Danish Hazelnut Makroner

Danish Hazelnut Makroner

Makroner is a classic danish cookie used in trifle, classic danish apple cake or in layered cakes (danish birthday cakes).

Normally makroner is made with almond flour, but I love this version with hazelnuts. I had a reason for making these makroner, I'm going to make Sarah Bernard cakes. You can read more about Sarah Bernard cakes in another post.

Ingredients:

• 150 g hazelnuts
• 300 g sugar
• 4 egg whites

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Grind up the hazelnuts in a food processor with thew sugar. Add the egg whites and keep processing until the mixture gets finger warm. Be careful not to get it too hot, so the egg coagulates. 

Put the mixture into a pastry bag (decoration bag) with a plain round tip. Pipe the cookies onto a sprayed parchment paper in rounds, leaving space between the disks. 

Bake the cookies for about 10-15 minutes.
Let the cookies cool on a wire rack.  Gently remove the cooled cookies of the parchment paper, they might stick.

The cookies should be crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. If you are using them in a trifle, bake the cookies a bit longer to make them more crispy.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Braised Balsamic Chicken

Braised Balsamic Chicken

Our local pizzeria serves a rotisserie chicken with a balsamic sauce and a lot of bell peppers. I love this dish, and it is my go-to for days when I don’t cook. The dish is sweet and sour in the Italian way.

In my version the chicken is braised in the sauce to keep the chicken juicy, and for a one-pot-dinner, easy to make on a weeknight.

You can also make this dish in a slow cooker, cooking for about 3-4 hours on high heat.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken thighs with drumsticks (without skin)
• 1 can crushed tomatoes 
• 1 onion, halved and sliced 
• 3 bell peppers 
• ½ cup (1,25 dl) red balsamic vinegar (use a good quality)
• 3 tablespoons brown sugar
• 3 garlic cloves, minced 
• 1 teaspoon basil
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• salt & pepper
• olive oil for searing

Directions:

Season chicken with salt and ground black pepper. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven or in a skillet, and sear the chicken. Take out the chicken. Pour in tomatoes, sugar and the seasoning, add the chicken, onion, garlic and bell peppers. Pour the balsamic over the chicken. Put the lid on and let simmer until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear, about 45 minutes. 

Serve with roasted potatoes and broccoli.

Stuffed pork chops

Stuffed pork chops

I love pork chop, but sometimes I need to change it up. Stuffing the chops gives them so much flavor and keeps them juicy.

This time I stuffed the chops with roasted garlic, olives, semi dried tomatoes, scallions and feta cheese. And it worked so well, I am defintely going to make this one again.

serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 pork chops, center cut, no bones
• 1 garlic roasted
• 3 scallions
• 5 olives
• 2 semi dried tomato
• 2 tablespoons feta cheese
• salt and pepper

Directions:

Chop up the ingredients for the stuffing. Cut a slit/pocket in the pork chop. Fill the pork chop, press it a bit. Use a skewer to lock the stuffing in. 

Roast the chops on a skillet or on a BBQ on indirect heat, for about 20 minutes until done. Be careful not to roast the meat to hard, them it will be hard and dry, by the time it's done.

I serve the pork chops with jalapeño poppers and small boiled potatoes.

Fragilite Roulade with Liquorice and Berries

Fragilite Roulade with Liquorice and Berries

This recipe came about due to a mini competition launched by Lakrids by Johan Bülow on their Facebook page. So off course I had to try to make a cake with the yummy marzipan with licorice.

This is my contribution to the competition.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:

• 75 g marzipan with liquorice

• 25 g marzipan (I used ren rå from Odense)

• 3 egg whites

• 150 g sugar

Sprinkles:

• almond slivers

• raw liquorice powder

Filling and topping:

• heavy whipping cream (whipped to medium soft peaks)

• strawberries, cut into small pieces

• blackberries

Directions:

Preheat the oven for 360℉ (180℃)

Mix the marzipans with one of the egg whites using your hand, it’s a bit messy, but it's the easiest way to get a homogenous mass.

Whip the other two egg whites until you have soft peaks. Add the sugar and keep whipping until you have a shiny meringue with stiff peaks. You should be able to turn the bowl upside down.

