Cremelinser - Custard filled Tartlets

Cremelinser - Custard filled Tartlets

Danes like their cakes. Cremelinser or custard filled tartlets is another classic danish cake. The cake is not overly sweet, but has great textures. I really like the crispy flaky crust with the creamy vanilla filling.

I remember cremelinser as an old lady cake, mostly because we only got them when we went to visit my grandmother. I got a new appreciation for the cake, working at the baker's shop, where we sold loads of them to people in all ages.

Makes 8-10 tartlets.

Ingredients:

Custard:

• 3 egg yolks

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 2,5 dl milk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Pastry:

• 300 g all-purpose flour

• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature

• 100 g confectionary sugar (powdered sugar)

• 1 egg

Directions:

Custard:

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale in color. Whisk in the cornstarch and vanilla paste.

Heat the milk to a slow boil, set aside. 

While whisking vigorously drizzle the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture, just a tiny bit at a time at first. Once you’ve added about ¼ of the milk, you can add the rest in a thin steady stream, whisking constantly.

Pour the mixture back in the saucepan and reheat it over medium heat. Whisk constantly until it thickens. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl.  Sprinkle with sugar or press some plastic wrap against the custard so it won't form a pudding skin. Chill the custard completely in the refrigerator.

Pastry:

Mix the butter in the flour and sugar in a stand mixer. Add the egg and mix just until the dough starts to lump together. Form the dough into 2 discs and wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 360℉ (180℃).

On a floured surface roll one of the dough discs to about 1/10-inch (3 mm) thickness. Cut out round a little larger than the tartlet pans. Line the pans, letting the dough hanging a bit over the edge. 

Roll out the other disc to the same thickness, and cut out rounds for tartlet lids.

Fill the tartlets ⅔ with the custard, and place the lid on top. Gently press down along the edge to seal the tartlet. Bake the tartlets for 15-20 minutes until light golden brown. The cooking time will vary depending on size.

Let the tartlets cool completely before removing from the pans. 

Enjoy!

Medaljer

Medaljer

Medaljer is a classic cream cake you will find in most baker's shop. The cake is a shortbread pastry with whipped cream, jam and custard. However simple the ingredients, it is a very tasty. In my young days I worked in a Baker's shop, and I have been decorating a lot of these medaljer to help the Pastry Chef. For the longest time, I wanted to become a pastry chef, but ended up as an engineer. Life takes it twists and turns.

Makes 8-12.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

• 300 g all-purpose flour

• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature

• 100 g confectionary sugar

• 1 egg

Custard:

• 3 egg yolks

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 2½ dl (250 ml) milk (1 cup +1 tablespoon)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Filling:

• raspberry jam

• whipped heavy whipping cream

• custard

Topping:

• whipped heavy cream

• fresh berries or fruit, use whatever you like, blueberries, strawberries or a slice of kiwi

Icing:

• 150 g confectionary sugar

• warm water

• food coloring

Directions:

Pastry:

Mix the butter in the flour and sugar in a stand mixer. Add the egg and mix just until the dough starts to lump together. Form the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest for about 30 minutes in the refrigerator.

Preheat the oven to 360℉ (180℃)

On a floured surface roll the dough to about 1/10-inch (3mm) thickness. Cut out round about 2¾-inch (7 cm) in diameter.

Bake the rounds for 8-10 minutes on a parchment paper covered baking sheet, until light golden. Let the cookies cool completely.

Custard:

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale in color. Whisk in the cornstarch and vanilla paste.

Heat the milk to a slow boil, set aside. 

While whisking vigorously drizzle the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture, just a tiny bit at a time at first. Once you’ve added about ¼ of the milk, you can add the rest in a thin steady stream, whisking constantly.

Pour the mixture back in the saucepan and reheat it over medium heat. Whisk constantly until it thickens. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl.  Sprinkle with sugar or press some plastic wrap against the custard so it won't form a pudding skin. Chill the custard completely in the refrigerator.

