Estonian recipes: thick fruit soup (dried fruit kissel)

One non-Christmas recipe for a change :) Paks puuviljakissell or thick (dried) fruit soup/kissel is an old Estonian favourite (I've previously blogged about it's more modest cousin, raisin fruit soup). The kissel on the photo was made with dried apricots, prunes, pears and raisins, but you can use whatever fruit you have in hand. It's cheap, tasty and easy to make.

You can also serve it in umpteen ways. Traditional way to serve fruit soup is with milk (or perhaps light cream), but you can top a thick fruit soup with whipped cream or even good-quality vanilla ice cream, which would make it actually a rather festive pudding, especially if served from pretty dessert bowls.

Dried fruit soup
(Paks puuviljakissell)
Serves 6

500 g dried fruit and berries of your choice - apples, pears, prunes, seedless raisins, apricots etc.
1.5 litre of water
a cinnamon stick
2 cloves
85 g caster sugar (100 ml)
juice of half a lemon
2 to 3 Tbsp potato starch or cornflour + some cold water (see note below)

Rinse the dried fruit under cold water, then cut into smaller pieces, if necessary.
Place into a large saucepan with water and let them soak for 2-3 hours.
Add the cinnamon stick and cloves. Bring the "soup" into a boil, reduce heat and simmer slowly until the fruit is softened. Near the end of the cooking, add the sugar and season to taste with lemon juice.
To thicken the soup, make a slurry with starch and some cold water. Drizzle the starch slurry into the fruit soup, stirring carefully. If you are using potato starch, then re-heat the fruit soup and remove from the heat as soon as the first bubbles appear on surface - do NOT boil. If you're using cornflour, then you need to cook the soup for a few minutes for it to thicken.
Remove the saucepan from the heat and sprinkle some sugar on top - this prevents the "skin" from forming on top.

Christmas Recipes: Chocolate Mousse with Cranberry Fruit Soup

Photo by Andres Teiss

Last year we had a first proper snowfall in mid-November, and that snow never really went away until late Spring. We had a beautiful winter wonderland for months. This year is totally different - it's early December, it's still green outside, and I get to pick fresh herbs from my garden. That's a perk, for sure, but I do miss snow that makes our dark winters so much lighter and more enjoyable. However, the Christmas is soon around the corner - with or without the snow - so I'll be posting mostly Christmas recipes during this month. I recently had to develop six recipes for a particular supermarket here in Estonia, which are included in their 2011 Christmas Newsletter*. This lovely and different dessert - luscious chocolate mousse with refreshingly light cranberry fruit soup (or kissel) - was one of them.

It's best to make the chocolate mousse on the previous day, as it has time to cool and set then. However, I prepared all six dishes, including this mousse, within two and half hours, so it can be made on the night of serving as well - just it'll be a wee bit more stressful :)

* The photos for the newsletter were shot by Andres Teiss, and he has kindly allowed me to use those for my blog posts as well. 

Chocolate Mousse with Cranberry Fruit Soup
(Šokolaadivaht jõhvikakisselliga)
Serves six to eight


Photo by Andres Teiss

Chocolate mousse:
200 g dark chocolate (I used Estonian "Bitter" chocolate), coarsely chopped
1 large organic egg, separated
1 to 2 Tbsp brandy, cognac or liqueur
200 to 250 ml (a cup) whipping cream

Cranberry fruit soup:
1 l cranberry juice drink (I like Granini)
sugar, to taste
3 Tbsp potato starch or cornstarch + few Tbsp cold water

To garnish:
fresh or frozen cranberries

To make the chocolate mousse: place the chopped chocolate into a heatproof bowl and either melt in the microwave or place over a saucepan of simmering water. Remove from the heat, add the alcohol and stir in the egg yolk.
Whisk the egg white until stiff foam forms, then gently fold into the chocolate mousse.
Whisk the cream until it turns thick, smooth and forms soft peaks. Fold about one third into the chocolate mixture, then gently fold in the rest of the whipped cream.
Cover the bowl with a clingfilm and place into a cold fridge for couple of hours.

To make the cranberry fruit soup, pour the juice drink into a medium-sized saucepan. Add some sugar to taste, if you wish so. Bring gently to the simmer, then add the starch and water slurry, stirring while doing so. If you're using corn starch, then bring again into a boil and simmer gently, stirring, until the fruit soup thickens. If you're using potato starch, then bring again _almost_ to the simmering point and then promptly remove from the heat. Cool completely.

