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Rhubarb Muffins With Orange Zest

Posted in Breakfast, Dessert, Muffins, tagged , , , , , , on June 30, 2013| 2 Comments »

Rhubarb Muffins with Orange Zest

Rhubarb Muffins with Orange Zest

It’s Rhubarb season! Well actually, the season is almost over and I have been wanting to bake something special with my wonderful tart Rhubarbs that I picked up at the store. This recipe has two of my favorite ingredients in it, marzipan and rhubarb, yum! It also has orange zest which can sometimes be a little potent. The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of orange zest and I think maybe next time I make these scrumptious muffins I may scale it back to 1 1/2 teaspoon, allowing the Rhubarbs to shine a little more. If you are looking for some more Rhubarb recipes check out these posts: Rhubarb Granita, Rhubarb Koldskål and Rød Grød Med Fløde. Enjoy your Rhubarbs!

Rhubarb Muffins With Orange Zest (makes 12-14 muffins)

Ingredients:

125 grams butter (4.5 oz), at room temperature

175 grams sugar (6.2 oz)

150 grams all-purpose flour (5.3 oz)

2 teaspoons orange zest, organic

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

100 grams shredded marzipan (3.5 oz)

200 grams rhubarb (7.0 oz)

2 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 100 degrees C (390 degrees F). Cut rhubarbs into 1 cm slices (0.4 inch). Place into small oven-proof dish and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons sugar. Bake for 15-20 minutes, set aside.

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (345 degrees F). Place muffin liners into muffin tin, set aside.

Beat together butter and sugar until smooth. Combine flour, orange zest and baking powder. Add flour mixture to butter and mix until combined. Add eggs and mix until smooth. Fold in marzipan and baked rhubarbs. Scoop batter into muffin liners and bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool completely before enjoying.

Rhubarb Muffins with Orange Zest

Rhubarb Muffins with Orange Zest

Source: hendesverden.dk

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Vetekrans – Swedish Tea Ring

Posted in Pastry, Swedish, tagged , , , , , , , , on June 25, 2012| 7 Comments »

Vetekrans – Swedish Tea Ring

Vetekrans aka Swedish Tea Ring is a very delicious coffee cake. The cake is called a coffee cake but there is no coffee in it, it just means it’s served with coffee or tea. The dough is surprisingly light in texture and the cake is simply just amazing when served right out of the oven, which I would recommend.

This recipe uses the cold rise method. It tells you to let your dough rest in the refrigerator for 2 to 24 hours. I was pressed for time when I made this wonderful Tea Ring because my husband Joe was taking it with him to his Blacksmith meeting, so I could only let it rest in the fridge for 1 hour but it still turned out beautifully. The recipe makes a huge amount of dough which I thought was a bit much, so I cut off four 1 inch pieces of the rolled up dough and baked them separately as cinnamon rolls, yum! And as you can see there was still plenty for the Tea Ring to go around.

Word of advise: Just to simplify rolling out the dough, I marked off my work surface for how big the dough was supposed to be. I used four pieces of white sticker labels (you could also use small pieces of post-it-notes). Also, make sure the dough is rolled out as even as you can get it on your work surface. This will ensure your finished roll/ring will be the same thickness throughout. If you have a thicker area in your ring, baking can be a little uneven. 😉

This post will be submitted to YeastSpotting.

Ingredients:

For the dough:

4 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (or 50 grams cake/fresh yeast)

1 cup warm water (100-110 degrees F)

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 cup sugar

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

4 to 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

vegetable oil, for greasing bowl

For the filling:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

For the glaze:

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Directions:

Pour warm water (100-110 degrees F) into a bowl and sprinkle active dry yeast into water, let sit for 10 minutes. In the bowel of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, add the 1/2 cup melted butter, sugar, eggs, salt, cardamom and dissolved yeast/water. With the mixer on medium-low speed, add the flour in increments and mix until dough is smooth (you may not need all the flour). Lightly grease a large bowel with vegetable oil. Place dough into oiled bowel, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough for 2-24 hours.

