Cremelinser - Custard filled Tartlets

Cremelinser - Custard filled Tartlets

Danes like their cakes. Cremelinser or custard filled tartlets is another classic danish cake. The cake is not overly sweet, but has great textures. I really like the crispy flaky crust with the creamy vanilla filling.

I remember cremelinser as an old lady cake, mostly because we only got them when we went to visit my grandmother. I got a new appreciation for the cake, working at the baker's shop, where we sold loads of them to people in all ages.

Makes 8-10 tartlets.

Ingredients:

Custard:

• 3 egg yolks

• 2 tablespoons sugar

• 1 tablespoon cornstarch

• 2,5 dl milk

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Pastry:

• 300 g all-purpose flour

• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature

• 100 g confectionary sugar (powdered sugar)

• 1 egg

Directions:

Custard:

Beat the egg yolks and sugar until pale in color. Whisk in the cornstarch and vanilla paste.

Heat the milk to a slow boil, set aside. 

While whisking vigorously drizzle the warm milk into the egg yolk mixture, just a tiny bit at a time at first. Once you’ve added about ¼ of the milk, you can add the rest in a thin steady stream, whisking constantly.

Pour the mixture back in the saucepan and reheat it over medium heat. Whisk constantly until it thickens. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl.  Sprinkle with sugar or press some plastic wrap against the custard so it won't form a pudding skin. Chill the custard completely in the refrigerator.

Pastry:

Mix the butter in the flour and sugar in a stand mixer. Add the egg and mix just until the dough starts to lump together. Form the dough into 2 discs and wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 360℉ (180℃).

On a floured surface roll one of the dough discs to about 1/10-inch (3 mm) thickness. Cut out round a little larger than the tartlet pans. Line the pans, letting the dough hanging a bit over the edge. 

Roll out the other disc to the same thickness, and cut out rounds for tartlet lids.

Fill the tartlets ⅔ with the custard, and place the lid on top. Gently press down along the edge to seal the tartlet. Bake the tartlets for 15-20 minutes until light golden brown. The cooking time will vary depending on size.

Let the tartlets cool completely before removing from the pans. 

Enjoy!

Tivoli Cake

Tivoli Cake

The Tivoli cake is an old classic cake made the first time by Pastry chef Gert Sørensen for a gastronomical fair in 1923 at Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen Denmark.   

I have been wanting to make Tivoli cakes for a long time, but I have never found the right time before this week. I buckled under peer pressure ❤️ from a Facebook group for Danish women in the US. The Great Baking Show (Den store bagedyst) made a viewer competition, "who can make the best looking Tivoli cake?" And of cause I had to try.

Makes 10-12 cakes.

Ingredients:

Pastry:

• 300 g all-purpose flour
• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature
• 100 g confectionary sugar
• 1 egg

Jelly: 

• 6 tablespoons Red currant jelly (I used Smucker's)
• red food coloring (I use wilton red paste color)

Apple Sauce:

• 1 large apple, use an apple that are good for cooking: Granny Smith, Pippin, Gravenstein, Mcintosh, Jonathan, Jonagold, or Golden Delicious
• 40-50 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 100 ml water
• lemon juice, to taste

Meringue:

• 125 g egg whites (from about 4 large eggs)
• 350 g confectionary sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Rum custard:

• 1 sheet gelatin (1 teaspoon non-flavored gelatin)
• 30 g confectionary sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
• 60 g egg yolks (about 3-4)
• 50 ml dark rum
• 200 ml heavy whipping cream

Filling: 

• 400 ml heavy whipping cream

Directions:

Pastry:

Mix the butter in the flour and sugar in a stand mixer. Add the egg and mix just until the dough starts to lump together. Form the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic wrap, and let it rest for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 360℉ (180℃)

On a floured surface roll the dough to about 1/10-inch (3mm) thickness. Cut out round about 2¾-inch (7 cm) in diameter. Grease 10-12 2-inch (5 cm) small pans. Place the pastry in the pans, making small pastry shells/cups. Bake the shells for about 10 minutes until the shells are golden brown. Let the shells cool completely.

Jelly: 

Mix the ingredients, and heat it over a bowl of very hot water (just after it has boiled). Now the jelly is melting somewhat, but with some lumps. Run the jelly through a sift, to get rid of the lumps. Let the jelly set in a small bowl in the refrigerator. Put the jelly in a pastry bag with a small round tip.

Apple Sauce:

Peel, core and dice the apple. Bring all the ingredients to a boil in a small saucepan, and let it simmer, under lid, for about 10 minutes until the apple is soft, and forms an apple sauce. Season the sauce with lemon juice. (If you use a sweet apple, you might not need all the sugar.)

Meringue: 

In the bowl for the stand mixer, beat egg whites until stiff peaks. Add the sugar gradually, a couple tablespoons at a time, while still beating the egg whites. Keep beating the egg whites/meringue until it becomes thick and glossy. 

Using a pastry bag with a large (18 mm) round tip, pipe large round dots, ⅔-inch (2 cm) high and 2⅓-inch (6 cm) wide.

Let the meringue dots dry for about 30 minutes before baking, this will prevent the meringue from cracking.

Preheat the oven to 255℉ (125℃).

Bake the meringues for about 25 minutes, you don't want the meringue to get any color. Let the meringues cool completely before handling.

Rum custard:

Let the gelatin bloom in cold water for about 30 minutes. (If using powder, follow the instructions on the package). 

Whisk egg yolks thick and pale with sugar and vanilla.

Whip the heavy whipping cream to soft peaks.  

