Wheat Ring with Vanilla Cream and Blueberries

 
In Sweden we eat rolled buns with a huge variation of fillings. I usally prefer the regualar cinnamon roll with cinnamon, sugar and butter. This is a more luxurious version of the cake with homemade vanilla cream and handpicked blueberries.  

Wheat Ring

150 grams of butter

1 tbs of cardamom

2 cups of milk

1/2 tsp of salt

1 dl of sugar

1 egg

12 grams of dried yeast
1 tbs baking powder

850-900 grams of flour

Filling:

2 1/2 cup of milk

1 vanilla bean

6 tbs of sugar

3 tbs of cornstarch 

8 egg yolks

50 grams of almond paste
200g of blueberries

Topping:
Sugar pearls (if you can't find sugar pearls, thinly sliced almonds also works well)
Egg (for brushing)

1. Melt the butter in a pot and add the milk, salt, sugar, cardamom and the egg. Let it become 42 C degrees (or 37 if using fresh yeast).

2. Add all the flour to a bowl and mix in the yeast. I prefer doing this stage in a mixer. Add the milk mixture while mixing on slow speed. 

3. Let the machine do the kneading for you on slow spead for approx. 8-10 min. Let the dough rise to dubble size in a warm place. It takes approx. 1 hour. 

4. In the meantime make the filling. Spit the vanilla bean and scrape out all it's seeds and add to the milk togther with the seperated bean. Bring the milk to boil. 

5. Let cool and take out the vanilla bean (you can strain it, just make sure to bring the seeds back). 

6. Mix in the sugar, cornstarch and the yolks and bring back to the heat and let simmer under constant stiring until it becomes really thick. Take it of the heat and let it cool. 

7. Take out the dough when ready and divide it to two parts (makes two).

8. With a rolling pin make a thin rectangle and add the almond paste and vanilla cream on top, then sprinkle over blueberries and if you like it sweet some extra sugar. Roll it and place in a baking tin.

9. Cut the dough with a scissor almost all the way through, with two centimeters in between to make a nice pattern.

10. If there is leftover vanilla cream squeeze it out in the gap between were you made the cut with the scissor to give that little extra touch. Mix an egg and brush it on the cake and sprinkle over the sugar pearls.

11. Heat up the oven to 200 C, in the meantime let the cakes rise a bit.

12. Place in the oven for 25 minutes, then cover it with something so it won't burn and let it be in the oven for another five minutes. Take it out and let cool completely.

Enjoy! 

Blueberry Dreams

the yearly batch of my father's blueberry jam

Picking blueberries requires patience, to actually fill a bucket takes time. It's not for everyone, but if you learn to like it, you will never stop. Being in the woods, listening to the sounds, smelling nature and picking blueberries is therapy and meditation (probably better).

Blueberry Jam

1.5 liters of blueberries
0.6 liter of sugar
1 ml of sodium benzoate (E211 food preservative)

1. Clean the freshly picked wild berries and mix with sugar in a pot. Leave
for a couple of hours so the mix gets juicy.
2. Heat slowly and simmer for 20 minutes. Shake (do not stir) the pot now
and then.
3. Turn off the heat, shake the pot carefully and skim off the foam.
4. Dissolve the natrium benzoate in a few spoonfuls of the hot jam and mix
with the rest of the jam.
5. Pour into warm and very well cleaned jars (rinse with some natrium
benzoate dissolved in water and dry in low heat in the oven), seal and keep
cool.

Tip: Make Swedish pancakes (= thin pancakes) and on top put whipped cream and homemade blueberry jam. Do I need to say more?   

you might meet one of these while picking blueberries

Blueberry Muffins with Crumbs

mamma Birgitta's blueberry muffins

Every summer in Sweden my mom makes these super tasty blueberry muffins with crumbs. We eat them together with our mandatory afternoon coffee in the garden (overlooking the green woods around our house). They have a strong blueberry flavor and a taste of Swedish summer.

They make you think about the true treasures of our woods in the north. Living abroad, especially in the Middle East where there are no woods and no water, makes you think about the things we take for granted back home. Like milk and freshly picked blueberries straight from the woods for breakfast – every day all through July and August.

(And all Israeli friends, 20 trees is not a forest.)

Blueberry muffins

Crumbs

12 tsp of butter, divided in to pieces

2 cups of flour

1 cup granulated suger

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

1/2 tsp salt

1. Mix all the ingredients in a mixer until crumbs starts to form. 

Muffins (makes approx. 24)

1 cup of corn oil

5 1/2 cup of flour

1 1/2 cup of sugar

3 + 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 big eggs

2 1/2 cup of milk

3 cups blueberries 

1. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set a side. 

2. In another bowl mix egg, milk and oil. Add the dry ingredients and mix until completely combined. 

3. Add the blueberries, gently add them by folding them in with a spatula or a spoon. We don't want them to break!

4. Fill the muffin cups with 2/3 of the batter (it's recomended to use a cupcake baking tin to hold the muffin cups in). On top add the crumbs. 

5. Bake in the oven on 175C degrees for approx. 20-25 minutes. 

Don't forget the coffee!

This is where it all happens!