Fold the marzipan mixture in.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper and spray it.  

Spread the meringue evenly in the pan, sprinkle with slivered almonds and raw liquorice powder on top.

Bake the meringue for about 15 minutes. The top should be lightly brown.

When the cake is room temperature turn it upside down on a sheet of parchment paper. Cut of the edges of the cake, and it will roll easier.

Filling:

Whip the cream, and spread it onto the cake, except for the last inch in the top. The filling will be pressed out when you roll it.

Cut the strawberries in pieces and drizzle them over the whipped cream.

Use the parchment paper to roll the cake tightly. 

Enjoy

The Danish version:

Fragiliteroulade med Lakrids og bær

Ingredienser:

• 75 g lakridsmarcipan

• 25 g marcipan (Jeg brugte ren rå from Odense)

• 3 æggehvider

• 150 g sukker

Sprinkles:

• mandelflager

• raw liquorice powder

Fyld og topping:

• Flødeskum

• jordbær, i små stykker

• brombær

Vejledning:

Fragilite:

Ælt de to marcipaner med den ene æggehvide.

Pisk resten af æggehviderne sukkeret til de er helt stive. Vend forsigtigt de stive hvider i marcipanmassen. Smør dejen ud på en bradepande beklædt med bagepapir. Jeg smør altid bagepapiret for at sikre mig, at kagen slipper. Drys med mandelflager og lakridspulveret. Bag bunden ved 180 grader i cirka 15 minutter. 

Når bunden er helt afkølet, vendes den om på et nyt stykke bagepapir, så nødderne vender nedad.

Fyld: Pisk fløden stiv. Fordel flødeskummet på fragilitébunden, men undlad at komme noget på de sidste 2-3 cm i den ene ende, da fyldet presses ud, når kagen rulles. Skær jordbærene i grove stykker og drys dem over flødeskummet. Brug bagepapiret til at rulle rouladen så stramt som muligt. Skær rouladen i skiver på sned, server med friske bær.

Danish Lemon Mousse - Citronfromage

Danish Lemon Mousse - Citronfromage

Lemon mousse was my moms favorite dessert. We had it as dessert all trough the 70’s every time we had people over. I guess this was very normal in the 70's because nobody thought that cream could be bad for you, not to mention the risk of eating raw eggs. Salmonella wasn't a big risk at the time. 

My mom served lemon mousse in a dark green glass bowl, actually it's the exact same bowl, that I used here. I have never seen this bowl used for anything else, and for sure I'm not going to change that.

Somehow this dessert went on the back burner after the 70's. But when you serve it, people will love it. When I serve it for my danish friends and family they always start reminiscing, lemon mousse brings back good memories.

Disclaimer: This dessert is made with raw eggs. I recommend using pasteurized eggs. This would minimize the risk of getting Salmonella food poisoning. You can find pasteurized in some supermarkets here in California, on safeeggs.com you can see where to find them in your neighborhood. In Denmark you'll find it right next to regular eggs. For tips and information on how to handle eggs, check out FDA’s website. The Danish version of FDA,  Fødevarestyrelsen also has advisory on egg

 Serves 4-6 (in my family it's closer to 4 than 6)

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons gelatin (4 sheets husblas)
• 3 whole eggs (read disclaimer)
• 100 g sugar
• ¼ cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (50-60 ml)
• 1 lemon, the zest of
• 1 cup (250 ml) heavy whipping cream + extra for decorating

Directions:

Whip the heavy whipping cream until soft peaks, and set aside.

Whisk the eggs pale and fluffy with the sugar, set aside.

Mix the gelatin with half the lemon juice and melt the gelatin over a double boiler. Mix in the rest of the lemon juice and lemon zest.  

Using Husblas: put the sheets in a bowl of cold water for about 10 minutes. Over a double boiler melt the sheets with the water that adheres to it when removed from the bowl. Mix in the lemon juice and zest when melted completely.

Mix the gelatin lemon mixture with the eggs while whisking. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Pour the mousse into the serving dishes, and set it in the refrigerator for about 3 hours.

Before serving, whip some extra whipping cream and decorate the mousse. Serve the cold mousse with whipping cream and shaved dark chocolate.

Enjoy.