Potted Pheasant Paté

December 28, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 2 Comments

It is the second time we make this delicious pheasant paté and it is just so damn good that we are going to make yet another portion tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, so that we can serve it for appetizers on New Years Eve before heading to the restaurant where we are going to eat this year.

We made it for the first time last winter and ate it in days, but never got time to make another portion as Christmas was coming. This year we have bought three pheasants and until now we have only used one, so there is plenty of pheasant meat to make another two portions so that we can spoil friend and family when they come over for a glass of red wine and a pheasant crostini 🙂

Ingredients (2 pots)

Pheasant Stock

1 pheasant, bones only

1 cup celeriac, diced

1/2 cup carrots, diced

1 cup onions, diced

10-15 peppercorns

Herbs (thyme, rosemary and bay leaves)

Water

Paté

1 pheasant, meat

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic

1 tbsp. duck fat

Salt and pepper

1 cup red wine

2 cups pheasant stock

2/3 cup bacon, diced

1/2 tsp. nutmeg, ground

1/2 tsp. black peppercorns

1/2 tsp. star anise

4 bay leaves

Stock

Skin and debone the pheasant – only the breast and leg meat is required for this recipe. Make sure that you have cleaned it thoroughly for feathers. Put away the pheasant meat while you make the stock.

Place the carcass and drumsticks in a sauce pan and cover it with water. Bring it to a boil while keeping an eye on it. Just before it begins to boil, all the impurities will come to surface – remove the impurities with a spoon so that your stock gets clear and pretty.

Add all the vegetables, peppercorns and herbs and let cook for one hour.
Strain the stock from the vegetables after an hour and continue to cook until the stock has reduced to the needed 2 cups (approximately 2 hours at medium-low heat).

Paté

Roughly chop onion and garlic cloves. Melt half of the duck fat and soften onion and garlic until the onions get a clear and shiny surface. Add the red wine and reduce until almost all the wine has evaporated. Add the stock and reduce again. You should end up with a approximately 1 cup of onion/stock.

While you reduce the stock you can prepare the meat. Mince the pheasant meat, diced bacon and the remaining duck fat on a coarse mince setting. Grind the peppercorns together with nutmeg and anise using a pestle and mortar. Add to the minced meat together with the stock reduction and pass it through the mincer again.
Season with salt and pepper and stir to combine all ingredients evenly.

Take a small amount of the mixture, fry if and taste. Season more if required.

Divide the mixture into two sterilized pots – be careful not to over fill the pots, otherwise the mixture will bubble over. Place two bay leaves in the top of each pot before putting the pots a bain-marie (water bath). Place the jar lids in a position where they can be closed quickly as soon as the come out of the oven.

Cook in the oven at 320F for 60 minutes. Remove from the oven, seal the jar immediately and leave to cool. Unopened the paté can be stored at room temperature for up to 4 weeks – this, of cause. depends on weather you have used sterilized pots or not. Fridge when opened.

Serve on a piece of toast as an appetizer for new years eve, birthday dinner or just for you and loved once on a cozy winter night with a glass of good red wine 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (2 pots)

Pheasant Stock

1 pheasant, bones only

2.5 dl celeriac, diced

1.25 dl carrots, diced

2.5 dl onions, diced

10-15 peppercorns

Herbs (thyme, rosemary and bay leaves)

Water

Paté

1 pheasant, meat

1 large onion

3 cloves garlic

1 tbsp. duck fat

Salt and pepper

2.5 dl red wine

5 dl pheasant stock

1.6 dl cup bacon, diced

0.5 tsp. nutmeg, ground

0.5 tsp. black peppercorns

0.5 tsp. star anise

4 bay leaves

Creamy Beet Soup

December 28, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

Soup, soup, soup and more soup… I have experimented with soups this December and I must admit that I have made some pretty awesome variation with the vegetables in season.
Years ago we never thought about using what was in season – we just bought whatever ingredients was necessary to make what we wanted for dinner. Today we most often pick our vegetables at the local farmers market where we can get fresh seasonal vegetables, which makes it a lot more fun than buying them in the local super market where it have been lying for days. What would be even better is to grow the vegetables our selves, but as we live in an apartment it is quite difficult for us to grow anything else than herbs, tomatoes, cucumbers and chilies. To our luck, my parents have a garden where we can grow potatoes, beets, celeriac, zucchinis, onions, brussels sprouts, carrots, strawberries, raspberries, black currant and apples 🙂 Or to be honest, my parents grow it and we eat it!

