Ymerdrys - Rye Bread Crunch Topping

Ymerdrys - Rye Bread Crunch Topping

When I grew up in Denmark we had two options for breakfast during the weekdays. We could have 1. quick oats with milk and a sprinkle (or spoonfulls if my mom didn't look) of sugar or 2. Ymer (a fermented milk product) or A38 (milk fermented with Lactobacillus acidophilus) with a good sprinkle of rye bread crunch topping aka ymerdrys. Both healthy breakfasts born long before we had the cereal isle in the grocery stores, or at least before me and my brother discovered it.  

I always opted for the A38 and ymerdrys. So when I tried to make it, I was in heaven. Now I have the perfect breakfast: Yogurt with ymerdrys and fresh raspberries. A perfect start to your day.

Ymerdrys can be made as healthy as you like. This recipe is my version, but you can skip the butter and toast the breadcrumbs and sugar in the oven at 400℉ (200℃) for about 10-20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 50 g butter
• 250 g rye bread, grated
• 50 g sugar
• 50 g brown sugar

Directions:

Grate the rye bread. Melt the butter in a pan and toast the rye bread in the butter over medium heat, until light crispy. Add the sugars and let it just caramelize and coat the rye bread. Spread the crispy rye bread on a piece of parchment paper, mix in the brown sugar and let the crunch cool completely before using.

Use the topping on yogurt or in desserts.

Enjoy!

Rhubarb Sauce - Rababerkompot

Rhubarb Sauce - Rababerkompot

My mom made the first rabarberkompot aka rhubarb sauce as soon as the rhubarbs from our yard was big enough to use. The thin short rhubarbs was sweet and a clear sign that the summer was begun. 

Ingredients:

• 500 g rhubarbs

• 225 g sugar

• ½ vanilla bean pod, the seeds from

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Clean the rhubarbs and cut them into bite-sized pieces, place the in an ovenproof dish. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod and mix the seeds with the sugar. Sprinkle the sugar on top, and toss until the sugar is evenly distributed. Place the vanilla  pod in between the rhubarbs.

Bake the rhubarbs for 20-40 minutes until soft, and the sauce is thickened. If the juices evaporate to quickly cover the dish with aluminum foil.

Let the rhubarb sauce cool and use as a jam, as a sauce in desserts or eaten with a meat dish.

Enjoy!

Raspberry Jelly Roll - Hindbærroulade

Raspberry Jelly Roll - Hindbærroulade

Raspberry jelly roll, aka hindbærroulade, is a traditional cake in Denmark. The kind of cake you would buy at a gas station or at the supermarket. My mom did sometimes buy the jelly roll in the supermarket, and I saw her dressing it up, by covering it with whipped cream and some fresh berries. As a working mom, she didn't have time to do all her cooking from scratch, she did cut some corners, as did a lot of housewives back then, and now.

My mom loved to bake, when she did have the time. I found this recipe in her handwritten recipe book dating back from before she married my dad. 

Well, you can get a better version of this jelly roll by making it yourself or buying it at a good bakers shop. The supermarket cake really doesn't make this cake justice. If made well, with good ingredients the jelly roll is very delicious. Soft, sweet and with a crunch of sugar. A perfect cake to bring for a picnic. The soft cake travels well, and can easily be cut, and eaten off a napkin.

Makes 1 cake, serves 10-12.

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs (room temperature)
• 125 g sugar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 60 g potato starch
• 60 g all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon hjortetaksalt (baker's ammonia/Ammonium bicarbonate (NH₄HCO₃))

Filling:

• raspberry jam

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 425℉ (225℃). Line a jelly roll pan with parchment paper, and spray it with coconut oil, set aside.

Sift potato starch, flour and baker's ammonia, and set aside.

Whisk the eggs light and foamy with the sugar, it takes about 5 minutes to get maximum foaming when whisking on a stand mixer. Whip in the vanilla and water. 

Very gently fold the dry ingredients in the foamy eggs. Be very careful not to deflate the egg mixture to much.

Pour the batter in the prepared baking pan in a thin layer. Bake the cake for 7-9 minutes until golden brown.

Place a new piece of parchment paper on your counter. Sprinkle the paper with a thin layer of sugar on the parchment paper.

Remove cake from the oven. Flip the cake (top-side down) onto the sugar. Gently remove the parchment paper from the back side of the cake. Spread jam all over the cake, leaving about ½-inch from the edge on the side you are rolling it up towards. Using the parchment paper, roll the cake up tightly. Let the cake cool completely. Trim the sides, and serve the cake on a platter.

Enjoy!

The Ultimate Iced Coffee

The Ultimate Iced Coffee

This iced coffee is a special treat. I look at it the same way as a ice cream cone or a slice of cake. It's not an every day occurrence. But It is really good on a hot day for a special day pick me up.

Ingredients:

• 4 oz (120 ml) cold brewed coffee
• 4 oz (120 ml) milk syrup

Milky syrup:

• 1 can (14 oz/396 g) sweetened condensed milk
• 21 oz (1.5 times the can) of milk (i used non-fat milk) 

Directions:

Brew the coffee (it takes 12-14 hours)

Milky syrup:

Mix the two milks together and it's ready. I would try to freeze the mixture in ice cubes, because it do make quite a lot, and it is very rich.

 Stir in syrup in the coffee to taste, for me about half and half, and top with ice.

Enjoy!

Easter Cake

Easter Cake.

I saw this decorating on Pinterest and I was sold. I had to make this cake for our Easter celebration/family gathering. 

I have been wanting to put up recipes for a traditional Danish layer cake for the longest time. Every time I made a cake, we have had people over, and the cake has been eaten before we could take a picture. So this was my chance. Well, so I thought. Because we had to bring the cake to the family gathering, we could only take pictures of the decorated cake, and no pictures of a slice. 

Slicing the cake was not an easy task. The edible grass was kinda difficult to cut, to get a pretty slice. But it was fun making, and the reaction to the cake was well worth the effort. 

Serves 10-12

Ingredients:

• 1 portion of lagkagebunde (spongecake)

• 1 portion of passionfruit mousse

• 1 portion of chocolate mousse

• 1 portion vanilla buttercream

• 3 bags of edible grass

• 1 bunny, I used a Lindt milk chocolate

• a few easter M&M's with peanuts

Directions:

Make the cake/lagkagebunde/the spongecake and the mousses. I normally make the cake a day in advance, to ease my workload on the day I need the cake.

Place a springform or ring lined with some plastic cake wrap on a cutting board. Place one layer of the cake in the bottom, (I sprinkle the cake with some water/port or juice to moisten the cake). Pipe the chocolate mousse on the cake and even it out. Place the cake in the refrigerator for the mousse to set for 10-15 minutes. Place a thin piece of cake on top of the mousse, and put the passionfruit mousse on top followed by the last piece of cake, this placed upside down on the mousse. Put the cake back in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours to set.

Make the buttercream.

Remove the ring or springform.  

Spread a thin even layer of buttercream on the top of the cake, repeat on the sides of the cake. 

Cut up 1 pack of edible grass into 1-inch (2,5 cm) pieces into a large shallow dish. Spray a very small amount of water over the edible grass, this will make the grass a bit sticky. Now using your hands, mix the grass together, so the water spreads, and the grass starts to clump together. Working in small batches, take a clump of grass up and adhere it to the buttercream on the cake. Repeat putting the grass on the cake until it is all covered. Spray with very little water over the cake, for the grass to stay in place.

Place the bunny on top and sprinkle the M&M's round the bunny.

Let the grass dry completely, and place the cake on a cake stand and serve it.

Enjoy!