Nordic Ware Double-Whammy: Just in Time for the Holidays

December 21, 2017 Brett

Last year, I did a DNA test with Ancestry.com. I wanted to see where I was from, in the national sense. In the ethnic sense. In the cultural sense, having been so devoid and divorced from all the culture I grew up in. I wanted a summary, a percentage chart to tell me who and what and where I could be. It turns out, I'm European. German, and Irish and English. Those are my roots, in the proverbial sense. In the lackadaisical sense of a diaspora that have all culminated to the Eastern part of Indiana where I was born.

Midwestern, that's all you really need to know, at the end of the day, of who I am and what I am.

I thought about this as I perused the books that Nordic Ware sent me to review and bake from. I thought about how my ancestors on my father's side settled in the same county they live in now. How they looked at the expanse of field and the gentle, almost imperceptible slope of flat, flat earth and thought this was a place to raise a family. I thought about how their Protestant work ethic fed families of 8, 10, 12. I thought about how that has shaped the way I eat today - how these cookbooks, and so many more, are a reflection of inherited values and cultures and belief systems that I've lived at the very edge of my entire life, but never deep in their thickets.

Below, I made a bundt cake. I added mayonnaise as the recipe called for. It lasted for days, moist and tender and just the right amount of darkness to it. I also made Swedish pancakes. Lighter, they spread out paper thin on the griddle I used. A bit of fig jam or confectioner's sugar did the trip. They filled me up. They were made with simple ingredients. They told a story I'm still figuring out, about the place I'm from and who I am and how I got here.

Nordic Ware - Book Reviews

Earlier in the Fall, Nordic Ware asked that I bake from two books for them, in partnership with the Minnesota Historical Society. These books connected with their brand and heritage, which has always been a subject I've gone back to in my own writing.

Bundt Cake Bliss - find more info here.

When I got this book, I was curious to see if I would find a recipe that I would connect with. While I do not stray away from more down-home style cakes, I wanted my baking to feel authentic. What surprised me was, behind the cover, it read like a regular ol' spiral-bound church cookbook, complete with names and small suggestions for variations. It felt right at home.

So, for this recipe, I baked a classic cake that I remember growing up with: a chocolate bundt made with mayonnaise. Because of the high oil content, I was worried this cake would fall to pieces when I took it out of the pan. Not a problem with with Nordic Ware's copper bundt pan.

You can find the recipe in Bundt Cake Bliss. The photos below show a drizzle I did of cream cheese and a bit of milk and confectioner's sugar.

Jul - find more info here.

For me, Nordic food is a new arena and not one that really played into the food I grew up on in the Midwest..or so I thought. It was exciting to see recipes that my own family had derivatives from--meatballs, Christmas breads, and even pancakes. The high quality of the pictures and easy recipes had me dreaming of how to incorporate a bit of Swedish food into my Christmas table this year.

I made a super simple Swedish Pancake recipe from Jul, using Nordic Ware's slim griddle. As mentioned, I topped mine with fig jam and a squeeze of lemon juice. It was perfect.

Funfetti Gateau Breton with Nordic Ware

December 11, 2016 Brett

Right now, I am watching the snow fall in bed, wrapped in a blanket and sandwiched between two dogs and a boy. We're busy these days, making preparations for a house and a move and a mini vacation next week. We are busy these days, trying to fill the time between this year and the New one. There are parties to go to, people to love, presents to open; and my brother is having his child on the 27th.

Instead of calling him, I'll probably spend the day watching Westworld and falling asleep.

I'm sure everyone's holidays are like this--somehow lazy and busy all at once. Mine used to not be, but now they are and it is as exotic as it is familiar. When Nordic Ware asked me to try out their Sweet Snowflake Shortbread Pan, I wanted to make a dessert that could impress as much as it could invoke nostalgia; so I made a funfetti gateau breton. You may remember my previous ones (here and here), and you may remember how simple and delicate these French cakes are to make. Something that is sure to ease a bit of the holiday craziness for you this month.

