Lingonberry-Wild Blueberry Pound Cake
If the mashed potatoes are too warm when you add them, the butter will melt, making the cake heavy. But added at the correct temperature, the potatoes will give the pound cake a powdery – in a good way – even crumb. You could use all lingonberries, of course (or all blueberries, for that matter), but the color combination makes for especially pretty slices.
Yields 1 loaf or small bundt pan
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1 cup mashed potatoes, slightly warm
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup lingonberries
1 cup wild blueberries
Butter and flour a 9-inch loaf pan or small bundt pan. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter with 13/4 cups sugar and the zest until light and fluffy. Add the mashed potatoes and vanilla extract, beating to combine. Add the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Whisk together the dry ingredients and add to the bowl, beating just to combine. Don’t overbeat or the cake will be tough. Remove the bowl from the mixer.
Gently combine the lingonberries and the blueberries. Gently fold into the batter.
Whip the egg whites until stiff, gradually adding the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Stir a big spoonful of the whites into the batter to lighten it. Fold in the remaining whites.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for about 50 minutes until the cake is an even, golden brown.
Lingonberry-Cardamom Drop Biscuits
Recipe adapted from Eileen Goudge’s “Something Warm from the Oven.” These are tasty, rich and sweet on their own, no need for butter or jam.
Makes 12 biscuits
13/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup frozen butter, cut into chunks
1 cup lingonberries
1 egg
1/2 cup milk or half-and-half
1 generous tablespoon Demerara sugar, for sprinkling
Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat. (You may need 2 sheets.)
Place the flour, wheat germ, granulated sugar, baking powder, zest and cardamom in a food processor and whir to combine. Add the butter and pulse until the butter is coated with the flour mixture and in uneven roughly pea-sized lumps.
Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Gently stir in the berries.
Mix together the egg and milk or half-and-half.
Pour onto flour-butter mixture and toss together with a fork just until it comes together into a dough (it will be on the wet side).
Using an ice cream scoop or a large spoon, drop 12 biscuits onto the prepared sheet or sheets. Sprinkle with the Demerara sugar.
Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until lightly golden. Serve warm.
Lingonberry-Rosemary Sauce
This is basically an ordinary cranberry sauce in which the larger more usual berries have been replaced with smaller, wild lingonberries. It makes for a beautiful and bright garnet-colored sauce. Lingonberries have plenty of pectin so the sauce thickens quite a lot as it cools. I ate it on a sandwich with pork pâté, pickled onions and cornichons (it needs a substantial bread: try it on vollkornbrot from Portland’s Standard Baking Company). I also brushed it on a roasted delicata squash, but you could use it in any number of other ways, too.
Yields 1/2 pint sauce
1 cup lingonberries
1/4 cup sugar, or to taste
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
3/4 teaspoon fresh, minced rosemary
Zest of 1/3 whole orange
Pinch salt
Combine all the ingredients in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil on the stovetop. Simmer about 1 minute until the lingonberries begin to pop. Remove from heat and cool.
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