To serve, take two large spoons and spoon large dollops of chocolate mousse into serving bowls. Pour cranberry fruit soup around the mousse and garnish with some fresh or frozen berries. .

Latvian cranberry, cream and rye trifle 'Rupjmaizes kārtojums'

Our Southern neighbours Latvians are celebrating their independent statehood again today. Last year I shared a recipe for delicious light pork dish, Kurzeme Stroganoff, to mark the occasion. This time you'll get a recipe for a Latvian pudding, kind of rye and cranberry trifle, called rupjmaizes kārtojums (rupjmaize is the Latvian word for dark rye bread) or "Latvian Ambrosia" among English-speakers who know the stuff.  Cream, rye bread and cranberries is apparently a classic Latvian flavour combination. My local supermarket has a freezer selling Latvian ice cream, including a delicious (and deliciously large) tub of "Rupjmaizes kārtojums ice cream". Latvian popular dairy giant, Karums, has at least one Rupjmaizes kārtojums (scroll down here for the photo). A quick googleing revealed many other commercially made rupjmaizes kārtojums derivatives.

You can serve it in a large glass bowl, like I've done, or in pretty dessert glasses (like on this Latvian website). I've seen recipes that are using just whipped cream for the cream part, and recipes that are using just curd cheese for the cream part. I've gone the Estonian route and mixed the two :)

Latvian sweet rye trifle 
(Läti leivadessert)

about 200 g grated dark rye bread (shop-bought and make your own)
2 tsp ground cinnamon
4 Tbsp caster sugar, divided
400 g curd cheese cream
200 g whipping cream (35%, optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract or sugar
150 g cranberries, crushed and sweetened according to taste

Place the rye bread crumbs onto a non-stick frying pan. Add 2 Tbsp of sugar and the cinnamon. Stir, then slowly toast the breadcrumbs for about 10 minutes, stirring every now and then, until the bread is aromatic and, well, toasty :) Remove the pan from the heat and let the breadcrumbs cool completely.
Meanwhile, mix the curd cheese, sugar, vanilla and whipped cream (if using).
Layer the dessert into a large bowl or individual dessert glasses. Start with about a third of the bread mixture, then half of the cream mixture, half of the cranberries, then another third of the breadcrumbs, then the other half of the cream, then cranberries and finally top the dessert with the rest of the cinnamon-scented caramelized breadcrumbs.

Leave to stand for about 4-5 hours in the fridge before serving. Garnish with some whole cranberries.

Maple and mascarpone ice cream

It was Canada day few weeks ago (July 1st, to be precise, which happened to be a very hot summer day), and out of the blue, I wanted to make something Canadian to mark the occasion. My wonderful *Canadian* apple cake was out of the questions, as the apples aren't ripe yet. All other dessert options seemed either much more suitable for cooler months or I didn't have the ingredients. And then it hit me. Why not make a Canada-inspired ice cream? I know, I know, there's much more to Canada than red maple leaves and sweet maple syrup, but I cannot help to put an equation mark beween Canada and maple syrup.

I had a tub of mascarpone on hand, as I had planned to make a lovely honeyed mascarpone ice cream. I swapped honey with maple syrup and served the ice cream with some candied walnuts (photo below). I made another batch last weekend - and finished it off yesterday, garnished with some sweet-as-honey cloudberries.

Summer and ice cream go hand in hand, so do enjoy both of them while you can. I certainly will, especially after it dawned upon me last night that over half of the summer is already gone :O

Maple syrup and mascarpone ice cream
(Vahtrasiirupine mascarpone-jäätis)
Serves six to eight



2 large eggs
85 g caster sugar (100 ml)
100 ml maple syrup
250 g mascarpone, at room temperature
200 ml single cream (or double cream, see notes below)

Whisk eggs, sugar and vanilla until thick and pale. Stir in the maple syrup, then whisk in the soft mascarpone cheese. Mix until thoroughly combined, then stir in the cream.
Cool, then churn into an ice cream according to the instructions of your ice cream machine.

Enjoy straight away or let it harden in the freezer for about an hour or two.



Notes: If you haven't got an ice cream machine, then use whipping or double cream instead. Whip it to the soft-peak stage, then gently fold into the rest of the ingredients. Pour into the lidded box and freeze for at least 24 hours.

Delicious and crispy elderflower fritters

We're in the mood for fritters over here - which is weird, considering the heat-wave we've been having for the umpteenth day now. Last Friday I made deep-fried crispy stuffed courgette flowers, few days before that we all enjoyed these delicious elderflower fritters.

