Christmas Snaps

December 12th. 

In Denmark and the rest of Scandinavia we have snaps for holiday lunches, mostly when having herring or another kind of fish. Snaps is also called akvavit, and gets its distinctive flavor from spices and herbs, and the traditional spices are caraway. Typically snaps contain 40% alcohol by volume.

My dad and aunt made “homemade infused snaps" from neutral-tasting snaps, adding herbs found in nature or grown in the garden. I remember the flavors: Woodruff (skovmærke),  St. John’s Wort (perikon) and Blackthorn (slåen). I actually still have some of the blackthorn snaps my dad made. The infused snaps gets like an extract, the flavor gets stronger the longer it sits. To get it ready to drink, you should dilute it with more neutral-tasting snaps about 14 days before you want to use it.

This infused snaps is my attempt to capture the flavors of christmas in a snaps you can drink with open faced sandwiches.

Ingredients:

• ½ bottle vodka 
• ¼ orange, the zest of
• 10 juneberries  
• 3 cloves
• 3 cardamom 
• 1 star anise

Direction:

Add all the ingredients to an airtight container, and pour over the vodka.  Keep the snaps in a kitchen cabinet, so it gets as little light as possible, for 1-2 weeks. Taste the snaps every other day, the clove can be to overpowering, so if you feel like this is happening, remove the cloves. Strain the snaps into a small bottle, and serve it at room temperature with open faced sandwiches.

You can dilute the snaps with more vodka if you like.

Enjoy!

Please drink responsibly.

Mulled White Wine

Mulled White Wine

Today is December 1st and now the countdown for Christmas starts. Like last year, I'll post a new christmas-related recipe every day. I hope you will enjoy this December celebration.

Normally mulled wine is made with red wine, but making it with white wine makes it more fruity, crisp and light. This lighter version is really nice here in the warmer climate, and will even work as an ice cold drink.

Serves 4. 

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup (180 ml) elderflower syrup (I used Darbo elderflower syrup)

• 1 vanilla bean pod

• 2 thin slices fresh ginger

• 8 whole cloves

• 1 crisp white wine

• 1 splash white rum

• slivered almonds

• diced dried yellow fruits (pineapple, mango, melon, golden raisins)

• 1 orange

Directions:

Pour the syrup in to a tall glass, add whole cloves and vanillapod, cut lengthwise. Cover the glass and place it in the refrigerator overnight. 

Pour the syrup into a large pot, add white wine, ginger, 2 thin slices orange, a splash rum and heat it up. Be careful not to let it boil. Remove, orange slices, ginger and cloves. 

Add the dried fruit and the almond slivers and serve in small heatproof glasses.

Enjoy!

Homemade Strawberry Syrup

Homemade Strawberry Syrup

You can buy strawberry syrup in a lot of stores, but you really don't know what's in it. So why not make it yourself? It is super easy to make, and not labour intensive at all. Right now   strawberries are in season, which means you’ll find fairly cheap berries at the market. I find the best, freshest and cheapest strawberries at the farmers market, but some places you can go pick your own at strawberry fields. Beside the taste, the best thing about homemade syrup is you knowing what goes into your syrup, in this case just three ingredients, all natural, nothing artificial.  I keep my syrup in the refrigerator, and it will keep for weeks. Well, in my house it will be gone long before it would have expired.

This strawberry syrup is great for adding to a cocktails, mocktails, on waffles or ice cream. You can use it for almost everything that calls for a little sweet strawberry.

In Denmark you can buy so many different syrups in almost every store. Growing up we had my moms homemade syrups. We would get a tall glass of water with a sprinkle of syrup in, instead of getting soda or juices. I don't know if it was intended, but the syrups were a good way to control the amount of sugar we got during the day.  

makes about 1 liter

Ingredients:

• 1000 g strawberries
• 500 ml water
• 500 g sugar

Directions:

Rinse the berries clean and remove the stems. Slice large strawberries into smaller pieces. Place the strawberry, sugar and water in a  saucepan.Slowly bring it to a boil. Reduce to a  simmer and let the strawberries cook for about 20 minutes. Skim the stiff foam off the top, while the strawberries are simmering.

