Something New - Again

 Last week when Friend Laurie and I went book shopping we stopped at a Bosnian restaurant for lunch. It was a new experience for me and delicious.  But the most fun was the grocery store next door.  

As soon as I saw the package of Oblande wafers I had to have them.  They look like the wafer part of the Dutch Cream cookies (do you have these in other parts of the world?)  They are a tasteless wafer with a filling.   

I had no idea what to do with them but when daughter called to invite us to supper tonight I knew I'd have a captive audience and said I'd bring dessert.

I started by google translating the directions on the package from Bosnian to English but didn't like what it said.  I couldn't understand what they meant by 'ground wafers' - did they mean ground up shortbread cookies? Graham crackers?  And it called for ground walnuts, which is a non starter with the grands and my daughter.

So I went to Pinterest and spent a considerable time looking at all the variations of Oblanda.  It was like Grandma's spaghetti sauce, everyone's is the best and the only authentic.  Sheesh.  But I read lots of them looking for an option I understood the ingredients and directions for.  

I found some variations: wafer crumbs-but no mention of what the wafers actually ARE.  Ground walnuts. PH and I would love that but we also won't eat this whole thing so it has to be passed to daughter's house. One had no mention of semolina in the ingredients but did in the directions.  I know semolina would be flour but since it wasn't mentioned, did they really mean the wafers? 

One recipe, I cross my heart swear to you, said to spread boys on the layers.  Hello??  

The wafers are quite large, the size of a full cookie sheet.  

I settled on a filling recipe that was explained in English with pictures for a chocolate caramel.  As I kept reading other versions I found there are two traditional fillings. One with a chocolate caramel and one with the ground wafers, chocolate and nuts and the wafers ARE graham crackers. OK, good.  

The chocolate caramel was actually a process to make your own dulce de leche and it would take 2.5 hours.  I balked at that but thought ok, cancel my other plans and do it this way once then see what happens.  After two, TWO boil overs of the sugar milk mixture, many words said, taking the stove apart to clean up the sweet milk spillage immediately, adjusting the temperature, checking MORE recipes on Pinterest, finally, finally I got what resembled a thickened sweet milk, added the chocolate and the butter and proceeded.  But boy, did I need a nap. 

You spread the caramel on the layers while it's hot and it will ooze.  You then put heavy books on top of the whole thing so it will press the caramel into the grooves. I put a piece of parchment paper under the books.  You let it set on the counter for a few hours then in the refrigerator, wrapped, overnight and the butter and caramel will solidify. 

Next day ( this morning ) you trim.  Use a large sharp NON-serrated knife.  It will, surprisingly, cut nicely without crumbling the wafers.  I wiped the knife after each slice because you are working with caramel.

Because of my spillage at the stove I worried I wouldn't have enough filling for the whole sheet pan sized wafers so I cut some off before spreading.  I ended up with a piece about 9 x 10. On cutting day I measured them and cut about 2 inch wide pieces. About.

Cut into serving size pieces and plated for dessert for tonight at daughter's house. 

Observations:  

1. They are sweet. Very sweet. I cut them too big for a serving but hey. 

2. Looking back, they are not difficult, just time consuming.

3. Making dulce de leche was the challenge but I learned how long it would take, the temperature that would cook the juice in the 2.5 hours

4. DO NOT put a spoon or wisk quickly in the mixture when you give it an occasional stir because it WILL boil over and words will be spoken. The directions did explicitly say this but ....

5. I looked at the idea of possibly buying dulce de leche, heating it up, putting the chocolate and butter in and trying that way.  But I don't know. That's a big experiment process that might not work and if it DID work they would say, "buy a can of dulce de leche" wouldn't they?

Yes, I would do it again. But not today.