Verdict: Skolebrød and Macarons

The skolebrød were the main event, so we should probably start there first. I was a bit disappointed here, because they could have been amazing but definitely weren't. The lack of rise (I'm still blaming the yeast) meant that they were incredibly dense, and that really wasn't helped by being undercooked too. But probably the biggest disappointment was the custard - I had doubts when I read the recipe, but afterwards I am absolutely convinced I should have ditched the custard recipe and just done an ordinary custard. (Cornflour! In custard?!! Why wouldn't you just increase the egg:milk ratio and cook it like a proper custard?!). As a result, the custard filling is so bland and watery, you kinda wonder what the point of it is.

But the good: The cardamom tastes great, and even though it's dense and uncooked in the middle, it's still actually quite nice (particularly warm, straight from the oven). The coconut works well, and they are very pretty. And having just trashed the custard so much, dipping them in the leftover custard actually worked pretty nicely. All in all, I think skolebrød deserves another go at some point - but what I've essentially made this time around is some weird pulla with a disappointing filling.

On to the macarons. They're really not bad at all! Essentially all that's wrong with them is that they're a little overcooked (and burnt in places), but they've got the core essence of almondy goodness, that lovely crisp, crunchy exterior and a hint of chewiness on the inside. But then I was following a recipe from the Bible, so what would you expect! One day I will not wuss out and try doing macarons again in an effort to make beautiful, perfect pillowy macarons with feet, but that may not be for a very, VERY long time - until that time though, these will do nicely!

It's a double header!

Well, it's been a heck of a long while since I baked anything, but then I did go away to Korea for a large chunk of the summer, and it's been a manic term since I got back. But that doesn't really matter, what matters is I'm baking again! I've been wanting to try making skolebrød since we went to Oslo back in 2016, and today's finally the day. "What's skolebrød?" I hear you ask - it's a lovely sweet cardamom bread, filled with custard and topped with desiccated coconut, and it was delicious. Of course, making custard means that I need egg yolks, which leaves the eternal dilemma of what to do with the leftover egg whites. I don't particularly like eating meringue, and nor is it fun to make, so I thought I'd finally make some macarons (up until now, I've always been a little scared of them, but I've realised that as long as you don't want picture perfect ones with beautiful feet, they're actually really quite simple). I used this skolebrød recipe, and the macaron recipe comes from Leith's Cookery Bible (I also note that the first edition is available super-cheaply).

Skolebrød
Ingredients
For the dough

• 2 level tsp Cardamom pods
• 650g Strong white flour
• 2 sachets Dried yeast
• 1tsp Salt
• 160g Caster sugar
• 80g Butter
• 300ml Milk
• 125ml Water

For the custard

• 2 Egg yolks
• 60g Caster sugar
• 1tsp Vanilla extract
• 175ml Double cream
• 75ml Milk
• ~2tsp Cornflour

For the topping

• Icing sugar
• Water
• Desiccated coconut

Method

1. Shell the cardamom and grind the seeds using a pestle and mortar.
2. Mix the cardamom, flour, yeast and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
3. Place the sugar, butter, milk and water in a pan and heat gently until the sugar is dissolved, butter is melted and the mixture is warm.
4. Add to the dry ingredients and form a dough. Knead the dough until smooth(er).
5. Return the dough to the mixing bowl and wrap in a bin bag. Leave to rise for an hour.
6. Knead the dough again and divide into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and leave to prove, covered.
7. Make the custard. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract together.
8. Heat the cream and milk together, then pour slowly into the egg yolk mixture while whisking continuously.
9. Return the custard to a low heat and whisk in cornflour as needed to thicken the mixture slightly.
10. Poke a well into the centre of each ball of dough and fill with custard.
11. Bake at 200C for 30 mins.
12. Mix some icing sugar with a little cold water to make a loose icing and brush onto the bread, then sprinkle with desiccated coconut.

Here's the dough before it's first prove. Looks just like any other enriched dough to me. Incidentally, the red thing that you see in shot is a silicone scraper, and is the best tool for dough handling that I've come across. I don't know how I coped with handling wet doughs before I got one (actually, that's a lie, I do know - not well!).

There's something really pleasing about dough that's been portioned out into small balls. I don't know what it is, but it's definitely pleasing. These are the individual dough balls just before proving.

Unfortunately, this is after leaving them to prove for about 1hr30. I read somewhere that the final rise is called proofing, because you are proving that the yeast is active. This sounds like a made up fact to me, but I think in this case, I've actually proved that the yeast I used (last two sachets in quite an old pack) was dead. These might be a bit dense...

Forming decent sized wells is harder than you might think. I guess the lack of rise might have made this harder, but you're also fighting the elasticity of the dough. This is the best that I could do...

