Apple Fennel Crisps

One of my favorite things in Sweden has always been skorpor. I found out while writing Fika that the English translation for these is rusks. I think that’s a British thing. I prefer to go with crisp rolls.

Regardless of what they are called, this twice baked bread serves as something somewhere in between a cracker and toasted bread. But much more interesting than either.

Recently I came across a recipe for Hazelnut Crisps on Yoga Journal, and decided to do some tweaking to make it with buckwheat flour and with homemade dried apples instead, resulting in a new type of skorpor. For me, the fennel gives it a very Scandinavian flavor; we’re big on licorice remember. Fun trivia: “fennel” is “fänkål” in Swedish.

These go perfectly with a cup of tea, or served with a little blue cheese and a glass of wine.

Apple Fennel Crisps on Foodie Underground

And here’s the big pro tip: this recipe is quite tasty just served as bread. So if you don’t feel like drying it out, stop after the first round of baking and serve as-is.

Apple Fennel Crisps

Adapted from Yoga Journal

Ingredients:

1 cup (4.25 ounces, 120 grams) buckwheat flour

1 cup (4.75 ounces, 135 grams) brown rice flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 cup (2.5 ounces, 70 grams) hazelnuts, finely chopped

2 tablespoons fennel seeds

1 cup (240 milliliters) milk – I use rice

1/2 cup (4.5 ounces, 125 grams) goat’s yogurt

About 1 cup (1 ounce, 30 grams) dried apples, chopped into small pieces (this is equal to 2 fresh apples, dried)

Apple Fennel Crisps on Foodie Underground

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).

In a bowl, mix together the buckwheat flour, rice flour, baking soda, salt, pepper and chopped hazelnuts.

In a dry frying pan, toast the fennel seeds until they become aromatic, about five minutes. Add to the flour mixture.

Add the milk and yogurt to the flour mixture and stir until well blended.

Grease a bread pan with olive oil and pour in the batter.

Bake at 375°F (190°C) for 40-45 minutes, until a knife inserted into the center of the bread comes out clean.

Apple Fennel Crisps on Foodie Underground

Let cool, then remove from bread ban and using a serrated knife, cut thin slices. Spread the slices out on a baking tray – it’s ok if they touch each other if you squeeze them in to get them all on one tray.

Reduce the oven to 300°F (150°C) and bake for about another hour. Turn the slices over about halfway through. The crisps are done when they are dried out and crispy, and the baking time will depend on how thick you sliced them.

Store in an airtight container.