Elderflower as such is not new to Nami-Nami household. I've been using elderflower cordial to lend some floral notes and delicate flavour to a number of dishes - cold buttermilk soup 'koldskål', quick elderflower mousse, elderflower curd, strawberries with elderflower zabaglione, to name just a few that have made it to this food blog. We've been drinking elderflower fizz at home a lot. But I've always used a shop-bought cordial, as we didn't have an elderflower (Sambucus nigra) bush growing in our garden (they grow wild pretty much only on the Western isles). Two years ago, when we had to finalize the list of plants we wanted to have in our garden, elderflower was at the top of the list (alongside a proper quince tree and an Egremont Russet apple tree). Last year the elderflower was still too young to bear any blossoms, but this year was different.

When I first spotted this tiny promise back in late June, I was very, very excited, to say the least:


Some patience was needed, but eventually our black elder gave us these:



Like with all other fritters and donuts, these are best right after frying, doused with plenty of icing/confectioner's sugar that you can season with some vanilla powder or ground cinnamon.

Crispy elderflower fritters
(Frititud leedripuuõisikud)
Makes about 20-30 small fritters, enough for 5-6 hungry eaters

about 20-30 small elderflower clusters

Batter:
200 g plain flour (330 ml)
a pinch of salt
1 large egg
300 ml soda water or light beer or milk
a generous splash of grappa, Limoncello or rum

mild-tasting oil for deep-frying (I used rapeseed oil)

icing sugar/confectioner's sugar to serve

Sift the flour into a bowl, add salt and mix. Make a hole in the middle, break the egg into the hole. Whisk until combined, adding the liquid (water, beer or milk) gradually and finally mixing in the alcohol. Put into the fridge for about half an hour.
Meanwhile, clean the elderflower clusters from various critters and bugs (if you cannot see any, you can place the flowers into the freezer for 10 minutes or so - apparently this "scares" them out. To keep as much of the precious pollen, it's advisable not to rinse the blossoms). Cut the stem end as short as possible.
Heat about 4-5 cm (about 2 inches) of oil in a small saucepan. The temperature is about right when a little peeled potato cube or bread cube begins to sizzle and turns into nice golden brown when you drop it into the oil.



Now, working with couple of elderflowers at the time, dip them into the batter, then lower them into hot oil. Fry for about 2-3 minutes, then gently turn them over and let them brown on the other side as well. (I loved how they puffed up so nicely when lowered into the hot oil).
Using a slotted spoon, transfer them into a double layer of kitchen paper to drain off the excess oil.
Fry the rest of the batter-dipped elderflower blossoms in a similar fashion.

Dust with plenty of icing sugar/confectioner's sugar that you can season with vanilla powder or cinnamon first.



More elderflower fritters:
Delicious Days
Nigel Slater
Lottie + Doof
Georgia Pellegrini
Hunter. Hanger. Gardener. Cook.
Doves Farm

Strawberry and sour cream ice cream

Favourite in July 2011

Sour cream is a staple in every Estonian kitchen, and local strawberries are abundant just now. So it's no wonder that I've resorted to making this excellent ice cream from David Lebovitz excellent Perfect Scoop: Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas, and Sweet Accompaniments whenever a) it's hot and b) I crave ice cream. Always a crowd-pleaser and always delicious. Mind you, only if you use good-tasting strawberries, of course!

Strawberry and sour cream ice cream
(Maasika-hapukoorejäätis)
Yields about 1.2 litres (2 pints)
Slightly adapted from David Lebovitz's recipe


Favourite in July 2008

500 gram fresh strawberries
150 gram sugar
1 Tbsp vodka (keeps the ice cream from hardening too much)
250 g sour cream
250 ml whipping cream
1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice

Rinse, dry and hull the strawberries. Slice them and toss them in a bowl with sugar and vodka. Stir, until the sugar dissolves, then let them macerate at room temperature for an hour. Stir every now and then.
Place the strawberries (and ALL the liquid from the bowl) into the blender container, add sour cream, whipping cream and lemon juice. Blend until smooth.
Refrigerate the mixture for 1 hour.
Freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Rhubarb and rye bread soup

Couple of years ago, when I blogged about Estonian rye bread soup, the idea of a 'sweet' bread soup seemed very unusual to most of my (non-Estonian) readers. But trust me - the rye bread soup is cheap (usually using stale rye bread) and cheerful, and very tasty. Here's a seasonal version of the soup, using pale pink rhubarb stalks. Whereas the rye bread soup isn't particularly sugary-sweet anyway, this late spring/early summer version is even lighter and with a slight and welcome tang.

