What to make for breakfast on Valentine’s Day? These for me, myself and I! Delicious and oh so delicious warm out of the oven, just waiting to be devoured. These are supposed to look like hearts in a circle, and I suppose that they do, and have been making the rounds on social media in the lead up to Valentine’s Day. These could also be made with Cardamom instead of cinnamon, or even raspberry jam or chocolate.
It’s to be very cold here in the Northeast this weekend, starting like now-ish. Considerably below zero, with considerable wind and thus, bitter windchill. The weather people are advising not to hang out outside too long, and that translates to “stay in and bake” in my world, which is what I am firmly intending to do, starting with these Sudeg Kardemommesnurrer (Swedish Sourdough Cardamom Swirls): a sweet, brioche-style dough, filled with a brown sugar – cardamom filling, babka’ed by slicing open length-wise and then twisting, then swirling upon itself. Definitely smells amazing in my flat so while these cool for a few minutes, I will revel in that.
Something a little different today: a Blueberry Lemon Soufra. What is a soufra, you ask? It’s a Greek and Middle Eastern filo souffle pie. You fill the pie dish with buttered filo dough layers, folded or ruffled together, toast in the oven before pouring/ladling on custard. They can be savory (skip the sugar and vanilla in the custard) with spinach and feta or walnuts for example, or sweet as in this one with lemon and blueberries, or dates and walnuts, or any fruit or even chocolate chips. I made it for brunch (and truth be told, added some maple syrup over the top), but also would be a nice breakfast or lunch. Tastes best right out of the oven, and eaten the same day for sure.
This is a trend that I’ve been seeing recently on some of the bread-baking sites that I follow: shaping a regular loaf of bread (a standard boule) into a pumpkin loaf. There is nothing pumpkin or pumpkin-spice flavored about this bread: it is just a regular loaf of my standard artisan sourdough bread. But to make it a little festive, you can imprint the loaf by loosely tying cooking twine around it before baking. I used a cinnamon stick as the “stem” just to complete the look. Makes a nice presentation for a harvest / autumn / Thanksgiving meal.