Homemade Liquorice Fudge

Homemade Liquorice Fudge

December 21th.

Making the last few treats for the holiday celebration. 

Makes about 60.

Ingredients:

• 397 g (1 can) sweetened condensed milk
• 150 ml milk
• 115 g (1 stick) butter (I used salted butter)
• 450 g sugar
• 4-5 teaspoons fine liquorice powder
• 1-2 teaspoons raw liquorice powder

Directions:

Line a square baking pan with parchment paper.

In a large saucepan on a medium heat, heat the condensed milk, milk, butter and sugar, stirring regularly, until the sugar has melted. Let the fudge simmer until it reaches 240℉ (115℃) or until soft ball stage. You have to stir constantly, otherwise the fudge will burn and you end up with bitter fudge.

Transfer the fudge to the stand mixer bowl, add the liquorice powder, and beat for about 10 minutes, until it loses the glossy caramel sheen and you have a thick but soft fudge. 

Scoop the fudge into the prepared baking pan and press it into the corners and even out the top. Let the fudge cool completely. Cut it into squares.

The fudge will keep in a sealed container at room temperature for several weeks. I have never tested this, because the fudge always seems to disappear in the first few days, in my house.

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Ice Cream

Gingerbread Ice Cream

December 19th.

My aunt is known for her homemade ice cream. Every year she will serve ice cream for dessert at her christmas dinner. This is not the traditional Christmas dessert in Denmark, but there is nothing wrong with being a little rebellious. This gingerbread ice cream could be a new addition to my aunts ice cream repertoire, it screams christmas. You can serve it with a swirl of gingerbread cookies or as a gingerbread affogato. 

Makes a small pint.

Ingredients:

• 120 ml milk

• 240 ml heavy whipping cream

• 25 g sugar

• 50 g brown sugar

• 50 g dark syrup or molasses

• 1 pinch salt

• ¼ teaspoon vanilla paste

• ½ teaspoon cinnamon

• ⅛ teaspoon cloves

• ⅛ teaspoon allspice

• 2 pinches ginger

• 4 egg yolks

Directions:

Making the custard:

Pour the cream into a metal bowl placed in a larger bowl of ice, set aside.

Warm milk, sugars, syrup, spices and salt in a medium saucepan. Make sure the sugar and salt is dissolved completely.

In another bowl, whisk egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk into the egg yolks, while whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan, and heat the mixture over medium heat, until it thickens. Stir constantly in this process and make sure to scrape the bottom of the saucepan. 

Pour the egg/milk mixture through a sieve into the cold cream. Cool the custard in refrigerator until ice is cold. 

Pour the custard into an ice cream maker and freeze it according to manufacturers instructions. Add the cookie pieces when the ice cream is ready to scoop out, and let them get mixed in. Scoop the ice cream into a freezer safe container, and freeze overnight before serving.  

Enjoy!

Homemade Marzipan

Homemade Marzipan

Marzipan is a big part of all the sweets and confectionary made in Danish homes in the weeks up to christmas. Living abroad it is very hard to find marzipan not to mention good marzipan. 

Ingredients:

Mazipan:

• 200 g almond flour

• 3 small bitter almonds, the skin scraped of

• 35 g agave nectar (I used organic blue agave nectar)

• 50 g (2 tablespoons) syrup*

• 2-3 drops almond extract (optional)

*Syrup (makes more than needed in the recipe):

• 50 ml water

• 90 g sugar

• 70 g light corn syrup (glucose syrup)

Directions:

Syrup:

Heat water, sugar and corn syrup in a saucepan until the sugar is melted into a clear syrup. Let the syrup cool completely before using.

Marzipan:

Scrape the brown skin of the bitter almonds. Ground the almonds to a flour. I chopped it finely and grounded it in a pestle and mortar with a ¼ teaspoon sugar.

Mix almond flour, bitter almond, syrup, agave nectar and extract in a bowl and use your hands to knead it into a uniform paste. Form the paste into a log, and roll it up in plastic wrap. and let it rest in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours for the flavors to blend.

Use the marzipan for baking, snacking, to make confectionery or as base for cream puffs.

Enjoy!