Rhubarb and rye bread soup
(Leivasupp rabarbriga)
Serves six to eight



400 g rhubarb, cleaned
200 g rye bread
1 litre water
100 g caster sugar
a cinnamon stick
some vanilla extract

To serve:
sour cream or yoghurt (optional)

Break the rye bread into chunks, place into a pan with 1 litre of cold water. Leave to soften for a few hours.
Bring slowly into the boil.
Cut the rhubarb into thick slices, add to the pan with sugar and cinnamon stick. Simmer the soup for 15-20 minutes, or until the bread and rhubarb are soft and mushy.
Season with vanilla.
Cool before serving.

Easter paskha for chocolate lovers

Chocolate paskha, 2011, decorated with dried apricots

It's Easter Sunday this weekend and many a festive table will have a paskha (also spelled as 'pascha') as a centerpiece. We will, for sure.

Paskha is a sweet and rich curd cheese dessert that's traditionally served during Easter. I've shared two favourite recipes with you before - my traditional uncooked paskha with pistachio nuts and craisins and creamy cooked paskha with egg yolks. Here's another delicious paskha, especially for those of you who love chocolate!

Chocolate paskha
(Šokolaadisõbra kohupiimapasha)
Serves 8


Chocolate paskha, 2009, decorated with candied kumquats

500 g curd cheese (kohupiim/tvorog) or ricotta
100 ml whipping cream
100 g dark chocolate, chopped
75 g butter, cut into cubes
50 g caster sugar
handful of dried apricots
handful of dried seedless raisins

Place raisins and apricots into a colander, pour over boiling water and drain thoroughly. Put aside.

Place cream, chocolate and butter into a small heavy saucepan and heat gently, stirring with a wooden spoon, until chocolate and butter are melted and you've got a luscious brown sauce. Remove the pot from the heat and immediately fold in the curd cheese, sugar, apricots and raisins. Mix until combined.

Line a special paskha-dish or a fine sieve with a double layer of cotton muslin that you've rinsed under cold water and wrung dry. Pour the curd cheese mixture into the dish, place a small plate on top. Place the filled paskha-dish over a bowl to collect any whey liquid that will drip out of the paskha.

To serve, turn the paskha onto a plate, remove the muslin and paskha dish or sieve.

 Decorate as you please - I love the contrast of chocolate-coloured paskha and something orange (apricots, candied kumquats etc).

Roasted quinces with lemon and vanilla

I'm trying to become a better food photographer. A wise Estonian foodblogger once told me that in order to improve my photos I should take time and study carefully the pictures I like and try to replicate them - and that's what I'm doing here. Zapxpxau is definitely one of the most talented food photographers here in Estonia (note that Zapxpxau is her Flickr user name, not her real Estonian name :) and this gorgeous roasted quince photo appeared on her Flickr-stream couple of days ago. Lovely, I thought..

I was trying to sort out my kitchen counter yesterday, and when I saw three lonely quinces just sitting there, forlorn and slightly wrinkled after weeks in that corner, I remembered Zapxpxau's quince photo. I studied it, read the recipe and made the dessert. I'm pretty familiar with quinces - I've even shared a recipe with you - so I knew the dessert would taste wonderful and smell amazing (quinces must be one of the most aromatic fruits out there). However, the picture part was still missing. It was 6 pm and the light conditions were quickly getting worse (the falling late March snow didn't really help, either). On top of that, when rummaging through our cutlery cupboards I realised that I didn't have a suitable dish for plating the lovely roasted quinces. Luckily, my dear K. was still at work, so I quickly sent him to a department store, explaining vaguely what I was looking for. He found just the thing I needed - bless him.

So early this morning, when my dear K. was at work, our 2-year old daughter at the nursery and our 2-month old son having one of his many naps, I went ahead and took this photograph.

Thank you, Zapxpxau (for the inspiration and the recipe) and Eva (for the tip). Oh, and K. for that plate :)

Roasted quinces with lemon and vanilla
(Röstitud küdooniad)
Serves three to four

2 to 3 ripe quinces
about 500 ml (2 cups) of water
100 g caster sugar
2 organic unwaxed lemons
1 vanilla pod

Heat the oven to 180 C.
Peel the quinces, cut them into two halves and remove the core (be careful - raw quinces are pretty hard!)
Fit the quince halves into a deep oven dish, snugly next to one another.
Pour over the water, freshly squeezed lemon juice and grated lemon zest. Halve the vanilla pod lengthwise, fit the halves between the quinces. (There should be about an inch of water in the dish - add more, if necessary).
Cover the dish with a piece of foil.
Roast the quinces in a pre-heated 180C/350F oven for about 2 hours, turning the quinces around about half way through the baking time.
The dessert is ready when the quinces are cooked and dark orange-red.
Cool a little before serving.

