December 8th

Æbleskiver, ebelskiver

December 8th.  - Fourth Day of Christmas

Today my maternal grandmother would have turned wow .... 113. The whole family had the tradition to celebrate her Birthday by having Gløgg and Æbleskiver (mulled wine and Ebelskiver) at her place. It was a nice tradition getting the whole family together before the christmas stress set in.

Even though both my grandmother and mom passed away, I always use this day to remember all the good times we had, and send them a lot of love.

Please spread a little love today and enjoy some ebelskiver and mulled wine.

Cheers!

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!

Danish Rye Bread - without Sourdough

Danish Ryebread

Danes loves their rye bread. Sometimes you just don't have a couple of days to bake your bread, this can be made as a overnight bread.  Mix it in the evening and bake it the next day. If you don't want to keep and take care of a sourdough, this is the way to go.

Ingredients:

• 12-15 g live yeast, or 1 teaspoon dry active yeast

• 200 ml dark beer, I used Guinness 

• 240 ml buttermilk 

• 500 ml water

• 100 g all-purpose flour

• 150 g whole wheat flour

• 300 g dark rye flour

• 150 g cracked rye 

• 100 g whole rye berries

• 50 g bulgur (100% whole grain quick cooking bulgur wheat)

• 200 g flaxseeds

• 135 g sunflower seeds

• 18 g salt

Sprinkles:

• poppy seeds

Directions:

Dissolve the yeast in the liquid in the bowl of the stand mixer. Add the rest of the ingredients, and knead the dough for about 10 minutes.

Pour the dough into a big loaf pan (I use a Eva Professionel rye bread tin, which holds 3.3 liter).

Cover the pan with plastic wrap and place the loaf in the refrigerator to ferment for a minimum of 12 hours up to 48 hours. The longer the bread ferments, the more tart the bread becomes.

Preheat the oven to 350 (180).

Brush the bread with water and sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake the bread for 90 minutes, remove the bread from the pan, and wrap the loaf in a clean kitchen towel, to cool completely before slicing.

Enjoy!

Lemon Curd

Lemon Curd

Lemon Curd is a sweet, tart, soft and velvety spread. Traditionally it is used as a spread for scones for the afternoon tea. But it is a perfect filling in cakes. I've always looked at lemon curd as a thing you buy in a jar in the store. But having the most wonderful lemons in my yard, I had to try to make it myself. Wow, what a flavor!! I will never buy lemon curd ever again. The homemade version is like a party in your mouth. If you know Danish lemon mousse/citronfromage, it's like that, with lemon-steroids. YUM YUM YUM.

Makes about a cup (2-3 dl).

Ingredients:

• 115 g (1 stick) butter, I use lightly salted butter
• 170 g sugar
• 1¼ dl (½ cup) lemon juice, about 3-4 lemons
• 4 lemons, the zest from
• 6 egg yolks

Directions:

Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan, be careful not to let it brown. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the sugar, lemon juice and zest. Then whisk in the egg yolks until smooth.

Place saucepan over low-medium heat and cook the mixture, whisking constantly, until it thickens. You are looking for the curd to leave a path on the back of a spoon, when a finger is drawn across it. Be careful NOT to let the curd boil, this will cause the egg to curdle.  

Immediately pour the lemon curd into a bowl, to stop the heating. Let the lemon curd cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Keep the lemon curd covered and refrigerated until ready to serve.

TIP: Lemon curd keeps for about a month in the refrigerator, not that it has survived this long in my house.

Teboller - Buttermilk Buns

Teboller - Buttermilk Buns

These buttermilk bun is my take on the traditional teboller/buns you can buy a baker's shops in Denmark. They are sweet and soft, and pairs perfect with a cup of hot chocolate on a cold and windy fall afternoon. Normally you can buy them with or without raisins or chocolate chips.

Ingredients:

• 200 ml water, finger-warm

• 40 g live yeast (or 3 teaspoons dry yeast)

• 4 tablespoons sugar

• 1 egg

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 100 ml buttermilk

• 525 g all-purpose flour

• 50 g butter, room-temperature 

• 1 handful raisins or chocolate chips (optional)

 Topping:

• egg-wash, here a beaten egg

• nuts & raw sugar (optional)

Directions:

In the bowl of the stand mixer, dissolve the yeast and sugar in the water. Add milk, flour, salt, egg and knead the dough for 5-8 minutes on medium, (8-10 minutes if kneaded by hand), until smooth and elastic. Add the butter a little at a time (and raisins or chocolate chips), and mix until fully incorporated. 

Let the dough rise for about 30 minutes until doubled in size.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using dough scraper, divide dough into 12-15 equal parts. Gently roll each into a ball and arrange 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheet. Cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and let buns rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Brush the on top of buns, sprinkle with toppings. Bake the buns for 8-12 minutes until deep golden brown. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!