Elderflower Madeleines

Elderflower Madeleines

This is my summerly take on the classic French Madeleine cookie. Basically it's small pound cake bites, baked in small seashell shapes, aka a madeleine pan. They are really tasty, and are perfect with a cup of afternoon tea.

You can make the batter the day before, and make them fresh for the weekend brunch. This works because the batter can rest up to 24 hours in the refrigerator before baking. 

Makes 24

Ingredients:

• 85 g butter, salted
• 2 eggs
• 75 g sugar
• 3 tablespoons elderflower syrup, I use d'arbo elderflower syrup
• 110 g all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder 
• confectionary (powder) sugar for sprinkling

Directions:

Whisk together the flour and baking powder. In a separate bowl (for the stand mixer), beat the eggs for about 30 seconds, until they are frothy. Add sugar, and whisk for about 5 minutes, until the pale, fluffy and tripled in volume.

Slowly add the dry ingredients and the melted butter + syrup in batches, and mix them slowly in. Be careful not to over mix the batter.

Let the batter rest in the refrigerator for about an hour to chill and hydrate the flour. This will give the madeleines the classic bump on the back, if you skip this step, the batter will still rise, but not as much.

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃), and spray the madeleine pans with nonstick cooking spray, set aside.

Pour about 1 tablespoon of batter into each mold and bake for 15-17 minutes, until golden brown. You want the edges to be crispy and the inside light and fluffy.

Let the madeleines cool for a minute or two. Gently use a knife to loosen the madeleines from the pans and let them cool on a wire rack. For more elderflower taste, brush the warm madeleines with some of the syrup.

Sprinkle the madeleines with confectionary sugar, just before serving.

Enjoy!

Gingerbread House

Gingerbread House

December 17 th.

Nothing says Christmas like a homemade gingerbread house.

Template for large gingerbreadhouse.

The recipe is from a Danish Weekly magazine

Ingredients:

• 125 g butter

• 200 g dark syrup or molasses

• 150 g brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon ground cardamom

• 3 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• ¼ teaspoon ground all-spice

• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

• 2 teaspoons baking soda

• 1 egg

• 500 g all-purpose flour

Directions:

Melt butter, syrup/molasses and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Remove from heat, and stir in baking soda and spices. Let the syrup cool down for a bit, before you add egg and flour. 

Add syrup to a stand mixer, and mix in the egg and flour and keep mixing until you have a smooth and shiny dough. 

Let the dough rest in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, before rolling out.

Preheat the oven to 355 ℉ (180℃).

Roll out the dough on a floured surface. The dough needs to be about 0.1-0.2-inch (3-5 mm) thick. Cut out the small and large house and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. If you want other shapes than gingerbread houses, use cookie cutters to cut them out.

Bake the cookies for about 5 minutes for cookies, and 10-12 minutes for the larger pieces for the houses.

For houses with candy windows. Bake the house-parts for 5-7 minutes, remove from the oven and fill the windows with crushed Jolly Ranchers hard candy. Bake the house for another 5 minutes until it's baked and the candy is melted and filled out the window frame. Glue the house together with royal icing or hot melted sugar. And go crazy with the decorating.

For cookies - decorate your heart out with color and sprinkles.

The Danish version:

Peberkagehus

Skabelon til et stort peberkagehus.

Opskriften er fra: Familie Journal.

Ingredienser:

• 125 g smør

• 200 g mørk sirup

• 150 g brun farin

• 1 tsk stødt sort peber

• 1 tsk stødt ingefær

• 1 tsk stødt kardemomme

• 3 tsk stødt kanel

• ¼ tsk stødt allehånde

• ¼ tsk stødt nelliker

• 2 tsk natron

• 1 æg

• 500 g hvedemel

Fremgangsmåde:

Smelt smør, sirup og farin i en tykbundet gryde. Når det er smeltet, tag gryden af varmen, rør natron og krydderier i. Lad massen køle lidt af og kom den i en stor røreskål. Tilsæt æg og mel, og bland dejen indtil den er glat. Lad dejen hvile tildækket i køleskabet, i mindst 4 timer inden den rulles ud. 

Rul dejen ud til den er ca. 4-5 mm tyk. Skær både de små og store huse ud.

Dejen bages ved 180°C fra 5 minutter til 10-12 minutter - alt afhængig af om det er små kager eller større flader til peberkagehuse.

For huse med "glasvinduer" bages husdelen først 5-6 minutte, tag dem ud af ovnen og fyld vinduesrammen ud med knust bolche. Bag husdelen videre i 5 minutter, indtil bolchet er smeltet ud i vinduesrammen og kagen er gennembagt. Lim huset sammen med royal icing og dekorer som du lyster. 

Kager dekoreres med glasur og sprinkles.

Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies

Peppermint Candy Cane Cookies

December 11.

This is the classic milk and cookies dressed up for christmas.

The peppermint cookies are nice and minty, but still crispy and delicate like real candy canes.

Makes 36 candy cane cookies.

Cooking time: 13-15 minutes.

Temperature: 325℉ (165℃)

Prep. time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 160 g all-purpose flour
• 113 g (1 stick) butter, salted and room temperature
• 75 g sugar + more for springle
• 30 g confectionary sugar /powdered sugar
•  egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• red food coloring, I used 2 pea sized drop red gel food color

Directions:

Cream the butter with both sugars until pale and fluffy. Add the egg yolk, mix well. Add vanilla and peppermint extract. Slowly add the flour and mix until just combined.

