Maple Spelt Banana Bread - a healthy update for an old favorite

Maple Spelt Banana Bread

Every week I do most of my grocery shopping at the Herttoniemen Ruokapiiri just down the road.  They have a small selection of carefully chosen items:  fruit; produce: lettuce, herbs, cucumber, onions, potatoes, root vegetables, etc; fresh bread from Coquus; fresh pasta from The Pasta Factory; organic meats: beef, lamb, chicken, as well as the occasional option to buy moose meat - or beef bones for your beef broth or your dog.  They source organic cheese, yogurt and raw milk locally; buy whole grains and flours from Finnish farmers; and offer canned smoked fish, tall jars of tomato puree, whole grain pasta, healthy cereals, juice made from Finnish berries, and their very own sauerkraut made from cabbage grown at the Herttoniemen Osuuskunta.  They have organic eggs, and then they have something else I've grown to love:  "Tuplamunat" or double eggs - eggs that have two yolks instead of one, and are absolutely perfect for making creamy quiche or chocolate pudding.  There is always something to delight and make me smile.

I love the place.  The volunteers always greet me with a friendly hello and let me know what's fresh or new or just plain amazing.  The food is fresh and of high quality.  We eat much, much better because the quality of the products is excellent, and my grocery shopping is simplified because I don't have to circle the big aisles of processed crap that I find in the large grocery stores in order to get what I really want.  Occasionally I still need to stop by one of the larger chains for toilet paper and the like, but mostly, everything I need can be found in that little corner shop.


Check out this short video clip from their website to get a sense of the spirit of it:

Herttoniemen ruokapiiri

It's open on Tuesdays from 16:00 - 19:00 and on Fridays from 16:00 - 18:00.  In the summer, they arrange a farmer's market in the parking lot across the street, and invite the local farmers to come on in and sell their goods directly to the public.  If you live in the area and haven't visited yet - what are you waiting for?  I highly recommend it.  Note:  nobody is paying me to praise it - I simply have full admiration and respect for the concept, and enjoy it so much that I want to share the good things in life!

Morning coffee with Maple Spelt Banana Bread

Every week, for some reason, I buy bananas.  And every week, they look so good, I end up buying a few more than we actually need.  At some point, I always end up with a couple of bananas that are well beyond the stage where you'd want to peel back the skin and eat them fresh:  their skin is deep yellow, heavily speckled with black, and the fruit inside is soft with a high amount of natural sugars.  They are much too sweet to be served over cereal or oatmeal or yogurt, and I often peel and slice them and toss them into the freezer to be added to smoothies instead.

But there is an even more delicious option that most of you already know:  Banana Bread.

Packed full of seeds, sultanas and whole grains

Banana bread can actually be pretty unhealthy - made with bleached white flour & too much white sugar, and I wanted to make something a bit more nutritious and tasty than that.

So today, Saturday morning, bright and early, I pulled a large bowl out of the cupboard, tossed in and smashed 3 very ripe bananas, and started making banana bread.  Spelt flour and spelt flakes from the Herttoniemi ruokapiiri stood in as the substitute for the flours, and maple syrup replaced the sugar, but I used 1/2 cup rather than one cup.  I added ground flaxseed tossed in sunflower seeds and sultanas as well.  It took less than 10 minutes to get the ingredients mixed together and into the oven - an efficient little project.

The bread baked as we did our morning clean up and projects, and by the time its warm, enticing fragrance began to fill the house, we were more than ready for a coffee break and a slice of the delicious bread.  The result was a satisfying loaf with a lovely grainy chewiness from the spelt flakes and sunflower seeds, and a pleasant sweetness from the maple syrup balanced by the lemon juice.

Perfect.

Ethiopa Yirgacheffe in the French Press goes nicely with this bread

This is what good weekends are made of:  a slow start, a sweet treat baking slowly in a hot oven, a glance out the window across the horizon of a world waking both from the slumber of sleep and of winter - a moment to think about how good life really is, when we have the luxury to sit back, even for a moment, and dream over a slice of something as simple, basic and wholesome as fresh banana bread.

