Ymerdrys - Rye Bread Crunch Topping

Ymerdrys - Rye Bread Crunch Topping

When I grew up in Denmark we had two options for breakfast during the weekdays. We could have 1. quick oats with milk and a sprinkle (or spoonfulls if my mom didn't look) of sugar or 2. Ymer (a fermented milk product) or A38 (milk fermented with Lactobacillus acidophilus) with a good sprinkle of rye bread crunch topping aka ymerdrys. Both healthy breakfasts born long before we had the cereal isle in the grocery stores, or at least before me and my brother discovered it.  

I always opted for the A38 and ymerdrys. So when I tried to make it, I was in heaven. Now I have the perfect breakfast: Yogurt with ymerdrys and fresh raspberries. A perfect start to your day.

Ymerdrys can be made as healthy as you like. This recipe is my version, but you can skip the butter and toast the breadcrumbs and sugar in the oven at 400℉ (200℃) for about 10-20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 50 g butter
• 250 g rye bread, grated
• 50 g sugar
• 50 g brown sugar

Directions:

Grate the rye bread. Melt the butter in a pan and toast the rye bread in the butter over medium heat, until light crispy. Add the sugars and let it just caramelize and coat the rye bread. Spread the crispy rye bread on a piece of parchment paper, mix in the brown sugar and let the crunch cool completely before using.

Use the topping on yogurt or in desserts.

Enjoy!

Rhubarb Sauce - Rababerkompot

Rhubarb Sauce - Rababerkompot

My mom made the first rabarberkompot aka rhubarb sauce as soon as the rhubarbs from our yard was big enough to use. The thin short rhubarbs was sweet and a clear sign that the summer was begun. 

Ingredients:

• 500 g rhubarbs

• 225 g sugar

• ½ vanilla bean pod, the seeds from

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Clean the rhubarbs and cut them into bite-sized pieces, place the in an ovenproof dish. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod and mix the seeds with the sugar. Sprinkle the sugar on top, and toss until the sugar is evenly distributed. Place the vanilla  pod in between the rhubarbs.

Bake the rhubarbs for 20-40 minutes until soft, and the sauce is thickened. If the juices evaporate to quickly cover the dish with aluminum foil.

Let the rhubarb sauce cool and use as a jam, as a sauce in desserts or eaten with a meat dish.

Enjoy!

Berry Salsa

Berry Salsa

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Today will be filled with Mexican traditions here in California. The margaritas will flow, tequila will be poured. People will eat taco's, salsas and guacamole.

Let the Party begin. 

Ingredients:

Filling:

• 10 medium strawberries, chopped
• 100 g blueberries, chopped 
• 1 prickly pear or cactus fruit, chopped
• ¼ red onion, finely chopped
• 1 jalapeño, minced
• ¼ habanero pepper, minced 
• ½ yellow pepper, finely chopped 
• 1 handful cilantro, chopped

Dressing:

• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar, I used a blackberry /ginger flavored 
• ½ lime, the juice from
• ¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Combine the filling in a large bowl. Whisk together the dressing, and pour it over the filling. Let the fruit marinate in the dressing for about an hour in the refrigerator before serving. 

Serve the salsa with tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

Grove Hveder - Grove Hvedeknopper

Grove Hveder - Grove Hvedeknopper

Hveder is a white cardamom roll eaten before the Bededag aka Prayers Day in Denmark. This year I wanted to add a little fibers to the roll, while still keeping the roll nice and sweet. I think I hit the mark with this recipe. I didn't come up with a heathy version, but 1.6 grams dietary fiber per roll is a little better than 0.

Ingredients:

• 50 g live yeast or 4 teaspoons dry yeast
• 200 ml water, finger warm
• 75 g butter
• 150 ml buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 10 g (1¾ teaspoon) salt
• 5-10 g (3 teaspoons) cardamom
• 25 g buckwheat 
• 50 g quick oats (quaker oats)
• 100 g whole wheat flour
• 450 g all-purpose flour

Directions:

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in the water. (Add a teaspoon sugar if you are using dry yeast, and wait until it starts to foam.) Mix in the butter, sugar, buttermilk and egg. Mix salt and cardamom with the flours, oats and buckwheat, and add that to the water-mixture. Hold some of the all-purpose flour back, because you want a soft smooth dough, and might not need it all. Knead the dough for about 7-10 minutes until the dough is shinny and elastic. Let the dough rise covered for about 20- 30 minutes.  

Pour the dough onto a lightly floured workspace, fold the dough over 3-4 times and divide the dough into 12-18 small balls. Place the balls only about 1 cm (about ⅓-½ inch) apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover the dough balls with a dampen kitchen towel, and let them rise for another 60 minutes. They are meant to grow into each other, you want the soft sides on your rolls, when you pull them apart.

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃). (375℉ /190℃ for convection oven). 

Bake the hvedeknopper/rolls for 15-20 minutes until they are dark golden brown. Let them cool on a wire rack.

Before serving, cut them in half and toast them. Serve them hot with butter and jam or with a good cheese.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Jelly Roll - Hindbærroulade

Raspberry Jelly Roll - Hindbærroulade

Raspberry jelly roll, aka hindbærroulade, is a traditional cake in Denmark. The kind of cake you would buy at a gas station or at the supermarket. My mom did sometimes buy the jelly roll in the supermarket, and I saw her dressing it up, by covering it with whipped cream and some fresh berries. As a working mom, she didn't have time to do all her cooking from scratch, she did cut some corners, as did a lot of housewives back then, and now.

My mom loved to bake, when she did have the time. I found this recipe in her handwritten recipe book dating back from before she married my dad. 

Well, you can get a better version of this jelly roll by making it yourself or buying it at a good bakers shop. The supermarket cake really doesn't make this cake justice. If made well, with good ingredients the jelly roll is very delicious. Soft, sweet and with a crunch of sugar. A perfect cake to bring for a picnic. The soft cake travels well, and can easily be cut, and eaten off a napkin.

Makes 1 cake, serves 10-12.

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs (room temperature)
• 125 g sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 60 g potato starch
• 60 g all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon hjortetaksalt (baker's ammonia/Ammonium bicarbonate (NH₄HCO₃))

Filling:

• raspberry jam

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425℉ (225℃). Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper, and spray it with coconut oil, set aside.

Sift potato starch, flour and baker's ammonia, and set aside.

Whisk the eggs light and foamy with the sugar, it takes about 5 minutes to get maximum foaming when whisking on a stand mixer. Whip in the vanilla and water. 

Very gently fold the dry ingredients in the foamy eggs. Be very careful not to deflate the egg mixture to much.

Pour the batter in the prepared baking pan in a thin layer. Bake the cake for 7-9 minutes until golden brown.

Place a new piece of parchment paper on your counter. Sprinkle the paper with a thin layer of sugar on the parchment paper.

Remove cake from the oven. Flip the cake (top-side down) onto the sugar. Gently remove the parchment paper from the back side of the cake. Spread jam all over the cake, leaving about ½-inch from the edge on the side you are rolling it up towards. Using the parchment paper, roll the cake up tightly. Let the cake cool completely. Trim the sides, and serve the cake on a platter.

Enjoy!