Bounty Christmas Trees

Bounty Christmas Trees

December 6th

These cute christmas trees is a no bake sweet. They are really easy to make, you just have to have some patience because there's some waiting time for the drying.

Ingredients:

• 300 g shredded coconut

• 200 g sweetened condensed milk

Decorating:

• Dark chocolate

• Coconut oil

• Shredded coconut

• Green fruit coloring

Directions:

Mix the condensed milk with the coconut, until you have a cohesive mass. Place the coconut in a baking pan lined with parchment paper. And press it to an even layer about ¾ inch (2 cm) thick. 

Cover the pan with som plastic wrap, and let it sit to dry for 4 hours or over night. Remove from pan and cut into small pointed triangles, see picture. 

Let the triangles dry for a bit. 

Add the additional coconut to a plastic tub (use an old one or a cheep one) pour some drops of food color into the coconut, and shake to color the coconut.  

Melt chocolate and coconut oil in an double boiler. You should temper the chocolate for a better result. 

Dip the triangles in the melted chocolate and sprinkle with the green coconut. 

Enjoy!

Christmas Cream Puffs - Pebermynteflødeboller

Christmas Cream Puffs - Pebermynteflødeboller

December 2nd.

Peppermint is one of the most recognized tastes of Christmas. Red and white is classic christmas colors and you see candy canes and peppermint flavored coffee and chocolate everywhere. So why not make peppermint cream puffs/flødeboller. Even though cream puffs can be eaten all year round, these are very christmasy.  

Ingredients:

Makes 20.

Base:

• 200 g marzipan

Filling:

• 100 g (little over ⅓ cup) pasteurized egg whites 
• 200 g (1 cup) sugar 
• 50 ml (a little under ¼ cup) water
• a few drops peppermint extract

Chocolate coating:

• 200-250 g milk chocolate, a good one I used Valrhona

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃).

Cut the marzipan log into 20 slices. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the marzipan for 5 minutes, let them cool completely.

Filling:

When making meringue it is very important that there are no fat residue on your bowl and whisk, otherwise the egg whites won't get fluffy.

The cream puffs without coating

Whisk the egg whites until they just turn fluffy. Meanwhile heat sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and keep it simmering until it reaches 243℃ (117℃). 

Pour in the scolding hot syrup into the egg whites while whisking. The meringue becomes pretty warm, but keep whisking for 15 minutes, until stiff peaks. Gently fold in the peppermint extract.

Add the meringue to a piping bag with a plain round tip. Pipe the meringue in a high peak.

Bake the cream puffs for 5 minutes, just until the surface sets, but haven't got any color. This makes it easier to cover in chocolate. Let the cream puffs cool completely.

Tempering the chocolate:

This is how I do it, but if you have your own way, that works for you, use that method.

Chop the chocolate finely, set just under ⅕ of the chocolate aside, and add the rest into a stainless steel bowl. Set the bowl on a saucepan with very hot water (don't let the bowl touch the water) . Let the chocolate melt while stirring. When the chocolate reaches 111℉ (44℃), take the bowl off the hot water. While stirring let the chocolate cool until it reaches 80-83℉ (27-28℃), add the rest of the chopped chocolate and stir vigorously until its all melted. Put the bowl with chocolate over hot water again, and heat the chocolate to 86℉ (30℃). Now its ready to use for coating.

Coating:

Place the cream puffs on a wire rack. Drizzle the chocolate on top until the whole peak is covered with chocolate. Tap the wire rack on the counter to get the excess chocolate to run off. Place the cream puffs in the refrigerator for a few minutes until the chocolate has set. 

The cream puffs will keep 3 days a 50-54℉ (10-12℃).

Enjoy!

Liquorice Ghosts aka Liquorice Cream Puffs

Liquorice Ghosts aka Liquorice Cream Puffs

These liquorice ghosts or cream puffs are called flødeboller in Danish. Directly translated it means cream rolls, even though  there are no cream and no roll in them.  Basically it’s a wafer, or cookie, with an Italian meringue filling, and covered with chocolate. It is so so yummy, it should be illegal to make or sell.

Growing up, flødeboller was the go-to treat to bring to share at school at your birthday. And it is easy to make up games eating flødeboller, but one thing for sure, it will be messy. 

To make cream puffs it is recommended that you have a electric hand-mixer or even better a stand mixer, because you have to whisk vigorously for more than 15 minutes. 