Funfetti Gateau Breton

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup AP flour
2 TB cornstarch
3/4 cup white sugar
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
6 egg yolks
1 TB clear imitation vanilla (a tip from Molly on getting that nostalgic flavor juuuuust right)
2 TB rainbow sprinkles

Directions:

Prep your Nordic Ware shortbread pan or a 9-inch springform pan with a liberal amount of butter or oil
Preheat oven to 375*F
In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together flour, cornstarch, sugar, and salt
Add butter until well incorporated; it will be very clumpy
Add egg yolks, one at a time. Do not add subsequent yolk until previous is fully mixed into dough
Finally, add your vanilla and sprinkles and mix for a few seconds to blend
With floured hands, pat into your prepared pan
Bake for 15 minutes at 375* and then lower temperature to 350* and bake for an additional 25-30 minutes or until edges are golden brown
Allow to cool before removing from pan. Enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container for up to a few days.

A special thanks to Nordic Ware for sponsoring this post. Nordic Ware has been producing quality kitchenware products in their 70 years and are now one of America's most beloved and iconic brands. Today, Nordic Ware manufactures the vast majority of its products in America, at our Minneapolis headquarters, including cookware, bakeware, grillware, microwave, and kitchen gadgets and accessories.For more information or products, check out their website!

Happy #nationalbundtday! Pumpkin Chocolate Bundt, in partnership with Nordicware!

November 15, 2016 Brett

Microwaved coffee and Milo in his sweater. That's who my week has started. I worked outside yesterday, pulling dead branches off an old fruit tree and took the trash to the curb. I looked for a used truck, I have big plans to live in a farm. My dad called from a gas station outside of Virginia to say he loves me.

The cats outside are shaking, the cats inside are fighting. I babysit them while my parents take a week to visit my brother at their house in North Carolina. They bought three trash bags full of clothes for the flood victims, but most of what they found were swimming trunks. There's irony in there somewhere, but I didn't have the heart to tell my mother. She's always been bad at thinking things through, we ran across the country when I was little, moved to five new states by the time I hit kindergarten, and then when I was 15 she asked if she thinks that affected me at all.

But we're a home now, tucked in Pennsylvania. I drive two hours roundtrip to see my sister and my niece. We watch the football game my brother-in-law went to and we bring over sandwiches so she doesn't have to cook. Next week, she's hosting Thanksgiving at her house for the first time and we'll help how we can. I promised to bring the dessert, a chocolate pumpkin cake spiked with peanut butter and cinnamon. She doesn't need to do everything alone. We're all in this together now.

No more moving, no more leaving anyone behind. There's irony in there somewhere, but I'm not thinking about that now.

Chocolate Pumpkin Bundt Cake

An easy, all-on-one cake recipe that it perfect for a bundt, but can also be baked in any traditional pan, you will just have to adjust the temperature. Coming from Indiana, I always think that a bundt cake during the holidays is just that much more festive; and with NordicWare's bundt cake with the fall leaves pattern, it takes autumn to a whole other level.

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cup AP flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup cocoa powder
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon cinnamon + more for sprinkling
¼ cup peanut butter
1 egg
½ cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
¾ cup buttermilk
White sugar, for sprinklin

Directions:

Prepare your bundt pan with shortening and flour (I used their harvest leaves bundt pan to add a little festivity to this post)
Preheat oven to 350*F
Sift together flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa, sugar, and cinnamon twice in a large mixing bowl
In a measuring cup, whisk together peanut butter, egg, pumpkin, vanilla, and buttermilk
Create a well in the center of your dry ingredients with a wooden spoon
Gently pour a steady stream of your wet ingredients into the center of the well, stirring constantly until thoroughly mixed—but beware over-mixing
Pour into your prepared bundt pan
Bake 1 hour or until a toothpick comes out clean
Allow to cool, remove from pan, and sprinkle with white sugar and cinnamon on the leaves, as shown
Enjoy! Can be stored for up to 3 days in an airtight containe

Wild Berry Shortcake: In Partnership with Nordic Ware

July 28, 2016 Brett

My sister was supposed to swim today. She’s 6 months pregnant and hot all the time. To stretch, lay out, relax, she said it would be heaven to her. Instead, it rained, so she fell asleep on the couch, curled up in an old blanket a great-aunt made. The room is dark and the light through the lace curtains is grey. Summer is fickle and sometimes you can only lie down for an hour and wait out the storm.