Cranachan - a perfect dessert to finish a Burns' Supper

Selkirk Grace:

Some hae meat and cannot eat.

Some cannot eat that want it:

But we hae meat and we can eat,

Sae let the Lord be thankit.

Scots - whether real or adopted or simply fans of all things Scottish - all around the world are celebrating the 252nd birth anniversary of their beloved Bard, Robert Burns tonight. A proper Burns Supper includes, of course, a Selkirk Grace (see above) and a haggis & neeps & tatties and an Address to a Haggis and a Toast to the Lassies and several other must-haves - and during my seven years in Edinburgh I had a pleasure of attending several Burns Suppers, some ticking all the right boxes. Lovely memories indeed...

Now, back in Estonia, I must settle for a slightly more low-profile celebration. I cannot get my favourite haggis here, and at this point of time (just 10 days after the birth of our second child), I'm in no shape to make my own :) I might make a cock-a-leekie soup for supper, and finish the meal with a lovely glass of cranachan (going easy on whisky this year, of course).

Cranachan is one of the most popular Scottish puds - and the ingredients - whisky, oats and raspberries - are all excellent in Scotland. You may have encountered this dessert under other names - Cream Crowdie (containing some soft cheese 'crowdie') or Tipsy Oats, for instance. Raspberries are an important component of Cranachan, suggesting that originally this dessert was served during the height of summer, when raspberries are in season. However, it's now served often during Hogmanay (the Scottish new year's celebrations) and during the Burns Supper (but then raspberries freeze rather nicely).

Cranachan
(Šoti viski-kaerahelbedessert)
Serves up to six



100 g medium ground or pinhead oatmeal (rolled oats, if these are easier to get hold of)
3 Tbsp Scotch whisky (I love a smokey whisky here)
400 ml whipping cream
100 g caster sugar (or less, to taste)

300-400 g raspberries

Put the oatmeal or oats on a heavy non-stick frying pan and toast slightly over a medium heat (stir regularly to avoid burning!)*. Take off the heat, drizzle the whisky over the oatmeal and stir to combine. Let stand and cool.
Whisk the cream and sugar until soft peaks form. Stir in the whisky-infused oatmeal and divide between dessert glasses.
Top with plenty of raspberries.
Place into the fridge for about 30 minutes before serving, so the flavours could mingle and develop.

Then serve and enjoy!

* If you want a crunchier pudding, then toast some of the sugar alongside the oats - this gives you a more caramelised oat mixture.

Baked apple pudding

Another super-easy and lovely dessert idea (these days I seem to be drawn to uncomplicated and super-easy puddings. Must be the dark winter nights). Oven-baked apples - though not necessary exclusively a winter dessert - do make more sense during winter than during summer and autumn (the home-grown apples taste simply too good when in season that they're best enjoyed as they are).

However, here's a good way to a) use baked (plain) apples or to b) use up any leftover baked apples you've made. It's not even really a recipe, more like a serving idea...

I used plain baked apples...

Baked apple fluff
(Ahjuõunakreem)
Serves 4

3 to 4 larger apples

200 ml whipping cream
1-2 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar or vanilla extract

Wash the apples and bake in a pre-heated 200 C / 400 F until soft. Cool completely, then grate coarsely.
Season the cream with sugar and whip until fluffy and soft peaks form. Season with vanilla and gently fold in the grated baked apples.
Serve in pretty dessert glasses.

Raspberry and Mascarpone Fluff

I know, I know - what am I thinking about posting a recipe for summer fruit dessert in the middle of the Christmas season?? You see, I craved a fruity dessert the other day, and came across this recipe for a blackberry fluff in the October 2006 issue of the British food magazine Olive. Unfortunately, neither one of the two nearby grocery stores had frozen blackberries that day, so I had to settle for frozen Estonian raspberries instead. Not a bad choice, I think - they're still tart and sweet at the same time, plus I love the colour.

Note that the dessert has much more character when it's been given a few hours' rest in the fridge - you can taste the mascarpone again then. I didn't bother to sieve the fruit pulp, but please do, if you think the small seeds will bother you.

Supereasy and rather nice.

