Swedish Tosca

Swedish Tosca

printable version

I'm intrigued that my mom attributed this recipe to "Mom".  I assume she meant her mom.  

My dad is Swedish but his mom died when he was a boy and I can't imagine his step-mother (I don't know what her nationality was) would've been referred to as anything other than Mabel Johnson.  I wonder if my Greek grandmother came up with this recipe when my mom was newly married or at some point when my dad recalled his mom making this - or is it just a coincidence.  REGARDLESS - this was so YUMMY!  After one bite I worried I might eat the whole pan in one sitting.  The topping gets firm and can stick in your teeth a bit like a Butterfinger candy bar but still YUM!  I think being warm out of the oven made it extra good!  Amazingly the other people in my house did not like this.  Not even with white icing (which I stocked up on pre-pandemic self-isolation because I knew I'd be baking a lot.)

I don't have a Cast Iron Skillet.  My mom gave me a set of MagnaLite pans because I always admired hers.  They can go into the oven up to 350 so I decided to use that instead.  This might be the first time in my life I've greased and floured a skillet!

I used the smaller of my two original MixMaster bowls and there was plenty of room.

It's a bit like making meringue but leaving the yolks in.  I beat on high to get as much air in to make it fluffy.  It got somewhat thick but not like meringue that forms peaks.

I melted a stick of plant butter in the microwave - because I'd gotten a free after rebate box of Plant Butter and in the middle of a pandemic you use what you've got.  First I added the flour and mixed that around pretty well and then added the melted "margarine".  I looked all around the glass bowl to make sure it was mixed before I poured it into the pan.

I tapped out the bubbles like my sister taught me and wrapped foil around the handle for extra precaution in the oven.

I gathered all the ingredients for the topping but didn't turn on the heat until there were 2 minutes left in the baking.  I mixed the flour and sugar in the pan.

When the pan came out of the oven it looked and smelled like a giant pancake.

I used my stirring spoon to chop up the butter (the real stuff this time) so that it would melt faster.

This is the second recipe I've seen that calls for margarine in one part of the recipe and butter in another.  I know there is a difference but it seems odd.

After the butter was mostly melted I added the milk.  It got a little spotty at first but soon was mixed in.

I had to stir quite a bit to get the sugar to dissolve well.  I waited to add the almonds until I was satisfied with the sugar consistency.  I used sliced, not slivered, because that was what I had.  I was pleased with the result.

I realized that my pan could handle the 350 heat but could not handle even a low broil which, according to Google, is 450.  So I flipped it onto a cookie sheet.  I had to use a rubber spatula to loosen the edges but it wasn't hard to get out.

The last two minutes in the oven + 10 minutes to settle and the topping had finally started to have little bubbles.   Good timing!

I dumped it all on the middle and it ran down nicely.  I used the spoon to spread it to the edge in just a couple of spots.

It didn't even broil for 2 mins. and it was bubbled!