Now the strawberries will have lost their vibrant color and the syrup has a deep pink/red color.  Remove from heat, and strain the syrup through a fine-mesh strainer and discard the solids.

Scald the bottle with boiling water. While the syrup and bottle are still hot, pour syrup into the it, seal and refrigerate.for up to 2 weeks. 

Enjoy!

Mint Mojito Iced Coffee

Mint Mojito Iced Coffee

I went to Philz Coffee the other day, and my friend suggested I try the mint mojito iced coffee. And Oh My, I found my new favorite iced coffee. Well, I know the creaminess comes from cream, and it's not good for me on an everyday basis, but the minty, sweet, creamy drink is so refreshing and is perfect on a hot day.

Here is my skinnier take on this yummy iced coffee.

Ingredients:

• 8 mint leaves

• 1 tablespoon raw cane sugar (or some sweetener)

• 1 cup (2½ dl) brewed coffee

• 1-2 splash non-fat milk - you can use whole milk, half and half if you like your coffee creamier

• ice cubes (make ice cubes of coffee if you don' want your drink watered-down)

Directions:

Brew the coffee to you’re liking, I brewed mine in my CafeSolo coffee maker, which is pretty much the same as a french press. Put mint and sugar in a tall glass and using a muddler, or the back of a spoon, muddle the mint with the sugar so the oils are released which gives you the lovely minty taste and smell. If you don’t muddle/bruise the mint, you won't get the intense minty flavor in your coffee.

Pour the hot coffee over the mint/sugar mixture and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Add Ice cubes and milk, and stir again. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

Enjoy.

 Now the danish version:

Mint Mojito Iced Coffee

Ingredients:

• 8 mynte blade

• 1 spsk rørsukker eller lidt sødemiddel

• 2½ dl friskbrygget kaffe

• 1 sjat skummetmælk - Du kan også bruge sødmælk eller kaffefløde hvis du vil have en mere cremet kaffe

• isterninger (lav evt. isterrninger ud af kaffe, så din kaffe ikke bliver vandet)

Directions:

Bryg din kaffe som du best kan lide den. Jeg lavede min kaffe i min EvaSolo kande, hvilket er ca. det samme som når man brygger kaffen i en stempelkande.

Kom sukker og mynte i et højt glas, og knus/massér bladene så olierne frigives. Hvis du ikke får masseret bladene ordentligt, så får du ikke den intense mint smag. Hæld den varme kaffe over sukker-mynteblandingen og rør indtil sukkeret er opløst. Kom isterninger og mælk i og rør endnu engang. Pynt glasset med et friskt mynteblad.

Velbekomme.

Nutella Latte

Nutella Latte

This is a dangerous coffee, the sweet, salty, chocolaty coffee is a dessert in itself. It is a dessert coffee you don't have to go to the coffeehouse to get. If you can heat and froth your milk, and if you can make an espresso, you are good to go. No need to run out of your house to get your afternoon mocha fix.

Makes 1.

Ingredients:

• 2 shots of espresso
• ¾ cup (180 ml) milk (fat-free, whole milk or soy)
• 1-2 teaspoon Vanilla syrup (homemade* or store bought)
• 3 teaspoon Nutella (hazelnut spread)
• sprinkle of sea salt flakes

* Vanilla syrup:

• 1 cup (240 ml) water
• 1 cup (200 g) sugar
• ½ vanilla pod or 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Directions:

* Vanilla syrup:

Heat the water with sugar and vanilla until the sugar is dissolved. Let the syrup cool down. This syrup will keep for 1-2 weeks in the refrigerator, stored in a clean container, rinsed with boiling water. 

Latte:

Make the espresso and stir in the syrup and Nutella. Heat and froth the milk and pour it in the cup on top of the espresso. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Enjoy.