This morning we talked about two uncles we had. One died in a war, the other died from smoking a pack a day. I don’t miss either anymore, really, but we live in the shadows of their totems: tan lines from mowing Tanglewood Baptist Church’s cemetery, a gold ring one wore on his pinky finger, the distrust of feminine men and women who don’t put wear makeup. We live in these totems and don’t talk of them much. My dad keeps a used shell from his brother’s 21-gun salute. My mother had a bumper sticker on her Nissan for the longest time: “All gave some, some gave all” for her brother, too.

They were uncles with nothing to do with one another, but we visited both in one day. One July in Indiana, a few days in the Midwest so we could visit our family there. We played basketball with John and picked blackberries with Mike. I remember the clouds were as curt and monosyllabic as their names. The sun was hot, no shade out in farm country. We rode our bikes to Dairy Queen and John sang “Sex and Candy” under his breath the whole way there. I remember it because later, on the way to my uncle’s to pick berries, I said her brother said a curse word.

It stormed when we got to Mike’s. Summer is fickle and so we made dessert. He kept an old ice cream bucket in his fridge that was full of bruised berries, smashed and crammed to close the lid. We stayed there for two hours, my mother made a yellow cake. We ate it with ice cream and those bruised and bleeding berries. I remember it all so vividly, a world I was only acquainted with. One July when the summer was still fickle, too.

Wild Berry Shortcake

Inspired by my summers in Indiana and Nordic Ware's Shortcake Basket Pan. Makes 6 shortcakes or 2 8-inch square cakes.

Ingredients for Shortcakes

1 ¼ cup AP flour
½ cup corn flour or a fine-ground cornmeal
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
¼ cup half ‘n half
1 TB pure vanilla extract
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
5 egg

Directions for Shortcakes

Preheat oven to 350*F
Prepare your NordicWare shortcake pan with vegetable shortening and flour, as recommended by the care instructions
Sift together flours, baking powder, and salt four times until very airy and light. Set aside
Whisk together half ‘n half, vanilla, and lemon until well-mixed. Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy
Add eggs, one at a time. Make sure you turn off mixer once in a while to scrape the edges and bottom with a rubber spatula. Mixture will look curdled, but it is just fine
With your rubber spatula (not with the stand mixer), lightly fold in flour mixture, a half-cup or so at a time
When all flour is incorporated, your mixture will be pretty thick. Thin it out with your milk mixture and beat for fifteen seconds with the stand mixer on medium-high to aerate slightly
Split batter between your 6 prepared shortcake cups
Bake for 24-28 minutes or until tops of cakes are golden and slightly puffed (while this is baking, make your whipped cream)
Allow to cool completely before removing from pan and assembling your desser

Ingredients for Cream

1 cup heavy whipping cream, cold
½ cup confectioner’s sugar
1 TB pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
¼ cup crème fraiche (or Greek yogurt)

Directions for Cream

While cakes are baking and cooling, work on your cream
In the bowl of your stand mixer, now fitted with the whisk attachment, whip your cream until soft peaks form
Add your vanilla and continue beating on medium
Slowly add your confectioner’s sugar and your pinch of salt
Turn mixer off
Gently fold in your crème fraiche or yogurt. The whipped cream will deflate slightly, but the added dairy will thicken the mixture to a nice, heavy consistency
Set aside until ready to assemble cake

Assembly: When cakes are cooled, top each with a couple tablespoons of your cream mixture and a few wild berries (as I did in this recipe) or blackberries (really, though, any berry will work). Sift a little more confectioner’s sugar for good measure and enjoy!

Happy 70th Anniversary, Nordic Ware!

March 29, 2016 Brett

Vanilla Bundt with Roasted Cherries and Goat Cheese Icing

She remained for so long a fragment of eyelash wishes and the dimpled smiles of her grandchildren. She would have fourteen now, if I’m not mistaken. I’ve never met her, only spoke about her a handful of times. We keep silent about her. She’s been gone since 1985.

Anniversaries are hard to come by in my family; people just don’t stick around long enough to have many of them. My grandfather who went by Eugene only celebrated 22 years with his wife before he lost her. Half that time was spent on the road, the other half was spent drinking in the garage behind the house, avoiding diapers and tantrums and the bills changing colors. Anniversaries were hard to come by then, too. Sometimes they celebrated in September, sometimes when the tax check came in. Sometimes that money went to school clothes for their six kids. Sometimes it went to get rich quick ideas: investments in land, oil, a no-good brother down the road.