I used some almond extract because the bitter almonds didn't give me enough flavor in all my test batches. I will stay in the marzipan-test-kitchen until next christmas.🎄

Christmas Panna Cotta

Christmas Panna Cotta

December 14 th.

I really like panna cotta, the best I ever had was a pistachio panna cotta at my local Italian restaurant. Next year I'll work on getting the texture on this one perfected. In the meantime I'll share this christmas themed panna cota with you. The orange sauce works perfect with the sweet soft panna cotta. 

Makes 4 

Ingredients:

Panna Cotta:

• 500 ml heavy whipping cream

• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or 1 vanilla pods, the sedds from

• 50 g sugar

• 6 g gelatin or 3 sheets of gelatin/husblas

• ½ lemon, the zest of

 Orange sauce:

• 250 ml fresh squeezed orange juice

• 3 tablespoons sugar

• 1 tablespoon butter

• ¼ orange, zest of, julienned

Directions:

Panna cotta:

Scrape out the seeds from the vanilla pod, and mix them with a tablespoon of the sugar. This will help distributing the seeds in the liquid.

Gently heat the cream, vanilla seeds, lemon zest and all the sugar in a saucepan, and let it simmer for 5-10 minutes, remove from heat. 

If using gelatin sheets, place them in a bowl of cold water to bloom for about 10 minutes. Squeeze the gelatin sheets and add them to the hot cream. Whisk the mixture until gelatin is dissolved.

If using powdered gelatin, sprinkle it evenly onto the hot cream mixture and the let it soak for a minute.

Whisk the mixture until gelatin is dissolved.

Pour the cream through a sift into portion sized glasses. (I rinsed the glass with cold water).  Chill the panna cotta in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving.

To unmold the panna cotta, gently insert a knife around the edges of the moulds, and dip the mold in hot water for max. 10 secunds. Tip them onto individual plates, pour over the sauce. You can also serve the panna cotta in the glass, and just pour some orange sauce into the glass before serving. 

Orange sauce:

Put orange juice and zest, sugar and butter in a small saucepan and bring it to a simmer. Cook the juice until it is thick like a syrup, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat, and allow to cool completely before pouring over the panna cotta.

Enjoy!

Peppermint Marshmallows

Peppermint Marshmallows

December 9th.

These peppermint marshmallows are a great little treat or dessert. But I think they would be perfect on a cup of hot chocolate on a cold day. You can also make them as gifts for the hostess at the next holiday party, you're going to. The marshmallows  look really festive and who would not like to get a homemade gift made with love?

Ingredients:

• 120 ml water

• 21 g (3 envelopes) gelatin

• 120 ml water

• 400 g sugar

• 240 g light corn syrup

• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract

• pink food coloring

Decorating:

• Melted dark chocolate

• 1-3 candy canes, crushed

Directions:

Grease bottom and sides of 11x7-inch glass baking dish with coconut oil. Dust it with sifted confectionary sugar, and set aside. 

In the bowl for the stand mixer, sprinkle gelatin over 120 ml cold water and let it sit to bloom/soften.

In a saucepan heat granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt and 120 ml water over low heat, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved. Heat to boiling, and cook without stirring until the temperature reaches  240°F (115℃) on a candy thermometer. Remove from heat.

Start whisking the softened gelatin on low, and slowly pour in the syrup. Increase speed to high, and keep whisking for about 10 minutes until white and almost tripled in volume. Add peppermint extract and food coloring and keep whisking on high for another minute. 

Pour the sticky mixture into the prepared baking dish, patting lightly with wet hands. Sprinkle a thick layer of sifted confectionary sugar on top, and let stand uncovered for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Dust a cutting board with about 1 tablespoon sifted confectionary sugar. Place remaining powdered sugar in small bowl. Place the big marshmallow on the cutting board and using a pizza slicer cut the marshmallow into the desired size, or use small cookie cutters to cut marshmallows into fun shapes. Dust the freshly cut sides of each marshmallow by dipping them into bowl of confectionary sugar. 

Store marshmallows in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 weeks.

I dipped the marshmallows in melted chocolate an sprinkled with crushed candy cane.