Elf Cookies - Nissehoveder

Elf Cookies - Nissehoveder

December 11th - Time for remembrance.

I have never seen these elf cookies aka nissehoveder (elf heads) anywhere else than in my family. The cookies were very much appreciated by my brother and me, but I know my mom hated making these, because they are a bit labor-intensive. The cookie itself is straight forward and easy, but it's a sticky mess to cut out all the eyes and mouths. The first year I made them, I even had made a nose, but that was a bad idea, a bad bad idea.

Thank you mom and dad for teaching me to make elf cookies - I miss you guys so very much.

Here is how to make my family's elf cookies.

Ingredients:

• 250 g all-purpose flour

• 200 g butter

• 100 g confectionary sugar

• 1 egg yolk

Topping:

• red and green cherries

• confectionary sugar

• water

• red food coloring

Directions:

Crumble the butter in the flour, until it looks like bread crumbs. Add the sifted confectionary sugar and the egg yolk and mix until it’s all combined.

Form dough into a rod with an inch in diameter. Press to form a top on the rod, this makes the elf hat. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Cut the green cherries into small cubes, these will be the eyes.

Cut the red cherries into quarters and slice the quarters, these will be the mouths.

Cut the logs into ¼-inch thick cookies and put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spacing about 1 inch apart. Place eyes and mouths on the cookies.

Bake until slightly golden around the edges, about 10-12 minutes at 350°F. Cool cookies on the pan on wire racks.

Icing: Mix confectionary sugar with a few drops of water and food coloring. Paint  the cookies with the red icing. Let the cookies dry on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

The Danish version:

Nissehoveder

Ingredients:

• 250 g hvedemel

• 200 g smør

• 100 g flormelis

• 1 æggeblomme

Pynt:

• røde og grønne cocktailbær

• flourmelis

• vand

• rød frugtfarve.

Directions: 

Smørret smuldres i melet. Flormelis sigtes i og æltes let i dejen sammen med æggeblommen. 

Dejen formes til en pølse på godt og vel et kosteskafts tykkelse. 

Pølsen trykkes lidt i den ene side så den kommer til at spidse, gerne meget. Pølsen lægges i køleskabet i mindst 0,5 time. Herefter skæres den i tynde skiver med en skarp kniv. 

Når kagerne er kommet på bageplanden, pyntes de med øjne, og mund (cocktailbær). 

Herefter bages de i 7-8 min ved 200ºC. 

Inden de er helt afkølede kan nissehovederne få hue på, med lidt rød glasur.

Danish Shortbread - Finskbrød

Danish Shortbread - finskbread

It's December 7th, and I think Santa had a cookie or two, his stomach is full of shortbreads on the picture. 

This is the danish version of a shortbread, called Finskbrød or Finnish bread. I have no idea why the are called so, because they are for sure a danish cookie.

Compared to regular shortbreads these are sprinkled with coarse raw cane sugar and chopped almonds, which adds to the taste and texture of the cookies. 

As a child these cookies was one of my favorites. I loved these light and buttery crisp cookies. But for the last 5-6 years I haven't been making Danish shortbreads. Why? I don’t know, maybe I have just been focused on trying new cakes? 

Having this blog made me go back to the shortbread, and I think they are back to stay.

I somehow lost my moms recipe, but found this great one on Anne au Chocolat's blog. 

Ingredients:

• 375 g all-pupose flour
• 250 g butter
• 1 egg yolk
• 100 g sugar

Toppings:

• egg white
• coarse raw cane sugar 
• chopped almonds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400℉ (200℃)

Mix flour and butter. I used a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter in the flour mixture. Mix until the the butter resembles wet sand. Mix in sugar and egg yolk. Be careful not to overwork the dough. 

Roll the dough, a little at a time, into logs the size of a finger. Press the log flat (about 1/5 inch thick). Cut the logs into 1 inch pieces. Transfer the cookies to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake for 12-15 minutes in the middle of the oven.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Almond Specier - Håkonskager

Almond Species - Håkonskager

December 6th, and I finally started decoration the house for christmas, and the stress of getting gifts bought for the family is starting to get to me. A great cookie and a cop of coffee helps me stay grounded. 