Squeeze any excess water from the gelatin and melt it in the rum over a double boiler. (I just put boiling water in a large pot, and place a stainless steel bowl on top, with the gelatin and rum.) You want the rum/gelatin mixture to heat to 122℉ (50℃).

Pour the rum into the egg mixture while whisking. Whisk half of the whipped cream into the egg mixture, and gently fold in the rest of the whipped cream.

Dip the top of the cooled meringue dots in the rum custard, place them on a baking sheet and let the custard set on the meringue in the refrigerator.

Building the cake:

Pipe a spiral on the dipped meringue, with the jelly.

Whip the cream to relatively stiff peaks, Be careful not to over-beat it, it will turn into butter. Transfer the whipped cream into a pastry bag with a large round tip (18 mm). 

Fill each pastry shell with about a tablespoon apple sauce. Pipe a large sphere/dollop of whipped cream on top of the applesauce, you want to cover the apple sauce and get some height to the cake. Place the meringue on top. 

Serve the cake as dessert or with a good cup of tea or coffee.

Enjoy!

The recipe is from Danish Televisions Den Store Bagedyst. 

Skagen Kakaosnitter - Cocoa Bites from Skagen

Skagen Kakaosnitter - Cocoa Bites from Skagen

These cocoa bites or bars, is a classic cake you will find at many baker's shops in Denmark. But they are really pretty easy to make, and the taste is so much better. I made these with the traditional raspberry jam, but I think a more tangy jam will work even better, with the sweet cake. 

The finished bars can be frozen, or will hold up for 3-5 days in an airtight container.

Makes 12-15 bars.

Ingredients:

Crust:

• 300 g all-purpose flour
• 150 g butter
• 125 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

Layer:

• 3-5 tablespoons raspberry jam

Topping:

• 100 g melted butter
• 300 g sugar
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 200 g shredded unsweetened coconut
• 3 eggs 
• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste
• 1 teaspoon espresso or strong coffee

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 435℉ (225℃). Line a 9x13-inch pan with parchment paper. You can use a larger pan, this will just make the cocoa bites thinner.

Crust:

Mix all the ingredients for the crust to a dough, form the dough to a flat square, wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Roll the dough out to the size of your pan, and transfer in into the pan. Bake the crust for 5-10 minutes until light golden. Let the crust cool in the pan.

Topping:

Mix the topping while baking the crust. 

Spread a thin layer of jam on the cooled crust, and pour the topping on top, and spread it in a even layer, all the way to the edges. 

Bake the cake for another 15-20 minutes.

Slice the cake into small bars, with a sharp knife. 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Sorbet

Chocolate Sorbet

Whatever the question, Chocolate is the answer!

The first time I heard about chocolate sorbet was at the Penny Ice Creamery in Santa Cruz. And even though I'm not a huge chocolate fan, I really like the flavor. This is my version of a chocolate sorbet.

Makes about 1 liter (1 quart)

Ingredients:

• 500 ml (2 cups+1 tablespoon) water
• 200 g (1 cup) sugar
• 75 g (⅔ cup) unsweetened coco powder, I use Valrhona
• 1 pinch salt
• 160 g (5⅔ oz) dark chocolate, I use Valrhona
• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste
• 1 tablespoon coffee

Directions:

In a large saucepan, whisk together water with sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Bring to a boil while whisking frequently. Let it boil for about 30 seconds, then remove from the heat. Pour the mixture into an stainless steel bowl, and stir in the chocolate until it's melted, then stir in the vanilla paste and espresso. Chill the mixture before freezing. Freeze the sorbet in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Profiterole

Profiterole

Profiterole or ice cream filled cream puffs, are a classic French dessert. And it is so so good. The cold ice cream with the crispy puffs and the warm chocolate is everything you need in a dessert.

Makes a lot of small puffs

Ingredients:

Cream puffs (pâte à choux):

• 100 g butter, salted

• 200 ml water

• 125 g all-purpose flour

• a pinch salt

• 1 pinch baking powder

• 3 large eggs

Chocolate sauce:

• 160 g dark chocolate

• 250 g heavy whipping cream

• 1 tablespoon sugar

• 1 teaspoon espresso

• 1 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

Filling:

• vanilla ice cream

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put water and butter in a medium saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium heat. In a bowl sift flour, baking powder and salt. When the butter is all melted add all the flour at once, and stir the mixture with a wooden spoon. Lower the heat and keep stirring until a dough is formed and it pulls away from the sides of the pan and is slightly shiny. 

Keep beating the dough with the wooden spoon until slightly cooled, about 2 minutes.  

Beat all the eggs in a bowl. Add a little of the beaten eggs, incorporating it thoroughly before adding more. Add the egg in small amounts until you have a thick paste but not runny at all.

Fill a large pastry bag fitted with an open tip, with the cream puff dough. Pipe quarter-size circular mounds about 2 inches apart, onto the parchment paper. To get the best tops on the cream puffs stop pressing on the pastry bag before you lift it, make a small circular move with your wrist as you lift the tip of the puff. If you have small tips on the puffs anyway, dab the tops of each puff with a fingertip dipped in water to smoothen the tops. 

Bake the puffs for 18-20 minutes, until they are puffed up and golden brown.

DO NOT open the oven while baking cream puffs, it will cause them to deflate.

Let the puffs cool on a wire rack.

Chocolate sauce:

Heat the cream in a small sauce pan, add chocolate, cocoa, coffee vanilla and sugar, and stir while heating. You don't want it to come to a boil.

Filling:

Fill each puff with about a teaspoon good vanilla ice cream.

Serve the profiterole with the warm sauce on top.

Enjoy!