Apple pie with a Swedish twist

Swedes love baking and they have some sort of fever for pies. I have always associate baking with winter, but pies can be eaten all around the year, varying the filling. Apple pie is one of the classics but there are many different recipes. The recipe below has a Swedish twist: cardamom seeds, also a classic in Swedish baked goods. The result was a super delicious apple pie and a recipe that turned out very simple and fast to make. 

Ingredients (26 cm diameter):
30 min + 20 min baking

Base:
175 g butter, room temperature
1 dl sugar
3 dl flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt

Filling:
3-4 apples
25 g butter
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp cardamom seeds (black part inside the green pods), crushed in mortar and pestle

Lemon glaze:
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp lemon juice

1. Base Preheat the oven to 200 ºC. Whisk butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix the dry ingredients until well combined. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and quickly combine into a dough. Transfer to a pie form and press evenly.

2. Filling Cut the apples in quarters and remove the seeds. Chop each quarter into slices. Lay the slices in two circles over the dough. Spread on top the butter, the sugar and the cardamom.

3. Bake the pie in the center of the oven for 20 minutes or until the apples are golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

4. Mix honey and lemon juice. Brush over the pie. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

Baked Chicken Nuggets and Root Vegetables with Dill Sauce

I love chicken nuggets, especially when they are crispy. Until I found this recipe, I thought that to get the right crispiness one had to fried the nuggets. Now I found a way to get super yummy and crunchy chicken nuggets and I want to share it with you. The trick is to use panko instead of regular breadcrumbs. Yes, it was as simple as that.

Ingredients (3 people):

40 min.

400g chicken breast

1 cup maizena flour

2 ägg

1 cup panko

2 carrots

2 sweet potatoes

10-15 brussels sprouts

1 dl greek yoghurt

1 tsp mustard

Dill

Olive oil

Salt

Pepper

1. Pre-heat the oven to 225 ºC. Cut the chicken breasts into long fingers, of about 3 cm width. Salt them. On separated plates place flour, beaten eggs and panko season with pepper. Roll each chicken finger individually in first the flour, then the egg and then panko and pepper mixture. Place the nuggets on half of an oven tray pre-arranged with baking paper. Set aside.

2. Chop the potatoes and carrots into thin matchsticks pieces. Mix with olive oil and salt. Transfer to the empty half of the oven tray. Place the tray in the middle of the oven and cook for 20 min. turning the nuggets around half way through. 

3. Meanwhile, halve the brussels sprouts and mix with salt and pepper. Place them in the oven with 10 minutes to go (when you turn the chicken nuggets around).

4. Prepare the dipping sauce by mixing the yoghurt, mustard and dill. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

5. Garnish the nuggets and vegetables with extra dill and serve with the sauce.