The easiest and most enjoyable Fika food you may ever try.

Take a trip to Sweden, and seas of Chokladbollar (chocolate balls) will likely surround you. They fill the glass cases of bakeries, ine the shelves of shops, speckle department store cafes as a welcome Fika break from shoe shopping and even sit in grocery store aisles. It’s next to sinful and downright outlandish to visit this regal land without gobbling up a chocolate ball (or two, or six). But, like most fare in Sweden, chocolate balls fall far from being vegan.

But, make them yourself at home (in 30 minutes or less!), and you’ll discover it’s the easiest vegan dessert you’ve ever made—and gluten-free to boot. All it takes is a simple butter switch. As I whipped these up in Stockholm last week (not kidding), I played around with different proportions of ingredients until it tasted just right—mixing coconut butter with a Swedish vegan butter that the grocery store clerk warned was not made for baking. Yet it worked all the same. So much so that a Swedish friend declared them among the best he’d ever had.

And, while chocolate balls can be made in an endless variety of ways—kid friendly with just chocolate; adult friendly with liqueur or rich espresso—I love the blend of unsweetened cocoa powder, mixed with a couple squares of dark (70%) chocolate and a shot or two of espresso. Plus, espresso (in smaller doses, as in these chocolate balls), has been reported to help protect against type 2 diabetes, Parkinson’s disease, liver cancer, and liver cirrhosis, and dark chocolate boasts a host of phyto antixoidants for heart health and overall happiness.

So whip up some chocolate balls for a feel good Fika that makes every day a celebration.

The Original – Swedish Chocolate Balls
from All Recipes

Ingredients

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 1 ¼ cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 1 tablespoon strong coffee
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2, 1 oz squares unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
• 1/3 cup coconut flakes

The Vegan & Gluten-Free Version – Swedish Chocolate Balls
Makes 24-48 balls, depending upon the size

Ingredients

• 4 cups rolled oats
• 1 ¼ cups white sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup coconut butter and ½ cup vegan butter (may need to add about ½ cup more, as I did, to ensure a sticky dough)
• 1 tablespoon espresso
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2, 1 oz squares dark or unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
• 1/3 cup coconut flakes (or more as needed)

Directions

1. Mix the oats, sugar and cocoa powder together in a bowl. Add the “butter” and use your hands to mix the ingredients together until a thick dough is formed.

2. In a separate, stove top pan, mix together the espresso, vanilla and dark chocolate. Mix together over low heat until the chocolate is melted. Pour over the chocolate dough mixture and combine until thoroughly blended.

3. Place the coconut flakes in a bowl or on a plate. Roll small pieces of dough between your hands to make small balls (or make any size that you wish). Roll the balls in the coconut flakes and eat immediately. For a firmer texture, refrigerate for 2 hours, and enjoy!

Note: This recipe is just the beginning. Create other varieties by adding in a tablespoon (or two) of arrak extract, a Swedish liqueur. Or, roll the chocolate balls in toasted almonds, sugar or another topping of your choice.

Images: Jennifer Barckley

The post Vegan This: Make Your Own Swedish Chocolate Balls appeared first on EcoSalon.

Fabriken Furillen epitomizes industrial chic: it’s a converted factory on an old quarry in Gotland, Sweden.

We know that the Swedes are decades ahead of everyone in terms of green living. So you won’t be surprised to hear that one of the Nordic country’s hippest hotels is in a converted factory. Fabriken Furillen is a former limestone refinery located on the windswept shores of Gotland, Sweden’s largest island.

This industrial-chic retreat consists of a tall, grey square building in the bare, lunar landscape of the old limestone quarry, with rocks running down to a slate-coloured sea. The hotel’s interior is minimalist, with machinery still hanging down from the ceiling in a part-sinister, part-art-installation way. The owner is a fashion photographer, so the visual impact is clearly well thought-out. The hotel has plenty of natural light thanks to huge windows, looking out over the Baltic Sea.

Rooms in the main building have Wi-Fi, Bang & Olufsen TVs and CD players, while small white “hermit cabins” with decks have wood-burning stoves and locally-sourced sheepskin rugs for cool summer evenings, and outdoor toilets, for that glamping feel. Bicycles are provided for navigating the gravel paths around the grounds dotted with pine trees. It’s not luxurious, certainly not as indicated by its prices, but it’s a one-off and the setting is unbeatable, if at the monochrome end of the color spectrum. Fabriken Furillen is often used as a location for photo shoots.

The food served in the restaurant is all sourced within the area, with an accent on fresh fish, vegetables and herbs.

Rates from $281 including tax.

