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Posts Tagged ‘Norwegian’

Bordstabler – Norwegian Cookies

Posted in Christmas, Cookies, Norwegian, tagged , , , , on November 17, 2014| 4 Comments »

Bordstabler

Ok, I know it’s not Christmas yet, it is not even December, however, I just get so excited about this time of year 🎅 Anyway, this cookie doesn’t have to be a Christmas cookie, it could be like a little side dessert for any occasion.

Bordstabler are wonderful Norwegian Christmas cookies. They are tender butter cookies with a strip of delicious almond meringue on top. I served these cookies for the Blacksmith gang and the cookies were all gone except for 3 by the end of the meeting.

The dough itself gave me a bit of trouble though. After all ingredients were added it still appeared very soft and tacky but I figured it would set up some in the fridge, which it did, but not enough. So I had to knead the dough while adding more flour until it was smooth and no longer sticky. That being said I have written the recipe up the way I followed it, but you need to know that you’ll probably have to add a little more flour than the recipe calls for and I would add it in as needed while kneading the dough. Even though the dough was temperamental the cookies were well worth the effort. I hope you enjoy these Bordstabler as much as the Blacksmith gang did 🙂

Bordstabler (makes about 25 cookies)

Ingredients:

1 egg yolk

1/2 tablespoon heavy whipping cream

60 g sugar (2.1 oz)

125 g butter, at room temperature (4.4 oz)

125 g flour (4.4 oz), plus more while kneading dough

Filling:

2 egg whites, at room temperature

120 g confectioners’ sugar, sifted (4.2 oz)

120 g almond meal/flour(4.2 oz)

Directions:

Using a hand-held mixer beat together the egg yolk, whipping cream and sugar. While continuing to mix add butter and flour in 1/3 increments until all incorporated. Place dough on a well-floured surface; knead dough adding more flour as needed until dough is no longer sticky. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour.

Before you take the dough out of the refrigerator, make the filling.

To make the filling: whip the egg whites until stiff. Sift the confectioners’ sugar over the egg whites and add almond meal, fold into egg whites. Place filling into a pastry bag fitted with a tip of your choice (I used# 21) and set aside. If you don’t have a pastry bag and tip, simply just spoon the filling onto dough.

Preheat oven to 345 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sprinkle your work surface with flour and roll the dough out to 2 mm thickness. Using a pastry cutter, cut out the cookies to a 2 x 10 cm rectangle (0.8 x 4 in). Gently lift up dough rectangle and place on baking sheet. Using your pastry bag squeeze a long strip of filling onto each dough rectangle.

Bake for 10 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before moving cookies to a cooling rack.

Source: adapted from dinmat.no

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Julekake – Norwegian Christmas Bread

Posted in Bread, Christmas, Norwegian, tagged , , , , , , on December 15, 2013| 10 Comments »

Norwegian Julekake

Julekake is a Norwegian Christmas Bread which is really easy to make. The original recipe called for candied citron which I think is what we reffer to as “Sukat” in Denmark. I had neither on hand but I did have candied orange peel which I believe is more or less in the same family. The candied orange peel does render a very unique flavor to the bread, a flavor you either love or hate 🙂 So if your not a fan, you can always just leave it out or maybe replace it with some dried cranberries, yum!

Making Julekake

The bread is served either warm or toasted with soft butter or some jam. I would like to point out that the unique candied orange flavor goes really well with Nutella, although I don’t think Nutella would be a traditional way of serving the bread, but delicious nonetheless.

Julekake (makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients:

1/4 cup butter

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or 25 grams cake/fresh yeast)

1/4 cup water

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup milk

1 egg

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cardamom

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup candied orange peel, diced (candid citron or Sukat)

1/4 cup dried cherries

1/4 cup raisins

1 egg, for egg wash

Directions:

Melt butter and set aside. Combine water, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and milk in a small sauce pan, heat to 100-110 degrees F and remove from heat. Sprinkle yeast over warm milk, give a quick stir and let sit 10 minutes. Place fruit in a small bowl with 1-2 tablespoons of the flour, mix to coat fruit with flour, set aside. Pour milk/yeast mixture into bowl of stand-mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add egg, 1/4 cup sugar, salt, cardamom and butter, start mixer on medium-low. Add flour in increments and finally add the fruit. Place dough on flour dusted work surface and knead briefly until smooth. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover with a clean, dry tea-towel and let rise for 1 hour or until double in size. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Give dough a quick knead to deflate and place on baking sheet. Cover dough with tea-towel and let rise for another 45 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly beat egg to make an egg wash. Brush dough with egg wash and bake for 30 minutes. Note: you may need to cover bread loosely with foil after the first 20 minutes of baking to avoid over-browning. Serve warm or toasted with butter or jam. Glædelig Jul and Merry Christmas!