Which meant that there's a pathetic amount of custard in each skolebrød. I used about 1/4 of the custard that I made, though I also harbour deep, deep suspicions about the custard recipe.

They don't look bad out of the oven!

I really should not have followed the recipe quite so closely. You need the icing to be moist for the coconut to stick, so you should probably sprinkle each one with coconut as soon as it's been brushed with the icing - I brushed all of them with icing first, and by the time I was done, so much moisture had dried/been absorbed that I couldn't really get the coconut to stick very well.

Looks (and smells) gorgeous!

But minor disaster! It's raw around the custard well. It's still edible, but defintitely needed longer in the oven. I wonder if I should have made sure that the custard was piping hot before pouring it in to the skolebrød - that might have helped.

In an effort to save matters, I put them back in a low oven (~150C) for as long as I dared, given that it was already iced. It definitely helped - still distinctly undercooked in the middle, but at least now it's undercooked rather than completely raw!

Macarons
Ingredients

• 110g Ground almonds
• 170g Caster sugar
• 1tsp Plain flour
• 2 Egg whites
• 2 drops Vanilla extract
• Whole blanched almonds

Method

1. Mix the almonds, sugar and flour together in a mixing bowl.
2. Add the egg whites and vanilla extract, then beat thoroughly.
3. Leave to stand for 5 minutes.
4. Beat well for a further minute.
5. Spoon onto trays lined with baking paper and top with a blanched almond.
6. Bake at 180C for 20 minutes.
7. Leave to cool on a wire rack.

Here's the mixture post beating. Nothing special here...

And you can see how little care I took while spooning the mixture out. As I said, they're not supposed to be picture perfect!

I really need to clean the oven glass. But look through the murk, and you can see how satisfyingly round and plump these guys look!

Ooops. I took my eye off the ball and they got a little singed. They're just the right side of edible, but definitely are a little burnt.

Despite the slight amount of burning that happened, I'm actually pretty pleased with these!

It's brownie time!

Why, you may ask, is it brownie* time? Well, two reasons: First, I've been thinking for quite some time that it's something that's been somewhat lacking in my baking repertoire and I need to up my brownie game and find a really good recipe  (see, for example, this previous not-a-disaster-but-not-amazing effort). Secondly, and of course more importantly, because I stumbled across a recipe that piqued my curiosity. The reason it caught my attention isn't actually that great - I've totally been swept up in the hype and am now a huge fan of my cast iron skillet (for reference, it's this one: an absurd £99 from Amazon UK, but if you are willing to cart it back from America like I did, a very reasonable $35 from Amazon US - about £27 at current exchange rates. Be warned though, it's bloody heavy!) and the opportunity to find another use for it was too good to pass up! Nonetheless, it looks really good, does it not, and Serious Eats has generally been a pretty consistently excellent source of recipes and ideas. There's no intentional tinkering with this one, as I really have no idea what is really going on with this recipe!

*Yes, the recipe I used calls it a cookie, but it's very clearly more a brownie than a cookie.

Cast Iron Skillet Brownie
Ingredients

• 225g Butter
• 115g Caster sugar
• 235g Soft dark brown sugar
• 25g Ovaltine powder**
• 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
• 1 tsp Table salt
• 1/2 tsp Baking powder
• 1 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
• Some grated nutmeg***
• 1 Egg
• 355g Plain flour
• 200g Cooking milk chocolate, roughly chopped
• 140g Assorted plain chocolate, roughly chopped

Method

1. Mix the butter, sugar, Ovaltine, vanilla, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and nutmeg in a food mixer with the paddle on medium speed for ~5 mins until fluffy.
2. Add the egg and mix until smooth.
3. Turn mixer down to slow and add the flour and chocolate. Mix to form a stiff dough.
4. Press the dough into a well-greased cast iron skillet.
5. Bake at 200 C for ~35 mins until golden brown
6. Allow to cool in skillet for ~45 mins until crumb sets before removing from skillet.

** Original recipe Ovaltine - the stuff you add hot milk to
*** I didn't even try to measure this. It's supposed to be 1/8 tsp, but I have no idea how much I actually added!

A pretty darned straight forward recipe! It's a bit weird though - here's what it looks like before going into the oven:

Fresh from the oven. I may have let the top get slightly singed...

On cooling, it sank a bit - I guess I probably overdid the baking soda/powder.

It's denser and fudgier than expected...

Well, it wasn't quite what I expected, but it was not bad overall. The biggest fault is that there's just too much butter - it ended up quite greasy, and far too rich. But the texture was really nice - fudgy and chewy, and there was a really nice caramel taste to it from all the brown sugar (the Ovaltine probably helped too). It was quite nice served warm with a good dollop of vanilla ice cream, but I think my search for an excellent brownie recipe continues...