Fit a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Place dough onto a floured work surface and roll out to a 20 x 24 inch  diameter. Make sure dough is rolled out evenly without any high spots. Gently spread a thin layer of the softened butter all the way out to the edge of the dough. Mix sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle over the butter. Starting from the long edge, roll dough tightly as a jelly roll. Move roll from work surface to baking sheet and shape into a ring. Gently press edges together to seal. With scissors, cut 2/3 way through the ring at 3/4 inch intervals. Twist each cut piece so the inside is visible. Cover ring with a dry, clean tea towel and let rise for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow Tea ring to cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes. Mix glaze ingredients together and sprinkle on top of ring. Enjoy!

Source: The Great Scandinavian Baking Book

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Rundstykker – Danish Breakfast Buns

Posted in Bread, Breakfast, Danish, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 5, 2012| 28 Comments »

Rundstykker

Rundstykker is a Danish breakfast buns and literally means “round pieces”. They are immensely popular, and dare I say, sold in every single bakery in Denmark. When I was younger and lived at home, my Dad would always get up early on the weekends, jump on his bicycle and ride to the baker to pick up some fresh Rundstykker. We would eat them with jam, cheese, honey or Nutella and they were wonderful.

Rundstykker

Living away from Denmark I only got to eat Rundstykker when I was home visiting. But why not make them myself? It turns out that they are fairly easy to make and the aroma of fresh baked bread on a weekend morning is simply just amazing. I will eat them warm right out of the oven or cooled off, either way, they are delicious and brings back memories of distant weekend mornings at home.

Rundstykker – 12 servings

Ingredients:

25 grams butter (3/4 ounces)

3 deciliter milk (11 ounces)

4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or 50 grams cake/fresh yeast)

400 grams flour (14 ounces)

1 teaspoon salt

poppy seeds

1 beaten egg for brushing

Directions:

Add butter to a small saucepan and melt over low heat, add milk and heat until between 100-110 degrees F (37 – 43 degrees C). Sprinkle the active dry yeast over the warm milk and let sit for 10 minutes.

Mix together flour and salt in a bowl. Pour milk/yeast mixture into the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the hook attachment. Starting on low, add the flour in increments. (If dough is still sticky after all the flour has been added, you can add a little extra flour until dough is no longer sticky). When all flour has been added, mix on medium speed for 10 minutes. (The mixing and kneading process can certainly be done by hand, make sure to knead the dough for 10 minutes as well, if you choose to do it by hand). Place dough in a bowl and cover with clean, dry tea towel. Place in a warm, draft free spot and allow to rise until double in size, 30-45 minutes.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. Pour dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide dough into 3 equal portions. Then divide each of these portions into 4 equal parts for a grand total of 12 small pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a small dough ball, place 6 dough balls on each baking sheet. Cover each baking sheet with a clean, dry tea towel and allow to rise in a warm location for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 440 degrees F (230 degrees C). After the dough balls have finished rising, brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with poppy seeds. For additional decoration, using a sharp knife, cut a slit in the top of each dough ball. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely or serve warm with your favorite topping. Enjoy!

This post has been submitted to YeastSpotting.

Source: adapted from Kvalimad.dk

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Chicken Pot Pie

Posted in Chicken, Comfort food, Main course, Pie, tagged , , , on March 28, 2011| 9 Comments »

Chicken Pot Pie in ramekin

Chicken Pot Pie is a regular visitor at our house especially during the winter months when you need some warm comfort food. However, I have been known to serve piping hot pot pie  in the middle of summer if the mood strikes. Recently we’ve had some nice warm spring days here in Virginia but then it turned cold again (they even threatened us with snow) and so the mood was set for a wonderful warm Chicken Pot Pie.

In this post I wanted to share two different versions of my Pot Pie. They are both equally good, one is just quicker than the other. I like to use either Cilantro or Thyme but you can use whatever is your favorite herb. Sometimes I make it as a 2 crust pie, sometimes in ramekins with a top crust, which is what I did in this recipe.

