Knäckebröd

This is the corrugated rolling pin

Knäckebröd (Swedish) and Knekkebrød (Norwegian) is crisp flat bread that was a Holiday tradition in my Norwegian family.  It is also known as hard tack.  Growing up Norwegian, I always assumed that my grandmothers recipe was from Norway.  A few years ago, my cousin and I made this for the Holidays.  We noticed in my church cookbook that my grandmother had it listed as Svensk Knäckebröd.  We called her to ask her what that meant, she informed us that her recipe was actually from Sweden, not from Norway.  We were quite surprised by this, as we do not have any Swedish ancestry.  It is one of my favorite Holiday foods.  It is very simple to make and has staples as ingredients.  This Thanksgiving, my father and I are both making it and bringing it to dinner, using my Grandma's recipe.  We are going to have the family choose which one is best.  Don't tell my dad, but I really hope that my Grandma likes mine best, even if it does not win overall.


Ingredients:

Pop any air bubble with a fork as it bakes

• 1 Cup Whole Milk
• 3/4 Cup Lard (sold in the meat department, 1 box of lard will make 3 batches) - Can substitute shortening
• 2 envelopes yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 4 Cups Flour

Directions:

Finished Product.

Heat milk, with lard, sugar and salt to boiling.  Let cool to room temperature.  Add dissolved yeast and stir.  Add flour a little at a time until well blended.  Form dough into pieces the size of a bun.  Let rise 1 hour.  Roll with corrugated rolling pin.  Use a pizza cutter to cut into smaller pieces for baking.  Bake in oven on cookie sheets at 450F until light brown, flipping once.  Pop any air bubble with a fork as they bake.  These bake in about 3-4 minutes.  Need to work very, very quickly not to burn.  May need to take some out of the oven if they bake quicker than the others.

Apple Crisp

Ingredients:

• 4 or 5 tarts apples such as Haralsons or Granny Smiths
• 3 Tablespoons Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/2 Cup Water
• 1 1/4 Cup Flour
• 2/3 Cup White Sugar
• 2/3 Cup Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Cup Butter; softened

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Peel, core and slice apples.  Place in greased cake pan.  Sprinkle with sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Drizzle with water
3. Combine Flour, Sugar, Brown Sugar and Salt.  Cut in Butter until Crumbly.  Sprinkle over apples.
4. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes or until apples are tender and topping is light brown.

I will also use a jar of my apple pie filling in place of the apples, omitting sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and water that is poured over apples.

Zucchini Cake - 3rd Place 2010 Carver County Fair

4 eggs 2 cups white sugar 1 cup vegetable oil 2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda 1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained 1 cup chopped walnuts 2 cups grated zucchini 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 cup confectioners' sugar 2 tablespoons milk

	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a bundt cake pan. (or use a regular cake pan)
	Sift together flour, cinnamon, salt, baking powder, and baking soda on to a piece of waxed paper.
	In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar until light colored. Mix in oil. Add sifted ingredients to egg mixture, and beat for 2 minutes. Stir in pineapple, chopped nuts, vanilla, and zucchini. Mix thoroughly. Pour batter into prepared pan.
	Bake for 80 minutes for bundt pan (60 minutes for regular cake pan), or until tester inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 30 minutes.
	Glaze: In a small bowl, combine the confectioners' sugar and the milk. When cake has cooled, pour glaze over cake.

Zucchini Bread

• 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1/3 cup water
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon and sugar. In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini and lemon juice. Mix wet ingredients into dry, add nuts and fold in. Bake in 2 standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray, for 1 hour, or until a tester comes out clean. 

Banana Bread

1 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Butter (I always use real butter)

2 eggs

2 Cups Flour

1 tsp. soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 Cup Mashed Bananas (I also use 2 or 3 Bananas)

1/2 Cup Sour Cream

1 tsp vanilla

Nuts (optional)

Cream sugar and butter.  Beat in eggs.  Add flour, soda and salt.  Stir in mashed bananas, sour cream, vanilla and nuts.  Pour into one 9 1/2 x 5 1/2 in loaf pan.  Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes.  (Mine always takes closer to an hour or even a little longer.  You can also use 2-3 of the small loaf pans.)