Fastelavnsboller - Lent Buns

Fastelavnsboller, Lent Buns.

Fastelavnsboller comes in many shapes and sizes. There are the pastry kind, filled with custard, or a fruit jam, the choux pastry kind, filled with a custard or another whipped cream-based filling, or the ones made with an enriched dough baked with remonce and/or custard. This one is a mix of the two latter ones. It’s basically an enriched dough with remonce and filled with a raspberry whipped cream.

Back in Denmark this year have been crazy, and the newest trend is selling the most fancy fastelavnsboller. There are huge lines to the bakeries to get your hands on these cakes, maybe the Corona restrictions made people want to have some extra special, I don’t know. Here is my contribution to this craziness.

Makes 15-18

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 500 ml milk

• 150 g butter, salted

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• 50 g fresh compressed yeast, or 4 teaspoons dry yeast

• 800 g all-purpose flour (hold some back, to see if the dough need it all)

• 150 g sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 1 pinch of salt

Remonce:

• 75 g butter, salted, room-temperature

• 75 g sugar

• 75 g marzipan or almond paste (with over 60% almonds)

Raspberry whipped cream:

• 500 ml heavy whipping cream

• 4 tablespoons raspberry jam

• 2 teaspoons chambord (raspberry liqueur)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• 1 tablespoon confectionery (powdered) sugar

Directions:

Remonce:

Mix the sugar and marzipan well. Add butter little by little until it’s just incorporated. Be careful not to over mix or the remonce will be runny when baked.

Dough:

In a large bowl mix most of the flour, I save about 1 cup, with the rest of the dry ingredients including the dry yeast if using.

In a saucepan heat milk and butter until finger warm, you want all the butter melted, remove pan from heat. Mix in the fresh compressed yeast, if using, and vanilla bean paste.

Mix in the milk/butter mixture and knead the dough in a stand mixer on medium for about 10 minutes until you have a soft, shiny elastic dough. The remaining flour should be added while kneading, if needed. Let the dough rise in a covered bowl for about 90 minutes until it doubled in size.

Divide the dough in two, roll each portion into a rectangle and divide it into 9 squares.

Preheat the oven for 400℉ (200℃).

Put a teaspoon remonce in the center of each square. Fold the four corners up to the center and press to seal all edges, letting the air inside escape. Put fastelavnsboller onto a parchment paper lined baking sheets with joint side down. Leave to rise covered for about 30 minutes. Brush with egg wash  and bake for about 10-12 minutes until golden. Let the bun cool completely, before cutting and filling.

Raspberry whipped cream:

Mix the raspberry jam with the liqueur and vanilla bean paste in a little bowl and set aside. Whip the heavy whipping cream with the sugar until you have s medium stiff cream. Gently fold in the raspberry mixture, and put the cream into a piping bag with a star tip.

Cut the top of the buns, and pipe some raspberry cream inside, place the top back on, put a little dot of cream on the top as decoration and sprinkle with freeze-dried raspberry or confectionary/powdered sugar. Serve the fastelavnsbolle with a nice cup warm tea or coffee.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Custard Rolls

Cinnamon Custard Rolls

I totally forgot about custard cinnamon rolls, until I stumbled upon a picture of them when browsing on Pinterest. Then I decided to try to make my version, with a vanilla custard, using some of my newly purchased plumb vanillas beans. Honestly the custard could be eaten, directly out of the saucepan, maybe with some berries. But it worked perfectly in the cinnamon rolls too. Transporting me back to my childhood. These cinnamon rolls is a great updated version to the traditional cinnamon rolls, making them a bit more fancy.

I would recommend to remove the rolls from the oven a bit earlier than I did, to prevent the custard from getting browned.