Gotland is famous for its superb cuisine, and being an island, fish features heavily, such as gutte (turbot); other produce – and dishes – are more unusual. Many farms sell produce direct to the public – look out for the “Gårdsbutik” sign.

Top food and drinks to try in Gotland:

Ransoms (wild garlic) and sand leeks (wild onions).

Burgundy truffles; lammskalle (lamb’s head); pickled pears; baby carrots;

dricke (juniper and hop beer); sugar-beet rum; grappa.

Image: nowness.com, wayfaring.info, faistoilabelle.wordpress.com, bishopthorpe.net,  naturspaziergang.de, WikimediaCommons, spisa.nu

Places & Spaces is a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

The post Places & Spaces: Gotland’s Industrial Hotel & Curious Vegetables appeared first on EcoSalon.

Rhubarb is meant for more than just pie.

Currently I’m in Sweden taking care of an old house in the countryside. It’s as beautiful and lovely as its sounds. In the garden there is rhubarb, stinging nettles and leeks. The strawberries are flowering which shows that there will be delicious and fresh treats to pick in a couple of weeks . The deep red poppies are surrounded by bumblebees and the fish are jumping in the pond.

This weekend I had some dear friends over for dinner. I had successfully baked sourdough bread which we enjoyed with dried sausage, aged goat cheese and olives while my friend Johan prepared the rooks that was one of the sensations of the evening. The rooks are a delicacy similar to quail. In this part of Sweden there is an old tradition for farmers to hunt them as the birds often collect the seeds from the new seeded fields. Instead of just feeding them to the pigs, my friends and I had the pleasure to enjoy them with a creamy porcini mushroom sauce spiced with plenty of wine and herbs from the garden.

For dessert my Sofi Meijling made a Cardamom Panna Cotta with a jam she cooked with freshly picked rhubarbs from my vegetable plot. The panna cotta was made with both heavy cream and Greek yogurt (about 50/50) which gave the pannacotta a slight sour flavor (see example of other panna cotta recipes below). Sofi used about one teaspoon crushed cardamom to flavor this evening’s final dish.

This rhubarb jam was such a great reminder of how much I love having a vegetable garden. You don’t really need mush to make something so simply delicious.

Sofi’s Caramelized Rhubarb Jam
(for about 4 people as topping to pannacotta or ice cream)

About 6 rhubarb stalks
2 tablespoons regular sugar
2 tablespoons brown sugar (Sofi used Swedish farin which is a similar sugar type)
1/3 cup water

Melt the sugar in a pan together with the water and let it cook for awhile. Keep an eye on the sugar so it doesn’t burn and stir a little now and again. You may need to lower the heat to medium. Clean the rhubarb and cut them into one inch long pieces. When the sugar is thick and sticky add the rhubarb and let them simmer until soft but not totally mushy. Set aside to cool before serving.

If you think this jam is too simple you can spice it up with either ginger, cardamon or licorice root.

The jam is also great together with aged cheese on bread but then I recommend you make a larger batch (just add more of everything).

Here are some Pannacotta recipes:

• Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall makes Yoghurt and Vanilla Panna Cotta
• Jules Clancy makes Panna Cotta with Mascarpone and serves it with pot roasted pears.
• Ilva Beretta spices her Panna Cotta with lavender.

Illustration by Johanna Kindvall

The post Recipe: Swedish Rhubarb Jam appeared first on EcoSalon.

Every day is better with a new track.

Big Fox – Tired by HYBRIS

Listen to the full album here.

Every day we bring you one track for a little musical inspiration. Have a track you want to submit? Email us at contact@ecosalon.com.

Image: Big Fox

The post Daily Track: Tired – Big Fox appeared first on EcoSalon.

An exclusive EcoSalon playlist to be played while wearing your hippest set of shades.

We’re dropping the 4th volume in our Ray-Ban Exclusive series today, which if you have been following along, you know is packed with remixes, mashups and the kind of beats that are made for sunny days. We even threw in a couple of foreign tracks for good measure. 

Ray-Ban Exclusive Volume 4 from ecosalon on 8tracks.