The beets and onions for this soup is bought while the celeriac and jalapeños is home grown and the vegetables stock home made from vegetables residues.

Hope that you will enjoy the soup 🙂

Ingredients (4 serving)

26 oz. celeriac, peeled

26 oz. beet roots, peeled

8 oz. onions

1 jalapeño

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

2 tsp. dried coriander

1 lemon, juice

5 cups vegetable stock

1/3 cup sour cream

1/4 cup bacon, fried

1/4 cup cashew nuts, roasted

Salt & pepper

Chop celeriac, beets and onions in 1/2-inch pieces and the jalapeños in slices.
Warm the oil in a sauce pan and add all the vegetables. Sauté for 4-5 minutes until all vegetables has adapted the beautiful color from the beets.

Add cayenne pepper, dried coriander and lemon juice and stir to combine.

Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Transfer to a stand blender and blend until smooth. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Add more vegetables stock or water for a thinner consistency.

Pour the soup in small soup bowls and garnish with sour cream, fried bacon and roasted chopped cashew nuts.
Serve on a busy and cold week night or as a starter when having friend or family over for a three course dinner 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (4 serving)

750 celeriac, peeled

750 beet roots, peeled

225 g onions

1 jalapeño

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

2 tsp. dried coriander

1 lemon, juice

1.25 liter vegetable stock

0.8 dl sour cream

0.6 dl bacon, fried

0.6 dl cashew nuts, roasted

Salt & pepper

Stewed Kale – a modern interpretation

December 28, 2013January 4, 2015 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 3 Comments

Stewed kale is yet another nordic traditional dish which is served around christmas. It can be prepared in many variations but the most common is a regular white roux with minced kale and seasoned with salt and pepper and is served with a variation of pork. In my childhood (the 1980s) it was a popular, easy and cheap dish, but I (Ann) don’t remember that we had it that often, but I definitely remember that I hated it 🙂 Chris on the other hand, grew up in Atlanta GA so when I talked about renewing an old enemy into something delicious and fresh, he did not know who the enemy was 😉

This modern interpretation of an old and boring enemy from my childhood have ended up being one of my own winter favorites and both Chris, the remaining family and our friend has giving it thumbs up, and several people have asked for the recipe – so friend, here it is 🙂

Hope that you will try it and leave a comment with your thoughts about it 🙂

Ingredients (4 servings)

3 pounds fresh kale

2 large red onions

1 lemon, zest and juice

2 tbsp. butter

2 tbsp. flour

1 cup vegetable stock

2 cups whole milk

1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Salt & pepper

1/3 cup cashew nuts, roasted

Rinse the kale carefully in cold water and remove the stem. Bring a large sauce pan to a broil, turn the heat down to the lowest point and add 1/3 of the rinsed kale. Let steam for 4-5 minutes in the hot water before transferring to a bowl with cold water. This step will ensures that the kale keeps the beautiful green color. Repeat process with the remaining 2/3 of the kale.
Twist all the water out of the kale when cooled and place on a chopping board and chop it roughly (bite-sized – not to large, not to small)

Divide the onions in two and chop them in thin slices.
Melt the butter in a large sauce pan and sauté the onions and lemon zest for 3-4 minutes or until the onion slices begin to get transparent. Add flour and stir to combine. Add 1/5 cup vegetable stock, stir until combined and thickened and repeat with the remaining stock and all the milk. Make sure that the liquid is incorporated into the roux before adding more – otherwise you will end up with a thin and indifferent sauce.

Add parmesan cheese and season with salt and pepper – taste and season more if necessary. Add the steamed and chopped kale, stir and let cook at low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Arrange on a plate or in a dish and garnish with roasted chopped cashew nuts. On the picture for this post it was served with pulled pork in whisky bbq sauce, but we also served it for this years family christmas dinner together with turkey, mashed potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, stuffing and cranberry sauce 🙂

Bon Appétit friends!

