Even though I love decorating my baking, taste has always been my first priority. I use a lot of fruits, nuts, berries, and spices in my recipes, and I want everything to taste as tempting as it looks. After all, it’s meant to be eaten and enjoyed. For that reason, I avoid using too much food coloring, and you won’t find much use for fondants here.
I’m dedicated to finding solutions that don’t require a kitchen full of specialty tools. Most techniques can be accomplished using items you already have at home: aluminum foil, toothpicks, cotton swabs, and regular paper.
I hope this book will inspire you to try new things in the kitchen. The joy and sense of achievement you feel when you step outside your comfort zone are underrated. Regardless of whether the result is flawless, you’ll end up feeling proud once you’ve made the first attempt. And when it comes to baking, it’s hard to render the result inedible! Don’t give up too soon—as with most things in life, practice makes perfect. I’ve learned a lot through trial and error.
You’ll find recipes here for various kinds of sweets: cakes, cookies, yeast breads, macarons, and confections—something for every taste. I take my cues from nature in Norway, and the traditions and flavors I know. You can easily adapt my ideas to nature where you are, and to traditions and flavors you’re familiar with. Or you can let yourself be inspired by my northern ways.
I look forward to seeing what you bake! If you’re so inclined, share your photos with me on Instagram. You can find me under the name @borrowmyeyes.
Finally, happy baking—and have fun!
EQUIPMENT
I grew up with the notion that you can go a long way with simple tools. You don’t need specialty equipment most of the time. With a little creativity, you can handle anything. But there are some things I depend on in the kitchen. Here are my must-haves. Most of them you probably already have at home.
1.Scissors
2.Paper
3.Pencil
4.Tape
5.Small plastic bags: I use these as piping bags for icing. Sometimes I use real piping bags, either with a thin round tip, a large round tip, or a large star tip.
6.Parchment paper
7.Aluminum foil: Perfect for making your own molds.
8.Sharp knife
9.Spreading knife: It’s handy to have a completely flat knife for spreading cream and icing.
10.Zester or grater: I often use the zest of citrus fruits in my baking. If you don’t have a zester for this purpose, a sharp grater will help you get only the outermost layer of the peel, not the bitter, white layer.
11.Rolling pin: If you don’t have one, use a wine bottle!
12.Whisk
13.Handheld mixer: I prefer to use this rather than a stand mixer. I feel I’m more in control with a handheld mixer. In addition, there’s less to clean up.
14.Rubber spatula
15.Ladle
16.Food coloring: I prefer to use liquid gel food coloring, as it can be added without changing the consistency of your baking. You can go far with just a few colors—all you have to do is mix! Yellow, blue, and red are perfect colors to start with. I also like adding a little brown to the colors to soften them. I don’t usually include amounts for food coloring in my recipes, since the intensity can vary, so just add a drop or two at a time until it’s the color you want.
17.Springform pan: I bake all my round cakes in the same pan. Nice and simple! All the recipes fit a pan with a diameter of 9 inches (23 cm).
18.Toothpicks: Good for so many things: adding liquid gel food coloring, making holes, testing cakes . . .
19. Muffin pan: You can bake cupcakes in liners without a pan, but using a muffin pan allows you to pour more batter into the cups and get higher cupcakes.
20.Stainless steel bowl: To heat ingredients over hot water, if you don’t have a double boiler pot. Perfect for melting chocolate, heating up lemon cream, etc.
21.Candy thermometer: Cooking with both sugar and chocolate is so much easier with a thermometer.
22.Timer
23.Measuring spoons: Use proper measuring spoons rather than a regular teaspoon or tablespoon, which can vary in size. With measuring spoons, you’ll get the same result each time.
24.Scale: It is important to me to have a scale that I can reset with contents on it. This makes it easier to add ingredients to your bowl.
25.Measuring cups: I’ve provided cup measurements in these recipes alongside weight measurements (in grams). If you do have a kitchen scale, weighing your solid ingredients (flour, sugar, nuts, etc.) will give you a more precise amount.
26.Tea strainer: I often sift icing sugar and cocoa powder over my baking through a tea strainer. Macarons, on the other hand, require a bigger flour sifter.
27.Tweezers: To make it easier to position decorations, for example, or to remove something that has ended up in the wrong place.
28.Brush: Useful for brushing off things you don’t want on your baking, and for painting on color, cocoa powder, egg white, and other things.
29.Large cake pan (not pictured): For larger cakes, I use a rectangular baking pan measuring 12” × 16” (30 × 40 cm). You could also use a lasagna pan.
30.Nut grinder (not pictured): Essential for grinding nuts finely for marzipan—otherwise the dough will be difficult to handle. For chopping nuts, you can either chop by hand or pulse in a food processor.
WINTER INTO SPRING
The snow melts away as the mercury rises. You can hear the melting water trickle, forming little creeks. Nature slowly awakens after the long winter. The first flowers show their heads, and the trees are budding. Everything that was brown now turns to bright shades of green.
MACARONS WITH PASSION FRUIT CREAM
makes 35 macarons
Spring is here! The Norwegian coltsfoot flower is impatient. Before the snow has even disappeared, its yellow bristly head pops out of the dirt, brightening roadsides and ditches. Macarons with a refreshing passion fruit filling are the perfect way to welcome spring.
Macarons
¾ cup + 2 Tbsp (85 g) almond flour
¾ cup + 2 Tbsp (110 g) icing sugar
2 medium egg