My mom always baked cookies in december, so we would have homemade cookies for all the family gatherings during the holidays. Danes doesn't celebrate thanksgiving, so all the winter family get-together is around christmas and new years.

One of my favorite cookies was not on my moms list, but they should have been in my opinion. The cookies are called "Håkonskager" after a Danish prince (Carl), who became the King Haakon (Håkon) of Norway. 

You might know these cookies from the tin of Danish Butter Cookies, but the homemade kind is so much better than the store bought. 

This is my take on Håkon cookies.

Ingredients: 

• 200 g butter (salted and soft)
• 135 g confectionary sugar
• 80 g marzipan (grated)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste or seeds from 1/2 vanilla bean 
• 235 g all-purpose flour
• 1 egg
• raw cane sugar (coarse)

Direction: 

Cream the butter with the confectionary sugar and marzipan till it's light and fluffy in a stand mixer with a paddle. Add vanilla paste and flour. As soon as the dough comes together, stop the mixing. 

Divide the dough in to 2 pieces. Roll each part into a log (2 inch in diameter), wrap in glad wrap and refrigerate over night. Make sure to have a smooth surface to get an even look on the finished cookies.

Whip the egg and pour the raw cane sugar on a big plate. Brush or dip the logs in the egg wash and roll them in the sugar until completely coated. Wrap the logs in glad wrap again and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Cut the logs into ¼-inch thick cookies and put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Spacing about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden around the edges, about 12-15 minutes at 350°F. Cool cookies on the pan on wire racks. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

The Danish version:

Håkonskager

Ingredients: 

• 200 g blødt smør
• 135 g flormelis
• 80 g marcipan (revet)
• 1/2 tsk vanilla paste eller  kornene fra 1/2 vanillestang 
• 235 g hvedemel
• 1 æg
• perlesukker

Pisk smør og flormelis og revert marcipan til en luftig masse med en håndmikser eller røremaskine. Tilsæt mel og vanillesukker, og saml ingredienserne hurtigt til en smidig dej, pas på ikke at overmikse dejen.

Del dejen i 2 dele, og rul dem til stænger ca. 5 cm i diameter. Pak stængerne ind i plastfolie og opbevar dem i køleskabet til næste dag.

Pisk ægget i en skål, og kom perlesukker i en tallerken. Pensel stængerne med æg og rul dem i perlesukkeret.  Pak stængerne ind i plastfolien igen og lad dem ligge ca. 30 minutter i køleskabet.

Skær rullerne ud i 4-5 mm tykke skiver, læg dem på en bageplade beklædt med bagepapir. Læg ikke kagerne for tæt, da de flyder lidt ud. 

Bag kagerne midt i ovnen ved 175℃ i 12-15 minutter.  Afkøl kagerne på en bagerist og opbevar dem i en lufttæt kagedåse.

Peppermint Ice Cream and Hot Chocolate Affogato

Peppermint Ice Cream and Hot Chocolate Affogato

December 4th and the cold front hit northern California. So what is the best drink for keeping warm? Normally I'm not a big hot chocolate person, I would rater have a good latte. But the peppermint lightens up the hot chocolate and makes it scrumptious . My husband loves ice cream, so we made this treat as a compromise. I really hope you will enjoy it.

In December you see peppermint everywhere, and I learned that peppermint is the holiday flavor of choice for americans. And why not adapt the seasonal flavor in a decadent dessert? 

I love a normal affogato, an espresso poured over a scoop of vanilla ice cream. It's a perfect ending to a great Italian dinner. So combining the affogato and the peppermint hot chocolate, I see in every coffee shop this time of year, must be a perfect match.

Here I flavored a classic ice cream with peppermint and topped it off with a decadent hot chocolate. 