Ingredients (4 servings)

1400 g fresh kale

2 large red onions

1 lemon, zest and juice

25 g butter

2 tbsp. flour

2.5 dl vegetable stock

5 dl whole milk

0.8 dl parmesan cheese, grated

Salt & pepper

0.8 dl cashew nuts, roasted

Christmas Give Away

December 17, 2013December 19, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 4 Comments

The Christmas holidays are near and many people are busy buying gifts and planning and preparing Christmas dinner. In our household, we haven’t bought a single gift yet and planning and prepping Christmas dinner will also need to wait a few days more. But one thing which we have prepared is the christmas candy and cookies which this year consists of chocolate truffles, caramel truffles, marzipan treats, filled chocolates and a lot of christmas cookies 😀

Whenever we need chocolate inspiration we visit two Danish chocolate blogs – Anne au Chocolat and Chocolat. They both make the most wonderful recipes containing chocolate in many variations and one cannot avoid being chocolate hungry when looking at their recipes and pictures.
The two girls have used the fall to prepare for new cookbook with the title Lykken er Chokolade (Chocolate Happiness). The book is in Danish and is published in February 2014. Until then, you can buy gift cards which can be exchanged for a book when published. BUT you can also participate in this Give Away and hope to be the one who will win an extra Christmas gift 🙂

To participate in the Give Away you will have to:

1) write a comment telling us your which Christmas candy is your favorite

The Give Away will be open worldwide, but remember that the book is written in Danish. The winner will be drawn on December 24th 12am Danish time.

Butternut Squash Soup

December 14, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

Flavorful food doesn’t have to contain a lot of spices or ingredients and this delicious butternut squash soup is a perfect example! It only contains a few ingredients and is only seasoned with salt and pepper and it tastes so fabulous and simple. The sweetness form both the sautéed shallots and the roasted butternut squash combined with stock, sour cream and fried kale is just perfect – and then it is healthy 😉
In the recipe we have written “chicken/vegetable” stock but we alway use home made chicken stock ourselves, but are you a vegetarian or are you serving the soup for vegetarians, you can replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock.

We have made many soup this spring and the first two weeks of the winter and we will try to upload as many soup recipes as possible during the remaining winter season.

Hope that you will enjoy the soup as much as we have done and please leave a comment with your honest opinion 🙂

Ingredients (4 servings)

Soup

1 butternut squash

4 banana shallots

1/2 tbsp. butter

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1 cup water

1 cup sour cream

Salt & pepper

Garnish

2 cups kale, chopped

1 cup canola oil

Slice the butternut squash in two and remove the seeds. Place on a piece of baking paper and bake at 400F for approximately 1 hour or until tender.

Peel the baked butternut squash and chop the squash meat into 1 inch cubes. Slice the shallots. Melt the butter in a sauce pan and sauté the sliced shallots for a few minutes. Add the chopped baked squash pieces and sauté for a further 5 minutes. Then add stock and water, season with salt and pepper and stir to combine and bring to a boil. Put the lid on and let cook at medium/low heat for 45-50 minutes.

Transfer the soup to a blender and blend until smooth. Taste and season again if necessary. Pour the blended soup through a strainer and back into the sauce pan. Add sour cream and stir to combine. Remove the soup from the heat and let rest while making the garnish.

Rinse the chopped kale in cold water and squeeze it in a tea towel to remove as much water as possible.

Heat up the canola oil to 320F and fry the kale 1/2 a cup at a time. Transfer the fried kale to a plate with paper towel.

Pour the soup into four soup bowls and garnish with the fried kale. Enjoy the soup with family and friend – promise that everyone will love it 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (4 servings)

Soup

1 butternut squash

4 banana shallots

5 g butter

5 dl chicken or vegetable stock

2.5 dl water

2.5 sour cream

Salt & pepper

Garnish

5 dl kale, chopped

2.5 dl canola oil

Our Growing Edge: Chili and Liquorice Caramel Truffles

December 10, 2013December 11, 2014 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 2 Comments

Last month we were invited to participate in Our Growing Edge which is a monthly blogging event where bloggers from all over the world add recipes or ideas that new to them. The event is hosted by Leah from Melbourne who has the blog Sharing the Food We Love – take a look at her site and be inspired 🙂

This month we have decided to participate with these delicious truffles as it is out first attempt to make, but definitely not the last 🙂

Yesterday we blogged about the most amazing sea salt caramel truffles that we have ever tasted – and made. The combination of the sweet and soft caramel, the sea salt and the powerful Amedei chocolate 🙂

During the process with the sea salt caramels, I came to think of our passion for chili (actually I prepared dinner, touched a chili and rubbed my eye) and decided that I would try a more spicy version with chili and liquorice and they turned out to be the most wonderful combination of flavors that we wish for everyone to try 🙂

The basics is the same as for the sea salt caramels, so it is only the sprinkling and chocolate that differs. If you want to make these delicious petit fours, I’ll recommend that you choose a good quality chocolate like Valrhona or Amedei as we used here, but a cheaper but still good brand is also okay.

