Avocado Hollandaise

Baked salmon with avocado hollandaise.

Avocado hollandaise is an easier and healthier version of the real hollandaise sauce. This is a no anxiety sauce. No fear of curdling the egg yolks, no fear of separation (elmulsion break), just blend, season and serve. It's that easy.

My favorite breakfast has been eggs Benedict. Before we moved to California, I didn't even know it existed. Sadly Eggs Benedict is not particular healthy, but by substituting the buttery hollandaise with this avocado hollandaise, you can cut down the calories, not sacrificing taste or creaminess.

Avocado hollandaise is great with fish, eggs Benedict and on asparagus. 

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 2 avocado, peeled and deseeded

• 1½ lemon, the juice from + more to taste

• water, to get the right consistency

• salt, to taste

• cayenne pepper, sprinkle on top

Directions:

Puree the avocado, lemon juice and salt in a blender until smooth adding just enough water to make the sauce creamy and thick like a  real hollandaise. Season the sauce with salt and lemon juice. 

Enjoy!

Marzipan Brioche

Marzipan Brioche

Making a classic brioche is time consuming, but well worth the effort. The best thing, it's not hands-on all the time, so you can get a lot of thing done, while making this. Brioche is made from an enriched dough with eggs and butter.  By all means it's not a health food, more likely a comfort food for special occasions.

I wanted to add some more flavor to the rolls, and added some pistachio marzipan. This gave a slightly flaky brioche with a hint of sweetness from the marzipan. 

Makes 10-12 rolls

Ingredients:

Dough Starter (Sponge):

• 30 g (2 tablespoons) water, room temperature

• 12.5 g (1 tablespoon) sugar

• 70 g all-purpose flour

• 1 g (¼ teaspoon) dry active yeast

• 1 large egg, room temperature

Dough:

• 155 g all-purpose flour

• 30 g sugar

• 4 g dry active yeast

• ¼ teaspoon  salt

• 2 large eggs, cold

• 115 g butter, salted and soft

Remonce:

• 100 g pistachio marzipan (ODENSE Dessertmasse med pistaciesmag)

or

• 50 g butter room temperature

• 50 g sugar

• 50 g marzipan

Directions:

Dough Starter (Sponge):

Whisk the ingredients together  in a bowl and keep whisking for about 2 minutes to incorporate air.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Sift together flour, sugars and yeast, then stir in the salt. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the dough starter, do not mix it in. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap again and let it sit to ferment for 2 hours at room temperature.

By now the dough starter will have bubbled through the layer of flour. Add the 2 eggs and knead the dough for about 5-6 minutes, scraping down the sides, until the dough is soft, elastic and shiny. Add the butter a little at a time, making sure to get the butter fully incorporated. The dough will end up very soft and it is meant to be like that. Lightly coat another bowl with some vegetable oil. Using a oiled spatula to scrape the dough into the prepared bowl. Lightly coat the dough with a small amount of oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Put the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour, to prevent the butter from separating. 

Deflate the dough with a spatular, and return it to the refrigerator for another hour.

Letter fold

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and roll it into a rectangle, and make a letter fold, like the one used in laminating a puff pastry dough. 

Carefully brush off any excess flour, to avoid hardening the dough.

Make the letter fold three times, before placing the dough in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. 

Let the dough mature in the refrigerator for 6 hours or up to 2 days. I left mine overnight. 

Remove dough from the refrigerator and let it warm for about 1 hour. Make the Remonce, if using, I used a flavored marzipan instead.

Remonce:

Mix the sugar and marzipan well. Add butter little by little until it’s just incorporated.  Be careful not to over mix or the remonce will be runny when baked.

Forming the rolls:

On a lightly floured surface roll the dough into a good sized rectangle, gently spread the remonce on two thirds of the rectangle. Fold the part without remounce over half the part without, then fold the last part over this. Like the letter fold earlier. Make another letter fold. 

Roll the dough into a rectangle, and roll it up, so you end up with a long log. Cut the log in slices, and place the slices in muffin pans looking like cinnamon rolls.

Let the rolls rise for 60-90 minutes, until doubled in size.  (You can brush off any excess flour)

Preheat the oven to 325℉ (160℃).

Bake the rolls for 15-25 minutes until dark golden.

Serve the brioche warmed and with a nice cup of tea.

