OSTA-KAKA (SWEDISH CHEESECAKE)

5 eggs
1 (24 oz.) cottage cheese (small curd)
3/4 c. sugar
1 pt. whipping cream (OR half and half OR 2 c. egg nog OR 1 lg. can of evaporated milk plus milk to equal 2 cups)
1 tbsp. vanilla
Salt to taste

Beat eggs in large bowl (not too long). Add all the other ingredients and blend together well. Bake in buttered uncovered casserole in 350 degree oven for approximately 1 hour. Bake until it is set well and brown on top.

Looks good, I may try it this holiday season. My grandmother was from Sweden and was the best baker I know, I don't recall if she made this, but she made a butter pie (custard) that I still make. She made everything from scratch on a big black stove. I agree, I don't know how she did it.

I found this one that uses a rennet tablet.

Ostakaka

2 eggs
2 qts milk
1/2 c. cream
1/2 rennet tablet
1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. cream
1/4 t. salt
1/2 c. sugar

Add cream to eggs and beat. Add flour and beat till smooth. Add salt.
Heat milk to luke warm and add mixture. Add rennet tablet and stir
slowly until settled. Let stand 10 min. Then put into 400 degree oven
for 1/2 hr. Turn heat down to 350 degree & continue baking 1 hour.
Pour cream and sugar over it and bake 20 min. more. (Dip of whey if
it runs over in oven.) Remove from oven and serve with thickened grape
juice.

Around here there still are a few women like that, a religious order I won't mention. They wake up very early in the morning to start their chores, make a hot breakfast for workers, clean up, even go out to work in the field, make lunch and dinner, some even while pregnant. They keep a spotless house, make all their clothes. I worked with a young girl who at 17 was working on her second quilt, little quilted puffs. She told me once "whenever you see me sitting, I'll be working on this as it's going to take me a long time to finish this quilt." She was amazing. They don't watch TV or spend time on what's not productive and raise their kids with these values, or at least try. Even the ones who don't live on farms grow their own food and preserve, preserve, preserve. This young girl married, and even when pregnant could work circles around her husband raking up almonds. They are diminishing in numbers, however.

My grandma make ostakaka each year for Christmas. She uses a recipe that uses rennet tablets. We serve the ostakaka with lingonberry sauce. We come from a Swedish background.

Stacie

shambo: That recipe sounds like the one I remember. I remember specifically that they would go milk the cow & bring the warm milk in to start this custard with the rennet tablet on the back of the old black kitchen woodburnng range. In the Mexican flan there is a brown sugery syrup on the bottom of the custard but otherwise I think it resembles the ostakaka. The custard in Iowa was so good ... had some cinnamon on top as I remember but then I guess each woman would add her own topping: jelly, cinnamon, etc.

I will try yur recipe as it sound similar to what I remember. My dad was from Forshaga, Sweden & I grew up in NE Iowa where it was a 'recipe mix' of Norwegian, Swedish, German, English. I think the potato lefse (Norwegian or is it Swedish?) is akin to the Spansh flour tortilla here in N.M.! Lutefisk ... no way would I ever eat it!ha

Stacie: is your recipe the same as shambo's?

- Marilynn

Marilynn, my husband grew up in SE Iowa, near Kalona & Iowa City. His family is Norwegian. His mom used to make lefse for Christmas, and I fell in love with them. I certainly don't have the patience to make them, and she's gotten older and is unable to make them herself. Last year I sent her some lefse for Christmas (along with some "Ufta Chips") from an online source that her Lutheran church had used for their annual smörgåsbord dinner. I ordered some for myself too. I think I may do the same thing this year.

I used to like Junket brand pudding made with rennet. I'm sure it wasn't as rich as the ostakaka you remember.

Here is a link that might be useful: Junket Desserts