Assembly:

Make the icing, and put a thin layer on top of half the cookies. This will be the top part.

Whip the heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks. Put the whipped cream into a pastry bag fitted with a large star shaped tip. Pipe a ring of whipped cream along the edges of the second half of the cookies, the lower part. You want to have some hight to the whipped cream, so you have a hole in the middle for the jam and custard. Pipe jam and custard into the hole.

Pipe a top of whipped cream on top of the iced cookie, and decorate with berries and nuts. 
Place the top part on top of the lower part. 

Serve the cakes immediately with a cup of tea or coffee.

Enjoy! 

Marengskys - Meringue Tops

Marengskys - Meringue Tops

Meringue tops are called kys or kisses in Danish, and are small sweet tops, perfect with ice cream or at any party. 

These are dressed up for a party, with some rainbow disco dust.

Makes a lot.

Ingredients:

• 2 egg whites
• 135 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• ½ teaspoon lemon juice
• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste
• a drop food coloring
• sprinkle of rainbow disco dust 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300℉ (150℃). Line 2 baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In the bowl for the stand mixer, beat egg whites until stiff peaks. Add the sugar gradually, a couple tablespoons at a time, while still beating the egg whites. The egg whites/meringue will become thick and glossy. Gently fold in cornstarch, vanilla, lemon juice and food coloring.

Transfer the meringue into a pastry bag with a star tip. Pipe tops onto the prepared baking sheets, You don't need to space them to far apart, they will stay pretty much the same size. Sprinkle the tops with rainbow disco dust.

Bake the meringues for 45 minutes.

Enjoy!

Napoleonshatte - Napoleon Hats

Napoleonshatte - Napoleon Hats

Napoleon hats are a stable in the Danish Baker's Shops. The cake is made from shortcrust pastry with a filling of kransekage dough, then dipped in a good dark chocolate. Napoleon hats are one of the cakes I have to have when I'm visiting Denmark. They are really delicious, and to be honest, this homemade version with real marzipan is so much better than the ones you can buy at most baker's shops. 

The cake is named after the (funny) hat of the French General and Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.  

Makes 16.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

• 300 g all-purpose flour

• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature

• 100 g confectionary sugar

• 1 egg

Filling:

• 250 g almond paste (I used ren rå marzipan from Odense)

• 100 g sugar

• 1 egg white

Dipped in:

250 g dark chocolate, tempered

Directions:

Pastry:

Mix the butter in the flour and sugar in a stand mixer. Add the egg and mix just until the dough starts to lump together. Form the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest for about 30 minutes.

On a floured surface roll the dough to about 1/10-inch (3mm) thickness. Cut out rounds about 3⅕-inch (8 cm) in diameter.

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Filling:

In the making

Beat the egg white with the sugar until combined, mix in the marzipan a little at a time. Divide the mixture into 16 balls. 

Place a ball unto the center of each pastry round. Fold three flaps of the circle up, pressing it into the marzipan ball, so it sticks. Use three finger to make it even. 

Bake the cakes for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Let the cakes cool completely. Place the cooled cakes in the refrigerator until you are ready with the tempered chocolate.

Dip the bottom of the cake in tempered dark chocolate, scrape excess chocolate off the cake. Set the cake on its side with the chocolate pointing up, until the chocolate has set.

Serve the napoleon hats with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

Enjoy!

Just dipped in chocolate

Tivoli Cake

Tivoli Cake

The Tivoli cake is an old classic cake made the first time by Pastry chef Gert Sørensen for a gastronomical fair in 1923 at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen Denmark.   

I have been wanting to make Tivoli cakes for a long time, but I have never found the right time before this week. I buckled under peer pressure ❤️ from a Facebook group for Danish women in the US. The Great Baking Show (Den store bagedyst) made a viewer competition, "who can make the best looking Tivoli cake?" And of cause I had to try.