Raspberry and Mascarpone Fluff
(Marja-mascarponevaht)
Serves six to eight

300 g frozen raspberries
1 Tbsp sugar
250 g mascarpone, at room temperature
200 ml whipping cream (35% fat content)
1 tsp vanilla sugar or extract

Heat the berries (keeping a few aside for decorating) gently with the sugar for a couple of minutes or until they give off juice. Whizz in a food processor until smooth, then push through a fine sieve, if you want to get rid of the seeds. Cool.
Beat the mascarpone with a spoon until it is softened, then fold in the berry purée and the vanilla extract. Loosely whip the cream and fold it in.
Spoon into small dessert bowls, decorate with extra berries. Place in the fridge for a few hours before serving.

Plum and Cherry Compote

A beautiful, delicious and simple (and vegan and gluten-free) late summer/early autumn dessert. I usually make it with plums alone, but as I had a handful of dark red cherries on the countertop, I threw these in as well. It lovely served with some whipped cream, or perhaps some curd cheese cream - or, as I ate it yesterday, au naturel.

Cherry and Plum Compote
(Ploomikompott)
Serves 4



about 500 g (a large punnet) of plums or damsons
150 ml water (2/3 cup)
100 g sugar (just under half a cup)
3 Tbsp potato starch or cornflour + 3 Tbsp water

Wash the plums, halve and remove the stones. Place sugar, water and plums into a medium-sized saucepan and simmer for about 7-10 minutes, until plums are soft and starting to disintegrate.
Mix starch with some cold flour pour into the compote, whisking/stirring rigorously to avoid any lumps. If you are using potato starch, then remove the saucepan from the heat source just after the first few bubbles appear again. If you are using cornflour, then simmer on a low heat for a few minutes, until the compote starts to thicken. Remove from the heat.
Cool before serving.

Green Apple Mousse

Perhaps not the most seasonal dessert (local apples become available in a month or two), but it's a light dessert that would taste lovely on a hot day. You do need a cold fridge for cooling it, however!

Make sure to choose crisp and slightly tart apples like Granny Smith.

Green Apple Mousse
(Vahustatud õunatarretis)
Serves 4



250 g apples (cored and peeled weight)
500 ml water (2 cups)
5 Tbsp caster sugar
6 gelatine leaves
0.5 tsp vanilla extract

Peel and core the apples, cut into chunks. Place in a boiling water (try adding a splash of lemon juice to keep the apples from discoloring) and simmer until apples are soft.
Using a slotted spoon, remove the apples and press through a fine mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl.
Add sugar to the hot apple "stock" and stir, until sugar has dissolved.
Soak the gelatine leaves in cold water for about 5 minutes. Squeeze slightly, then stir into the hot apple syrup, one by one. Pour the syrup into the apple pureé, season with vanilla extract.
Let it cool a little, until the mixture starts to set a little. Using a hand-held or standing mixture, whip until light and fluffy.
Divide between the dessert bowls and place into a cool place to set a little.

Koldskål aka Danish buttermilk soup

We're in the middle of a heatwave here in Estonia, and there's no end in sight. On the contrary, the weather forecast announces that the temperatures will soar even higher during the next few days. I'm not a hot weather person, and the heat has seriously affected my enthusiasm and ability to cook and stand by the stove. We've been eating sandwiches, tabbouleh, lots of hummus, and sugarsnap peas, carrots and radishes from our own garden. And this Danish dessert, koldskål.

The traditional koldskål starts with an eggnog base that's topped with buttermilk, but modern versions often substitute raw egg yolks with thick yogurt. That's what I've done here as well. The traditional topping is kammerjunkere, but you can crumble some cantucci biscuits on top or use granola or müsli. I love the cardamom-scented "skorpor" you'll find at your nearest IKEA (those are the ones I've used here). Most of the recipes I've seen use lemon juice or vanilla extract for seasoning. I opted for elderflower cordial, as I've got fond memories of my host mum Kirsten using elderflower cordial to season lots of different desserts during my summer in Denmark back in 1993. I LOVE the floral notes elderflower cordial adds, and I think my host mum would approve :)



A great dessert to enjoy during those hot summer days. (There aren't many blog posts about koldskål, but you can check out Gitte's recent post. My favourite Danish foodblogger Zarah Maria, has only briefly mentioned this wonderful dessert).