Source: adapted from Mrs. Sig Score

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Teaching Scandinavian Baking/Cooking Class at John C. Campbell Folk School

Posted in Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, Other, Scandinavian, Swedish, Travel, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on April 8, 2013| 8 Comments »

Davidson Hall at Campbell Folk School, Kitchen, Music and "Wet Studios

Davidson Hall at J. C. Campbell Folk School where the Kitchen, Music and “Wet” Studios are located.

Back in 2005 Joe and I attended a week long seminar at J. C. Campbell Folk School which is located in the beautiful Appalachian mountains in Brasstown NC. The campus is set in the most secluded environment and it is easily navigated with numerous trails for an early morning walk. Each day begins with the tradition of Morningsong which is a combination of music and folklore, a great way to start your morning. Meals are served family style in the Dinning Hall which is a great opportunity to meet new people from all walks of life. The campus also has a charming History center and a wonderful Craft Shop which features pottery, handwoven items, jewelry, wood crafts and ironwork. Back in 2005 Joe took a Viking Blacksmithing class and I took a Scandinavian baking class and it turned out to be one of those fantastic experiences that stays with you forever. So you can imagine my surprise and excitement when I was approached by Campbell Folk School to come down and teach the Scandinavian baking/cooking class during their Scandinavian Heritage week during March 2013.

Director of J. C. Campbell Folk School Jan Davidson performing Morningsong. It's a wonderful beginning to your morning, each day Morningsong is led by someone different.

Director of J. C. Campbell Folk School Jan Davidson performing Morningsong. It’s a wonderful beginning to your morning and each day Morningsong is led by someone different.

Evening entertainment

I didn’t catch their names but they were great. If anyone knows who they are please let me know.

David Baker taught the Kaleidoscope class and he was a riot, a real viking :)

David Baker taught the Kaleidoscope class and he was a riot, a real viking 🙂

Local Fireman doing Morningsong and smartly incorporating fire prevention into his routing.

Local Fireman J. D. Robinson doing Morningsong and smartly incorporating fire prevention into his routine.

The class turned out to be a really good group which meshed together very nicely. There were five wonderful ladies, all with fantastic personalities: Lucrecia, Paula B, Paula C, Roberta and Lynn Ann and then we had one gentleman named Mark which turned out to be a really funny and pleasant feller.

Our class left to right: Paula, Roberta, Lucrecia, Lynn Ann, Gitte, Mark and Paula

Our class left to right: Paula, Roberta, Lucrecia, Lynn Ann, Gitte, Mark and Paula

For the class I had prepared recipes which were Danish, Norwegian, Swedish and Finnish in origin and the class was set up to be predominantly baking with one full day of cooking savory foods.

Mark making Pebernødder

Mark making Pebernødder

Roberta and Paula making Norwegian Julekake

Roberta and Paula carefully following a recipe

Lynn Ann making Æbleskiver, they were delicious!

Lynn Ann making Æbleskiver, they were delicious!

Lucrecia and Paula made the classic Othellolagkage. They did an outstanding job.

Lucrecia and Paula made the classic Othellolagkage. They did an outstanding job.

Here are a few pictures of some of the baked goods the class made. We made a lot more than this but I didn’t get pictures of everything.

Othellolagkage

Othellolagkage, a true masterpiece!

Campbell 2 (42)

Making Hindbær Roulade

Campbell 2 (52)

Swedish Lussekatter, before baking.

Campbell 2 (60)

Birkes with Remonce.

Campbell 5 (5)

Kringle pastry

Campbell 5 (6)

Æbleskiver, the only thing missing is a warm glass of Gløgg.

Campbell 5 (8)

Finnish Christmas Stars.

Campbell 6 (3)

Norwegian Krumkake, they were served with vanilla and chocolate filling. Very popular!

Campbell 6 (4)

Scandinavian Toscakake.

Campbell 6 (6)

Kiksekage, very decadent.

The Fiddle class stopped in and serenaded us. They were well fed.

The Fiddle class stopped in and serenaded us. They were well fed.

Midweek is when we cooked the savory foods leading up to our dinner party on Wednesday evening. I wanted them to experience small samples of typical Danish foods and there were some hesitation and a lot of joking 🙂 about eating Marinated Herring and Liver Pate in particular, but I think all in all, they really did like those foods. Our dinner that evening turned out to be a lot of fun and it was a real pleasure meeting everyone’s significant others and family members.

Our dinner party.

Our dinner party.