Happy Weekend, my friends!

Maple Spelt Banana Bread

Preheat oven to 175°C/350°F.  Lightly oil a bread pan and line the bottom with a strip of parchment paper.

1 1/4 cup whole-grain spelt flour (can substitute 1/2 whole wheat and half regular wheat flour)
1/2 cup spelt flakes (can substitute oatmeal)
3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 egg
1/4 cup olive oil
3 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed
juice of 1/2 lemon, about 3 tablespoons
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 golden sultanas

Add all ingredients to a large bowl.  Stir together with a spatula or wooden spoon until well combined.  Pour the batter into your prepared loaf pan and bake for 50 - 60 minutes (oven temps and pan sizes vary, and the starting temperature of your ingredients will also have an impact) until the top is a deep golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cool in the pan for 5 minutes; remove and cool on a wire rack for another 10 minutes, then slice and serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes one loaf.

Vappu Munkki - May Day Donuts

Munkki, then salad, then munkki and sima.  What can I say?  Vappu comes but once per year!

Hauskaa Vappua!  Happy May Day!  

Glazed Donuts & Sugar-coated Donuts

I've written about the Vappu celebration a year ago in my post about Sima, the traditional drink consumed on this day.  Today I give you the natural companion to Sima:  Munkki.

A munkki is simply a donut.  Since we're in Finland, most donuts have cardamom added to them, which is a wonderful addition because it adds a depth of flavor to the donut, so I highly recommend it.  The Munkki is a Vappu tradition - on the eve of May Day, you'll see them for sale all over the place in grocery stores, cafes, restaurants, and little pop-up stands.

Up close and personal.  Couldn't eat just one...

I couldn't get Vappu Munkit out of my mind yesterday.  I went to the gym first thing in the morning, and doubled my cardio because, I thought, if I was going to make a batch of fresh donuts, there was no way I was going to stop at just one.  I had no idea how good these would be fresh out of the pot.

I had never actually made donuts before, but it turns out that the process is long in time, but short on effort, with the exception of the actually frying time, which requires attention otherwise your donuts will burn and no one will be interested except the neighbor's dog.  But don't worry - these are actually very easy to make.

One thing to know before you start:  the first donut out of the pot must absolutely be consumed by you. You see, it's a test donut of sorts:  has the dough risen enough?  Is the oil hot enough?  and - will you have enough energy to complete the frying process if you don't eat at least one to keep you going?  My first test donut was a "donut hole" - which you'll naturally have if you make the "rinkkilä" - the donut with the middle cut out.  My donuts were mostly the full round ones because I thought I might want to fill them with jam.  In the end, I didn't, because after coating half in sugar and the other half in glaze, I felt they were sweet enough, but you certainly can.  Vanilla or chocolate custard, or a raspberry or blueberry jam were at the top of my list should the need to fill the donuts strike me.  If you try that, let me know how it goes!

Trying to add a little virtue to a evening of donut decadence

Onward to the actually donut making process.  This recipe makes a big pile of donuts - roughly 30.  After eating three by myself, I quickly realized it was imperative that I reach out and share the love, so H&S and their boys were happy to help us work our way through the remaining heap, washed down with a glass of sima.

Hauskaa Vappua!

It's not over yet!  You still have time to make these donuts.

Vappu Munkit / May Day Donuts
This recipe is an adaption of two donut recipes:  Munkkirinkilät from Yhteishyvä Ruoka Toukokuu 2013 and Crispy and Creamy donuts from allrecipes.com.

15g / 2 (.25oz) bags of dried, active yeast
1 dl/ 1/2 cup water
3 dl / 1.5 cups 2% (kevytmaito) warm milk
1 dl / 1/2 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cardamom
2 eggs
50 g / 1/2 cup butter
12 dl / 6 cups flour

Pour the water into a large mixing bowl or into the bowl of your stand mixer.  Sprinkle the yeast over the top.  Allow the water to absorb the yeast for 5 minutes.  Add the milk, maple syrup, salt, cardamom, eggs, and 3 cups of flour.  Mix with the flat beater in a stand mixer until well-combined or with a regular hand-held mixer.