Danish buttermilk soup
(Külm petisupp marjade ja kuivikutega)
Serves four



200 g thick yogurt or creme fraiche
4 Tbsp sugar
750 ml (3 cups) buttermilk
2 to 3 Tbsp elderflower cordial or lemon juice

To serve:
strawberries, raspberries or other soft fruit
crispy biscuits or 'skorpor'
couple of fresh mint or lemonbalm leaves

Combine sugar and yogurt in a bowl, stirring until sugar dissolves. Stir in the cordial and buttermilk, whisk until combined. If necessary, place to the fridge to cool.
To serve, divide the koldskål into bowls, top with some biscuits and lots of strawberries. Garnish with mint or lemonbalm leaves and serve.
D

Quick elderflower mousse

One of the quickest and most typical desserts in Estonia is curd cheese pudding - a mix of whipped cream and some curd cheese - that's usually served with some fruit or berries. Here's a twist on that recipe that uses more widely available cottage cheese. Instead of sugar, I've used undiluted elderflower cordial to sweeten the mousse, and give the dessert a lovely floral fragrance. The cottage cheese leaves tiny lumps in the dessert that I loved, but you may want to "warn" your guests (or press the cottage cheese through a sieve first).

Looking for more elderflower recipe ideas? Here are some:
Elderflower, coconut and lemon curd cake
Elderflower curd
Strawberries with elderflower zabaglione

Quick elderflower mousse
(Kiire leedrikreem)
Inspiration: Swedish Arla site
Serves 4

200-250 ml whipping cream
1 tsp of sugar
250 g plain cottage cheese
50 ml (3-4 Tbsp) elderflower cordial

Whisk the cream and sugar until soft peaks form. Add the elderflower cordial and continue whisking, until thick and airy. Gently fold in the cottage cheese.
Spoon into four dessert glasses, decorate with sliced fruit or berries.
Serve.

Lemon curd recipe

Lemon curd is something I make quite regularly. K. LOVES the stuff, and is happy to dash to the grocery store to pick up some lemon at any time, and I'm rather fond of that tangy and lemony spread as well. Last night I made yet another batch and gave a spoonful to our 15-month-old daughter. She would have happily licked some more :)

I love how versatile it is. You can eat it straight out of the jar, au naturel. Spread it over a slice of toasted brioche. You can drizzle it over some home-made vanilla ice cream, or, even better, fold it into the ice cream mixture before churning it into a delicious lemon curd ice cream. A simple raspberry meringue roulade/Raspberry Pavlova roll gets lifted to a totally different level when the filling includes some lemon curd. And, of course, it can play a star role in a festive cake.

Obviously, I'm not the first blogger to share their lemon curd recipe - Meeta, David, Lydia, and countless others have done it before me. But each one of us makes the curd slightly differently, so here's my recipe after all.

Lemon curd
(Sidrunivõie)
Makes 350 g



100 ml lemon juice (1-2 lemons, depending on size)
1 Tbsp finely grated lemon zest
3 large eggs, at room temperature
150 g caster sugar
100 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

If you're not using organic and unwaxed lemons, then wash them thoroughly with hot water. Juice and zest the lemons.
Bring about an inch / 2-3 cm of water into a boil in a small saucepan.
Take a heatproof bowl that neatly fits over the saucepan and whisk eggs, sugar and lemon juice in the bowl*. Place the bowl over the saucepan (the base of the bowl should not touch the simmering water!) and heat the mixture, whisking regularly, until it thickens. This will take about 10 minutes, the candy thermometer should register 71-72 C.
Take the bowl from the heat. Whisk in the butter, and fold in the grated lemon zest.
Pour into sterilized jar(s).

The lemon curd keeps for a couple of weeks in the fridge. It never lasts so long in our house.

* If you're very brave, then you can simply use a heavy saucepan over a low heat and whisk rigorously. I do it this way and have never failed, but the risk of cooking the eggs instead of slowly thickening them is obviously much highter.

A creamy Easter paskha with cooked egg yolks

Some of my American readers may have noticed a recipe for paskha in the April 2010 issue of Saveur. Saveur describes paskha as "a rich, airy sweetened cheese that's traditionally served in Russian homes to break the meat- and dairy-free Lenten fast. ... Made with a Russian farmers' cheese called tvorog, as well as cream, egg yolks, butter, and sugar, the treat is flavoured with vanilla and studded with golden raisins. Then the pashka is pressed into a mold and chilled to set." Although it's not traditionally Estonian, it's pretty popular here.

I happen to love pashka, and have been making it for, well, ages :) I've shared one of my favourite pashka recipes before, but there are several ways of making this dessert. There are cooked versions and uncooked paskhas, paskhas containing raw eggs, cooked eggs or no eggs. Here's one (out of three!) I made last Spring - it's uncooked, contains cooked egg yolks - and is thus quite similar to the recipe printed in this month's Saveur.

Highly recommended. The Saveur article recommends using the Friendship brand farmers cheese instead of tvorog, if you can't get hold of the real thing.

