milling mondays: danish christmas recipes

As I mentioned in my last post I can't believe that it is almost Christmas! So exciting:) I just love love Christmas time. I love the cozy times spent with family and friends. Christmas trees and decorations, gift exchanges, Christmas smells, and yummy yummy food and dessert that are served this time of year. This season is often filled with nostalgia for me and with that the desire to make Christmas recipes I grew up enjoying. Here are some of my favorite yummy Danish Christmas treats featured on this blog if you want to try something new and delicious.


Vanillekranse

Brunkager

Danish Rye Bread with Dried Fruit, Seeds and Nuts

Æbleskiver

Ginger Cake (Ingefærkage)

If baking isn't your thing and you enjoy yummy smelling Christmas candles you can head over to Waiting Hearts Candle Co using this link to purchase some.

christmas tree farm 2013

We joined Michael's sister and family at the tree farm after Thanksgiving to help them find a Christmas tree. It was fun getting to be part of this tradition again this year.

  

  

 

milling mondays: brunkager (danish christmas cookies)

Christmas is right around the corner so it is time for brunkager (brown cookies)! Growing up in Denmark, Christmas always included brunkager.  Brunkager are a very traditional Danish Christmas cookie that tastes a little like ginger snaps (even though this recipe does not have any ginger:). They are crunchy with a spicy flavor and not too sweet . They taste like Christmas ... at least to me! Growing up, my farmor and mom made these cookies and actually you probably can't go to a Danish home at Christmas time and not be served brunkager .... so this year, it was my turn to make some. YUM! I hope you love them as much as I do.

Brunkager (Danish Christmas Cookies)

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Ingredients

200g whole wheat flour (150g soft wheat berries and 50g hard wheat berries)

1/2 tsp hartshorn

1 tsp clover

1 tsp cinnamon

125g butter, cut into pieces

90g brown sugar

48g  corn syrup

20-30g almonds, blanched and finely chopped

Directions

 Prepare your almonds by soaking them in boiling water and then remove the skin before chopping.

If you mill your own flour, grind your soft and hard wheat berries (you may want to grind just a little more since you are going to sift the flour). I use my WonderMill on the pastry setting. Sift the flour twice removing some of the bran in order to make the cookies less dense.

Combine the flour, hartshorn, clover and cinnamon.  

  

 

Then add the butter and mix it into the dry mixture using your fingers.

 

Mix in the brown sugar, syrup, and almonds until it forms a dough.

 

 

Once the dough is formed divide the dough into two logs and refrigerate them.

 

Preheat oven to 375F.

Once the dough has become firm enough in the fridge to cut the dough into thin cookies use a very sharp knife to do so (if the dough starts to become too soft to cut it, put it back in the fridge).

 

Place the cookies on a parchment lined/prepared baking sheet.

 

Bake for about 5 minutes.

ENJOY this little piece of Christmas.

 

milling mondays: danish christmas cookies (vanillekranse)

One of the cookies I always looked forward to eating during the Christmas season in Denmark was vanillekranse (vanilla wreaths). My mom would always bake these yummy crunchy cookies with a hint of vanilla. They are even yummy as a whole wheat cookie - the whole wheat flour does not compromise the lovely taste.

Whole Wheat Vanillekranse (Danish Christmas Cookie)

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Ingredients

500 g whole wheat flour (2/3 soft wheat berries and 1/3 hard wheat berries)
1/4 tsp baking powder
75 g finely chopped blanched almonds
1 vanilla bean (or you can try using 1-2 tsp pure vanilla extract)
375 g butter, sliced into smaller pieces
1 egg
250 g sugar


This recipe yields as many as 195 cookies. Yes, almost 200, so you can halve the recipe if you want. But trust me, they will be devoured.

Directions

First, if you mill your own flour, mill 375g soft wheat berries and 125g hard wheat berries (you may want to mill a little more wheat berries since you will be sifting the flour).  I use the pastry setting on my WonderMill.

If you milled your own flour, sift the flour twice to make the flour more light by removing some of the bran. Use a very fine sift to ensure as bran is left behind.  I use this one. 

Combine the whole wheat flour, baking powder and chopped blanched almonds in a bowl.

Slice the vanilla bean lengthwise from end to end. Scrape inside of the bean with the edge of a knife and pull out the seeds.

In a separate bowl add the vanilla bean seeds, sugar, and butter and mix it together. I use my Kitchen Aid on setting 2.


Then add the egg and mix again.


Finally, add in the flour, baking powder, almond mixture.



Mix everything together until combined. Don't over mix it.

Let the kneaded dough rest in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or overnight.

When you are ready to bake the cookies pre-heat the oven to 395F.

Now that the dough is cold and more firm roll it out into a thin rope. Cut the rope into 3-4 inch pieces. Shape the pieces into wreaths . Or if you have a meat grinder with a cookie attachment or cookie press you can skip the step of rolling it out yourself.



