Sarah Bernhardt Cookies with Liquorice

Sarah Bernhardt Cookies with Liquorice

Sarah Bernhardt cakes originates to 1911, where a Copenhagen pastry chef (Johannes Steen) created this cake as a tribute to the world-famous french actress, Sarah Bernhardt, when she came to Copenhagen to mark the publication of her memoirs in Danish. 

The cake is a Danish makron cookie topped with a ganache covered with dark chocolate and decorated with candied violets.

I use the traditional recipe from "Kager & konfekt fra Kransekagehuset" with a few modifications.

Makes about 12 cakes.

Ingredients:

Cakes:

• 12 Danish makroner
• 150 g dark chokolate min. 60% cocoa, (a good one, I use Valrhona)
• 100 g milk chocolate (a good one, I use Valrhona)
• 1⅔ cup (4 dl) heavy whipping cream (use an organic with only milk as ingredient)
• 4 teaspoons sweet liquorice syrup
• 2 teaspoons salty liquorice syrup

Coating:

• 200 g min. 60% cocoa, (a good one, I use Valrhona)
• candied violets

Directions:

Ganache:

Chop the chocolate fine. Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan, remove the pan from the heat and let the cream cool down to 60℃. Add the chocolate while stirring, and continue to stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Stir in the liquorice sirups. You should now have a dark shiny chocolate sauce/ganache. Cool the ganache in the refrigerator overnight. 

The next day whip the ganache with a stand mixer, be careful not to over mix the ganache, this will cause the ganache to curl and become grainy.

Put the ganache into a pastry bag (decoration bag) with a plain round tip. Pipe the ganache on the back side on the makron cookie as a peak. Transfer to freezer until very firm, about 1 hour. (This is where I made a mistake. My cookies were in the freezer overnight, and this made the filling to cold, and caused the condensation on the covered cookies).

Tempering dark chocolate:

Chop the chocolate finely, set just under ⅓ of the chocolate aside, and add the rest into a stainless steel bowl. Set the bowl on to a saucepan with very hot water. Let the chocolate melt while stirring. When the chocolate reaches 122℉ (50℃), take the bowl off the hot water. While stirring let the chocolate cool until it reaches 95℉ (35℃), add the rest of the chopped chocolate and stir vigorously until its all melted. When the chocolate reaches 82-84℉ (28-29℃) put the bowl over the hot water again, and heat the chocolate to 88℉ (31℃), and now its ready to use for coating.

Remove cookies from freezer. Working quickly so that the filling doesn't melt, use a fork to hold cookie above bowl of chocolate, and spoon melted chocolate over cookie. Place filling-side up on cooling rack placed over a baking sheet, sprinkle the candied violets on the tip of the cookie. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Sarah Bernhardt Cookies

Sarah Bernhardt Cookies

Sarah Bernhardt cakes originates back to 1911, where a Copenhagen pastry chef (Johannes Steen) created this cake as a tribute to the world-famous french actress, Sarah Bernhardt, when she came to Copenhagen to mark the publication of her memoirs in Danish. 

The cake is a Danish makron cookie topped with a ganache covered with dark chocolate and decorated with candied violets.

I use the traditional recipe from "Kager & konfekt fra Kransekagehuset" with a few modifications.

Makes about 12 cakes.

Ingredients:

Cakes:

• 12 Danish makroner
• 150 g dark chokolate min. 60% cocoa, (a good one, I use Valrhona)
• 100 g milk chocolate (a good one, I use Valrhona)
• 1⅔ cup (4 dl) heavy whipping cream (use an organic with milk as only ingredient)

Coating:

• 200 g min. 60% cocoa, (a good one, I use Valrhona)
• candied violets

Directions:

Ganache:

Chop the chocolate fine. Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan, remove the pan from the heat and let the cream cool down to 60℃. Add the chocolate while stirring, and continue to stir until the chocolate is completely melted. You should now have a shiny chocolate sauce/ganache. Cool the ganache in the refrigerator overnight. 

The next day whip the ganache with a stand mixer, be careful not to over mix the ganache, this will cause the ganache to curl and become grainy.

Put the ganache into a pastry bag (decoration bag) with a plain round tip. Pipe the ganache on the back side on the makron cookie as a peak. Transfer to freezer until very firm, about 1 hour. (This is where I made a mistake. My cookies were in the freezer overnight, and this made the filling to cold, and caused the condensation on the covered cookies).