Here’s a little interesting Pot Pie trivia for you. Did you know that the crust in pot pie was typically not eaten but placed there to keep the taste of the iron pot away from the food. “ONE CRUST OR TWO?” Leslie Land, Los Angeles Times, September 24, 1992 (p. H11)

Chicken Pot Pie Ingredients

Ingredients:

3 skinless boneless chicken breasts, diced

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 small onion, chopped

2-3 tablespoon dry sherry

1 cup frozen peas

1 cup frozen carrots

4-5 sprigs fresh Thyme or Cilantro

Pepperidge Farm puff pastry

1 egg, for glazing pie crust

Quick version sauce:

1 – 2  cans Cream of Chicken with Herbs (10 3/4 oz cans)

Homemade version sauce:

5 tablespoon butter

1/2 cup flour

chicken stock

Chicken Pot Pie filling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degree F.

Clean chicken and cut into bite size pieces. Season chicken with salt, pepper. Spray pan with cooking spray and lightly brown chicken, remove from pan and cover with foil to keep warm. Add chopped onion and cook over medium heat until translucent. Add chicken back into pan and then add sherry and simmer for 1 minute.

For quick version sauce: add cans of Cream of Chicken with Herbs, peas, carrots and Thyme. Simmer covered 10-15 minutes.

For homemade version sauce: in small saucepan melt butter, then add flour and whisk until combined, simmer 1-2 minutes to remove flour taste. Add chicken stock while whisking until desired consistency. Add sauce to onions in pan. Then add peas, carrots, Thyme and simmer covered 10-15 minutes.

Add chicken filling to ramekins. Unfold puff pastry and cut out circles 1 inch bigger than ramekin size. Cover filled ramekins with circles of dough. Beat egg with fork and brush onto dough to give a nice golden finish. Bake in preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. If dough is browning too fast cover loosely with foil. Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy.

Chicken Pot Pie made as a 2 crust pie

Source: My Danish Kitchen

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Kanelsnegle – aka Cinnamon Buns, and a few words on Yeast

Posted in Breakfast, Danish, Dessert, Other, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on January 3, 2011| 14 Comments »

Kanelsnegle

I made my first Kanelsnegle (Cinnamon Buns) in Home-Ed class. Does any high schools offer Home Education classes anymore? The class gave me a basic knowledge of cooking and baking. It sparked an interest for baking in particular and I baked quite a bit when I was a teenager. This is still something that I truly enjoy. By the way, I also took woodworking, but no sparks came from that class ha ha 🙂

Rolling up dough

Kanelsnegle ready for baking

Just a note about yeast. In Europe the preferred type of yeast is Fresh Active Yeast as compared to the American preference of Dry Active Yeast. Fresh yeast (also called Cake yeast or Bakers compressed yeast) can sometimes be found in the dairy section of certain grocery stores. It has a short expiration date and so it’s very perishable but works faster and longer. Fresh yeast is dissolved in liquid 70-80 degrees F. Store it in the refrigerator or freeze for up to 4 months. Dry yeast on the other hand has a much longer expiration date and is more forgiving of mishandling. To activate it sprinkle on water that’s between 100-110 degrees F and wait to see small bubble (about 10 minutes). Note if your liquid is too warm you’ll kill the yeast and adding a teaspoon of sugar to the liquid will provide a little food for the yeast, encouraging it to “wake up”. Typically, 50 grams of Fresh yeast = 4 teaspoons Dry yeast (12 grams).

Fresh active yeast

Ingredients:

25 grams Fleischmann’s Fresh Active Yeast

2 1/2 deciliter milk (1 cup)

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cardamom

400 grams flour (3 1/2 cups)

small amount of oil for the bowl

plus 1 egg for brushing cinnamon buns

Filling:

75 grams butter at room temperature (5 tablespoons)

75 grams sugar (1/2 cup)

2 tablespoons cinnamon

50 grams marzipan (about 1/4 cup) (optional)

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners sugar

1-2 tablespoons hot water

Directions:

Dissolve yeast in cold milk stirring gently. Add oil, sugar, salt and cardamom. Add flour a little at the time and knead until you have a firm dough. Place a small amount of oil in the bowl and turn the dough in the bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise to double in size (30-60 minutes).

Place room temperature butter, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl. If you’re using marzipan, break it up into small pieces and mix into butter using a fork to help break it up a little.

Prepare two round 8 inch baking pans by placing a round piece of parchment paper in bottom of pan and spray with non-stick oil. Or you can place parchment paper on a baking sheet.