Enjoy!

Ymerdrys - Rye Bread Crunch Topping

Ymerdrys - Rye Bread Crunch Topping

When I grew up in Denmark we had two options for breakfast during the weekdays. We could have 1. quick oats with milk and a sprinkle (or spoonfulls if my mom didn't look) of sugar or 2. Ymer (a fermented milk product) or A38 (milk fermented with Lactobacillus acidophilus) with a good sprinkle of rye bread crunch topping aka ymerdrys. Both healthy breakfasts born long before we had the cereal isle in the grocery stores, or at least before me and my brother discovered it.  

I always opted for the A38 and ymerdrys. So when I tried to make it, I was in heaven. Now I have the perfect breakfast: Yogurt with ymerdrys and fresh raspberries. A perfect start to your day.

Ymerdrys can be made as healthy as you like. This recipe is my version, but you can skip the butter and toast the breadcrumbs and sugar in the oven at 400℉ (200℃) for about 10-20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 50 g butter
• 250 g rye bread, grated
• 50 g sugar
• 50 g brown sugar

Directions:

Grate the rye bread. Melt the butter in a pan and toast the rye bread in the butter over medium heat, until light crispy. Add the sugars and let it just caramelize and coat the rye bread. Spread the crispy rye bread on a piece of parchment paper, mix in the brown sugar and let the crunch cool completely before using.

Use the topping on yogurt or in desserts.

Enjoy!

Rhubarb Sauce - Rababerkompot

Rhubarb Sauce - Rababerkompot

My mom made the first rabarberkompot aka rhubarb sauce as soon as the rhubarbs from our yard was big enough to use. The thin short rhubarbs was sweet and a clear sign that the summer was begun. 

Ingredients:

• 500 g rhubarbs

• 225 g sugar

• ½ vanilla bean pod, the seeds from

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Clean the rhubarbs and cut them into bite-sized pieces, place the in an ovenproof dish. Scrape the seeds out of the vanilla pod and mix the seeds with the sugar. Sprinkle the sugar on top, and toss until the sugar is evenly distributed. Place the vanilla  pod in between the rhubarbs.

Bake the rhubarbs for 20-40 minutes until soft, and the sauce is thickened. If the juices evaporate to quickly cover the dish with aluminum foil.

Let the rhubarb sauce cool and use as a jam, as a sauce in desserts or eaten with a meat dish.

Enjoy!

Grove Hveder - Grove Hvedeknopper

Grove Hveder - Grove Hvedeknopper

Hveder is a white cardamom roll eaten before the Bededag aka Prayers Day in Denmark. This year I wanted to add a little fibers to the roll, while still keeping the roll nice and sweet. I think I hit the mark with this recipe. I didn't come up with a heathy version, but 1.6 grams dietary fiber per roll is a little better than 0.

Ingredients:

• 50 g live yeast or 4 teaspoons dry yeast
• 200 ml water, finger warm
• 75 g butter
• 150 ml buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 10 g (1¾ teaspoon) salt
• 5-10 g (3 teaspoons) cardamom
• 25 g buckwheat 
• 50 g quick oats (quaker oats)
• 100 g whole wheat flour
• 450 g all-purpose flour

Directions:

In a large bowl dissolve the yeast in the water. (Add a teaspoon sugar if you are using dry yeast, and wait until it starts to foam.) Mix in the butter, sugar, buttermilk and egg. Mix salt and cardamom with the flours, oats and buckwheat, and add that to the water-mixture. Hold some of the all-purpose flour back, because you want a soft smooth dough, and might not need it all. Knead the dough for about 7-10 minutes until the dough is shinny and elastic. Let the dough rise covered for about 20- 30 minutes.  

Pour the dough onto a lightly floured workspace, fold the dough over 3-4 times and divide the dough into 12-18 small balls. Place the balls only about 1 cm (about ⅓-½ inch) apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover the dough balls with a dampen kitchen towel, and let them rise for another 60 minutes. They are meant to grow into each other, you want the soft sides on your rolls, when you pull them apart.

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃). (375℉ /190℃ for convection oven). 

Bake the hvedeknopper/rolls for 15-20 minutes until they are dark golden brown. Let them cool on a wire rack.

Before serving, cut them in half and toast them. Serve them hot with butter and jam or with a good cheese.

Enjoy!