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Cheap Eats:
Swedish Almond Toast
by
Cynthia Clampitt
I just made plane reservations for a trip to California in
September. While I’ll take some time to visit friends and see a
few sights, my main objective for this trip is to attend homecoming and
my 30-year reunion at my alma mater, Westmont. I’d say the time
went quickly, but it also seems like centuries have passed since
college. And yet I still remember a great deal about it. I don’t
get all wistful, but I do think it’s interesting to reminisce
about the old beater cars, the all-night study sessions, the friends,
the adventures—and the incredible beauty of Santa Barbara.
As with most of my life, food makes up at least a small part of
my college memories. I had had Mexican food before heading for southern
California, but had never been in a situation where I could get it so
easily. I had half a dozen “favorite” Mexican restaurants
in town. Avocados, almonds, and artichokes were incredibly cheap and
plentiful, and were favorite snacks while studying. Fresh fruit was
available year ‘round, and even seafood was often within a
student’s budget.
In retrospect, one thing that amuses me is how many things
appeared in California in the early ‘70s that took a long time to
make an impact in the Midwest. We could pump our own gas long before it
was legal to do so in Illinois. Testing auto emissions also came early
to the coast. In the category of food, healthfood was probably the
first thing to make it out of California into middle America. In 1969,
we were hanging out at the health bar drinking Tiger Milk shakes (not
really tiger milk, just a brand name that was meant to show how
energized you’d be) and eating things with sprouts on them. The
coffee culture was already big in CA back then. We would sit in the
coffee shop behind El Paseo and sample Jamaican Blue Mountain, Kona,
and Ethiopian coffees and compare the acidity and flavor. The owner
would talk about balance, roasting, and Arabica vs. Robusta beans, and
we all had drip coffee makers in our dorm rooms. That didn’t roll
eastward for another couple of decades. A hot new item in shops and on
shelves in the Midwest in the last couple of years is chai, a heavily
spiced, sweetened, milky tea from India. We used to curl up on the big
pillows at the Indian Tea Room in Santa Barbara and drink Hindi chai
while we studied for exams. (Maybe I’ll give the recipe for Hindi
chai in another column.) The black tea offered just enough caffeine,
while the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, milk, and honey were more fun than
necessary.
We also liked to cook. It’s amazing what we turned out with
a couple of cake pans, a cookie sheet, a saucepan, a bowl, a spoon and
fork, and not much else. We prepared everything from Scottish
shortbread (my family’s ancient and honorable recipe) to stews to
stuffed artichokes. Friends represented a wide range of backgrounds,
and we shared recipes from all across the U.S. and from several foreign
countries. My junior year, I learned how to make Swedish almond toast
from one of my suite-mates.
As a youngster, I had learned from observing the large group of
Swedes at our church, that almost every event is considered an
opportunity for serving coffee. I came to understand that they were
only half joking when they called coffee “Swedish
gasoline.” Hence, I was not terribly surprised to learn that
Swedish almond toast is intended to be consumed with coffee.
These almond toasts are a bit like biscotti, in that they are
crisp and nut-studded, but they are a bit richer than most biscotti.
The college friend who shared this recipe with me also called these
treats “dunkies,” because they are meant to be buttered and
actually dunked in one’s coffee. This is a delightful way to
consume them, though it leaves an oil slick on your coffee. Enjoy.
Swedish Almond Toast
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup half and half (or milk)
1 cup chopped or slivered almonds
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. almond extract
4 cups flour
Line 3 bread pans with waxed paper.
Alternately, you can grease and flour a couple of 9x9 cake pans, which
is what we usually did at school—we always had cake pans, but did
not always go in for the finer points of the culinary arts, such as
waxed paper.
Cream the butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Sift together
the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir into the butter and egg
mixture about a cup at a time, alternating with half and half. Add
flavoring and almonds. Put batter in prepared pans. Bake at 300°F.
for one hour, or until lightly browned. Let cool.
Cut cooled cake in ½-inch thick slices, then cut each
slice into 3 lengths. Place on cookie sheets and return to 300°F
oven to dry. Keep turning until brown on all sides—about an hour.
Serve with butter for spreading and hot coffee for dunking.
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