1. Cleam – Mister Lies
2. Nova – Burial + Four Tet
3. Dancing – Omar & Zed Bias
4. Disparate Youth (The 2 Bears Remix) – Santigold
5. Be a Body – Grimes
6. Anna (Moonlight Matters Remix) – Charlotte Gainsbourg
7. Never Let Me Go (Clams Casino Remix) – Florence + The Machine
8. Ström – Bam Spacey
9. Learnalilgivinanlovin’ (Passion Pit Remix) – Gotye
10. Plage (Crystal Fighters Remix) – Felix Cartal
11. Let it Go (The Knocks Remix) – Dragonette
12. Luminary Ones (Denzel Park Remix) – Rebecca & Fiona
13. Raining (House Sheriffs Remix) – Adam K & Kaskade
14. Happiness (The Magician Remix) – Sam Sparro
15. Devil’s Work (Dirty South Remix) – Miike Snow
16. Intro (CRNKN Bootleg) – The xx
17. We Are Young (Alvin  Risk Remix) – Fun. featuring Janelle Monae
18. Heads Will Roll (A-Track Remix) – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
19. Limitless – Sex Ray Vision
20. Action (3LAU Bootleg) – 3LAU
21. Stockholm – (JOhn Dahlback Remix) – Jonathan Johansson
22. ID2 (Pixel Cheese Remake) – Avicii
23. Call on Me (Vitz Remix) – Eric Prydz
24. All That She Wants (DJ Nejtrino & DJ Stranger Remix) – KAFFEIN

The post Music Monday: Ray-Ban Exclusive Volume 4 appeared first on EcoSalon.

What lies beneath: under this little hut in is an aquarium where you sleep while being eyeballed by fish.

On the shores of a Swedish lake, it’s not unusual to see a small red hut. To see that shack in the middle of a lake, even in a country known for its unusual accommodation offerings, is a little less common.

It’s true, like something straight out of a Swedish detective novel: the hero is being pursued by his nemesis, so he takes refuge in the Utter Inn – tricky access and great visibility mean no one gets near without being spotted. Even better, the guestroom is out of firing range.

Why? Because the accommodation is hidden underneath the hut, reached only by ladder down a vertical shaft. You sleep underwater “with the fishes.”

The hut-aquarium is more cozy and simple than spacious and super-deluxe, but what it lacks in cutting-edge design (IKEA predominates, unsurprisingly), it more than makes up for in complete and utter (sorry) privacy. Not to mention the obvious wow factor.

Showing off your booty while lounging on the wooden deck chairs and skinny-dipping in the lake are both perfectly acceptable, too.

Plus, the eco-conscious: solar panels on the roof power the lighting (it’s only open from April to September), and the dry toilet keeps the lake clean.

Rates from $328 including tax, transfers, and use of inflatable boat for trips to the nearest (uninhabited) island.

Images: Atlas Obscura; Mikael Genberg; Västerås stad; Wayfaring

Places & Spaces is a travel guide that will inspire you to carve out a vacation on your calendar. All of the gorgeous locations and accommodations in our guide share our concern for the environment. From tent glamping to lavish built environments, fair warning, you’ll feel compelled to pack your suitcase.

The post Places & Spaces: Utter Inn, Sweden appeared first on EcoSalon.

This Swedish home has a great foundation and floods of natural light. Pristine white walls and light wooden floors ensure the streams of sunlight are bounced around the space. The all white finishes provide a great blank canvas, and the home owner has painted it beautifully.

The entire interior is lovely, but the magic is in the details. The little touches in each vignette that lend life and personality to the space keep it from feeling cold and modern (sometimes harsh geometry and modern lines in all white can feel uncomfortable). Long dangling pendant lights visually lower the ceiling and make the space feel warm and sheltered.

One of the least expensive and effortless ways to breathe life into a space is to literally bring life into a space. Flowers, plants, and any sort of live leafy greens or blooms perk up a space and sprinkle a dose of energy. The perfect combination of longevity (houseplants) and fleeting petals (cut flowers) is on display in this living area.

This dwelling is an artful balance of minimalism and disorder. The furnishings are nominal. The accessories add an element of comfort without taking away from the spacious effect of not having excess furniture. The color is another element of balance in this delightful space. Almost every piece of furniture and each accessory is a saturated color to balance out the white walls, white fixtures, and pale floors. There is something to be said for the contrast of white and color (if you have bold paint on the walls, embellish them with neutral furnishings for a harmonious effect).

The attraction of this space is in the brilliant styling. There is evidence of occupation – a shirt hanging on the door, toys on the bed, and the throw blanket haphazardly thrown over a lounge chair are an open invitation to settle into this space and inhabit the interior.

For more inspiration, check out our archive of home tours.

(Images from Stadshem via Stylizimo.)

The post Details, Details, Details! appeared first on EcoSalon.

Putting stock in Stockholm’s abandoned dwellings, Swedish designer Katarina Häll embellishes clean, white pine planks with multi-colored boards in her collection called SAVE furniture.

The post Hide and Sleek appeared first on EcoSalon.