Sprinkle tabletop with flour and roll out dough to 40 x 50 centimeter (15 x 19 inches). Spread butter filling onto dough and roll into a log starting at the long edge. Cut dough into 14 even slices. If using round baking pans, place cinnamon slices in a circular fashion – 7 slices in each pan. If you using a baking sheet, place cinnamon slices right next to one another. By placing slices close to one another during baking is keeps the finished cinnamon buns moister. Cover baking pans or baking sheet with a dry kitchen towel, place in a warm location and allow to rise for another 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 225 degrees Celsius (about 425 degrees Fahrenheit). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 minutes before glazing. To make glaze, simply combine confectioners sugar and water until desired consistency. Enjoy!

Kanelsnegl

Source: Signes Mad

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12 Days of Christmas – Florentine Cookies

Posted in 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Cookies, Dessert, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 29, 2010| 24 Comments »

Florentine ew

I first made these Italian cookies for Christmas a couple of years ago and it was Love at first bite. Since then, they have become a “several times a year, kinda thing” at our house and they dissapear faster than any other cookie I make. They are nutty and crispy with a hint of orange, 2 cookies held together with a generous layer of chocolate. Orange and chocolate, does it get any better than that?

Almonds

Almonds

Danish Christmas Tradition: St. Lucia (Saint Lucy’s Day)

St. Lucia is believed to be a saint who suffered a martyr’s death around AD 310. The tradition of celebrating St. Lucia was imported from Sweden during WWII as a passive protest against the German occupation. St. Lucia is celebrated on December 13th and it is seen as a procession lead by one girl wearing a crown of candles on her head followed by other girls who hold a single candle in their hands. All the girls are dressed in white and they sing “Sankta Lucia” while walking slowly and carefully. The St. Lucia procession is performed in schools, hospitals and nursing homes where they bring great joy and excitement.

Bring to a rolling boil

Bring to a rolling boil

Florentine Cookies (makes 28 small sandwiched cookies)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups sliced blanched almonds (200 gram or 7 oz)

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

zest of 1 orange (about 2 tbsp)

1/4 tsp fine salt

3/4 cup sugar (155 gram or 5.4 oz)

2 tbsp heavy cream

2 tbsp light corn syrup

5 tbsp unsalted butter (70 gram or 2.5 oz)

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

6 oz semisweet chocolate (170 gram)

Directions:

Position a rack in the center of oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Pulse the almonds in a food processor until finely chopped, but not pasty. Stir together the almonds, flour, zest and salt in a large bowl.

Put the sugar, cream, corn syrup and butter in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a rolling boil and sugar is completely dissolved. Continue to boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla, then pour mixture into almond mixture and stir just until combined. Set aside until cool enough to handle, 30 minutes.

Scoop rounded teaspoons  (for 3 inch cookies) or rounded tablespoons (for 6 inch cookies) of batter and roll into balls. Place on prepared baking sheets, leaving 3 to 4 inches between each cookie since they spread.

Bake 1 pan at a time, until the cookies are thin and even golden brown color, rotating pan halfway through baking time, about 8 to 11 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool. Repeat with remaining batter.

Chop semisweet chocolate and place in a medium heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with 1 inch water to a simmer and set bowl filled with chocolate over the saucepan, making sure bowl is not touching water. Stir chocolate occasionally until melted and smooth.

Drop a generous amount of melted chocolate (1/2 to 1 teaspoon) onto the flat side of a cookie and press together with a second cookie to form a sandwich. Return to rack and let chocolate set completely.

Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas♥

Florentine Cookies

Florentine Cookies

Source: Food Network Kitchen

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12 Days of Christmas – Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Posted in 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Cookies, Dessert, tagged , , , , , , , , on November 19, 2010| 6 Comments »

Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Jam Thumbprint cookies are a regular visitor in our home at Christmas time. It has been my son’s favorite ever since he was a little boy and they always seem to simply just disappear. Use whatever your favorite jam is. What I used this time was strawberry, cherry and a wonderful jam containing apricot, peach and passion fruit which have become wildly popular here at our house. Also, it is not an accident (well it actually is….but it’s not) that the recipe calls for both vanilla bean as well as vanilla extract. I did that totally by accident one year because I misread the recipe but it turned out even better, so ever since then I have used both. But if you don’t have the vanilla bean on hand just go with the extract, they still turn out great.  🙂

Thumbprint Cookies (makes 37 cookies)

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (230 g)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 whole stick or 113 g), at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar (140 g), plus more for rolling

1 large egg

1 vanilla bean – seeds scraped from pod (optional)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup of your favorite jam (strawberry, cherry etc)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Stir together flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.

