Almond Date Bites

December 7th.
Wow time flies when you are a bit under the weather. Somehow a whole week passed me by, and I didn't post anything at all. Sorry to leave you hanging. This is not good, when I promised you 12 Days of Christmas. Well, I can still make it, if I pull myself together. 

These Almond Date bites is a healthier take on the classic havregrynskugler/Oat "truffles", I made as an easy Christmas treat growing up.

Makes about 20-22.

Ingredients:

• 50 g raw almonds
• 200 g pitted dates
• 25 g rolled oats
• 2½ teaspoon cocoa powder (I use Valrhona)
• 1-2 tablespoons cold coffee
• imitation rum (optional)

Coating:

• about 100 g dark chocolate (I use Valrhona)
• 35-40 g shredded unsweetened coconut

Directions:

Pulse almonds in a food processor until you have a coarse flour. Add the dates and blend until fully combined. Add the rest of the ingredients, and mix until it forms a sticky ball. 

Scoop out portions of the mixture using a small ice cream scooper. This will help you get an uniform size on the bites. Roll the bites into balls. Refrigerate for a couple hours, cover the balls with a thin layer of tempered dark chocolate and roll them in shredded coconut.

Enjoy!

December 1st.

Mulled Cider - Krydret Varm Cider.

Somehow December always creeps up on me, somehow I get surprised that Christmas comes right after all the festivity at Thanksgiving. This Year I hosted my first Thanksgiving dinner, so my Christmas preparations was somewhat delayed. 

I do intend to post 12 christmasy posts, for the 12 Days of Christmas. It will be a mix of food, sweets, cakes and cookies. So please stay tuned.

I start with a re-post of a hot mulled cider, mostly because I'm down with a cold, and the best thing to drink are warm drinks. And I really love hot mulled cider. 

I have never had it in Denmark, but it should be a Christmas stable as the mulled wine is.

Hot mulled cider, this lovely drink was all new to me 6 years ago. I thought that mulled wine aka glögg/gløgg/glühwein was a German/scandinavian thing. And adding warm spices to a non-alcholic drink, that was new to me, I'm sad to say. 😳

First time I had it was at a William-Sonoma store, and boy they got me hooked on that stuff. I love this when when winter approaches, and you need at hot strong drink to keep you warm. 

It has become a tradition to make hot mulled cider when we are having ebelskiver the weeks up to christmas. And to bee honest, I have the cider simmering on my stove almost every day. This fills my house with the sweet smell of christmas and it makes me very happy. 

Ingredients:

• 2 quarts good apple cider 

• 1 orange, zest of half

• 2 sticks of cinnamon

• 5-10 whole cloves

• 5-10 whole allspice berries

• 1-2 star anis 

• 3 green cardamom capsules

You could also buy a mulling spice mix, but I prefer mixing my own.

Directions:

Put all the ingredients in a large saucepan and heat the cider to a simmer. Turn down the heat, and let the spices steep in the cider for 5-10 minutes. Reheat the cider. Pour the cider through a sift into cups and serve immediately.

The Danish Version:

Varm Krydret Cider

Ingredienser:

• 2 liter god æblecider 

• ½ appelsin, skallen fra

• 2 kanelstænger

• 5-10 hele nelliker

• 5-10 hele allehånde

• 1-2 stjerneanis 

• 3 grønne kardemomme

Fremgangsmåde:

Kom alle ingredienserne i en gryde og varm det op til kogepunktet. Skru ned for varmen og lad krydderierne trække i cideren i 5-10 minutter. Varm cideren op og si krydderierne fra. Server cideren med det samme.

Cranberry - Orange Sauce

Cranberry - Orange Sauce

I'm cooking my first Thanksgiving dinner this year, making my first turkey. Even though I have never roasted at turkey before, I do sometimes make cranberry sauce for the traditional Danish Christmas dinner. This is my favorite recipe:

Makes about 2 cups.

