It’s a sign I’ve been around enough geologists in my job that I understood some of the jargon in there. At least I understand cake.

To be frank – this cake was only made because I had a carton of buttermilk that was about to expire. I know that expiration date on buttermilk is not a firm date – the milk is fermented after all – but it was the kick I needed to make this. It is easy, quick and freezes quite well.

Unlike a lot of other cakes, I think that this doesn’t taste as good out of the oven, but the moistness of the cake makes it perfect for eating the next day – or freezing and then eating.

The original recipe comes from the amazing Norwegian website, Det Søte Liv.

Ingredients for the cake
250 g butter, melted and cooled.
800 g sugar
800 g all-purpose flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
8 tsp cinnamon
4 tsp baking soda
1 liter buttermilk/fermented milk product

1.  Mix the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.
2. Set the oven to 200 degrees
3. Add the butter, buttermilk and vanilla extract.
4. Combine well, until the batter is smooth and without lumps.
5. Pour the batter into a sheet-pan (30×40 cm), covered in baking/parchment paper. Make sure it is fairly even.
6. Bake for approximately 30 minutes.
7. Cool the cake in the pan.

Frosting
100 g butter, melted and cooled.
500 g powdered sugar
3-4 tbsp cocoa
4 tsp vanilla extract
8 tbsp milk

1. Add all the ingredients together and mix until smooth.
2. Pour over the cake once it is cool.
3. Let the frosting cool before cutting (unless you want the jagged little edges that I have.)

Freezes well.

I’ve had my juicer for a fair bit now – and although it is a pain to clean up since I don’t have a dishwasher – it does see semi-regular use.

I have discovered some don’ts – cucumber juice is not all that good when it is the core ingredient, actually. On the similar level, too many spinach leaves gives the juice a certain earthiness that I can well do without. (A few is enough to give the juice an enchanting green flavor, especially if you pair it with kiwis)

And I have discovered some good flavors. Carrots seem to work fantastically well in juice. Adding a couple of grapes (not many, by any means) gives whichever juice you make a tiny hint of sweetness.

My standard combination tends to be a couple of apples, and whichever fruit or veg I’ve forgotten about.

The one in the picture was:
2 Pink Lady apples
1 Golden Delicious apple
1 pear
2 small stalks of celery
3 medium carrots.

For whatever reason, whenever I am in the store, I feel like I have to buy carrots, regardless of how much I may have at home, so juicing them is one way to deal with that.

The problem with getting recipes from the Internet is that there will usually be some part of it that is impossible to get, or to understand. For those of us who don’t get our butter in sticks… recipes that feature that measurement can be incomprehensible.

That is, until you find a butter converter. It becomes easier to find the right amount to fulfill the requirements in the recipe.

And, while I loved the Pioneer Woman’s Cajun Chicken on New Year’s Eve – I spent quite a bit of time scouring Norwegian grocery stores looking for Cajun spice mix. It couldn’t be found. However, the power of the Internet came to my aid, with Mary Makes Dinner and Simply recipes each giving off slight variation of Cajun Spice Mix.

Similarly, I just tried my hand at making pizza dough – and the recipe specified a pack of yeast. Yeast does not come in the same size packages in Norway and the US, so figuring out how much should be in there isn’t necessarily easy.

But that’s the beauty of the Internet. You can find out these things, and find substitutes that may work based on flavor profile or consistency.

Some people eat the same thing each New Year’s Eve. My parents, for example, have landed on the tradition of having tacos (every guest is responsible for one part), whereas others go for turkey or other Norwegian traditions that they didn’t eat on Christmas Eve.

My sister and I have celebrated New Year’s Eve the quiet way for a couple of years now. We watch movies and play board games – helped by the fact that the view from my flat is spectacular once the fireworks starts.

And, we put together a menu of food from various blogs and such that have caught our eyes in the previous year.

Last weekend’s menu:
Brie in puff pastry
Cajun chicken pasta
Mango sorbet and Molten lava cakes.

On its own, the mango sorbet was kind of dull, in a refreshing sorbet kind of way, but with the warm, gooey chocolate from the lava cakes, it was perfect.

When I posted the name of this recipe on Facebook, one of my Dutch friends said: “We call this kind of thing something completely different in the Netherlands.”

The recipe comes from Macaroni & Cheesecake, They’re perfectly fudgey and chocolatey. And just right for freezing for later as well.

Ingredients
Brownies:
200 g granulated sugar
160 g brown sugar
180 g butter, melted
2 tablespoons water
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
175 g all-purpose flour
110 g unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Ganache:
125 ml heavy cream
200 g bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate
pinch of sea salt
colorful candies or sprinkles, for decorating

How to

1. Stir together melted butter, water, sugar & brown sugar until well combined.

2. Add the eggs and the vanilla extract and stir until fully incorporated.

3. Sift in the dry ingredients. Mix well.

4.  Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.

