Smells like Sweden

When the weather gets cold and wet, the baker gets baking.  This morning was cloudy, windy and cold.  Perfect for staying indoors and for me, that means baking something to warm the body and soul.

I have been here for almost a month and I can't believe I haven't baked cinnamon rolls yet.  I can smell it everywhere every time I go shopping.  The cafes, supermarkets and even small convenience stores sells them.  I love it.  I love that smell.  It's so comforting, so warm, so...Swedish. 

So today was perfect for that, especially since I have all the ingredients I need.  I even have the pearl sugar to sprinkle on top before baking.  I love the sugar.  They make the rolls and cupcakes and other baked stuff  look so pretty.

The dough was quite easy to make and does not require too much kneading.  I think I only took less than 5 minutes to make the dough nice and smooth.  But it did take a bit of muscle power to beat the flour with the warm milk, egg and butter before it was ready for kneading.  The recipe I followed said to allow 2 hours for the dough to rise but mine only needed one and a half hours.

Once it has risen enough, I rolled it out into a huge rectangle, brushed it with melted butter and sprinkled evenly with sugar and ground cinnamon.  I rolled it and cut it and for half of the rolls, I sprinkled the pearl sugar.  The other half I left bare since Pete prefers it that way.  I also set aside some dough to make cheese braids using a chunk of gouda cheese that I grated.

Once the rolls were done, we took a quick walk since the sun was finally coming out from behind the clouds.  I thought the weather has finally turned, but I was wrong.  The walk became a brisk one since we wanted to get out of the wind.  It was very windy and very cold.  Once we got through the door, Pete said, "It smells of cinnamon rolls in here."

And yes, after being out in the cold wind, the hot tea and rolls were just the thing to warm us up.

Tastes of home

I was unpacking one of my bags on Sunday when I found a sweet surprise.  A kind soul has stuffed a box of 2 mini jars of Ya Kun kaya without my knowledge!  I only found out later that it was Salinah, a good old, family friend.  I was thinking of saving it for when I get homesick.

But today, when my two loaves of crusty bread came out of the oven, the smell was too tempting.  I decided to have kaya toast for tea.  So after we came back from Pete's meeting in town, we set down in the kitchen to have our tea.

I slathered my thick slice of bread with butter, followed by a dollop of kaya.  With a hot mug of raspberry tea, the first bite was mmm...heavenly.  The only thing that would make it better is a cup of teh si (milky tea) but I am satisfied.

Pete had his bread the way the Swedes like to have it: with butter and cheese.  I topped his with some slices of tomatoes and radish, to make an open faced sandwich.

We walked around a lot in town today, so our tea time delight was such a treat!