I used a whole sachet of dry yeast because that’s what the instructions suggested, but I do think that even half the amount would have sufficed with a slightly longer proofing time. Sadly I haven’t seen dried sourdough starter sold in Finland, but I think I’ll ask if our organic store’d be willing to add it to their selection. Sure, homemade sourdough starter is great especially as its flavor develops over time, but sometimes it’s rather satisfying to take the easy way out and have a fresh loaf of sourdough in just a few hours!

Here’s what I used:

• 1 sachet dried sourdough starter (30 grams), Lecker’s
• 7 and 1/2 dl water, lukewarm (37 Celsius)
• 6 dl whole rye flour (plus 1 dl for shaping)
• 6 dl white wheat flour
• 2-3 teaspoons salt, to taste
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 sachet dry yeast (11 grams)

First I mixed the starter with water and let it sit for about 5 minutes to wake it up. Then I briskly whisked in 1 dl of rye and 1 dl of wheat flours, covered the bowl loosely, and let it brew for half an hour. I mixed the rest of the flour, salt, and dry yeast in another bowl and mixed that in the starter liquid. I kneaded the dough for about 5 to 7 minutes, until it wasn’t quite as sticky anymore but still pretty wet. Now I set the oven temperature to 200 degrees Celsius and let the dough rise for one hour, until it had more than doubled.

I poured 1 dl of rye flour on my working surface and scooped the dough out of the bowl. Then I cut the dough in half, shaped each half into a loaf, and placed them on a floured baking sheet. I let the loaves rise for half an hour, then slit them with a sharp knife, and baked for 45 minutes until they sounded hollow when tapped on the underside. I also placed a small ramekin filled with water in the oven during baking. After baking I wrapped the loaves in kitchen towels and placed them in a plastic bag to soften the crust a bit, and after about two hours they were easy to cut into.

Dried sourdough starter and its package.

Finnish glögi rarely has citrus peel as a flavor component like its Central European cousins, but cinnamon, cardamom and cloves are essential. I added a few spices that aren’t all that traditional – dried mint, pink peppercorns, and star aniseed – just because I personally love them, and they did add a certain freshness to the flavor. I also cut down on the amount of cloves, since often there’s a whole tablespoonful of them in a similar recipe, and I think their taste can get wildly overpowering. I would use the recipe below as a starting point and tweak it to your own tastes.

The kind of juice that is used as a base also has an important role – we use a red currant juice concentrate that Heikki’s mother has made from her own berries, and it lends quite an authentic color and flavor to the drink. Grape juice or even lingonberry or cranberry would surely be worth trying out. This spice infusion would probably be lovely added to some warmed up apple juice, or black currant juice for the sneezy days, and I can see it spicing up my cup of tea even. Finns often add some almonds and raisins in their glögi mug, but I prefer mine without.

This is what I used:

• 5 slices of fresh ginger
• 4 cloves
• 1 teaspoon crushed cardamom seeds
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon (or 1 stick)
• 2 teaspoons pink peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon dried mint
• 1 star aniseed
• a pinch of allspice
• 3 dl water

I placed all the above in a small cooking pot, brought to a brisk boil, and lowered the heat so that the mixture was barely bubbling. Now I covered the pan and let the spice mixture simmer for half an hour, and then sieved it through a cheese cloth into a small jug.

To make a cup of glögi, I use about 3 tablespoons of the spice infusion, 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of red currant juice Heikki’s mom has made, and 1 and 1/2 dl of hot water. It all depends on how sugary the juice is. This recipe yields about 2 dl of the spicy mixture, which I would say is enough for about five glögi portions. I store what’s left over in a small bottle in the fridge. An alcoholic version could be made with half red wine and half fruit juice, or by adding a little bit of vodka (or another spirit of choice) in the glögi mug.

We enjoyed this cake with a store-bought vegan whipped topping, but I am sure that vanilla ice cream would be just as good. I tend to choose full-fat whipped toppings on the rare occasion when I buy commercial ones – they’re not quite as artificial-tasting as the lighter versions. My favorite right now is GoGreen Vispi, an oat-based product that is available at least in Finland and Sweden.