Tempering dark chocolate:

Chop the chocolate finely, set just under ⅓ of the chocolate aside, and add the rest into a stainless steel bowl. Set the bowl on to a saucepan with very hot water. Let the chocolate melt while stirring. When the chocolate reaches 122℉ (50℃), take the bowl off the hot water. While stirring let the chocolate cool until it reaches 95℉ (35℃), add the rest of the chopped chocolate and stir vigorously until its all melted. When the chocolate reaches 82-84℉ (28-29℃) put the bowl over the hot water again, and heat the chocolate to 88℉ (31℃), and now its ready to use for coating.

Remove cookies from freezer. Working quickly so that the filling doesn't melt, use a fork to hold cookie above bowl of chocolate, and spoon melted chocolate over cookie. Place filling-side up on cooling rack placed over a baking sheet, sprinkle the candied violets on the tip of the cookie. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

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!

Red Velvet Cake for Valentine's day

Red Velvet Cake for Valentine's day

This cake is as American as apple pie. I had never heard about it before moving here, but it was love at first bite for me. But I quickly learned that not all cakes are made the same. The cake should be moist, light and fluffy. Most store bought cakes are dense and on the dry side. 

I think my care fulfilled the three criteria. I added a splash of coffee to enhance the cocoa flavor, but it will also darken the red color, but I think it's worth it.

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 1 cup (210 g) safflower oil

• 300 g sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

• 2 eggs

• 225 g all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 20 g cocoa powder

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon vinegar

• 1 tablespoon strong cold coffee

• 1 cup (250 g) buttermilk

• 1 oz (30 ml) red food coloring

Frosting:

• 200 g cream cheese, room temperature

• 120 g salted butter, room temperature

• 250 g confectionary sugar

• 1 lemon, the juice of

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 9 inch cake pan with baking spray. I also put a round sheet of parchment paper in the pan, to be sure that the cake comes out smooth.

Stir together buttermilk, vinegar, coffee and red food coloring. Set aside.

Cream together oil and sugar until fluffy in a stand mixer. Mix in the eggs. 

Add Cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, salt and buttermilk mixture and mix well Lastly add the flour and mix until it's just incorporated. Be careful not to over mix the batter.

Pour batter into cake pans, and level off the surface. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove pan from oven and allow cake to cool in the pan for a while, and cool completely on a wire rack.

Frosting:

Cream the butter and cream cheese with the confectionary sugar and the lemon juice. Whip the frosting for about 5 minutes to get a light and fluffy frosting.

Place one cake on a cake stand, spread about half the frosting on the cake. Add the next cake on top, and finish the cake by spreading the rest of the frosting on top of the cake.

Enjoy, and happy valentines.

Béarnaise Sauce made in a blender

Béarnaise Sauce

This is not a healthy sauce by any means. But a little goes a long way. I grew up with béarnaise sauce made from a powder like Knorr bearnaise sauce. Well, we had it occasionally, but never made from scratch. We poured way to much sauce on the plate, and we loved it, we didn't know better. I would rather have a little dollop of real béarnaise with my steak, than having it swimming in a sauce made from a powder. But then again - you cant beat the accessibility of the  powder sauce, everybody can make it, and the taste is always the same. But sometimes it's ok to splurge and make the real thing. By making this sauce yourself, you will know what you put into your mouth. I love when I don't need a degree in chemistry to know what's in my food. 

Disclaimer: This sauce is made with raw eggs. I recommend using pasteurized eggs. This would minimize the risk of getting Salmonella food poisoning. You can find pasteurized eggs 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 eggs. 

Ingredients:

Reduction:

• 1 bunch fresh tarragon
• 2 small or 1 medium shallots, minced
• ¼ cup (½ dl) white wine vinegar
• ¼ cup (½ dl) dry white wine
• 3 whole black peppers (for the reduction)

Sauce:

• 3 egg yolks
• 200 g butter, clarified 
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Tarragon leaves, finely chopped

Directions:

Reduction:

In a small saucepan, combine sprigs of the tarragon, shallots, vinegar pepper and wine over medium-high heat. Bring to a simmer and cook until reduced by half. Remove from heat, strain the liquid and set it aside to cool.

The sauce:

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over very low heat.  Let simmer gently until the foam rises to the top of the melted butter. Once the butter stops spluttering, and no more foam seems to be rising to the surface, remove from heat and skim off the foam with a spoon. The foam is the milk solids from the butter. The clarified butter should be about 172℉ (77℃).

Blend yolks and bearnaise reduction together. With the blender running add ⅓ of the butter in a slow steady stream, yes it will splatter. Once it emulsifies, turn the blender speed up to high and add the remaining butter. Season with salt and pepper and blend for another second. Add chopped fresh tarragon leaves. Set aside in a warm spot to hold the sauce. 

If you need to reheat the sauce, do it over al very low flame and constantly stirring.

Enjoy.