Continue to add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the edge of the bowl.  If you are using a hand mixer, you will need to finish this process by hand, on the counter, kneading the remaining flour into the dough.  Be careful here: your goal is a nice soft dough that is slightly sticky.  You may not need all of the flour - aim for between 5.5 - 6 cups total.

Once the dough is smooth and elastic, grease a large bowl.  Place the dough in the bowl, flipping it once to grease both sides.  Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and let it rise in a warm, draft-free place, until doubled in size:  30-45 minutes.

Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a lightly floured counter.  Flour your rolling pin and roll the dough out into 1/2"/ 1.3cm thickness.  Cut out donut rounds using a cookie cutter or, as I did, using a small drinking glass.  If you have a donut cutter - even better - you'll be a lot faster than I was!  You can reroll the dough scraps to make more donuts, or cut them into small pieces, roll them into little rounds, and let them rise, and them fry them like donut holes.

Cover the donuts with a clean dish towel and allow them to rise for 30 minutes.  Prepare your donut toppings while the donuts rise.

Frying the donuts
Line two baking pans with parchment paper and set a wire rack over the top to of each to catch the drips.

Pour 1/2 liter/1/2 quart of oil into a 3 liter/3 quart heavy-bottomed pot (I used a cast iron pot).  You can use a larger pot, but you'll need to add more oil to get the right depth.  You want 2-3 inches/5-8cm of oil in the pot.  Heat the oil to 175°C/350°F.  Fry a test donut to make sure the oil is at the right temperature. You'll know it's ready when a doughnut hole dropped into the oil browns in about a minute.

Fry 2 - 3 donuts at a time.  Donuts take 1-2 minutes per side to fry, and are done when they are a dark golden brown.  Flip, and fry the other side.  Fry 2 - 3 donuts at a time.  Using a slotted spoon, remove the donuts from and place on a wire rack.  Once cool enough to handle, either toss the donuts in sugar, or dip one side in the glaze (see below).

Allow to cool to room temperate (if you can wait that long) and consume with sima or coffee.

Makes approximately 30 donuts.  Best consumed, with friends, the day they are made, but can be frozen.


Donut Toppings:
While the donuts rise, prepare your donut coatings.  I chose two options.  The easiest is simply granulated sugar, in a plastic or paper bag, or in a small bowl, for coating the donuts.  If you put the sugar in a bag, you can add the hot donuts, fresh from the oil, and shake it.  If you choose to put the sugar in a bowl, you can quickly turn the donut in the sugar, effectively coating the whole thing.  Whatever works best for you!

The glaze, straight from the allrecipes.com donut recipe cited above, is something to talk about.  So good!  And dead easy.  This recipe will coat all of your donuts, but I halved it and it worked well.

In a small pot combine:
60g / 1/3 cup butter
4 dl / 2 cups powdered sugar

Bring to a simmer over low heat until the sugar and butter are well-combined and just beginning to simmer.  Add
1 teaspoon vanilla 
4 tablespoons hot water

Stir well with a spoon until thoroughly combined.  The mixture will be runny like a syrup.  Pour the mixture into a small bowl to make dipping the donuts easier.

If you want to add sprinkles to your donuts, it works well with the glaze.  Pour your sprinkles onto a plate or into a bowl.  Dip the donut into the warm glaze, then into the sprinkles, and set on a wire rack to cool and dry.

On the way to H&S to share the love.

Golden Cherry Tomato, Spring Onion, Rucola and Bacon Fettucine

Golden Cherry Tomato, Spring Onion, Rucola and Bacon Fettucine

It's official:  Spring has arrived.  Yes, I know that the Vernal Equinox happened weeks ago, but the calendar date has nothing to do with Spring in this part of the world.  But finally.

Finally - the snow has given way to the rain and crocuses and daffodils are popping there bright heads up to brighten an otherwise gray landscape.  Finally - the ice has given up its grip on the sea, and the waves are once again lapping up against the shoreline.  Finally - the temperatures are consistently on the plus side of things, and I've ditched all of my winter jackets, gloves, hats and sweaters to storage to make way for a new season of lighter, brighter outfits.