Makes 18-20 rolls.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 50 g live yeast ( 4 teaspoons dry yeast)

• 175 g butter, salted

• 500 ml milk

• 175 g sugar

• 2 teaspoons cardamom

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 800-850 g all-purpose flour

• 1 egg, for egg wash

Vanilla Custard:

• 200 ml milk

• 1 vanilla bean, the seeds (or caviar) from (or use 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract)

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 2 egg yolks

• 3 teaspoons cornstarch

Cinnamon Remounce:

• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature

• 100 g brown sugar

• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Chocolate Icing:

• 85 g confectionary (powdered) sugar

• 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

• about 2 tablespoons varm water

Directions:

Dough:

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Warm the milk in a saucepan until finger-warm, remove pan from the heat. Melt the butter in the warm milk. Crumble the yeast into the warm milk and stir to dissolve. 

Add the liquid to the dry ingredients, and knead the dough for 3 minutes, to form an elastic dough. 

Let the dough rise for about 60 minutes until doubled in size. 

Cinnamon Remounce:

Mix all the ingredients with a hand mixer, until smooth and creamy, set aside.

Vanilla Custard:

if using a vanilla bean, split the bean and scrape the seeds (caviar) out. Mix the seeds with some of the sugar, this will help separating the seeds, and spread them throughout the custard. Place the empty bean in the milk in a small saucepan, and heat the milk until it is warm, but not boiling. Remove from heat, and let sit to cool down and the bean to infuse the milk with additional vanilla flavor. When milk is room temperature, remove bean from the milk. Whisk egg yolks, sugar, vanilla seeds, and cornstarch into the paste, and add it to the milk. Heat the milk mixture up over medium heat, while whisking until it thickens and starts boiling. Transfer the custard into a shallow bowl, and cover it with plastic wrap. Place the the wrap directly on top of the custard, so it won’t form a skin. Let the custard cool in the fridge until you need it.

Making the Rolls:

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and roll it to a large rectangle (16x16 inches/40x40 cm).

Spread the filling in a thin layer onto the dough, leaving a thin edge closest to yourself, without filling.

Roll the dough into a large log, pinching edges together to seal. Cut the log into 20-24 slices. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the slices fairly close together. Cover and leave to rise for another 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃) - I used convection when baking these, heat oven to bake 420℉ (215℃) if you don't have a convection oven.

Brush the rolls with egg wash.

With a little spoon make a little dent/well in the middle of the cinnamon roll. Place about a teaspoon of the custard in each well.

Bake the rolls for 10-14 minutes until golden brown. 

Leave them to cool in the pan. 

Chocolate Icing:

Mix sugar ans cocoa with just enough water for it to form a tragic paste.

Frost the cinnamon rolls before serving.

Enjoy!

Mrs. Cross’s Christmas Syrup Cake - Sirupslagkage

Mrs. Cross’s Christmas Syrup Cake - Sirupslagkage.

This type of cake was one of my mom’s favorites. She always told a story about getting a syrup layer cake at a friends house, where the buttermilk came from their own cows. Maybe my mom’s childhood food memories were tied to fond memories like my own. The syrup cake were not tied to Christmas in my home, but by adding the orange jam and chocolate is leans itself towards Christmas. My mom served hers with a sprinkle of powdered sugar on top, the chocolate ganache make it more decadent.

Ingredients:

Batter:

• 125 g dark syrup

• 75 g sugar

• 75 g butter

• 250 g all purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• ½ teaspoon backing soda

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• ½ teaspoon ground cloves

• ½ teaspoon ground allspice

• ½ teaspoon ground ginger

• 150 ml buttermilk

Filling:

• 5-6 heaping tablespoons Orange jam

Buttercream:

• 250 g butter, salted and room temperature

• 250 g confectionary sugar (powdered sugar)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Chocolate ganache:

• 200 ml heavy whipping cream

• 200 g dark chocolate, finely chopped, I used Valrhona

• 10 g butter

Garnish:

• orange zest strips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 355℉ (175℃).