Hope that you and your family will enjoy the caramel truffles just as much as we have done 🙂

Ingredients (70 caramels)

1 cup sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 stick butter

1 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp. chili flakes, for sprinkling

3 tbsp. raw liquorice powder

10 oz. white quality chocolate (70%), I prefer Amedei Toscano White

In a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the sugar, corn syrup, butter and 1/2 cup of the cream. Bring to a simmer, stirring constantly, and then cook, stirring, until a candy thermometer registers 240°F, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat and drizzle in the remaining 1/2 cup cream, stirring to mix well. The mixture will bubble up slightly.

Return the pan to the heat and continue to cook until the thermometer registers 244°F, about 10 minutes more. Remove from the heat and pour the mixture into a prepared pan.

Let stand for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. The mixture should be firm to the touch but not hard. Using a teaspoon, scoop out and form balls of caramel and place them on a sheet of baking paper. If you want the caramels to be exactly the same size, you can weight the caramels – to get 70 caramels, they should weight 0.35 oz each. The caramel scraps can be gathered and shaped into balls by hand. Sprinkle each ball with a few grains of sea salt. Let stand for 1 hour before dipping.

Chop the chocolate roughly and melt 2/3 in a heat proof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Pour the melted chocolate over the remaining chocolate and wait for 30 seconds before you begin to stir.
Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.

Dip the caramel balls one at a time into the chocolate, turning to coat. Transfer to the baking paper to cool. Add a sprinkle of raw liquorice powder to the top of each truffle and let stand until the chocolate is firm and set.
Store in layers, separated by waxed paper, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (70 caramels)

2.5 dl sugar

2.5 dl light corn syrup

113 g butter

2.5 dl heavy cream

2 tbsp. chili flakes, for sprinkling

3 tbsp. raw liquorice powder

285 g white quality chocolate (70%), I prefer Amedei Toscano White

Sea Salt Caramel Truffles

December 9, 2013December 10, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 3 Comments

Every year around christmas time I crave for truffles – who doesn’t?? And as my cooking skills have developed a lot within the last one-two years, I decided to advance from simple chocolate truffles to something a bit more advanced (of cause I will still be making chocolate truffle).
Looking for some cooking tools at Williams-Sonoma’s home page I stumbled upon this sea salt caramel truffle recipe and rushed to the nearest super market to by sea salt 🙂

I’ve made caramels many times before and find it relatively easy as long as I have the appropriate tool (a candy thermometer!!!), but it is quite time consuming so if you consider to try it – what a silly question, I know that you consider trying it 😉 – do it on a day where you have other duties to do at home, so that you can combine things (make the caramel mixture, do the laundry, roll the caramels, prepare dinner, cover caramels with chocolate, serve dinner, eat caramels with evening coffee 🙂 ).

I had a cookie jar with christmas cookies (vanilla wreath cookies, gingerbread cookies and Jewish cookies) and these lovely truffles with me to the office this morning, and OMG i was popular 🙂

Ingredients (70 caramels)

1 cup sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 stick butter

1 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp. sea salt, for sprinkling

10 oz. dark quality chocolate (70%), I prefer Amedei Toscano Black

Return the pan to the heat and continue to cook until the thermometer registers 244°F, about 10 minutes more. Remove from the heat and pour the mixture into a prepared pan.

Dip the caramel balls one at a time into the chocolate, turning to coat. Transfer to the baking paper to cool. Add a sprinkle of salt to the top of each truffle and let stand until the chocolate is firm and set.
Store in layers, separated by waxed paper, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (70 caramels)

2.5 dl sugar

2.5 dl light corn syrup

113 g butter

2.5 dl heavy cream

2 tbsp. sea salt, for sprinkling

285 g dark quality chocolate (70%), I prefer Amedei Toscano Black

Stormy Red Lentil Soup

December 5, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 2 Comments

Today we have one of the biggest and longest storms we have had for many many years here in Denmark. All the TV channels report from the storm, the police advice everyone to stay indoor and one person has already been reported dead 😦 We had a hurricane back in October where three people lost their lives but it only lasted a few hours, whereas the storm today will last up to 24 hours. At the moment all bridges has been closed, national trains has stopped all traffic and some of the airports has cancelled all traffic for the rest of the day….