Spring flowers in Rauma

The days are getting longer, yes, and that means the food options are slowly beginning to increase:  Spring onions have found their way to grocery store shelves.  Cherry tomatoes, tasteless through the winter, are now coming back into full flavor, slowly but surely.  I saw the first market stand yesterday in the railway station - selling fresh strawberries from Italy and fresh peas from Spain, and though I have no intention of buying either at the moment, I couldn't help but smile at another symbol that Winter has passed.

You'd think we'd have more time to cook as the days get longer - but no.  Our lives are busier than ever, and between work and working out, spending time with friends & family and keeping up with our hobbies, food often gets shifted into a tiny place in time where we want something amazing to eat, but our cupboards are as empty as our minds at the end of a long day, and we stumble home, hoping for a way to get something quick and easy on the table.

Daffodils spanning the river in Turku - before the ice met its demise

This is a dinner for just such a night.  Easy to make.  Looks like Spring on a plate.

Here's how:  Stop by your local grocer.  Grab a package of fresh fettucine, a container of golden cherry tomatoes, a bundle of green onions, a bunch of rucola and a small package of bacon.  If you don't have these staples already:  add garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper to your cart.

Drop your bags by the front door, kick your shoes off, wash your hands and get a pot of water boiling for the pasta.  Heat a frying pan over medium heat and as it warms up, begin.  This ought to take about 10-15 minutes from start to finish, depending on how fast you can chop.  Recipe is easily doubled if you are serving more guests.

Golden Cherry Tomato, Spring Onion, Bacon and Rucola Fettucine

300g fresh Fettucine
6 tablespoons olive oil

3 spring onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
3 slices bacon, chopped into 1/2" pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional:  use Lemon Maldon Salt)
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
1 oz of fresh parmesan, grated
2 small handfuls of rucola, washed and dried


1.  Bring a pot of water to boil.

2.  Heat a frying pan over medium heat.  Pour in the olive oil and allow the oil to heat for about 30 seconds.  Add the spring onions, garlic, and bacon.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the garlic and onions are tender and the bacon is cooked through, about 2 minutes.

3.  While the onion mixture cooks, give your cherry tomatoes a quick rinse and cut each one in half.  Add these to the pan and give it a quick stir. Add the salt and pepper and stir briefly to combine.

4. Once the tomatoes are in the pan, put the fettucine into the boiling water and set the timer for 5 minutes.  When the timer beeps, quickly drain the water from the pasta and remove the frying pan with the onion mixture from the heat.

5.  Pour the pasta into the frying pan and toss with a spoon to combine all ingredients.  Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the mixture and toss again.  Divide the pasta onto two places and top each with a small handful of rucola.  Serve.

Serves 2 hungry people generously.

Honey Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Raisin Cookies

Honey Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Raisin Cookies and Milk

Some days there is no better idea than to rise with the sun and start a batch of cookies almost immediately.  Today was one of those days.  I was up at 4:45 and raring to go, with a quiet house and an idea:   Honey Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Raisin Cookies.

Now I won't deny that I may have had one of those cookies somewhere around breakfast time, but before you judge, stand back a little and consider that these have nearly all of the components of your morning granola, only I've swapped the nuts for chocolate and the olive oil for butter.  I replaced all of the sugar with honey purchased locally and now I am anticipating dipping one of those gorgeous cookies into a glass of milk, because that's just how things ought to be done, for the kid within us.

Chocolate Chunks.  Red, Yellow, Black Raisins.  Oatmeal.  Honey.  Oh my.

When I was a kid, we'd buy peanut butter in gallon-sized jars.  The jars, once empty, were perfect for storing a admirable quantity of cookies - usually chocolate chip.  I never liked raisins when I was young, and in that way I've not really grown up as I'd still generally prefer to skip them.   So though I liked the flavor of oatmeal cookies, I always felt compelled to pick out the raisins, which kind ruined the cookie, so they weren't the ones I reached for.