Batter:

Melt butter, sugar, and syrup in a sauce pan, remove from heat, and let it cool for a few minutes. Mix the dry ingredients, and add it to the warm mixture, together with the buttermilk. Pour the batter into a 8-9-inch (22cm) springform, the bottom lined with parchment paper. And bake it for 30-35 minutes. Let the cake cool completely, before removing from the form.

Buttercream:

Cream the butter with the sugar for about 8-10 minutes, until it’s white and fluffy. Mix in the vanilla.

Ganache:

In a saucepan heat the cream to an almost simmer, remove it when small bubbles start forming at the edges. Pour it on top of the chopped chocolate and add the butter. Let it sit for about 30 seconds before you start stirring the mixture. This will give the chocolate time to start melting. Stir the ganache until it is smooth, glossy homogeneous.

Assembly:

Using a serrated knife, slice the cake horizontally in 2 layer, using gentle sawing motion. Spread the orange jam in a even layer on the lover part of the cake. On top of that spread all the buttercream in a thick even layer. Place the top part of the cake on top of the buttercream. Give it a little press to make the buttercream come out to the edge. Pour the ganache over the top of the cake, it’s ok if the ganache drips over the edges. Sprinkle with some orange zest on top, befor the ganache sets.

The cake will benefit from sitting a few hours or even overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Enjoy!

Blueberry & White Chocolate Scones

Blueberry & White Chocolate Scones

I love scones, especially when they are light and fluffy. Maybe it’s wrong, to talk about a light scone, given they contain a lot of butter and cream 😁 But these feel very light.

Makes 8 scones.

Ingredients:

• 300 g all-purpose flour

• 50 g sugar

• 2 teaspoons baking powder

• ½ teaspoon salt

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• 60 g butter, salted and room temperature

• 150 g blueberries

• 125 g white chocolate, coarsely chopped, I used Valrhona

• 190 ml heavy whipping cream + extra for brushing

• 1 egg

• coarse sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Add the dry ingredients and the vanilla in a mixing bowl. Add the butter and mix the butter into the dry ingredients with your hands or the paddle attachment (flat beater), until the mixture is coarse and crumbly. Gently mix in the blueberries and chocolate. Place the mixture in the refrigerator for 30-40 minutes to cool completely.

Preheat the oven to 355℉ (180℃), and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk the egg into the heavy whipping cream. Pour the mixture into a well in the cooled dry ingredients. Gently mix the dough with a fork, until just mixed together. Be careful not to overmix. Pour the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Use your finger to gently press the dough into a disc 8-inch (20 cm) in diameter and about 1-inch (2.5 cm) thick. Slice the disc into 8 wedges, and place them on the prepared baking sheet about 1-inch apart. Brush each wedge with cold cream, and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake the scones for 22-25 minutes until they a light golden.

Let the scones cool for about 15 minutes before sinking your teeth into them.

Enjoy!

Almond Horn - Nøddehorn

Almond horns - Mandelhorn

These horns are one of my husbands favorites, and somehow I just got around to bake them today. It took a pandemic before I made these for him. Poor guy.

This is basically a kransekage rolled in sliced almonds and dipped in chocolate, so what's not to like??

The horns do freeze well, but defrost them slowly in the refrigerator.

Makes 12.

Ingredients:

• 400 g almond paste (marzipan or almond paste with more than 60% almonds)

• 100 g confectionary sugar (powdered sugar)

• 1 egg white

• 75-100 g sliced almonds

• dark chocolate (tempered)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Mix almond paste, sugar, and egg whites well. Roll the ‘dough’ into 2 logs the size of a thick thumb. Cut each log into 6 pieces. Somehow I ended up with only 11 🤷‍♀️

Roll each pice in sliced almonds, bend them slightly and place them on a parchment paper lined baking pan.

Bake the horns for 12 -15 minutes until they a very light golden. Let the horns cool down on a wirerack before dipping the ends in tempered chocolate.

Enjoy!