Ingredients:

Ice cream:

• 1¼ cup (300 ml) Heavy whipping cream

• ¾ cup (180 ml) whole milk

• 4 egg yolks

• 85 g sugar

• 1 pinch salt

• 1 - 1¼ teaspoon peppermint extract

• crushed candy cane

Hot chocolate:

• whole milk

• milk chocolate (use a good one like Valrhona)

• dark chocolate (use a good one like Valrhona)

Directions:

Making the custard:

Pour the cream into a metal bowl placed in a larger bowl of ice, set aside.

Warm milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. Make sure the sugar and salt is dissolved completely.

In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, while whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan, and heat the mixture over medium heat, until it thickens. Stir constantly in this process and make sure to scrape the bottom of the saucepan. 

Pour the egg/milk mixture through a sieve into the cold cream. 

Cool the custard in refrigerator. 

Add the peppermint extract, ½ teaspoon at a time, taste the custard.

Pour the custard into a ice cream maker and freeze it according to manufacturers instructions. Sprinkle with crushed candy cane just before you scoop out the ice cream.

Freeze the ice cream in the freezer a couple of hours before serving.

The making of the custard is a basic step in the ice cream making. You can flavor your ice cream to your liking after the custard is made. It's also possible to add flavor to the milk while heating.

Hot chocolate:

Heat whole milk and chocolate in a saucepan, whisk while heating.

Serve the ice cream in a glass, pour the hot chocolate over and sprinkle with crushed candy cane.

Danish Gingerbread Cookies - Brunkager

Danish Gingerbread Cookies

December 3rd. Another day another cookie.

The Danish Gingerbread cookies aka "Brunkager" has a very long history dating back to the late 1400s. The name stems from Peberkager or Pepper cookies, but pepper is not meaning the spice pepper, but more likely meaning strong flavored cookies. Traditionally the cookie contains the warm spices we all  use in  fall, like ginger, cinnamon, cloves and cardamom. 

The tradition of baking gingerbread cookies for christmas, became more common, when it became easier to control the temperature of the ovens, back in the mid 1800s.  

Most families have their own recipe for gingerbread cookies. I never got my parents recipe. I was sad to see that it wasn't in my mothers little black recipe book, when I got it a few years ago. I remember rolling out the doug and using cookie cutters to make small men, women, hearts, stars and Yule Goats. We rarely decorate the cookies with icing, I think my parents didn't like the mess and the cookies became to sweet.

So I had to find one that I liked. And this one is nothing like the one my mom baked.  I love Mette Blomsterberg, so of course I found one of her recipes. This is how I made the cookies:

Ingredients: 

• 250 g butter

• 125 g syrup I use "lys sirup" from dansukker*

• 250 g brown sugar

• 2 teaspoon Potassium carbonate K2CO3 (Potaske)**

• 1 tablespoons cold water

• 3 teaspoons cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon ground cloves

• 2 teaspoons ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon ground allspice

• 60 g candied orange peel

• 25 g raw pistachios

• 150 g Almonds

• 500 g All-purpose flour 

Directions: 

Melt butter, syrup and brown sugar in a saucepan on medium heat, until it reaches 160 ℉ (70 ℃). Remove saucepan from heat.

Mix allspice, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and flour and add orange zest, almonds and pistachios. 

Dissolve the Potassium carbonate (potasken) in the water and add it to the flour mixture. 

Mix it all together in a stand mixer, until the dough is uniform.

Dough pressed in the baking pan.

Put the batter in a baking pan lined with parchment paper.   Press well to fill the baking pan completely. Cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper. Let cool at room temperature until the next day. The dough should be about 1 inch high in the pan. 

Cut the dough into 3-5 logs with a sharp knife. Cut each log in thin slices and bake them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper at 355℉ (180℃) for 9-13 minutes.

Cool completely on a rack and store in an airtight container.

* You can get the syrup here

** You can replace potaske with baking soda, but the cookies won't be as crispy. You can get potaske here.