And then one fine day at a cafe somewhere in Europe, there were Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chunks and Raisins.  They looked delicious:  crisp around the edges, soft in the middle.  When I bit into one the chocolate sort of oozed into my mouth and then there was the chewy texture of the oatmeal and the raisin that had me grinning in gleeful surprise.

Maybe I'm thinking of cookies.  I'm definitely happy to be outside in the sun!

I've been itching to remake them ever since, but somehow years have gone by, and it wasn't until I bought a jar of local honey this weekend during a Slow Food field trip to Kristinestad, Finland that they came to my mind again.

One of the two churches in this town of 7000 people

Kristinestad is a long haul from Helsinki - we rode a train for 3.5 hours to Seinäjoki, through the frozen, sunlit countryside, and then hopped in a taxi for a slightly bumpy 1.5 hour ride.  The honey was a surprise purchase from the taxi driver,  whose son & daughter-in-law are beekeepers.  We had plenty of time to discover this by the time we arrived in Kristenstad, a Swedish-speaking town formerly a shipping hub for transporting goods to and from Finland to places all over Europe, and now the supplier of most of Finland's potatoes.

House owned by a ship captain.  Ship captains were among the elite and most wealthy during the boom.

Since it is currently still cold and snowy all over the country, we didn't see many potatoes other than those that accompanied the dinner on the first night and lunch the following day.  I was hoping to meet producers in K-town - the people who actually grow the potatoes and crayfish, make the sausages & bread, etc, but unfortunately, not this time.  So I was extremely thrilled with my two jars of honey.

The town's beautiful old wooden buildings and quaint feel have been well preserved.

Back to the cookies.  I decided today was the day to create the recipe for them.  I've read a lot about using alternatives to white sugar and white flour when cooking and baking.  White flour is something that has been easy to replace - in this recipe I used whole-grain spelt flour.  Sugar, on the other hand, is a bit of a mystery as I'm not always certain how a recipe will behave when a sugar alternative is used.  I had purchased two kinds of honey in Kristinestad:  one was the runny type and the other was the nearly solid form.  I decided to take the gamble that the latter would be a reasonable substitute for sugar, and to my great pleasure, the cookies turned out to be as delicious as hoped for.

These cookies will freeze well and I can imagine them as part of a phenomenal ice cream sandwich, with a reasonable sized slab of high-quality vanilla ice cream nestled between the layers.   Mmmmm.  Summer is coming.

Honey Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Raisin Cookies and Milk

But for now, I'm sticking with a glass of milk for dunking a few, and freezing the rest to eat over Easter weekend.   Seriously.  So good.  Maybe not really a replacement for my morning granola, but certainly coming with me on the next hike.

Enjoy!

Honey Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Raisin Cookies

Preheat oven to 350°F / 175°C.

1.  Prepare the following items first in separate small bowls:
3.5 cups old fashioned oats / 7 dl Iso Kaura Hiutaleetä
1 cup / 2 dl mixed golden, red and black raisins, chopped
300 g / 12 oz milk chocolate bar, roughly chopped

2.  In a small bowl combine with a fork:
1 + 3/4 cup / 3.5 dl whole-grain spelt flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt

3.  In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl if you are using a hand mixer put:
16 oz (2 cups) / 230g butter, softened
1 cup / 2 dl firm honey

Beat the butter and honey together until well combined and the mixture looks light and fluffy.  Add:
2 eggs 
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Beat again until eggs and vanilla are fully incorporated.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture at a time until the it is fully incorporated.  Pour in the raisins, chocolate and oats and mix with until just combined.  I usually remove the mixing bowl from the mixer at this point and mix by hand with a spatula.

Place spoonfuls of the dough onto a parchment covered baking sheet, leaving room for them to spread. Bake 9-12 minutes until crisp around the edges and soft in the middle.  Remove from oven and allow them to rest for 5 minutes on the pan to firm up a bit.  Transfer to a wire rack and let them cool completely.

Makes about 48 cookies.