The menu consisted of a mixture of different food:

Smørrebrød with Danish Rye Bread (Rugbrød), Marinated Herring (Sild) and homemade Curry Salad (Karrysalat)

Smørrebrød with Rye Bread, Liver pate (Leverpostej), fried mushrooms and bacon

Meatballs (Frikadeller) with Red Sweet and Sour Cabbage (Rødkål) and Caramelized Potatoes (Brunede Kartofler)

Ris a La Mande with warm Cherry Sauce (Ris a La Mande with Krisebær Sovs)

Lucrecia stirred and stirred the Risengrød so it wouldn't burn. I think we should have given her some sort of "best stirring" award :)

Lucrecia stirred and stirred the Risengrød so it wouldn’t burn. She deserved some sort of “stirring” award 🙂

Campbell 3 (5)

Making “oh so wonderful” Liver Pate.

Campbell 3 (10)

Danish Smørrebrød with Marinated Herring and homemade Curry Salad (Karrysalat).

Friday afternoon was the closing ceremony and all the different classes put on a display of what they had been making during the week. As for our class, we spent the morning baking so we could provide samples of some delicious special treats to all the other students and instructors. All of the samples were gone within fifteen minutes and we got great reviews on our baked goods. Great job Guys! 🙂

Scandinavian Baking Class, Closing Ceremomy

Scandinavian Baking Class at the Closing Ceremony

The Fiddle class provided entertainment at the Closing Ceremony.

The Fiddle class provided entertainment at the Closing Ceremony.

Viking Style Ironwork

Viking Style Ironwork

Thread Art

Thread Art

Norwegian Rosemaling

Norwegian Rosemaling

Birch Bark Basketry

Birch Bark Basketry

Nordic Knitting

Nordic Knitting

Woodturning

Woodturning

Kaleidoscopes

Kaleidoscopes

Figure Carving

Figure Carving

Weaving

Weaving

Norwegian Bentwood Boxes

Norwegian Bentwood Boxes

Needle Felting

Needle Felting

I wanted to say thank you to all of my students for being so pleasant and I hope you enjoyed tasting all the delicious treats we made. I also wanted to say thank you to Carla Owen who initially approached me to teach at the Folk School and to Nanette Davidson for all of your help and the generous offer you extended to me. I thank all of you!

The Easter Bunny also made an appearance at the Folk School.

The Easter Bunny also made an appearance at the Folk School. (David Baker in disguise)

Source: My Danish Kitchen

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Krumkake – Norwegian Waffle Cookies

Posted in Christmas, Cookies, Dessert, Norwegian, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on February 4, 2013| 6 Comments »

Norwegian Krumkager

Back in 2005, Joe and I took a week long class at John C. Campbell Folk School. We were at the school during their Scandinavian Heritage week which we figured would be the ideal time for us to be at the school. Joe took a blacksmithing class and I took Scandinavian baking which was so much fun and gave me a lot of confidence in my baking skills. Campbell Folk School is located in the southern Appalachian mountains by Brasstown, North Carolina and the campus is set in the most beautiful and serene location. The school is based on the Danish concept of Folkehøjskole which is an adult non-competitive learning experience. Campbell Folk School offer a wide variety of classes based on American traditional arts and crafts such as basketry, dance, drawing, enameling, leather, metalwork, music, photography, woodworking and so much more. I have written about my experience at Campbell Folk School before when I made Wienerbrød and making these Norwegian Krumkaker brought back wonderful memories about our experience there. I can honestly say that is was one of the most rewarding, exciting and at the same time peaceful experiences I have ever had. To get a feel for the atmosphere at the Folk School check out their blog.

Me at John Campbell Folk School practicing decorating a delicious layered cake.

Me at John Campbell Folk School practicing decorating a delicious layered cake.

Krumkake is a delicate and delicious Norwegian waffle cookie which is traditionally served during the Christmas holiday. I first learned to make this classic waffle while taking my Scandinavian baking class at Campbell Folk School. Making the waffle does require an Krumkake iron and a cone shaped roller which can be purchased pretty easily these days online. The cookies can seem a little tricky to roll at first (careful, they are hot) but after a couple of cookies you’ll quickly get the hang of it. They can be rolled into a cone shape, a cylinder (by using the handle of a wooden spoon) or simply served as a flat round disc. The filling choices are numerous and only limited by your imagination but traditionally they are served with whipped cream and fresh berries.

Norwegian Krumkake

Krumkake – makes 38 Krumkaker

Ingredients:

4 large eggs, at room temperature

200 gram butter (7 oz.)

200 gram sugar (7 oz.)

200 gram flour (7 oz.)

