swedish flashback

For those joining me in this blog and getting to know me, there is one thing you should know about me and remember me by other than my food.
Last year, 2013-2014, I studied abroad in Uppsala, Sweden for the whole academic year. There I immersed myself into a culture I knew nothing about, I met the greatest Swedes you will ever meet and I baked and ate a lot of food and drank a lot of coffee.
It was an experience, that I will never forget, which I know sounds cliche but when you have lived outside your element or outside your home state for more than six months, you don't forget it.
I learned a lot about myself, what I wanted to do with my life, about Sweden and Swedish food.
Turns out that Sweden as their own kinds of food that I had no idea about, it was kind of like a secret society of pastries that I came upon and I was brought too.
Kanelbulle, semlor, princesstårta, chokladbullar, paj, etc.
Ugh, my mouth is drooling just thinking of all the beautiful desserts in the cafes. Makes me wish I was there in the sunny Swedish sun, sitting on the edge of the bridge by the river stuffing my face with a kanelbulle and an iced coffee.
Instead I'm in the sunny California sun not near a river or a bridge and instead of stuffing my face, I made chokladbullar in my basic kitchen.
Chokladbullar in English is chocolate balls in case you were wondering, which I'm sure you were.
These little chocolate balls were everywhere in the cafes in Uppsala. You could not go into a cafe and NOT see a chokladbullar.


Swedish Chocolate Balls or Chokladbullar
1 stick of butter (room temperature)
2 1/2 cups of rolled oats
1 1/4 cups of sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp strong coffee (cold)
2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder
Coconut flakes, or Pearl Sugar or white chocolate shavings

Mix butter, sugar and coffee together and then add oats, vanilla extract and cocoa powder. Make sure butter is mixed in well. The batter should be easy to roll, but if it is still gooey add in more oats. Roll batter into balls and cover them in coconut flakes or pearl sugar or white chocolate shavings.
Place the chocolate balls in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight

Also note the repetitive use of "chocolate balls" because if I were to eliminate the word chocolate from it, all my friends would not be taking this blog seriously and laugh throughout this entire post. 

I have really mature friends.