The Wet:

• 2 dl plain soy yoghurt
• 1 large lime, juiced and zested (1/2 dl juice, 1 tablespoon zest)
• 1/2 dl canola oil

The Dry:

• 2 dl almonds, ground into 3 dl almond meal
• 1 dl white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 dl gram (chick pea flour)
• 2 dl sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• pinch of salt

The Topping:

• 1 dl slivered almonds
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon soy milk
• pinch of salt

To Serve:

• vegan whipped topping (we had GoGreen Vispi)
• 1/2 vanilla bean

The batter was as straightforwards as can be – I mixed the wet and the dry separately and then combined, stirring with a fork. I also stirred the topping ingredients gently together (I didn’t want to mash the slivers), then poured the batter in the baking pan and sprinkled with the topping. For an even coating, you might want to double the amount of topping.

Then I baked the cake for 25 minutes in 200 degrees Celsius, until the edges were nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake came out with just a few crumbs. I let the cake cool to room temperature, and served with vanilla whipped cream. For the cream, I just scraped the seeds from half a vanilla bean with the tip of a sharp knife, and added that to the commercial vegan whipping cream as I was whipping it.

Now these burgers are not about the patty, since the “patty” is actually just a slice of fried tofu, and I guess that in the US these might most likely be called sandwiches instead of burgers. But the main thing that’s going on here is the beet-sauerkraut relish, with its sweet-tangy taste that goes so very well with the rye bread, and its beety texture that is quite lovely with the fried tofu – especially when everything is drenched in creamy tahini sauce. Simple, quick, and tasty, just the way we prefer our dinners to be right now.

This recipe makes enough for 4 burgers, with some extra beet relish and tahini sauce left over. The relish is mighty tasty as a side dish as well, and we often serve this sauce with cooked grains like quinoa or barley. We also filled our burgers with pea sprouts and sliced yellow bell pepper, and enjoyed them with a side of carrot sticks.

The Tofu:

• 300 grams tofu
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
• canola oil for frying
• black pepper to taste

Heikki first cut the tofu in 4 slices, pressed them for a bit with some cheesecloth, and then fried them in canola oil until slightly brown on both sides. Then he drizzled the liquid smoke and the soy sauce in the pan and turned the slices over a few times to make sure they got an even coating, and crackled plenty of black pepper over the tofu when it was ready.

The Beet Relish:

• 2 large beets, julienned (or even grated)
• 1 and 1/2 dl sauerkraut (about 100 grams)
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1/2 tablespoon canola oil
• salt and black pepper to taste
• (a sqeeze of lemon juice)

I heated the oil in a frying pan and fried the onion until slightly browned. Then I added the beets and the sauerkraut in the pan, and fried for about 5 minutes, until the beet started to soften. Now I added the salt, pepper, and a squeeze of lemon juice, covered the pan, and let it stew until everything else was ready to serve (it took about 10 minutes).

Tahini Sauce:

• 3 tablespoons tahini
• 1 dl nutritional yeast
• 3/4 dl water
• 1-2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• juice of 1/2 lemon

Heikki just dumped all the ingredients in our mini food processor and mixed until thoroughly combined and creamy. The thickness of this sauce can be easily adjusted by cutting the amount of water – this makes quite a runny sauce.

To assemble, we buttered out two toasted rye bread slices with a bit of vegan margarine, slathered the bread slices with tahini sauce, then added a pile of the beet relish on the bottom slice. That got drizzled with some more sauce, then covered by a slice of tofu and a bunch of veggies, and another drizzle of the sauce.

I use white whole wheat flour all the time now that it’s finally available here, and it works very nicely in heavier baked goods like cookies. Maybe because of all the sugar and a touch of vinegar, these blondies don’t taste whole-wheaty at all, quite the opposite – not that whole-wheaty is necessarily a bad thing, just not what I usually aim at when making dessert. Peanut butter is just a slight side note in the taste – I am not a huge fan of sweet peanutty things, but here it adds a little something important. These were good right after baking and excellent straight from the fridge later on.