In another bowl, whip the butter and sugar with an electrical mixer until smooth and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in the egg, vanilla bean (if using) and the vanilla extract until combined. Slowly beat in the dry ingredients in 2 additions, mixing just until incorporated.

Scoop the dough into a 1 inch ball, toss in the extra sugar and roll using the palm of your hands. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Press a thumbprint (or I use a 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon) into the center of dough ball, about 1/2 inch deep. Fill indentation with about 3/4 teaspoon jam.

Bake cookies until edges are golden, about 15 minutes. Rotate the pans from top to bottom about halfway through baking. Cool cookies on the baking sheets. Enjoy.

Store cookies in a tightly sealed container.

Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas♥

1/2 teaspoon measuring tool makes indenting the cookies easy

Fill with your favorite jam

Source: adapted from Food Network

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12 Days of Christmas – Vaniljekranse (Vanilla Wreaths)

Posted in 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Cookies, Danish, Dessert, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 15, 2010| 18 Comments »

Vaniljekranse

Vaniljekranse

Vaniljekranse is a traditional Danish cookie made in the weeks leading up to Christmas.  I have very fond memories of helping my Mom and Dad make vaniljekranse when I was a little girl. It’s a fun process of the dough coming out of the grinder into strips, cutting the strips into pieces and forming them into circles. The cookies have a sweet vanilla flavor and are slightly crunchy on the outside. Making Vaniljekranse makes for wonderful Danish family “hygge” (coziness).

Vaniljekranse are not difficult to make, however, it took some doing to actually make it happen. The reason being, that in Denmark there is an attachment to your meat grinder that has a star shape on it. So the dough is run through the meat grinder with the star attachment. I could probably just have used a pastry bag with a star tip, I tried it, but it takes a lot of muscle to get the dough out. The other option would be to use a cookie press and you can get some sort of circle pattern, but I really wanted to show the making of this cookie the authentic way.

Vaniljekranse

Vaniljekranse

So I described the attachment to my wonderful husband Joe, he looked at the thickness of the meat grinder discs, and him being a Blacksmith and all, he was able to fabricate the disc for me…Yeah! My wonderful husband is so brilliant, I think I’ll keep him  🙂  He helped me make this cookie the authentic way. Thanks Joe.

Update: I have since then been able to buy a star attachment in Bilka in Denmark while we were home for a visit, it fits my KitchenAid mixer perfectly.

Star attachment for KitchenAid

Star attachment for KitchenAid

Star attachment for KitchenAid

Star attachment for KitchenAid

Vaniljekranse

Ingredients:

375 grams flour (13 oz)

125 grams cornstarch (4.4 oz)

375 grams salted butter (13 oz)

100 grams slivered almonds (3.5 oz)

250 grams sugar (8.8 oz)

1 vanilla bean

2 teaspoon vanilla powder

1 egg

Directions:

Place slivered almonds in food processor and blend until a powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl add flour and cornstarch, blend together. Cut butter into small pieces, add butter to flour mixture and blend together on low-speed with a handheld mixer until it starts to become crumbly. Cut open vanilla bean and scrape out seeds. Add vanilla seeds, vanilla powder, almonds and sugar, blend to combine. Add egg and mix to combine. Using your hands, press mixture together until it forms a dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 390 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Using the star attachment for your meat grinder, pastry bag or cookie press to form your cookies. Traditionally, you will use a star attachment for your meat grinder. Cut dough into small segments and load into the meat grinder. Run the dough through the star attachment into long strips, place dough onto floured surface. Then cut dough into 4 inch long pieces and form into circle. Place on prepared baking sheets.  Bake in the middle of oven for 8 minutes or until slightly golden. Cool on baking sheets.

Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas♥

Ground up slivered almonds

Dough coming out of grinder

Strips of dough

Vaniljekranse

Source: adapted from my Mother’s recipe

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12 Days of Christmas – Coconut Macaroons

Posted in 12 Days of Christmas, Christmas, Cookies, Dessert, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on November 12, 2010| 9 Comments »

Coconut Macaroon

Coconut Macaroon

Coconut Macaroons are one of Joe’s absolute favorite cookies and I am right there with him. They are simply delicious! Crisp on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside and they could not be any easier to make. If you like, you can dip the bottom of the cookies in melted chocolate. I do half and half since Joe likes the addition of the chocolate, I however, thinks it takes away from the coconut flavor. Coconut Macaroons do not belong exclusively to Christmas time but they are likely to show up in our house anytime of the year. If you enjoy coconut then I’m sure you’ll love these wonderful little treats.

Coconut Macaroon

Coconut Macaroon

Danish Christmas Tradition: Kalenderlyset (Calendar Candle) and Juledekorationer (Christmas Center Pieces)

In addition to the Advent Reef, in Denmark we also have Calendar Candles which play in important role in the days leading up to Christmas. This tradition became popular under the German occupation in 1942 when Denmark was blanketed in darkness. The candle has the numbers 1 thru 24 printed on it and you light it every day just long enough to burn down one number. Once the candle is burned down to the 24th, it’s Christmas. Back home in Denmark, we would light our calendar candle at the breakfast table and one of us kids got to blow out the candle before it burned down too far.

In Denmark it is also tradition to either buy or make Juledekorationer which are centerpieces with one or multiple candles. My parents always made our own and my Dad really got carried away with this task. We would typically end up with three or four beautiful juledekorationer placed at different locations throughout the house. When making the juledekorationer you can pretty much let your imagination run wild. You can use items like pine cones, cinnamon sticks, small christmas bulbs, bows and fresh greens (pine, holly etc). The juledekoration with its candles bring a calming, beautiful focal point into the room and a sense of that all important Danish “Hygge” (coziness) is created.

This juledecoration was given to me by my Danish friend Kaja

Coconut Macaroons

Ingredients:

2 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups (9 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut

Direction:

Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an insulated baking sheet (or use 2 baking sheets stacked on top of one another).

In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, salt, flour and vanilla extract until well blended. Stir in coconut.

Using a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon,  drop the dough into mounds on prepared sheet, spacing them at least 2 inches apart. Bake the cookies for 14-16 minutes, until they are golden brown around the edges and a few strands of coconut on the tops of the cookie start to turn golden. Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheet on a wire rack. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Once the cookies are cooled completely, you can dip the bottom of the cookie in melted chocolate, if you desire.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Cookies are best on the day they are made.

Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas♥

Piled like a haystack

Right out of the oven Coconut Macaroon

Source: The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle

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Chocolate Chip Blondies

Posted in Dessert, tagged , , , , on July 30, 2010| 12 Comments »

Blondies

Blondies

My first encounter with Blondies….ever, was one day recently when I came home from work and found my son Nicholas and his friend Jessica cleaning up the kitchen after having made a batch of Blondies. (Did you notice that I said; they cleaned up the kitchen 🙂 ) I gotta tell you, coming home after a long day at work to the scent of baked goods; I could get use to that. But seriously, the Blondies were absolutely fantastic and the kiddies did an excellent job. These Blondies turned out light and cakey with a wonderful brown sugar flavor. Blondies definitely have more fun!

Update: I was wondering if it’s really necessesary to have two whole sticks of butter in this recipe, it just seems like way too much butter for me. So I decided to try with just with one stick and the Blondies turned out fantastic. I have adjusted the recipe to just one stick of butter and now I can eat Blondies with less guilt.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degree F. Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with parchment paper so it extends over the long edges of pan. Spray with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electrical mixer, using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar at medium speed until light in color and texture, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla extract. At low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until combined. Using a wooden spoon fold in white and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake the bars for 35 to 40 minutes, until they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean; do not overbake. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Once cooled completely, lift up the parchment paper to remove the bars from pan. Cut into squares.

Source: adapted from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle

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