We don’t have a lot of photos of her, of anyone really. I know there’s a photo of her sitting on a step and she’s smiling and she’s beautiful. There’s a photo of my grandfather in a white shirt, sleeves rolled up, drinking a soda in that same album. Photos of me, top lip stained red with juice, are tucked in those pages, too. My mother said she would have liked me if she had met me. I wonder about it sometimes, too.

We do have a few things, artifacts of a time when my grandfather felt whole and my mother still felt like a child. A ring my sister wears on her index finger, the patina of a cheaper metal shining, dappled, in the sunlight once in a while. An unfinished quilt that sits in a hope chest in my parents’ room. A cast iron skillet that’s more for decoration than for cooking. And a cake pan. Light and slightly dented, it sits on a shelf in the back of the house called the mudroom. We use it once a year, maybe at Christmas, maybe at the Fourth of July. But it’s there when we need it, unquestioningly so. I look forward to the cake, to the memories we made with it. How it is one of the last relics of a woman I never met. How she bought this pan and fed six kids on a budget with it. And now I bake with it, too. It’s a Nordic Ware Bundt pan, one of the classic designs.

Nordic Ware's 70th Anniversary Crown Bundt

I was fortunate enough to celebrate their 70th anniversary with them. And I can’t stop wondering if that fragment of a grandmother named Norma, bought her own bundt pan for some celebration, too. But in that celebration, I roasted some cherries and mixed my batter. A vanilla bundt cake with goat cheese icing, baked in a crown-shaped pan. Fit for a king, or a baker in Pennsylvania, or a mother of six in rural Indiana.

Vanilla Bundt with Roasted Cherries and Goat Cheese Icing

A cake this could needs to be in the shape of a crown. Celebrating Nordic Ware's 70th Anniversary, this cake is light but filling with its cherry and goat cheese accents. Yields one Bundt.

Ingredients for the Vanilla Bundt Cake:

1 tablespoon. vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk, half ‘n half, or whole milk
1 and ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup shortening, room temperature
1 stick butter, room temperature + more for pan
1 and 1/2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
2 and 3/4 cups AP flour + more for pan

Directions for Vanilla Bundt Cake:

Preheat oven to 325*F
Butter and flour your bundt pan
In a medium bowl, sift together baking powder, salt, and flour
In a measuring cup or small bowl, whisk together milk and vanilla
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat fats and sugar on medium-high until light and ribbony
Gradually add one egg at a time until incorporated
Reduce speed of mixer and alternate between adding flour mixture and milk mixture, a third at a time
Mixture will appear lumpy and perhaps very dry, but when constantly stirred, the batter will come together
Gently pour batter into prepared bundt and bake for 55 minutes to one hour
Cake will be done when a toothpick comes out clean when inserted into bundt
Allow to cool while continuing with recipe

Ingredients for Roasted Cherries:

1 quart frozen or fresh cherries
2 teaspoon black pepper
1 ½ tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoon brown sugar

Directions for Roasted Cherries:

Preheat oven to 425*F and prepare a half sheet pan with parchment paper
In a large mixing bowl, stir all ingredients together, ensuring all berries are coated in sugars, oil, and vinegar
Pour onto prepared sheet and roast for 20-25 minutes, or until caramelized and juices are running from cherries
Remove from oven and allow to cool before spooning into center of bundt

Ingredients for Goat Cheese Icing:

2 ounces goat cheese, room temperature
2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
2 teaspoon vanilla
2-3 cups confectioner’s sugar
3-4 tablespoons whole milk or cream
A pinch of salt

Directions for Goat Cheese Icing:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a whisk attachment, beat goat and cream cheeses together on medium-high until light, fluffy, and well-incorporated
With mixer still running, beat in vanilla
Add confectioner’s sugar, one half cup at a time, until icing starts to come together
To thin out consistency, add milk
Add a pinch of salt to taste and ice on bundt immediately

Nordic Ware's 70th Anniversary Crown Bundt Pan

A special thanks to Nordic Ware for sponsoring this post. Nordic Ware has been producing quality kitchenware products in their 70 years and are now one of America's most beloved and iconic brands. I am honored to be celebrating their 70 years in business and especially excited at using their commemorative gold crown bundt pan for many years to come. For more information or products, check out their website!