Makes 20 medium flødeboller

Ingredients:

Base:

• 200 g liquorice marzipan or regular marzipan

Filling:

• 100 g (little over ⅓ cup) pasteurized egg whites

• 200 g ( 1 cup) sugar

• 50 ml (a little under ¼ cup) water

• 2 teaspoons fine liquorice powder

Chocolate coating:

• 200-250 g white chocolate, a good one I used Valrhona

• 25 g dark chocolate

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃).

Cut the marzipan log into 20 slices. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the marzipan for 5 minutes, let them cool completely.

Filling:

When making meringue it is very important that there are no fat residue on your bowl and whisk, otherwise the egg whites won't get fluffy.

The naked ghost

Whisk the egg whites until they just turn fluffy. Meanwhile heat sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and keep it simmering until it reaches 243℃ (117℃). 

Pour in the scolding hot syrup into the egg whites while whisking. The meringue becomes pretty warm, but keep whisking for 15 minutes, until stiff peaks. Gently fold in the liquorice powder.

Add the meringue to a piping bag with a plain round tip. Pipe the meringue in a high peak.

Bake the cream puffs for 5 minutes, just until the surface sets, but haven't got any color. This makes it easier to cover in chocolate. Let the cream puffs cool completely.

Tempering the chocolate:

This is how I do it, but if you have your own way, that works for you, use that method.

Chop the chocolate finely, set just under ⅕ of the chocolate aside, and add the rest into a stainless steel bowl. Set the bowl on to a saucepan with very hot water (don't let the bowl touch the water) . Let the chocolate melt while stirring. When the chocolate reaches 102℉ (39℃), take the bowl off the hot water. While stirring let the chocolate cool until it reaches 79-82℉ (26-27℃), add the rest of the chopped chocolate and stir vigorously until its all melted. Put the bowl with chocolate over the hot water again, and heat the chocolate to 84℉ (29℃), and now its ready to use for coating.

Coating:

Place the cream puffs on a wire rack. Drizzle the chocolate on top until the whole peak is covered with chocolate. Tap the wire rack on the counter to get the excess chocolate to run off. Place the cream puffs in the refrigerator for a few minutes until the chocolate has set. 

Melt the dark chocolate and pipe eyes on the ghosts.

The liquorice ghosts will keep 3 days a 50-54℉ (10-12℃).

Enjoy!

Champagnebrus - Lime/Caramel Popsicle

Champagnebrus - Lime/Caramel Popsicle

Champagnebrus is a one of the most famous popsicles in Denmark. You can buy it in almost every store.

I had to try to make this popsicle and I believe I got pretty close.

Makes 6 popsicles.

Ingredients

• 3 limes,the juice from
• 15 key limes (or another 3 limes), the juice from
• 200 ml water
• 125 g sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons caramel syrup (Starbucks)
• 1 small drop green food color
• dark chocolate for topping

Equipment

• Popsicle mold, I used a Zoku
• Ice cream maker optional, I used a DeLonghi

Directions

Juice the limes and mix the juice with sugar, syrup, water and food color. Pour into the ice cream maker and run the machine until the mixture is partly frozen. Pour the mixture into the mold, and insert the sticks in the mold. You can cool the mixture in the refrigerator instead of using an ice cream maker. When completely frozen, dip the tip in melted chocolate.

Enjoy.

Passionfruit Petit Four

Passionfruit petit four

Passion fruit is the best fruit in the world. The tiny fruit has a big, bold tropical flavor. It is the taste of vacation.

I just found passionfruits in my local store I had to make these small dessert cakes (petit four) from chocolat.dk, that I have been wanting to make for the longest time.

It's a no-bake dessert with chocolate, with flavors that burst in your mouth.

4 small cakes.

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 30 g hazelnuts

• 70 g good milk chokolate

• 30 g pop rock candy (without flavor)

Filling:

• 40 g good white chocolate

• 25 g cream

• 2-3 passionfruits

Directions:

Crust:

Roast the nuts in the oven at 400°F (200°C) and grind them to a flour.

Melt the chocolate over a water bath, let the chocolate cool to 90°F (32℃), then mix in the pop rock candy and hazelnut flour.

Put the "dough" in the mini tart mold, don't make the crust to thick. Let the crust cool in the refrigerator.

Filling:

Chop the chocolate finely, and put it in a bowl, and set aside.

Cut open the passion fruits and scoop out the flesh/juice and strain out the seeds, set aside.

Bring the cream and passionfruit juice to a boil and pour it over the chocolate. Stir until all the chocolate is melted. Let the filling cool before pouring into the crusts. 

Keep the cakes in the refrigerator until you serve them. Decorate with freeze-dried passionfriut or shaved chocolate.

Serve the cakes with berries and a good vanilla ice cream.