2 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

warm water to get correct batter consistency (I used 14 tbsp)

Special equipment required: Krumkake iron and a Krumkake roller (if not already included with your iron)

Directions:

Melt butter and set aside. Add eggs and sugar to a bowl and beat on high until thick and pale yellow in color. While continuing to mix, pour the melted butter, in a thin stream, into the egg mixture. Add your choice of either vanilla extract or cardamom and while continuing to mix, add  flour in small increments. If batter is too thick, add warm water to correct consistency.

Note: follow your Krumkake iron manufactures instructions regarding temperature settings, if iron needs to be greased and cooking time. Using the krumkake roller will give you a cone shape and using the end of a wooden spoon with give a cylinder shape.

Place a large piece of parchment paper onto your counter top next to the Krumkake iron. I taped the corners of the paper down to keep it from moving around.

Pour a generous tablespoon of batter onto your hot krumkake iron, close lid and cook until ready (30-45 seconds). Using a small offset spatula or a butter knife, quickly lift the soft krumkake onto the parchment paper and roll into desired shape. Keep the cookie on the roller for 1-2 minutes to allow it to take its shape before sliding the cookie off the roller and placing it onto a baking sheet to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight tin until ready to serve. Fill cones with your favorite filling right before serving and enjoy.

Krumkake serving suggestions: whipped cream with fresh berries, soft ice cream, preserves or jams, pudding, custard or Carole’s Almond Pudding (recipe follows)

Carole’s Almond Pudding:

Ingredients:

1 small package instant vanilla pudding (95 gram or 3.4 oz.)

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1 cup milk

1/4 – 1/2 tsp almond extract

Directions:

Beat all ingredients together for 1-2 minutes until desired consistency and keep cool in refrigerator until ready to serve. Pipe into krumkaker cookies and serve immediately.

Source for Krumkake: adapted from Tine.no

Source for Carole’s Almond Pudding: my friend and coworker Carole Yoder

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Making Krumkaker

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Toscakake – Scandinavian Tosca Cake

Posted in Cake, Norwegian, Scandinavian, Swedish, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on April 23, 2012| 10 Comments »

Toscakake

I can see why this is a very popular Scandinavian cake, it very delicious and highly addictive! Some sources tell me the origin is Swedish while others state that it’s Norwegian so for the purpose of the post we’ll just call it Scandinavian.

Actually the Tosca cake reminds me of the Danish Drømmekage which has a similar topping that’s made with coconut. But we’ll talk more about that cake some other time. The base of the Tosca cake is a delicate and moist sponge cake with a topping that is crunchy and has a sweet caramel, nutty flavor. There are many different variations of this cake out there with the Tosca topping varying from almonds to oats to walnuts or any combination thereof. The cake is also quick and easy to make but careful not to over-bake it. In this version of the infamous Tosca cake I used chopped almonds and oats. You can serve the cake as is or with a dollop of whipped cream or some fresh berries.

I served this cake for the ABGT Blacksmith gang and after they were done with lunch there was one slice of the cake left. I felt my pictures had been a bit rushed and the whipped cream didn’t even make it onto the plate so I figured that I’d pick up some raspberries at the store and retake my pictures with that last slice. Now what I should have done was, take the last slice and secure it somewhere safe. Of course when I returned with the berries that last slice was gone. Lesson learned. 🙂

Tosca Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

125 gram butter (4.4 oz) (8.8 tbsp )

2 eggs

125 gram sugar (4.4 oz) (0.6 cup)

100 gram all-purpose flour (3.5 oz) (0.4 cup)

1 tsp baking powder

2 tbsp heavy whipping cream

For the Tosca topping:

75 gram butter (2.6 oz) (5.2 tbsp)

50 gram chopped almonds (1.8 oz)

50 gram old-fashioned Quaker oats (1.8 oz)

150 ml sugar (5 oz.) (0.6 cup)

4 tbsp heavy whipping cream

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 175 degree C (350 degree F)

Spray a 9 inch spring-form pan with non-stick baking spray, set aside.

Melt butter, remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly. Beat eggs and sugar on high until pale yellow and thick. Sift flour and baking powder into egg mixture, with a spatula mix gently until combined. Add cream and melted butter, mix gently until combined. Pour batter into spring-form and bake 30 minutes or until just starting to turn golden.

In the meantime make the Tosca topping. Melt butter, add almonds, oats, sugar, cream and flour, stir. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 2 minutes. Pour hot topping over cake and place back into oven. Continue to bake cake until golden, about 15 minutes. Cool cake on baking rack. Serve cake with a dollop of whipped cream or fresh berries. Enjoy!

Source: Cake from Anne’s Food, Topping adapted from Nami Nami

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