Preserved Lemon Hummus

Now there's a snack for you:  Preserved Lemon Hummus and Fresh Veggies

I'm sending you all off for the weekend with a short post.  The days here are so gloriously sunny that it's hard to stay inside long enough to cook much, but the truth is that you don't need to spend hours in order to make something awesome.   So I whipped up some hummus yesterday afternoon, and then grabbed my skis and hit the trail.  Good stuff.

I've written about hummus before in this post about Homemade Tahini.

Hummus is one of the most satisfying snacks I've ever had - great with cut up fresh vegetables, excellent spread on a sandwich with a big stack of lettuce, tomato and alfalfa sprouts, and a great dip for rye crisps or pitas if you want to serve it as part of the appetizer table.  This stuff is good.  And easy.  And oh by the way - good for you!  High in protein, low in fat, and destined for vegetables - what more could you ask for?

I have made it many different ways, but this time I added a twist by using up some Preserved Lemons and some of their liquid.  You may remember I pointed you toward Eating from the Ground Up and her  recipe for Preserved Lemons - nothing's changed there - it's still the one I use, though I typically double the amount of cardamom in the recipe.  It's so good.

To use the preserved lemons for this recipe, take 2 lemon quarters and rinse them thoroughly to remove some of the salt.  Don't discard the lemon pulp this time, though - toss that into the hummus with the rest of the recipe.  I also made this batch of hummus light on garlic, using just two cloves.  I like garlic to sit in the background when I am eating hummus.  I don't want it overpowering the rest of the flavors and then have it continue to make itself known for hours afterward.  If you like a stronger garlic flavor, taste this, and then add a few cloves if necessary.

Preserved Lemon Hummus with Rye Crisps and Cucumber

I always soak and cook my own chickpeas for making hummus:  soak them overnight in a generous amount of water at room temperature, and then cook them for one hour in fresh water until they are tender.  Cool before beginning this recipe.   If you'd rather, you can use canned.  Just remember to reserve one cup of the liquid when you drain the chickpeas.

Lastly, add salt only at the very end.  The lemons you are using are preserved with salt, so you can adjust the salt needs at the end to suit your taste.

No Preserved Lemons?  If you don't have preserved lemons, you can still follow this recipe to make hummus.  You'll want to add an additional 2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and you'll need about 1 teaspoon of salt - but add the salt slowly and taste as you go to suit your personal preferences.

Preserved Lemon Hummus

3 cups cooked chickpeas, or the equivalent of canned chickpeas
1 cup of cooking water, reserved
1/4 cup Tahini
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
2 preserved lemon quarters, rinsed and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons of the liquid from the preserved lemons jar
Juice of 1/2 lemon, about 2 tablespoons
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Place all ingredients except the cooking water into a food processor.  Process the mixture until completely smooth.  If the mixture starts to look stiff and won't mix well, add some of the cooking water.  Start with a half cup, and then add small amounts from there until you get the consistency you want.  I like the hummus to be fairly fluid while I am processing it as it makes it easier to dip and spread.

Stop the food processor.  Taste the hummus.  Add additional salt to taste, if needed.

You're done!  Enjoy.

Makes about 3 cups.

Chocolate Mint Raspberry Cake

Chocolate Mint Raspberry Cake

Last Friday, it seemed like a good day to make cupcakes.  It was freezing cold outside, but the sun was glinting off of the rooftops and off the shovels of the 3 guys removing snow from the top of the building opposite my apartment.

If you've lived in Finland, you've probably seen them:  they'll be wearing neon vests (as though that sort of safety precaution 8 stories up is necessary) and dressed in light winter clothing and heavy work boots, equipped with shovels and wearing some kind of harness to which a safety rope is attached.  With one end of the rope securely tied to the harness, it remains a mystery where they hook the other end or how long the rope actually is.  Nevertheless, these professionals can be seen all over the city after a period of heavy snowstorms - typically two guys on the roof and one or two below.  Those on the ground guard the cones and attempt to keep pedestrians out of the path of falling snow, while those above do the heavy lifting, ensuring that the roofs won't leak or cave under the burden of winter's precipitation.

