very-good jazz. Wine and conversation ensued.

This was a good night.


One year ago: Salt's Cure
Two years ago: Grace

Turkey Chickpea Burgers

I have officially completed two months of the Livefit program! I'll post progress pictures in a few days. I still have Phase III to complete, but my friend and I decided to put that on hold until January since we'd rather focus on enjoying the holidays. In the meantime we are going to continue eating clean as much as possible, as well as lifting daily to maintain the progress we've made.

It was kind of a hard decision to make, I think both of us felt hesitant to put the brakes on something that we've been working so hard on. However, health and fitness is a lifetime pursuit, and just like life, you have to take things as they come. The holidays only come once a year, and I'd hate to look back on the month and realize that I made myself miserable with stress and withholding when I could have started right where I stopped the very next month. I'm definitely not going to enjoy the holidays as I have in the past (MONTH LONG BINGE, WOO HOO!), but I'm not going to stay home from the holiday festivities because I can't stand the thought of only being able to eat off the veggie tray.

In the meantime, I'm going to continue enjoying awesome recipes like this one. Chickpea puree mixed with ground turkey, making a meaty burger with the great flavor of falafel. We ate them with those Roll Up Flatbreads and a side of sweet potato fries. It was a delicious dinner!


Turkey Chickpea Burgers
Clean Eating Magazine

Ingredients

1 (15 oz can) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup roughly chopped scallions
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/4 lb ground turkey breast, 99% fat free
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
olive oil cooking spray

Directions

In a food processor, combine chickpeas, scallions, cumin, pepper, salt and Worcestershire sauce. Pulse until smooth.

Transfer chickpea mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add turkey and mix by hand until combined.

Divide turkey-chickpea mixture into four equal portions, shaping each into a three-quarter-inch patty. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat skillet with cooking spray and cook patties for four to six minutes on each side.

We topped it with ketchup, mustard, lettuce, sauteed onions and pickles. YUM!

Holiday Baking: Saffron Macarons

These little wonders are amazing! You can use dark chocolate instead of white in the filling - and add a pinch of cardamom to spice it up! Super christmas-y!

I found the saffron made the macaron shells dried than usual, and I had some issues with cracking that I usually don't have. But remember: even ugly macarons taste great.

Saffron Macarons
makes about 25 cookies

3 egg whites, at room temperature
2 tbsp caster sugar
200 g powdered sugar
110 g almonds, blanched
½ g saffron

Combine powdered sugar and almonds in your food processor, and grind until very fine. Sieve. Re-grind any lumps or big pieces of almonds. Mix carefully (they tend to separate a little bit when sieving, since the sugar falls through first.)

Beat egg whites and sugar until you have a thick, glossy meringue. Don't overbeat. Stir in the almond-sugar powder and the saffron, and fold together. Don't overmix this - but don't be too gentle, either. (You can try it by dolloping a little batter on a baking sheet - if the peak falls down, it's ready. If it doesn't, try a few more strokes.)

Pipe small rounds on a baking sheet with baking paper. Leave at room temperature for 30-60 minutes, to form a skin.

Bake at 150°C for 10-12 minutes. (I have a convection oven.) Let them cool completely before filling. Unused shells can be frozen, or kept in an air-tight container for a day or so.

White Chocolate Ganache
200 g white chocolate
100 g cream (35-40% fat content)

Coarsely chop the chocolate and place in a bowl. Heat the cream until boiling and add to the bowl, and stir until smooth. Let the ganache cool and thicken, so you can pipe it on top of the cookies.

Pair shells that are the same size. Dollop - or for neater results, pipe, a little ganache on one side, and then add the other.

Recipe in Swedish:
Saffransmacarons med vit chokladtryffel