Dammsugare – Vacuum Cleaners

These odd little sweets are very hard to explain… I suppose they can be described as a “pastry” although there is no pastry involved. It was one of the first things Rob had for “fika” on his travels through Scandinavia and it stuck with him as one of his favourites. So, if something special is coming up, I make the effort and make this boozey little rolls.

Also, “Fika” is loosely translated as coffee break in English. It’s a Swedish social institution where you meet and have tea or coffee and something sweet like a pastry, bun or slice of cake. It’s a great word and a great practice that the swedes hold very strong, me being Irish and Rob being Dutch have no problems in extending this foreign practice into our own day to day lives.

Ingredients
200g biscuit crumbs (you can use anything as long as they are neutral in taste)
150g butter, softened
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tbsp rum
1 tbsp of rum essence
350g of marzipan
150g of dark chocolate

Method
Start off by breaking the biscuits into crumbs, you can do this by hand or in a food processor, just make sure not to break them into dust, this will leave you with a very soft mixture and wont stay moulded.
When you have all the biscuits in the right crumbly consistency mix in the butter, cocoa, powdered sugar and the the rum and rum essence. At this stage you can taste the mixture, if you think it needs more of something then add it. I usually find the only thing that needs to be altered is the alcohol or rum flavour.

Roll the dough into thin log shapes, wrap them in cling film and place in the fridge for about half an hour or until they have become firm.
Roll out the marzipan and shape it around each of the dough logs. Place them with the seam-side down, and cut into smaller lengths. Dip the ends in melted chocolate, this can be quite a messy process but if you have the time. Let one end dry fully before you start on the other side.
The  flavour becomes stronger the day after, so keep in mind to make them the day before you wish them to be devoured.