Layer on the raspberries over the frosting

I'd finished my cupcake batter with the sun streaming in through the windows and an occasional glance toward the other rooftop to make sure the workers were still standing.  And then I remembered that it was International Women's Day, and decided that if there is an entire day designated as a holiday to celebrate my gender, then it certainly calls for something more exciting the humble cupcakes.  So the cupcake batter became cake and raspberries were added along with a luscious and feather-light frosting made from mascarpone, heavy whipping cream, vanilla and a touch of sugar.

We ate it all weekend long, before and after our skiing trips and maybe, though there's no clear evidence of this, maybe even for breakfast.  It is that kind of chocolate cake.

You see - there are three types of chocolate cakes in the world: there are those that say they are chocolate cake but have so little chocolate and are so light in color that hardly deserve to be bothered with.  "Essence of chocolate" cake is not what we are going for when we dream of chocolate cake.  No.  You need to be able to taste the chocolate.  "Light chocolate" is just synonym for "bad idea" in my book.

Then there are the very serious, deep, dark, dense, take-no-prisoners chocolate cakes.  The kind where you cut yourself a slim sliver, close your eyes, and savor the flavor on your tongue, just one small precious morsel at a time, knowing that the cacao level is hovering somewhere near 70%.  The kind that require melted chocolate folded into room temperature butter and a layer of ganache made from more melted chocolate and a little cream.  But this isn't that kind of cake.

Frost the bottom of the top layer and place over the raspberry layer

This chocolate cake is your friendly but definitely full-on chocolate cake.  The one you might make for a kids' birthday party, or on an evening when friends are coming over and you want something tasty to share.  You might serve it without frosting, but with vanilla ice cream instead, and a spoonful of chocolate or caramel sauce. Or maybe you wouldn't bother with any of that, and you'd instead slice a piece and stand at the window facing the sunlight, cake in one hand and steaming mug of coffee in the other.

This cake is easy to make.  It has just a hint of mint - enough to add interest but not overwhelm.  It's elevated this time by the frosting - something that requires you have specific ingredients on hand.  I used frozen raspberries - if you do this, thaw them thoroughly and drain them just a bit so the juices don't run.  Fresh would be best, but it's the middle of Winter here (ahem, Spring), and I need to work through the frozen berries before summer begins.

There's a secret inside of this one...

By the time the cake was cooled and frosted and in the refrigerator awaiting consumption, dinner was ready, the sun was hovering just over the sea, and the snow-removal crew had gone home for the day.  So we sat in the rosy red light of the setting sun, licking the last of the chocolate crumbs off our forks, planning what we'd do over the weekend - other than finish off the cake, that is.

The light mint flavor matches the sweet-tart flavor of raspberries perfectly.

Chocolate Mint Raspberry Cake
This cake was inspired by the One Bowl Chocolate Cupcakes in the Martha Stewart Cupcake book.  I used unrefined Spelt flour for this instead of white wheat flour, reduced the sugar and included brown sugar, substituted olive oil, added extra eggs yolks to the batter, and added peppermint extract.  It makes a mighty fine cake.

For the Cake:
1 1/2 cups / 3 dl spelt flour
3/4 cup / 1.5 dl cocoa powder
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
3/4 cup buttermilk, plain yogurt or kefir
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon pure peppermint extract
3/4 cup warm water

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Oil two round cake pans and line the bottoms with circles of parchment paper.

In a medium bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, combine all of the dry ingredients together with a fork or whisk.  Add the wet ingredients and beat with a stand mixer or handheld beater until smooth.

Divide the cake batter evenly between the two cake pans.  Bake for 30-35 minutes until puffed in the center and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Remove from oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Run a knife around the outside of the cake inside the pan to separate the edge from the cake pan.  Invert the cakes onto a wire rack; remove parchment paper, and flip cakes over so they are right side up.  Cool completely.

For the Frosting: 
1 small tub (8.8 oz/250g) mascarpone cheese, room temperature
2 cups / 4 dl heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons powdered sugar
2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract (if you use vanilla sugar, omit the sugar)

1 cup / 2 dl fresh or frozen raspberries

In a medium bowl, whip the marscapone until it is light and fluffy, about 30 seconds.  Add the heavy whipping cream and whip with a stand mixer or a handheld mixer until soft peaks form.  Add the vanilla and sugar, and beat very briefly, just to combine.

