I was woken up Swedish-style by people coming into the room singing happy birthday and bearing a tray laden with flowers, a cake, coffee, a candle and presents. I could definitely get into birthday cake for breakfast in bed.
The loving one made me dinner from the World Food Cafe 2 cookbook - one of the best recipes in there. It's a Sri Lankan curry with cashew stuffed peppers in a curry leaf and coconut sauce. It was this recipe that first taught me about curry leaves, and I was so happy to find out that they do indeed grow on curry trees!
Then for dessert, my childhood favourite of chocolate fondue. Simple, but always feels fancy. I like to add some vegan cream to the chocolate so that you get more, and it becomes all truffley when it gets cold (we did a mixture of coconut cream and the fantastic Swedish oat-based cream Oatly's iMat).
In NZ as a child I always used to have marshmallows and strawberries and fresh pineapple, but November is different in Sweden. So we had dried apricots, brazil nuts, walnuts, and bananas. I also got some fancy gingerbread as a thank you present from a customer yesterday, so that got added to the mix, along with some home-made biscotti! I adapted a recipe from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, flavouring the biscotti with vanilla and cardamom.
Almond and Cardamom Biscotti
INGREDIENTS
1 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla sugar (or vanilla extract, but in that case add it to the wet mix)
1/2 tsp cardamom (generous)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp ground linseeds (flax seeds)
4-5 tablespoons plant milk (or water, in a pinch)
3/4 - 1 cup toasted almonds
METHOD
1. Mix flour, BP, vanilla sugar, cardamom, and salt together.
2. Microwave the flax seeds together with 2 Tbsp of the plant milk till a bit thickened, whisk a bit with a fork.
3. In a separate, larger bowl, whisk together the linseed mixture, oil, sugar, and remaining plant milk together.
4. Add the flour mixture and mix gently to make a soft, smooth dough. Fold in the almonds.
5. Flatten into a rectangular log on a greased oven tray (or line with baking paper). It can make it easier to cut later if you score it before the first bake. Bake at 180 degrees C for 25 - 30 minutes. When ready, log should be firm and risen. Remove from oven.
4. Let cool for about half an hour. Then cut into slices, and put back on baking paper, standing on bottom side. Bake at same temperature for another 20 - 25 minutes (check after 15).
Apparently they should be stored in a container loosely covered.
