Vaffler (Norwegian Waffles)

In honor of today, syttende mai or the "17th of May", I'm making one of my all-time favorite Norwegian treats - vaffler.  These aren't the American style waffles that are eaten at breakfast with maple syrup.    Rather, these are soft and pliable and eaten as a snack.  

You'll find vaffler all over Norway: at the 7-11 convenience store, coffee shops and even the airport, but I like homemade ones the best.  My Norwegian family loves to eat their waffles with brunost, a sweet brown goat cheese, but I prefer mine with a little dollop of Nora raspberry jam. 

The batter comes together super quickly and you MUST use a heart-shaped waffle iron.   The recipe calls for cardamom which is used throughout Nordic baking and gives the waffles a truly authentic taste.  

GRATULERER MED DAGEN!!!

Summer Berry Chiffon Cake

This Summer Berry Chiffon Cake instantly called out to me when I saw it in the June/July 2014 issue of Cook's Country, almost as if I was being taunted to make it.  Hahaha...obviously it worked.  Now that we're at the tail end of spring and on the cusp of summer this cake is perfectly apropos to make, especially with all the bountiful berries at the farmer's market.  

What sets this apart from other cakes is the easy to make, homemade jam filling that is spread between the layers of chiffon cake and cream.    The jam gives you an intensive burst of berry goodness which perfectly complements the refreshing whipped cream.   Delicious!  

I dedicate this cake to all the moms in my life - Happy Mother's Day!!!

Tres Leches Cake

Need a delicious cake to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (or any occasion for that matter)?  You've got to try this Tres Leches Cake from Cook's Country.   If you're not familiar with this Mexican dessert it's a sponge cake that is soaked in three types of "milk" (heavy cream, condensed milk and evaporated milk) and frosted with lightly sweetened whipped cream. 

I'm not a fan of versions that are completely drenched in milk; so much so they leave a puddle of liquid on your plate.   Rather, I prefer mine to be moist, not mushy.  This recipe gets it right.  

I've included the full recipe here which makes a 9x13 inch cake, but for the blog I made half the recipe and baked it in an 8x3 inch round cake pan.   Came out great!  

Note: Be sure to use all the milk mixture when you soak the baked cake.  I didn't (had about 1/4 cup of the liquid leftover) and found that I had a few dry pockets in the cake.   

Gluten-Free Funfetti Vanilla Cupcakes

I'm making my way through ATK's amazing newest publication,  The How Can It Be Gluten Free Cookbook,  and this weekend I decided to give their birthday cupcakes a go.  It's a basic vanilla cupcake with vanilla frosting, but I funfetti-d them by adding rainbow sprinkles to the cake batter.  

If you have children who are gluten intolerant you MUST make these cupcakes for their next birthday party.  The cake itself was moist and delicious and their easy vanilla frosting tasted just like whipped vanilla ice cream.   

So far I'm batting 1000 with every recipe I've tried so far.  I can't sing it's praises enough.  Run, don't walk, to buy it!  Check out this site for a few of the recipes including buttermilk waffles, light and fluffy biscuits and chocolate chip cookies.