So what to do on a #do#not#leave#the#house#not#even#to#go#buy#groceries?? Well, I have been doing many things, some more interesting than others. First I have been preparing for tomorrow where we are going to make lots of beef jerky and one of my favorite christmas dishes: pheasant paté :-). Then I have played with some 100% chocolate and condensed milk, trying to make truffles – that did not go well (but it tasted fabulous). After that I decided to make soup for dinner, opened the kitchen cabinets and found a bag of red lentil – so it was an easy choice today as red lentil soup tastes delicious 🙂

While soup was cooking a made a few gloss paper christmas hearts (pictures will follow) and now I am enjoying a glass of Glenburgie-Glenlivet whisky and a piece of Amedei chocolate 🙂 And hopefully Chris will come home from work in a few hours, so that I won’t have to sleep alone!

Bag to the soup…. I have tasted lentil soup many times before but never made it myself. It was easier than expected and it tasted so delicious that I called Chris all excited to let him know that I had just made a perfect soup 🙂 Hope that you will try the recipe and leave a comment wether you like it , love it or hate it!

Ingredients (4 servings)

Soup

1 tbsp. butter

2 large onions

2 garlic cloves

1-2 red chili

1 tbsp. tomato paste

1 large tomato

1 1/2 cup red lentils

4 cups chicken stock

1 cup water

1 cup milk

1/2 cup cream

1/3 cup red wine

Salt & pepper

Garnish

1 cup macadamia nuts

1 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1 bundle pea shoots

Chop onions, garlic cloves, chili and tomato finely (today I used my Nicer Dicer – the smallest step). Melt the butter in a sauce pan and sauté onions, garlic and chili for 4-5 minutes. Add tomato paste and chopped tomatoes and sauté for yet a few minutes.

Add lentils, chicken stock and water, put the lid on the sauce pan and let cook on medium-low heat for 50-60 minutes. Stir occasionally to aviod burning.

Transfer the cook lentil soup to a stand blender and blend until smooth. Add milk, cream and red wine, blend again, taste and season with salt and pepper.

While the soup is cooking you can prepare the macadamia nuts. Chop the nuts roughly and roast them on a dry pan until the begin to take on color and release a nutty note.

Pour the soup into your prettiest soup plates and and garnish with pea shoots and roasted nuts or grated parmesan cheese and nuts – both testes wonderful 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (4 servings)

Soup

1 tbsp. butter

2 large onions

2 garlic cloves

1-2 red chili

1 tbsp. tomato paste

1 large tomato

3.75 dl red lentils

1 liter chicken stock

2.5 dl water

2.5 dl milk

1.25 dl cream

0.8 dl red wine

Salt & pepper

Garnish

2.5 dl macadamia nuts

2.5 dl parmesan cheese, grated

1 bundle pea shoots

Gingerbread Cookies

December 5, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

Gingerbread cookies is one of my favorite christmas cookies and I believe that this recipes gives you the best gingerbread cookies that you have ever tasted (everyone says so)!!
I got the recipe 10 years ago from a high school friend who’s mother had it. In Denmark we call it brunkager (brown cookies), but when googling gingerbread cookies, the recipes looks quite similar 🙂

You might think that it contains to many ingredients, is too complicated to make or has a too long resting time (1 week), but please try it before you decide not go make it again, cause I an quite sure that you will find that it is all worth it 🙂

If you consider to make the recipe in your stand mixer, PLEASE the sure that the motor is big enough to run a heavy dough through out the entire kneading time – and if you have Kitchen aid stand mixer I can already now say, from my own bad experiences, that it can NOT do it!! So use your hands instead – that way you will also burn a few calories while kneading (maybe I should wear my heart rate monitor next time I make this recipe, to establish how hard I work 🙂 )

Well…. enough about all my crazy ideas – jump to the kitchen and get started so that you and your family can enjoy these fabulous cookies in the christmas days.