Place the cookie wreaths on a cookie sheet. Since I don't have a meat grinder or a cookie press I then use a fork with a little flour to make an impression on the cookie for it to look more like a wreath.



 

  

Bake the cookies for about 7 minutes. Be careful not to bake them too long. They are ready when the edges are light brown.

Take them out of the oven and place them on a cooling rack.

And enjoy. They are yummy and full of Christmas.

milling mondays: layer cake (lagkage)

I grew up eating layer cake or as I grew up calling it, LAGKAGE, for my birthday.  Lagkage is a common type of birthday cake in Denmark. 

One year my mom surprised my brother and Michael with a lagkage to celebrate their birthdays (which is only a couple of weeks apart). This was Michael's first time tasting lagkage ... and he was hooked! He has talked about this lovely treat many times since then. I hadn't been brave enough to make the cake myself because I thought making the cake layers would be too difficult (in Denmark you can buy these layers pre-made).  Knowing how much my husband loves this cake, I requested that my mom make it for Michael over Thanksgiving as a delayed birthday cake. Instead, she and I made it together and I realized that it isn't actually as difficult as I had imagined. SO, maybe I will start making this layer cake for my husband on his birthdays to come after all:)

Whole Wheat Layer Cake (Lagkage)

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Ingredients

Cake Layers

3 eggs

150 g sugar

100 g whole wheat flour (2/3 soft wheat berries and 1/3 hard wheat berries)

50 g potato starch

2 tsp baking powder

this yields 3 layers

Cake Filling

Fruit Jam such as strawberry or apricot jam

Fruit such as bananas, pineapples, strawberries, and/or apple sauce

Chocolate chips and/or nuts

Half box vanilla pudding

Whipping cream or cool whip

These are only suggestions. You can put whatever you desire between the layers

Cake Frosting

100 g powdered sugar

30 g cocoa

Heavy whipping Cream

Sprinkles

Directions

Preheat your oven to 437F.

Wisk together the eggs really well with a hand mixer. Add the sugar a little at a time. Mix it well until it is fluffy and light.

If you mill your own flour, mill 75g soft wheat berries and 25g hard wheat berries (you may want to mill a little extra wheat berries since you will lose some when you sift the flour).  I use the pastry setting on my WonderMill. Sift the freshly milled flour once to eliminate some of the bran to make the layers a little more light. Use a very fine sift to ensure as much of the bran as possible is left behind.  I use this one. 

Fold in the freshly milled flour, potato starch and baking powder to the egg and sugar mixture.

Pour the mixture into three round pans.

Bake the layers for about 5 min.

While they are baking get three sheets of parchment paper ready and drizzle some sugar on them. The sugar will keep the baked layer from sticking to the parchment paper.

When the layers are done, take them out of their pans and let them cool on the parchment paper.

Once the cake layers are done you are ready to add the filling. As mentioned above, you can add whatever you want as the filling. The suggestions you see in the ingredients list are ones we have used in the past.

Spread fruit jam on each layer (make sure to add the jam and toppings to the bottom side of the top layer so your top layer doesn't have anything on top side).

Then add fruit on top of the jam.

Mix together some vanilla pudding using the directions on the box. I only use half a box. Add some whipped heavy cream or cool whip to make the pudding mixture more fluffy and rich. Spread this mixture on each layer.

Finally add some chocolate chips and/or nuts.

Carefully lift each layer on top of each other.

This is one of those cakes that tastes better the longer it sits (well within reason:)) Cover the cake and let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days for the jam and fruit to soak into the layers.

When you are ready to serve the layer cake add the frosting. Mix together the powdered sugar and cocoa using just a dash of water. Spread it over the layers.

Finally whip some heavy cream or use cool whip to decorate the sides of the cake however you see fit. We usually add some sprinkles and candles if it is for a birthday to make it even more festive.

And there you have it. A wonderful layer cake. Or as I call it lagkage and my husband calls it - the best birthday cake ever. 



juleaften

Being danish, we celebrate Juleaften (Christmas) on December 24. We had a wonderful day/evening.  This was Michael and Anders' first danish Christmas so they were introduced to many danish traditions.

We had amazing food. After dinner we ate the traditional rice pudding dessert - risalamande - where an almond is hidden. I found the almond in my bowl ... and won the mandelgave (almond gift) ... dark chocolate:)

One of the fun danish traditions is dancing around the Christmas tree while singing danish Christmas songs

lille juleaften (little christmas eve)

As a danish family we have always celebrated the night before Christmas Eve - Little Christmas Eve (Lille Juleaften). In many danish families, this is the day the tree is bought and decorated. In our family we have the tradition of playing a game called 10,000 while eating lots of candy, chocolate, Christmas cookies etc. This was Michael's first lille juleaften experience and he did great. Andreas and Ashley were the winners this year - way to go Team Vang!