Assembly:
Set one cake layer on a cake plate and cover the top with frosting.  Layer the raspberries over the top of the frosting so they completely cover the cake layer.  Frost the bottom of the remaining cake layer and lay it carefully, frosting side down, over the raspberries.  Use the remaining frosting to cover the entire cake with frosting.  Serve immediately or refrigerate until serving.  Can be made up to two days ahead.

Serves 16.

Overnight Breakfast: Barley Porridge

Overnight Barley Porridge

One of life's great luxuries is a hot breakfast in the morning.

But how many of us have or take the time on a weekday to cook something?  I rarely get out the door without having brewed a cup of fresh java first, but rare is the morning where I've given myself even an extra 10 minutes so that I can eat something that requires heat.

Unless.

Unless you've started breakfast the night before and have let gentle oven temperatures and time work their magic while you sleep.

Overnight breakfasts aren't a new concept.  I remember when I was a kid and there were weekend church services planned one Fall near Seattle.  As is typically during October in Seattle, we had heavy rains and heavy winds which knocked trees down across power lines so the power went out across several counties, meaning there were large areas in the western half of Washington state without any power.  In preparation for a Sunday morning brunch (or maybe it was a Saturday morning brunch?) at the church, the ladies had prepared an Overnight Egg Casserole:  Eggs, ham, cheese and cubed bread with salt, pepper and herbs, soaked overnight in large roasting pans that would be then baked in hot ovens in order to be ready for the arrival of the service guests.

Except...there was no power for the ovens, nor for the church lights, heating, microphones...so church was cancelled.  We didn't let that stop us.  Ours was a big house, and we still had electricity.  We went to the church, brought home pans of overnight breakfast to bake in our oven at home, invited people to stop in, and enjoyed the good company of those who arrived by for a bite to eat.

Overnight Barley Porridge with mixed berries

I hadn't had an overnight breakfast in years, not even the Overnight Egg Dish.  Then one weekend, J and I had brunch at the Klaus K hotel in Helsinki, and one of the items on offer was Barley Porridge or ohrapuuro, which they said had been lovingly baked overnight in the oven at 80°C.  It was warm, creamy, with just a slight firmness and chewiness to the pearl barley.  It smelled of warm milk and was topped with forest berries that had been frozen during the summer, and then thawed overnight in order to be served with our breakfast.  On a freezing winter morning, when we'd taken the metro to the city center and then walked through the silent, foggy streets across the city toward the shining lights of Klaus K, the milky, nutty flavor of the barley porridge contrasted with the natural sweet tartness of the Finnish berries made for a satisfying start to the morning.

Since then, I've made this at home many times.  I pour all the ingredients into a 2-quart / 2-liter casserole dish, heat the oven to 80°C/180°F, give it a stir, and pop it in the oven.  I then dump a pile of frozen berries into a wide, shallow bowl, pop that into the fridge to thaw, and head off to bed.

In the morning, the fragrance of the barley and warmed milk greets me.  I can brew a cup of coffee or tea in the time it takes to get my morning porridge into a bowl and berries poured over it, and it is one of the best ways to start my day.

Try it for yourself!

Overnight Barley Porridge

1 cup / 2 dl pearl barley
1 quart / 4 cups / 1 liter of milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional

Pour all of the ingredients into a 2-quart/2 liter ceramic casserole dish.  Give it a stir.  Turn the oven to 80°C/180°F, please the porridge into the oven, shut the door, let it be overnight.

Pour 2 cups of frozen berries into a wide, shallow bowl: blueberries, bilberries, raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrant, blackberries...whatever you have!  I like a combination of berries, myself.  Place the berries in the fridge overnight to thaw.

In the morning, pull the porridge from the oven and serve topped with berries and accompanied by a steaming cup of coffee or tea and the morning paper.

Serves 6.

Good Morning!  The newspaper, hot breakfast, hot tea... a happy start.