Paskha with Egg Yolks
(Kohupiimapasha keedetud munarebudega)
Serves 8 to 10

75 g unsalted butter, softened
125 g caster sugar
2 hard-boiled egg yolks
500 g curd cheese
100 ml whipping cream, whipped until soft peaks form
0.5 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp candied orange peel
4 Tbsp chopped almonds

toasted almond slices and orange segments, to garnish

Cream the butter with about one third of the eggs. Press the egg yolks through the sieve and add to the butter. Add vanilla extract, the rest of the sugar, curd cheese, whipped cream, candied orange peel and chopped almonds.
Line a pashka tin or a large sieve with a wet cheesecloth square. Spoon the curd cheese mixture into the pashka mold and place the whole thing on top of another bowl or over the sink, allowing the liquid to drain (depending whether you want to catch the whey* or not).
Refrigerate in a cool place for at least 24 hours.
Turn onto a serving dish, remove the cheesecloth. Garnish with toasted almonds and orange segments.

* This can be used instead of milk or water when making yeast buns.

Estonian Curd Cheese Cookies

If Easter in some parts of the world is all about chocolate (no names named here :)), then in Estonia it's all about chicken eggs and curd cheese desserts. There's pashka, of course, on our Easter table - a delicious curd cheese pudding borrowed from our Eastern neighbour. But there will be other curd cheese desserts as well. Here's a recipe for some moreish curd cheese cookies that would be perfect for Easter table.

Finding curd cheese ("kohupiim" in Estonian) is not so difficult. If there's a Russian or Polish shop nearby, then ask for "tvorog/tvarog". In Finland, look out for "rahka". If you can't find curd cheese, then try substituting dry ricotta or farmer's cheese.

Estonian curd cheese cookies
(Mõnusad kohupiimaküpsised)
About 3 dozen cookies

200 g dry curd cheese
100 g butter
100 g sugar
300 g plain flour (about 2 cups)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar
a pinch of salt

Place all ingredients into the bowl of your food processor and process until you've got fine crumbs. Transfer the mixture into a bowl and press into a dough, using your hands. Take batches of dough and roll into pieces about the size of your thumb (about 5 cm long, 1,5 cm wide). Place onto a lined baking sheet and flatten slightly with a back of a fork.
Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle poppy seeds, pearl sugar, caraway seeds - or whatever else you fancy - on top.
Bake in a pre-heated 200 C oven for about 15 minutes, until the cookies are light golden brown.
Cool and serve.

Caramelized Rye Bread Ice Cream (Condensed Milk Ice Cream)

Here's a super-simple ice cream with an Estonian twist. The caramelized rye bread lends a lovely slightly gritty texture (and I mean it in a wholly positive way) to the otherwise super-creamy ice cream, as well as a slightly earthy-tangy flavour.

The recipe works both with ice cream machine and without one - I've given instructions for both ways. Most importantly, there's no tricky custard-making bit, as the ice cream uses condensed milk as its base (that also means there's no danger of curdling :))

Here in Estonia, I simply buy a bag of ready-grated rye bread and caramelize it with some sugar. You can obviously use stale rye bread (preferably naturally leavened type), and grind it yourself. Or perhaps even try with those rye crisp breads (knäckerbröd) that are pretty universally available, smashing them into fine powder before proceeding.

K. isn't a great fan of ice cream, but he asked for this one after every single meal we had last weekend :)

Rye Bread Condensed Milk Ice Cream
(Riivleivajäätis)
Serves 8 to 10



400 g tin sweetened condensed milk
600 ml whipping cream* (35% fat content)
100 g grated rye bread
2 Tbsp caster sugar

First, fry the grated bread and some sugar on a dry hot pan for a few minutes, stirring regularly, until caramelized. Remove from the heat and cool completely.

If using an ice cream machine: pour the condensed milk and cream into a measuring jug and stir thoroughly. (* You can use half whipping/double cream and half single cream, when churning the ice cream in a machine). Pour into your ice cream maker and churn into ice cream according to the instructions. When almost done, fold in the cool caramelized rye bread, stir thoroughly. Pour the ice cream into freezer-proof container and place into the freezer for an hour or two before serving.

If you're not using an ice cream machine: whip the cream until soft peaks form. Pour in the condensed milk and whisk for another minute or two, until thoroughly combined. Fold in the caramelized rye bread mixture. Pour into freezer-proof container and place into the freezer for about 4-6 hours, until the mixture is frozen. As you're using whipped cream, there's no need to stir the ice cream during the freezing process.