Ingredients:

• 1 orange, zest and juice

• 200 ml water

• 125 g sugar

• 340-350 g fresh or frozen cranberries

Directions:

Heat orange juice, orange zest, sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved.

Stir in cranberries and bring it to a boil, reduce heat and let simmer until sauce has  slightly thickened, about 5-10 minutes, and most of the berries have bust.

Let cool completely before serving.

Enjoy!

Danish Meatballs

Classic Danish Meatballs with creamed green cabbage.

Danish meatballs or frikadeller as they are called, are a popular dish in Denmark. It might even be the national dish at one point. According my mom the traditional meatballs are made with half pork and half veal, but you can make them with most ground meats. I always use rolled oats in meatballs, even though my mom used all-purpose flour. I think the meatballs become more compact using flour. This recipe is the basic recipe for Danish meatballs, and the taste fantastic. But you can spice them up by adding different spices like garlic, rosemary, thyme or any other spice you like. 

There are many different ways of serving these simple meatballs. You can serve meatballs with:

• boiled potatoes, brown pan-gravy and pickled red cabbage.

• creamed green cabbage or pointed cabbage

• a cold potato salad

• or served on rye bread as a open-faced sandwich

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 750 g (about 1⅔ pounds) ground pork

• 750 g (about 1⅔ pounds) ground veal

• about 50 g (about ½ cup) rolled quick oats

• 2 eggs

• 2 medium onions, finely chopped or grated

• ⅓ cup milk

• 1½ teaspoons salt

• pepper

• olive oil for frying

Directions:

Mix the meat with salt.  Divide the meat in quarters, lift one quarter up unto the other quarters. Fill the missing quarter with rolled oats (about 50 g or ½ cup). Put in finely chopped or grated onions, the eggs, milk and pepper and mix until you have a cohesive meat mixture.  Place a skillet over medium-high heat. Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in the skillet.

How to make the meatballs taken from my lamb meatball post.

Forming the meatballs dip a tablespoon in the oil and scoop up a good spoonful meat. Use the hand and the spoon to form the meatball.  The meatball should be oval an the size of a small egg. Placed the meatball in the skillet, repeat until you have a full skillet. Be careful not to let the meatballs touch each other.

Fry the meatball for about 3 to 5 minutes on each side until they are well-browned and no longer pink in the center. Depending how big the meatballs are and how hot your pan is the time may varies.  When done remove the meatballs and set aside.

If you have a more meat mixture in the bowl, clean the skillet with a kitchen towel and add new butter and fry another batch.

Serve the warm meatballs. 

Enjoy!

Soft Liquorice Caramels v.2

Soft Liquorice Caramels

Thank you for stopping by my blog during the past years. It has been a fun but busy year, I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I have. 
Christmas Night and Christmas Day came and went so fast this year. I love having my family and friends around me. My wish for next year, is to be more relaxed and  enjoy the evening more.

I wanted to make these soft caramels and got inspired by a recipe on a Danish blog called Valdemarsro.

Happy holydays from my family to yours.

Makes 15-20 pieces. 

Ingredients:

• 50 g light corn syrup, or glucose
• 100 g sugar
• 200 ml heavy whipping cream
• 1 teaspoon sweet liquorice syrup
• 1 tablespoon raw liquorice 

Directions:

Prepare a 9-inch loaf pan with parchment paper, and set aside.

Mix corn syrup, sugar and cream in a saucepan, and bring it to a boil, while stirring. Lower the heat and let it simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring every few minutes. The caramel is done when the mixture pulls away from the saucepan, when stirring, and you can see a slight crystallization when you stir. Mix in the liquorice syrup. Pour the caramel into the prepared pan, and sprinkle the raw liquorice on top. Let the caramel set on the kitchen counter for a few hours, before cutting into cubes. Wrap each caramel in parchment paper or wax paper and keep the caramels in a cool place in an airtight container. 
Enjoy!