Danish Morning Buns - brusebadsboller

Danish Morning buns  with cheese and jam. Brusebadsboller med ost og marmelade.

Most danes love to eat fresh baked buns with butter and cheese in the morning.  In my home we would have bread or oats with milk as breakfast during the weekdays. In the weekends we would have homemade bread or freshly made bread or morning buns (rundstykker) from the local bakery. I loved my moms homemade bread, but I could never have it straight from the oven, because it had to rise twice and it had to be baked. But these morning buns, are perfect. You mix them up at night, set to rise overnight in the refrigerator  and baked in the morning. The easy way to warm fresh made morning buns for breakfast. In danish the morning rolls are called brusebadsboller, or shower buns, because you can bake them, while you take your morning shower.

Makes 18

Ingredients:

• 615 g all-purpose flour
• 85 g flax seeds
• 150 g quick oats
• 700 g water
• 7 g (1 pack fleischmann's) dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 3 tablespoons canola oil

topping:

• poppy seeds or
• sesame seeds

Directions:

At night:

Mix cold water, salt, honey, oats flax seeds and oil in a bowl. Add the dry yeast and add the flour a little at a time until you have a soft paste-like dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set to rise in the refrigerator overnight.

Next morning:

Take the dough out of the refrigerator. Using a ice cream scoop or two spoons shape 9 buns onto two parchment lined baking sheet. Let the dough rest while you preheat the oven to 430℉ (220℃).

Sprinkle with poppy seeds before baking.  

Bake the buns for about 18- 20 minutes or until they are golden brown. You can check whether your bread or buns are done, by gently tapping the bottom of them. If  they sound hollow - they are done.

Cookies with habanero chili liquorice and chocolate

Cookies with habanero chili liquorice and chocolate

I do think that liquorice is black gold, especial liquorice from Johan Bülow. After my first try on making cookies with liquorice, I've been contemplating making another cookie with the spicier habanero chili liquorice (no. 4). Today was the the day. And by all means - the cookies turned out great - no, they turned fantastic! The liquorice taste is prominent and the taste of chili is subtle. I think the cookies could be even better by adding a small amount of minced chili.

Makes 64 small cookies.

Ingredients:

• 200 g butter, salted
• 200 g sugar
• 75 g brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 teaspoon fine liquorice powder (Bülow Fine Liquorice Powder)
• 200 g all-purpose flour
• 50 g milk chocolate (a good one like Valrhona), chopped
• 50 g habanero chili liquorice (Bülow no. 4), finely chopped
• 75 g almonds, blanched and ground to a course flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Heat oven to 365℉.

Blanch the almonds, and ground them. 

Mix together the flour, liquorice powder and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Combine the egg and milk and bring to to room temperature in another bowl.

Cream the butter in a stand mixer, starting on low speed to soften the butter. Add the sugars. Increase the speed, and cream the mixture until light and fluffy. Add the egg mixture and mix until well combined.

Slowly add the flour mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate and liquorice. Scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 16 small cookies per sheet. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for more even browning.

Remove the cookies from the pans immediately. Once cooled, store in an airtight container.

Tom Ka Gai - Coconut Chicken Soup my way

Tom Ka Gai - Coconut Chicken Soup my way

We love soups in my house, we try to have soups at least every other week. We had this soup as a "skrub af suppe" directly translated to "go away soup or go home soup." It's kinda midnight snack, a nice way to end a party, getting some salt into people there has been drinking all your wine a liquor. ;)

This is my version of Tom Ka Gai soup, it not the original recipe, but made to my taste.

Serves 2-3.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound (450 g)chicken breast tenders
• 2 teaspoons chicken paste
• 850 ml water
• 1 inch minced ginger
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 lemongrass
• 1 lime the juice of
• 3 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1.5 can coconut milk

Topping:

• 5 scallions/spring onions
• 1 chilli, thinly sliced
• a few sprigs fresh cilantro

Directions:

Cut chicken tenders into bite size pieces. 

Blend ginger, garlic and lemongrass with a splash of the coconut milk, till it has the texture of a thick paste. If you like the soup spicy, add some chilli  to the blender. Bring water, chicken paste, ginger paste and chicken to a boil while stirring. Let the soup simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add the coconut milk, fish sauce and bring soup to a low simmer. Season the soup with lime juice and salt. 