The Dry:

• 2 and 1/2 dl white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

The Wet:

• 3/4 dl coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 2 dl whole cane sugar
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon brown rice vinegar

The Egg-Replacer:

• 2 tablespoons gram (chick pea) flour
• 3 tablespoons soy milk

The Chocolate:

• a handful of chopped dark chocolate, 85%

First I preheated the oven to 175 degrees Celsius, chopped the chocolate, and sprayed a glass baking pan with a bit of olive oil. I used a small, 15 X 20 cm baking pan, and the result was fudgy and kind of sticky in the center. Very delicious, but a larger pan would yield more of the caramelized edges that were probably my favorite part of this dessert.

To make the batter, I first mixed the wet, the dry, and the egg-replacer ingredients in separate bowls. The chickpea flour is a bit lumpy so it’s important to mix well. Now, I combined everything and stirred with a fork just so that there were no dry lumps visible. I folded in the chocolate, poured the batter in the pan, and baked for 25 minutes. For the last 5 minutes I covered the pan to prevent too much browning – it might be wise to check after the first 15 minutes and cover when necessary.

This is what we used:

• Bunch of fresh chard (enough to cover two baking sheets)
• 1 teaspoon nutritional yeast
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon Japanese seven spice (shichimi togarashi)
• olive oil for spraying

First we set the oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Then we prepared the chard: washed the leaves, removed the stems, and cut the remaining parts into bite-size pieces. Now we crumpled a baking parchment, spread it on the baking sheet, and sprayed some olive oil on it. Then we covered the baking sheet with the chard pieces, taking care that individual pieces didn’t overlap, and sprayed them with some olive oil. We ground the nutritional yeast, salt and seven spice in a mortar, and sprinkled half of the spice mix on the chard bits. We made two sheetfuls of chips, so the rest of the spice mix was for the second batch.

Now we baked the chard for 7 minutes. They burn really easy, so we started watching them after 5 minutes or so. When they were dry and crunchy, we took them out of the oven. They are best eaten right out of the oven, since they lose their crispness fairly quickly. We devoured two sheetfuls of them in no time – their airy texture and spicy taste is quite addicting!

Instead of just rolled oats I use a four grain mix that includes rolled oats, rye, barley and wheat. The grains have been precooked and then flattened to make them quick to prepare, just like oats often are. This specific four grain mix can be bought in any little grocery in Finland, and we usually cook it into porridge which takes 3 to 10 minutes – we use organic cereals that are ready in 5 minutes. Of course there’s a whole world of cereals, nuts, dried fruit, and seeds you could toss in these bars!

I’ve made three variations so far and they’re all pretty great – the one with peanut butter and sunflower seeds is a basic cupboard-staple option with a sweet caramel undertone, cocoa with cherries is always a lovely combo and satisfies my sweet-tooth quite perfectly, and the mandarin-pistachio-cranberry-goji is the most colorful and sparkles with fruity flavor. I would make each one of these again, but to be honest I guess it is much more likely I’ll experiment with new combinations and ingredients for each batch I make!

Basic Peanut Sunflower Snack Bars:

• 1 and 1/2 dl four grain cereal (or rolled oats)
• 1/2 dl gram (besan, chick pea) flour
• 1/2 dl sunflower seeds
• 1 dl whole cane sugar
• 1/2 dl apple juice
• 3 tablespoons smooth natural peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• pinch of salt

Cocoa Cherry Quinoa Snack Bars (pictured below):

• 1 dl four grain cereal (or rolled oats)
• 1/2 dl gram (besan, chick pea) flour
• 1 dl puffed quinoa
• 1/2 dl dried cherries, chopped
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 1 dl whole cane sugar
• 1/2 dl unsweetened apple sauce
• 2 tablespoons cashew butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

Zesty Berry Pistachio Snack Bars (pictured above):

• 1 dl four grain cereal (or rolled oats)
• 3/4 dl gram (besan, chick pea) flour
• 1 dl puffed quinoa
• 1/2 dl dried cranberries, chopped
• 1/2 dl dried goji berries, chopped
• 1 dl whole cane sugar
• 1/2 dl unsweetened mango sauce
• 1 dl (unsalted, shelled) pistachios, chopped
• grated zest of 1 organic mandarin
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• pinch of salt

I toasted the cereal and gram flour (and sunflower seeds for the peanut version, or walnuts for the pistachio one) on a dry frying pan until fragrant and just lightly browned, for about 10 minutes.