Divide the dough into two, add the food coloring to one part, and mix until fully incorporated. Form each half into squares, and let them rest, wrapped in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325℉ (165℃), and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll each dough to a 9x9 inch (23x23 cm) square, and stack them on top of each other. Roll to seal them together. Cut the dough down the center and refrigerate both until firm about 15 minutes.Take out one halves and start cutting short strips that are about ¼ inch (¾ cm) thick. Gently twist the strip to lengthen it a bit and even out the edges. Roll the strips in granulated sugar and put them on the baking sheet in the shape of a candy cane. If your kitchen is warm you need to work fast or only take out a quarter of the dough, so the dough won't be to soft.

Bake the cakes for 13-15 minutes until just slightly brown round the edges. Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet, before transferring to a wire rack. 

Store in a separate airtight container at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Jødekager, Jewish Cookies

Jødekager, Jewish Cookies

December 7th.

Jødekager, aka Jewish cookies, is another classic Danish christmas cookie. It might seem weird that jødekager is a christmas cookie, but this type of cookies you would find at the jewish bakers in the 1700's in Denmark. 

Jødekager has always been a family favorite, and I can't see that changing.

Makes about 60 cookies

Ingredients:

• 325 g all-purpose flour
• 250 g butter
• 175 g sugar
• 2 egg yolks

Topping:

• 1 egg white
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon 
• 30-40 blanched almonds

Directions:

Mix flour and butter. I use a pastry cutter to incorporate the butter in the flour mixture. Mix until the butter/flour mixture resembles wet sand. Mix in sugar and egg yolks. Be careful not to overwork the dough. 

Let the dough cool for 30-45 minutes before rolling it out on a floured surface. It needs to be about 0.1-0.2-inch (3-5 mm) thick. Cut out the cookies with a 2-inch cookie cutter, and place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Brusk each cookie with egg white, and sprinkle with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Place a half almond on top.

Bake the cakes for 5-7 minuters until the edges gets light golden in color.

Cool the cookies on a wire rack and store them in an airtight container at room temperature.

Enjoy!

Florentines with Vanilla Buttercream

Florentines with Vanilla Buttercream

Dansk udgave

This crispy caramel and nut cookie is a classic in most of Europe. They are really tasty and fairly sweet.

They are really easy to make, and you don’t have to be a baker to make them. The most difficult will be making the buttercream. The cookies will look really fancy, with little to no work. You can use most kind of nuts, and even add some candied cherries if you like.

Makes 9 

Ingredients:

Nuts:

• 50 g sliced almonds

• 50 g chopped hazelnuts

• 25 g pistachios

Caramel:

• 100 g butter, salted

• 100 g sugar

• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons whipping cream

• 1 tablespoon thick syrup

Vanilla buttercream:

• 2 tablespoons pasteurized egg whites

• 100 g confectionary sugar

• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature

• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

Directions:

Preheat the oven for 350℉ (175℃).

Mix the ingredients for the caramel in a small saucepan. Gently heat the mixture until the butter and sugar are melted. Mix in the nuts, and remove from heat.

Scoop about a teaspoon of the mixture into 2 nonstick muffin pans. 

Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Gently remove the cookies from the pan. I used a knife to get them out. Let the cookies cool completely.

Buttercream:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, and whip the buttercream until thick and fluffy over a double boiler. I used a saucepan with very hot water, and placed my bowl on top of that. I didn't have it on the stove. It takes some time to get the buttercream nice and fluffy.

Pipe the buttercream on the bottom of half the cookies, top with the rest of the cookie, bottom side down, pressing lightly to adhere.

Serve with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

Enjoy!

The Danish version:

Florentinere

Ingredienser:

Nødder:

• 50 g mandelflager

• 50 g hasselnøddeflager

• 25 g hakkede rå pistacienødder

Karamel:

• 100 g saltet smør

• 100 g sukker

• 1 spsk hvedemel

• 2 spsk fløde

• 1 spsk mørk sirup

Vanillesmørcreme:

• 2 spsk pasteuriserede æggehvider

• 100 g flormelis

• 150 g smør, saltet og stuetemperatur

• ½ tsk vanille pasta eller kornene fra ¼ vanillestang

Fremgangsmåde:

Opvarm ovnen til 175℃.

Bland alle ingredienserne til karamellen i en lille gryde. Varm blandingen op indtil smør og sukker er smeltet. Bland nødderne i, og tag gryden af varmen.

Kom ca. en teskefuld af blandingen op i slip-let muffinforme, så det lige dækker bunden.

Bag kagerne i 10-12 minutter, indtil de er let gyldne. Køl kagerne af i 5-10 minutter inden de tages ud af formene. Lad kagerne køle helt af på en bagerist.

Smørcreme:

Bland alle ingredienserne i en skål og pisk smørcremen over vandbad, indtil den er let og luftig. Jeg satte skålen ovenpå en gryde med næsten kogende vand, uden at have varme under gryden, og jeg piskede med en en håndmikser.

Sprøjt smørcremen på undersiden af halvdelen af kagerne. Den anden halvdel lægges ovenpå dem med fyld, med bunden nedad.

Server kagerne med en god kop the eller kaffe.

Velbekomme!