Serve the soup hot with scallions, cilantro and chilli as topping.

Enjoy!

Chicken Braised in White Wine (Coq a Vin Blanc)

Chicken Braised in White Wine (Coq a Vin Blanc)

I really love the regular coq au vin. The first dinner i ever made for my husband  when I first met him, was coq au vin. Little did I know, that he didn't like wine. Well I didn't scare him off completely and now I learned him to drink wine. I must be a bad influence...

Normally I'll make coq au vin with red wine, but at a cooking class at Sur La Table we learned to make it with white wine, and it was so delicious, the perfect simmer food.

Ingredients:

• 200 g thick-cut bacon, cut into cubes
• canola oil, as needed
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 1 good sized chicken for roasting (4 to 5 pound), cut into 8 serving pieces 
• 1 large onion, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 2 large celery ribs, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 1 leek, trimmed, white and light green parts only, cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 3 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 head garlic, halved 
• ⅓ cup  (30 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 bottle full-bodied dry white wine, such as white Burgundy.*
• 2 teaspoons chicken paste
• 500 ml water
• 4 sprigs fresh thyme 
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 teaspoon cracked black peppercorns
• 3 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves, for garnish

Gremolata:

• handfull Italian parsley
• 2-3 lemons, the zest of
• 3 garlic cloves

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place a rack in the bottom third. 

Place bacon in a large Dutch oven and heat over medium heat. Cook bacon until crispy and fat has rendered, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate, leaving some of the fat in the Dutch oven. 

Season the chicken pieces generously on all sides with salt and pepper. Place chicken in the Dutch oven and sear to a deep brown on all sides, about 8 to 10 minutes, working in batches as needed. Transfer chicken to a rimmed baking sheet. 

Add onion, carrot, celery, and leek to Dutch oven and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add tomato paste and garlic and cook, stirring often, until tomato paste turns a deeper red, another 1 to 2 minutes. Sprinkle flour over vegetable mixture and cook, stirring to incorporate, about 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine to Dutch oven and, using a wooden spoon, scrape the bottom of the pan to release any browned bits. Cook until wine mixture begins to thicken, about 4 to 5 minutes. 

Return chicken to Dutch oven along with any juices from the baking sheet and add chicken base and enough water to barely cover the chicken. Add thyme, bay leaves and peppercorns, stirring to combine. Cover the Dutch oven and place in the preheated oven. Braise the chicken until fork-tender, about 50 to 60 minutes. 

Remove Dutch oven from oven and, using tongs, carefully transfer the chicken to a rimmed baking sheet. Cover loosely with foil to keep warm. 

Discard the thyme sprigs and the bay leave. Place dutch oven over high heat and cook braising liquid until reduced and thickened, about 10 to 12 minutes, skimming the surface for excess fat. Taste and season with salt and pepper as needed. 

Serve family style with gremolata, mashed potatoes or vegetables.

Serve immediately.

Gremolata:

Rinse the parsley, zest the lemons and peel the garlic cloves. Finely chop the ingredients together. I use the mini chopper that came with my Immersion Blender. 

* Don't use a oaked wine, since oakey wine can turn bitter when reduced.

Soft Pretzels - Kommenskringler

Soft Pretzels - Kommenskringler

I believe the soft pretzels originate from Germany. The danish version contains caraway seeds. Back in the days, you could get them at most bakeries in Denmark, but nowadays, you only see them at old traditional bakeries.

Growing up, we had them occasionally,  because my mom loved caraway seeds, but I hadn’t had them for years before I met my husband, and he reintroduced me to them again.  

I love the soft, sweet bread with the characteristic taste of caraway seeds.

Here is how I made them

Ingredients:

• 500 g all-pupose flour

• 100 g butter

• 50 g live yeast (or 12 g dry active yeast)

• 4 tablespoons caraway seeds

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• 300 g milk 

• 1 egg (for egg wash)

Directions:

Warm the milk and melt the butter in it.  Mix together flour, sugar, salt and caraway seeds. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry  and knead the dough for about 10 minutes on medium. The dough should be soft and almost sticky.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces. Shape each piece into a pretzel, and let the pretzels rise until doubled in size in a warm place. 

Brush pretzels with egg and sprinkle with caraway seeds. 

Bake the pretzels for about 10 minutes at 485℉ (250℃). 

Let cool on a wire rack.