5. Line a 22 x 33 cm baking pan with parchment paper

6. Pour the batter into the baking pan and try to spread it evenly.

7. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until the brownies have started to set in the middle.

8. Let the brownies cool.

9. While the brownies are cooling, heat up the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat to a simmer. It should not boil.

10. Place the chocolates in a bowl and pour the cream over the chocolate. Sprinkle with salt.

11. Gently stir the cream with a spoon until all the chocolate has melted and incorporated in the cream. Let it cool a bit.

12. When the brownies have mostly cooled, pour the chocolate ganache over them and try to spread it evenly.

13. Sprinkle with sprinkles.

14. Cool completely in the refrigerator.

15. Cut into squares before serving.

For my work computer, I tend to use Chocolate & Zucchini’s delicious-looking monthly desktop calendars. I get tons of nice comments on them from co-workers who stop by, and they’re absolutely droolworthy. I get in a better mood just by looking at them.

When I noticed that the December wallpaper featured some pretty cookies, I immediately bookmarked the recipe – and vowed that I would be making them.

Unfortunately, they rather fell a victim to the Norwegian butter shortage, as I only had 100 g of real butter left, and the recipe calls for  280 g. I substituted with margarine. (My local stores have been empty of real butter for about a month now.)

I do think that affected the flavor of the cookie. Also, it wasn’t as sweet as I thought it would be, and at one point I considered using royal icing to decorate my stars, however, the flavor as it was grew on me.

I also had some co-workers over, and served these, along with the rest of this year’s production of Christmas cookies.

I am not wrong when I say that these disappeared the quickest from the serving plate, and I had added a good pile of them.

I would definitely consider making this again, but I might halve the recipe as it yields quite a lot. Especially as I like to try out making loads of different cookies for Christmas.

For a long time, we used the pre-made Gingerbread House-sets. My mother does not care for melting sugar to the point of caramel to glue gingerbread pieces together, and having a pre made set made the process easier. She just delegated it to us.

My sisters and I have talked for a bit about making a gingerbread house from scratch, and to make it look like our cabin in the mountains.

The Saltbox House pattern we started with doesn’t quite resemble the cabin, but moving the door around, and not having any windows on the largest piece of gingerbread helped.

Due to an extreme amount of dough, we ended up making two gingerbread houses – so now one is residing with my parents and another one came home with me. Check out the pictures below.

In Norwegian these have a really un-PC name, Jødekaker (directly translated it means Jew cakes), but the name comes from the alleged fact that Sephardic jews brought the cookies with them when they immigrated to Norway. Anyone of Jewish descent know anything that resembles it?

It’s fairly common in certain parts of Norway, whereas in other parts, it is relatively unknown. I’ve grown up with this. My co-workers in another part of Norway looked at me in horror last year when I listed this as one of the cookies I would be making for Christmas because of the name.

It is probably the easiest cookie I’ve made for Christmas this year.

Ingredients

My sister is crazy for peppermint and chocolate flavored things, so it seemed like a good idea to make this recipe that I found in the December 2011 copy of BBC Good Food and to bring with me when I come home for Christmas.

(Unless she comes to visit before that and empty out my stash… I wouldn’t put it past her.)

The picture doesn’t look very elegant, due to my lack of chocolate painting skills, but essentially taste-wise, we’re talking After Eights. And it is really super-easy.

Ingredients 

500 g icing sugar, sifted.

4-6 tbsp condensed, unsweetened milk

1/2 tsp peppermint oil or peppermint extract (depending on what you have, and how much peppermint flavor you want)

Green food coloring (Optional)

1) Add the icing sugar to a bowl. Stir in the condensed milk gradually – you want the end result to be a firm dough, not too dry and not too sticky. I had to add more icing sugar to mine to get it beyond the liquid stage – consider how much condensed milk you need before adding it all. Add the peppermint oil. Then add the food coloring, if using.

2) Sprinkle a bit of icing sugar on a clean surface, and knead the dough together on the icing sugar. It should be fairly smooth.

3) Add more icing sugar onto the surface (the dough shouldn’t stick) and roll the dough out with a rolling pin. It should get to about 0.5 cm in thickness (but depending on preference).

4) Stamp out stars with star-shaped cookie cutters. Put onto parchment paper.

5) Let sit until next day when they’ve dried out. You can then dip them in or paint them with melted chocolate to give them a chocolate cover, or just pack away in boxes as they are.