While I was toasting the cereal, I placed the sugar and the apple juice (or the apple sauce for the cocoa version, or mango sauce for the pistachio one) in a small cooking pan and cooked over medium heat for about 6 minutes until thick and bubbly. Then I added the nut butter (if used), salt, vanilla, and cinnamon or cocoa powder (if used) in the pan and mixed thoroughly.

Now I poured everything in a mixing bowl and stirred with a fork until there were no dry lumps visible. I placed the dough between two pieces of baking parchment and pressed it with my fingers (I needed to use oven mittens, it was so hot) to a square about 3/4 cm thick. Then I let it set in room temperature, which took about an hour or so, before cutting into bars – this batch makes about 9 to 12 depending on how large you like them. If the bars seem too sticky, I let them dry on the counter for about an hour on each side and they’re easier to handle.

I store these in zip-lock bags, separated by layers of parchment paper to avoid sticking, and in room temperature – these keep pretty well, and this batch isn’t huge either. In warmer climates it might be a good option to store these in the fridge, tightly sealed to avoid moisture creeping in.

Our simple lunch salad consisted of a bunch of home-grown kale, lollo rosso and lettuce, with fried tofu cubes and cashews. I added a pinch of cayenne to the tofu along with the usual dashes of soy sauce and balsamico to get a bit of heat to complement the sweet-tart blueberry dressing. Forest blueberries are not as sweet as cultivated blueberries, so the amount of sugar might need tweaking depending on the type of berry that is used.

The Blueberry Dressing:

• 1 and 1/2 dl fresh blueberries
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon whole cane sugar
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt (or more to taste)
• plenty of freshly ground black pepper

I mixed the dressing with our immersion blender and that’s it. This made enough to dress two huge lunch portions, and would probably yield four portions of a more moderate size.

I recently found a wonderful organic smoked rye flour. It’s called riihikuiva which means barn-dried in Finnish, and has an amazingly deep and rich smokey flavor. If there’s no smoked flour available, I bet a pinch of smoked paprika with regular rye flour would work just as well. We served these muffins plain, hot from the oven with our evening tea, and I bet muffin halves spread with some vegan cream cheese would be pretty tasty as well.

Dry Mix:

• 2 dl white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 dl smoked rye flour (or another smoked flour, or medium rye flour)
• 1/2 dl oat bran
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar (muscovado)
• 1 teaspoon each: salt, dried basil, chilli flakes

Wet Mix:

• 1 and 3/4 dl plain unsweetened soy yoghurt
• 3/4 dl cold-pressed sunflower oil (or olive oil)
• 1/2 to 3/4 dl water
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed

Add-ins:

• 15 kalamata olives, chopped
• 3 sundried tomatoes in oil, rinsed and chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons capers
• 1 spring onion, sliced

I first preheated the oven to 200 degrees Celsius and sprayed 8 muffins cups with olive oil.

I stirred together the wet and dry mixes in separate bowls and then combined the two, being careful not to overmix. I had to add a tablespoon or so more water because the batter was too dry, but this always depends – it’s best to start with 1/2 dl water and add more as needed. I folded in the olives, sundried tomatoes and capers, and spooned the batter in the muffin cups. Then I sprinkled the muffins with some onion slices, and baked them for 17 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin came out clean.

The recipe makes enough for three huge carrots cut into sticks – it might seem like there’s not enough dip, but there is. Since the flavor is pretty intense, I wouldn’t consider this a party food. I think this is best enjoyed as a snack, or maybe a light meal for the rare warm summer days when we don’t feel like staying in the kitchen for more than five minutes. I’ve also made this dip with natural peanut butter and that’s all good, but the cashew magic makes it super delicious.

The Dip:

• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons natural roasted cashew butter
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1/2 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1/2 tablespoon brown rice vinegar

I just stir everything together with a fork until smooth and serve with a pile of carrot sticks.