Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Semlor / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Semlor

The carnival is almost over, but in Ticino opportunities to celebrate do not lack. For this post for Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook I propose a typical Shrove Tuesday recipe, from Sweden. No one will notice, we are still having fun after all aren’t we? In fact even in Sweden these soft rolls, flavoured with cardamom and filled with almond paste and cream, have become the national breakfast cake and snack and are sold in bakeries all over the country. And there’s no wondering why, they are simply irresistible!

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Kanelbullar / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Kanelbullar

I simply love breakfast. Sweet or savoury it makes no difference at all, it’s just one of my favourite meals by virtue of its versatility. I discovered kanelbullar while “bakery hunting” for my morning breakfasts in Copenhagen. Not that i didn’t know well it’s british-american counterpart, the cinnamon bun, but what intrigued me the most was its shape. Braided breads of all sorts have always an effect on me, it must be my aesthetic and artistic inclinations playing a big part in this fascination.

Protetto: Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Planetary Buns / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: Panini planetari

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Cardamom and Turmeric Pancakes / Pancakes al cardamomo e curcuma

Sunday morning, 6 o’ clock, Chiasso. I must be crazy but I have a mission, a very complicated recipe I have been wanting to bake for many years. Breathe in, breathe out. I reach to the bag of special flour I purchased a few months ago fr the purpose…only to find out it is full of flour bugs! I have no alternative but a change of plans and must decide what to bake quickly. Luckily I had refreshed some liquid starter just the night before, but what could I come up with in order no to waste too much time and be able to take pictures while the sun was still out?

Maroggia’s Mill Cookbook: Ada’s sultana buns / Il Ricettario del Mulino di Maroggia: I panini alle uvette di Ada

Sultanas, either you love them or you hate them. Usually when offering a cake containing raisins or even panettone (which strictly requires raisins in its dough) I hear choruses of protest rising: “Noooo pleaseeee, not sultanas.” So just imagine the joy and amazement when asking my three years old niece Ada what she liked to eat the most she answered: “”Sultanaaaaassss!”. Not to mention when I noticed she was surgically dissecting the buns to remove the sultanas, but not to eat the soft inside of the bread…no sir, that he just ignored it at large and focused her attention on the berries. And what about you? Are you a sultanas lover us or hater? Well in any case the basic recipe for these buns is spot-on if you need something easy to bake for your children’s afternoon snack. The size of the buns is ideal for children my niece’s age who cannot manage to get through large bread rolls or buns, the dough is extremely soft and light and 100% vegan! If sultanas are just too hard to swallow you can replace them with chocolate chips, nuts, or other ingredients according to your taste.

MTChallenge February: Bread, Anise and Lemon Zest Baci / MTChallenge di Febbraio: Baci al pane, anice e scorza di limone

What is love? This month Mtchallenge challenges us with baci, Perugina’s world famous chocolate confection and with the daunting task of opening our hearts. Difficult task, tempering chocolate as exploring the darkest recesses of our hearts. Looking back I can see how my view on love has changed, through relationships and heartbreaks. Different shades of the same colour, or so it seems. Have I yet understood what love really is or will my perspective change once again? One thing is clear, however, falling in love is to love as bran to wheat and only in trust, freedom, respect and above all sharing one can find true love. I consider myself lucky having had such a love in my love, even though it’s over now.

Spiced Baumkuchen, a layered cake for Daring Bakers / Torta albero speziata per i Daring Bakers

The January 2014 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Francijn of “Koken in de Brouwerij“. She challenged us all to bake layered cakes in the tradition of Baumkuchen (tree cake) and Schichttorte (layered cake).

I admit it, when reading Baumkuchen on this month’s Daring Bakers pdf’s document for just a slight moment I had the illusion we had to bake the Polish version (Secakz)
of this cake common in Northern Europe regions such as Germany, Austria, Hungary and funnily quite popular in Japan too. Scrolling down to read more, excited and quite scared, I won’t deny my relief discovering that Francijn choice’s had fallen on the German version of this sweet loaf.