Gotländsk Saffranspannkaka

On the day of Epiphany, I and my Mum met up with my good friend Nana, her husband and their two year old daughter for brunch at the fabulous Petite France, claiming to best café in Stockholm. We were lucky in that it was the first day of opening since the holidays and also we miraculously made it some 30 seconds before the rest of the world wandered in.

Thus Nana went off to secure us a good seat, while I and the others ordered sandwiches, pastries and coffee. Everything was fantastic.

And so, after a couple of hours that contained seconds, Nana invited us back to their place for a light lunch.

To finish it off, she offered us a slice of Gotländsk Saffranspannkaka, which would translate as saffron pancake from Gotland. This was so wonderfully tasty, that we asked for the recipe, which turns out to be very simple. We also found it among one of my Mum's food magazines from the 90s. Given that it has saffron in it, I suspect it is traditionally served around Christmas.

Ingredients

1 kg ready made rice pudding
3 dl single cream
4 medium eggs
1 g ground saffron
75 g blanched and flaked almonds
2.5 dl golden syrup

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.


2. Stir together the ingredients, making sure each is well incorporated before adding another. Make sure to add one egg at a time.


3. While adding the syrup, keep tasting and adjust the amount as it depends on how sweet the ready made rice pudding is.


4. Pour the mixture into a shallow baking tin or pyrex dish. and place in the middle of the oven.


5. Bake until it sets and becomes golden brown on the surface about 30 - 40 minutes.


6. Serve warm or cold with a little jam on top. Whipped cream may also be nice.

I used the Swedish golden syrup and it isn't as sweet as the English one, so my dessert wasn't very sweet, I would have liked it a bit sweeter.

Traditionally in Gotland it is served with jam made from dewberries. We didn't have that, so used my Mum's bilberry jam instead, which also isn't very sweet. Nana served with drottningsylt, which translates to queen's jam and is made on equal amounts of bilberries and raspberries.

Nana also mentioned that if the above feels too rich, half of the 3 dl of single cream can be swapped out for milk.

I think it would look nicer to bake in portion sized ramekins, if serving at a fancier dinner, because it is very hard to cut out pieces from the baking dish and transfer to plates. I also think a splash of maple syrup may enhance the flavours too.

What I find really clever with this dish is that the almonds become invisible in the mixture, so when you look at the slice, it looks like rice pudding with saffron, yet when you put it in your mouth, you get creaminess and crunch.

I must try to fine tune this recipe, I suspect Lundulph will like it.