December 1 st.

Decorating.

Happy December - Christmas is approaching 🎄🎅🏼

Here we go again, December 1 st. sneaked up on me again. This year I have no excuses. I didn't move, we didn't host Thanksgiving. Next year I will set an calendar alarm to warn me mid november, to see if that helps.

I started my Christmas cookie production today. I always treat my friends with a little box of homemade cookies, when we go to events during the holiday season. And People you normally tip. Americans tip everybody. Mailman, hairdresser, doctors, teachers, and and and.... eeeeeeverybody. This is still kinda new to me. But I still try to learn the unspoken rules here 9 years in. Most important person on my cookie list is my husbands boss. I do not dare skipping him 😉😉

This year I just want to bake all the basic Danish Christmas cookies like Vanillekranse, håkonskager, pebernødder, Danish gingerbread cookies, and Chocolate Biscotti. There might be more in the works, but let's see what happens.

I hope you want to join me on my December Journey into Christmas classics in sweets, cookies and food.

Happy December 🎄

Sweet Rice Pancakes

Sweet Rice Pancakes

December 3rd.

I hope you all are started to get excited for Christmas. I meant to start my 12 days for Christmas yesterday, but life got in the way. So here is my first post Risklatkager, a great dessert or Sunday afternoon snack.  

Growing up I loved when we had risengrød/Danish rice poridge for dinner. My dad did not like this. I think he got it way to often, maybe because it was a cheap and easy dinner. My mom often asked my brother, what he wanted for dinner, and he had for the most part 3 replies: Risengrød, meatballs and crepes (Danish pancakes). But one thing my dad loved was the desserts my mom made from risengrød, such as risalamande and these sweet rice pancakes. 

Makes 12-16 

Ingredients:

• 1 portion risengrød/Danish rice Porridge

• 100 g all-purpose flour

• 3 eggs

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 lemon, the zest from

• 1 teaspoon vanilla been paste

Directions:

Mix the cold porridge with the rest of the ingredients. The consistency of the batter will be rather thick.

Melt butter in a non-stick skillet add about ½ cup (1 dl) batter and fry until golden, then turn the pancake and cook until golden on the other side. Repeat with the rest of the batter.

Serve the pancakes warm with maple syrup and fresh berries.

Enjoy!

Honey Cake - Honningkage

Honey Cake - Honningkager

December 5th.

These honey cakes reminds me of the advents calendar I had as child. My mom bought 24 small gifts for me and for my brother. Every morning in December, until christmas, we got a small precent. It could be crayons, a new pencil or eraser. But some mornings we got a small piece of chocolate or a piece of honey cake. Even though December mornings were dark in Denmark, it was very easy for my mother to get us out of bed, mostly because of the awaiting gifts. You could call it a kind of blackmail, but for us it was a part of the christmas tradition and the Danish "hygge" - In lack of a better word cosiness.

Honningkager, can be translated to honey cake  or gingerbread cake, are a soft honey cake with a buttercream filling.

At the bakers shop where I worked, we sold these cakes as round and serving-sized. They were called honningkagebomber or honey cake bombs. The cakes were only sold around christmas time. Here is my version.

Serves 12

Baking time: 50-55 minutes

Prep.time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 100 g butter

• 150 g sugar

• 140 g (100 ml) raw honey

• 1 egg

• 100 ml buttermilk

• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon ground all-spice

• ½ teaspoon ground cloves

• 1½ teaspoon baking soda

• 240 g all-purpose flour

Buttercream:

• 2 tablespoons pasteurized egg whites

• 100 g confectionary sugar

• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature

• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

Decorating:

• about 200 g good dark chocolate (I used Valrhona)

• 1 teaspoon coconut butter

• sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300℉ (150℃). Grease a 9-inch square baking pan with butter, and put a piece of parchment paper in the bottom. This will make it easier to remove the cake from the pan.

Cake:

Melt butter honey and sugar in a saucepan, remove from heat when melted, and let to cool for a few minutes until lukewarm. Add egg, buttermilk, flour, baking soda and the spices. Mix the dough until fully combined, and pour it into the prepared baking pan.

Bake the cake for 50-55 minutes. Let it cool completely. 

Buttercream:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, and whip the buttercream until thick and fluffy over a double boiler. I used a saucepan with very hot water, and placed my bowl on top of that. I didn't have it on the stove. It takes some time to get the buttercream nice and fluffy.

Split the cake in two horizontally. Spread the buttercream in an even layer on the bottom part, all the way to the edges. Place the top of the cake on the butter cream and press down to get it to adhere. 

Melt the chocolate and the coconut butter and mix it together. Brush the chocolate on top of the cake and put sprinkles on top.

Cut the cake into small squares and serve with a good cup of tea.

Enjoy!