baking recipes | A little Swiss, a little Canadian

It’s another snowy, ice rain kind of day here in Ontario. I sure hope Winter will not stick around for too much longer ;))

In Switzerland you will find a pastry called Nusschnecken, a cinnamon bun style pastry filled with ground hazelnuts or almonds and are pretty flat compared to a traditional cinnamon bun. I think this is the first time I’ve tried copying the shape and I really liked how it turned out. Filled with ground pecans, maple syrup, orange zest and a touch of cinnamon-so good!

Maple Pecan Cinnamon Swirls

Ingredients:

400 g white spelt flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp quick instant yeast
1 tbsp maple syrup
80 g butter, melted (+ 80 g melted butter for brushing dough)
250 ml warm milk

Filling:

300 g ground pecans
5 tbsp maple syrup
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 organic orange, zest only
200 ml milk

-For dough: In a large mixing bowl or your standard mixer, combine flour, salt and yeast, add melted butter, honey and warm milk. Knead to form a soft dough. Cover and let rise at room temperature for about 1 hour or double in size.

-For filling: Mix all ingredients together, set aside.

-Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350F/180C.

-On a floured surface roll dough out thinly into a large rectangle. Brush with the melted butter, ( leave some for brushing the swirls before baking). Spread the filling evenly onto dough. Starting from the longer side, roll dough up tightly. Cut into 2 cm thin swirls/buns. Lay onto prepared baking sheets, leaving some space between. Brush with remaining melted butter, let rise another 15 minutes. Bake in preheated 350F/180C oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

-I brushed the warm swirls with a maple butter and orange icing. You can use a regular icing if desired (icing sugar and orange juice).

-Makes about 25 swirls.

-Ground hazelnuts, almonds, or walnuts can be used instead of pecans.

Have a wonderful week!

Ursula

I love the smell and taste of this flavor combination, so lovely! If you are looking for a simple and delicious sheet cake this might be just what you are looking for.

I still had some cranberries left from Christmas baking and my kids have been eating oranges, I had everything at home to whip this up. I used spelt flour and maple syrup to make it a healthier treat.

Cranberry and Orange Sheet Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup dried cranberries, chopped
2/3 cup orange juice
1 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup grapeseed oil
4 eggs
3 cups spelt flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 tbsp orange zest

-Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

-Soak cranberries in orange juice for 15 minutes.

– In a large bowl mix together flour, baking powder, salt and orange zest.

-In a separate bowl whisk eggs, oil, buttermilk and vanilla, then add the cranberry mixture. Stir in flour until well combined. Fill into the prepared baking pan.

-Bake in preheated oven for 30 – 40 minutes or until tester inserted into middle of cake comes out clean.

-Let cool completely. Cut into squares, decorate with an icing if desired, I used maple syrup and small cranberry pieces and orange zest.

-Can be baked in a smaller sheet pan, a bundt form or muffin tins.