Ingredients (300 small cookies)

2 1/5 cup margarine

2 1/2 cup sugar

4/5 cup syrup

8 cups flour

2 tsp. ground cloves

2 tsp. ground cardamom

2 tbsp. ground cinnamon

3/4 cup almonds

3/4 cup candied orange peel, chopped

4 tsp. potash

2 tbsp. water, cold

Melt margarine, sugar and syrup in a sauce pan at medium-low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Stir occasionally to avoid it from burning. Set the mixture aside to cool until it reached body temperature (use your little finger as a thermometer) and make sure that it doesn’t get to cold!

While the cooling you can prepare the remaining ingredients. Blanche the almonds, roast them on a dry pan for a few minutes until they begin to release their lovely nutty flavor. Let cool and chop finely (but don’t blend into flour).
Chop the candied orange peel if it wasn’t already chopped when you bought it.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl, except potash, and mix well.
Combine potash and cold water and add to the dry ingredient mixture 1 minute before you plan to assemble the dough. Add the cooled margarine mixture to the flour and use a rubber spatula to fold together. When almost combined, transfer the cookie dough to the kitchen table and knead thoroughly – approximately 10-15 minutes. The consistency of the cookie dough will stay the same, but the kneading process is very important as it divides all the seasoning and give an equal result to all the cookies.

Cut the cookie dough into smaller pieces, cover with plastic wrap and fridge for 1-7 days (I alway bake 1/4 of the dough on the first day, and wait with the remaining to the seventh day).
Remove the cookie dough from the fridge a few hours before baking, to ensure that it is soft enough to roll out. Roll the dough out (approximately 0.1 inch thick) and cut the cookies with your favorite cookie cutters.

Bake on a piece of baking paper at 400F for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Eat the cookies immediately or store in an airtight container.

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (300 small cookies)

500 g margarine

500 g sugar

2 dl syrup

1 kg flour

2 tsp. ground clove

2 tsp. ground cardamom

2 tbsp. ground cinnamon

100 g almonds

100 g candied orange peel

4 tsp. potash

2 tbsp. water, cold

Vanilla Wreath Cookies

December 3, 2013December 5, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 4 Comments

Finally we reached December again and the christmas baking can begin 🙂 I just love baking christmas cookies, serve them for friend and family or wrap them in cellophane and use as a home made hostess gift.

Vanilla Wreath cookies is one of those cookies which I remember from visiting my grandparents around christmas, but it is actually the first time I have made them my self – and it was way easier than expected!
Some recipes call for a mincer to make vanilla wreaths, but I just used a piping bag (and my strong biceps 🙂 ) and I think that my vanilla wreaths is just as pretty as those made in the mincer 🙂

Which cookies do you bake for christmas??

I has been encouraged to participate in Bake Fest which is a monthly event created by Cooks Joy and has run for approximately two years now. I didn’t consider for many seconds as I love to share recipes and get inspired by others recipes. Moreover, it creates worldwide fellowship of bloggers which can learn so much from different food cultures all over the world 🙂

This month host is Lail who has the blog with a spin.

Ingredients (60 cookies)

1 vanilla pod, seeds

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 large egg (or 1 1/2 medium)

2 1/4 cup flour

3 oz. almond flour (grounded almonds)

Combine vanilla seeds, sugar and butter in a mixing bowl and beat with an electric mixer until evenly combined. Add the egg and beat again until combined. Finally add flour and almond flour and beat for a few seconds. Turn the cookie dough onto the kitchen table and knead until smooth.

Add the cookies dough to a solid quality piping bag with a star-shaped pipe. Press the dough in circles (2-inch in diameter) on a piece of baking paper and bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes or until slightly golden.

Let cool in a wire rack and store in air tight cookie container or serve immediately while baking another portion 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (60 cookies)

1 vanilla pod, seeds

225 g butter, room temperature

200 g sugar

1 large egg (or 1 1/2 medium eggs)

280 g flour

85 g almond flour

Food on Demant

by Ann & Chris Demant

Month: December 2013

Potted Pheasant Paté

Creamy Beet Soup

Stewed Kale – a modern interpretation

Christmas Give Away

Butternut Squash Soup

Our Growing Edge: Chili and Liquorice Caramel Truffles

Sea Salt Caramel Truffles

Stormy Red Lentil Soup

Gingerbread Cookies

Vanilla Wreath Cookies