Makes 10-12 cakes.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

• 300 g all-purpose flour
• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature
• 100 g confectionary sugar
• 1 egg

Jelly: 

• 6 tablespoons Red currant jelly (I used Smucker's)
• red food coloring (I use wilton red paste color)

Apple Sauce:

• 1 large apple, use an apple that are good for cooking: Granny Smith, Pippin, Gravenstein, Mcintosh, Jonathan, Jonagold, or Golden Delicious
• 40-50 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 100 ml water
• lemon juice, to taste

Meringue:

• 125 g egg whites (from about 4 large eggs)
• 350 g confectionary sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Rum custard:

• 1 sheet gelatin (1 teaspoon non-flavored gelatin)
• 30 g confectionary sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 60 g egg yolks (about 3-4)
• 50 ml dark rum
• 200 ml heavy whipping cream

Filling: 

• 400 ml heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Pastry:

Mix the butter in the flour and sugar in a stand mixer. Add the egg and mix just until the dough starts to lump together. Form the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 360℉ (180℃)

On a floured surface roll the dough to about 1/10-inch (3mm) thickness. Cut out round about 2¾-inch (7 cm) in diameter. Grease 10-12 2-inch (5 cm) small pans. Place the pastry in the pans, making small pastry shells/cups. Bake the shells for about 10 minutes until the shells are golden brown. Let the shells cool completely.

Jelly: 

Mix the ingredients, and heat it over a bowl of very hot water (just after it has boiled). Now the jelly is melting somewhat, but with some lumps. Run the jelly through a sift, to get rid of the lumps. Let the jelly set in a small bowl in the refrigerator. Put the jelly in a pastry bag with a small round tip.

Apple Sauce:

Peel, core and dice the apple. Bring all the ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan, and let it simmer, under lid, for about 10 minutes until the apple is soft, and forms an apple sauce. Season the sauce with lemon juice. (If you use a sweet apple, you might not need all the sugar.)

Meringue: 

In the bowl for the stand mixer, beat egg whites until stiff peaks. Add the sugar gradually, a couple tablespoons at a time, while still beating the egg whites. Keep beating the egg whites/meringue until it becomes thick and glossy. 

Using a pastry bag with a large (18 mm) round tip, pipe large round dots, ⅔-inch (2 cm) high and 2⅓-inch (6 cm) wide.

Let the meringue dots dry for about 30 minutes before baking, this will prevent the meringue from cracking.

Preheat the oven to 255℉ (125℃).

Bake the meringues for about 25 minutes, you don't want the meringue to get any color. Let the meringues cool completely before handling.

Rum custard:

Let the gelatin bloom in cold water for about 30 minutes. (If using powder, follow the instructions on the package). 

Whisk egg yolks thick and pale with sugar and vanilla.

Whip the heavy whipping cream to soft peaks.  

Squeeze any excess water from the gelatin and melt it in the rum over a double boiler. (I just put boiling water in a large pot, and place a stainless steel bowl on top, with the gelatin and rum.) You want the rum/gelatin mixture to heat to 122℉ (50℃).

Pour the rum into the egg mixture while whisking. Whisk half of the whipped cream into the egg mixture, and gently fold in the rest of the whipped cream.

Dip the top of the cooled meringue dots in the rum custard, place them on a baking sheet and let the custard set on the meringue in the refrigerator.

Building the cake:

Pipe a spiral on the dipped meringue, with the jelly.

Whip the cream to relatively stiff peaks, Be careful not to over-beat it, it will turn into butter. Transfer the whipped cream into a pastry bag with a large round tip (18 mm). 

Fill each pastry shell with about a tablespoon apple sauce. Pipe a large sphere/dollop of whipped cream on top of the applesauce, you want to cover the apple sauce and get some height to the cake. Place the meringue on top. 

Serve the cake as dessert or with a good cup of tea or coffee.

Enjoy!

The recipe is from Danish Televisions Den Store Bagedyst.