Ebelskiver or Æbelskiver as we call it in Danish

December 18, 2014December 18, 2014 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 2 Comments

Ebelskiver, or æbelskiver as we say in Danish, is a very popular eating around Christmas. In our family it is tradition to eat ebelskiver in the afternoon on the 4 Sundays before Christmas (advent). Usually my dad bake them in the morning so they are all fresh, mount and crisp at the same time.
However, this year is quite different… My dad is still baking ebelskiver every week in December, but I am not there to eat them any more 😦 As some you know, we moved from Denmark to Atlanta earlier this year to fulfill a dream of owning our own business and create a heritage for the next generation of Demant(s). We are still setting up the business and due to our visa status we cannot go home to spent Christmas with our family, but will have to wait until we are ready to apply for the visa that will make us permanent residence. Hopefully we will be ready very soon!

Well, to get back to the ebelskive part, I have bought my own pan now that I am too far away from my parents house. I bought the electric model from William Sonoma as my dad recommended and I am very satisfied with it. It heats equally in all 9 holes and you can adjust the temperature pretty easily.

The ebelskive is a very old tradition in Denmark. The original ebelskive was a slice of apple turned in a pancake batter and fried on a pan. This version is dated back to the stone age. Later on during the renaissance the ebelskive became round, but still contained a piece of apple in the middle. This didn’t changes until the middle ages where the apple piece was removed and the ebelskive as we know it today was born.

My recipe is only one of thousands recipes for ebelskiver. Honestly I think that each family makes them differently. I, for example, makes them different than my dad as he used baking soda and baking powder, while I do the opposite. Other people use milk instead of buttermilk and the Americanized version calls for yeast… So the only rule that applies when you are making ebelskiver is the somehow round shape 🙂

Ingredients (27-30 ebelskiver)
2 cups buttermilk
9 oz. flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla sugar (or seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod)
Butter for the pan

Mix buttermilk and eggs in a large mixing bowl and the remaining ingredients in another bowl. Shift the dry ingredients into the wet and whisk well to combine.
Turn the ebelskive pan on full heat (medium/high if you use the old fashioned cast iron model) and place a small peace of butter in each hole. Add a 1/4 cup of the ebelskive batter to each hole and let bake until the batter is set in the bottom and the sides are firm and brown.
Use a fork or a stick to turn the ebelskiver. Turn each ebelskive 90 degrees and let sit for 45-60 seconds before turning them all the way around. This allows for the batter to set before turning them all around. This method will leave a small opening and a little hole in the middle of each ebelskive. I use it as a spoon to pick up the sugar and jam.
If you would rather like your ebelskiver to be perfect round, you can add a little bit of extra batter when you turn the ebelskive at 90 degrees.

Serve warm with powdered sugar and jam on a cold windy Sunday afternoon. Goes very well with a cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows 🙂

Bon Appétit Friends!

Ingredients (27-30 ebelskiver)
1/2 L buttermilk
250 g flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla sugar (or seeds from 1/2 vanilla pod)
Butter for the pan

Liquorice Marzipan – my Christmas addiction

December 5, 2014December 7, 2014 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

Licorice or lakrids as we say in Danish is a favorite of mine when it comes to sweets as well as alternative food spices. I use it regularly when i make my own sweets and as regular candy, my mom sends me a package once in a while, so I can build a stock.
Since I moved to Atlanta in April I haven’t really had any time to play in kitchen, but now that Christmas is around the corner, I have taken a few days out of the calendar to prepare the usual christmas cookies and candy.

I use liquorice products from Johan Bülow, a Danish entrepreneur how with an amazing drive and high quality products, and if you spent $90 or more you get free shipment world wide. However, if you don’t feel like spending that much money for a product you don’t know you can buy some cheaper liquorice powder (can be found in some middle eastern stores or online) and make the liquorice syrup your self (melt some salty liquorice in a little bit of water and wupti, you have made your own syrup).

The marzipan for this recipe is totally similar to a regular marzipan, but with half of the syrup replaced with liquorice in stead of simple syrup. So give it a try, it’s different but so delicious perfect for several Christmas treats 🙂

Ingredients (7 oz.)
3.5 oz. almonds, blanched
1 tbsp. simple syrup (find recipe below)
1 tbsp. salty liquorice syrup from Johan Bülow
1 drop almond extract
2 tsp. raw liquorice powder from Johan Bülow

Simple syrup:
9/10 cup sugar
1/3 cup corn syrup
4/10 cup water

Place all the ingredients for the simple syrup in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Let boil for a few minutes until the sugar is dissolved and the syrup thickens a bit. It is important not to let the syrup reduce to much as it will give you trouble when you are about to make the marzipan. Transfer the hot syrup to a heat- and air tight jar. You will only need 1 tbsp. for this recipe, but you can store the syrup for next time or for other purposes.

Place the blanched almonds in a blender and blend until it turns into flour. For me it takes 45-60 seconds, but my blender is pretty tired these days. I recommend that you take a look at it after 30 seconds. You can always give it more, not less.
Transfer your almond flour to medium mixing bowl and use a finger to make a hole in the middle.
Pour simple syrup, liquorice syrup, almond extract and raw liquorice powder into the hole and use your finders to mix it all together. Keep mixing until it stops being sticky and turns into smooth and uniform mass. Before you know it, you have a perfect and really tasty liquorice marzipan. If you feel that the mixing process takes too long you can transfer the mixture to a blender/food processor and run it high speed for approximately 30 seconds. This solution is only recommended if you have a blender/food processor with a strong motor. Other wise you might end up ruining the machine.

Wrap the marzipan in cling wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours before using it. This will allow the liquorice taste to be absorbed into the almond flour and create a beautiful sweet and salty flavor.

Suggested use:
(1) Divide into 18 equally small pieces and roll them into ball. Cover with tempered white chocolate and drizzle with raw licorice powder and lemon zest,
(2) or these alternative liquorice wreaths from Sweet, Sour, Savory.

Bon Appétit friends!

Ingredients (200 g)
100 g almonds, blanched
1 tbsp. simple syrup (find recipe below)
1 tbsp. salty liquorice syrup from Johan Bülow
1 drop almond extract
2 tsp. raw liquorice powder from Johan Bülow

Simple Syrup:
225 g sugar
75 g corn syrup
100 ml water

Cuban Rum Ice Cream

October 4, 2013October 6, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

We have wanted an ice cream maker for years, but Chris has been reluctant to let me as he claimed that he was not a huge fan of ice cream (the reason is that he is cheap 😉 ) Then one day I decided that now was the time to buy one and take the consequence if he god mad (I served the first ice cream and waited for his opinion before telling him that I had bought it, and he loved it)! So I began to search the web to find out which model to choose and on top of the wishlist was a Gelatissimo Exclusive but it is quite expensive and as we are planning some life changing events which quite certainly will be very expensive, I decided to choose an cheaper model.

We have had a Kitchen Aid stand mixer for several year and we use it almost every day – couldn’t live without it! Searching the web for reviews of Kitchen Aids ice cream maker I found mixed opinions but an old colleague of mine have spoken very well about, and I therefore chose to buy it and test it for myself (the price was of cause a huge part of the decision). This Cuban rum ice cream is my third ice cream and I must admit that I am very happy with the result and feel that Kitchen Aids ice cream maker is very good taking the price into consideration.

Ingredients (6 servings)

2 cups cream

2/5 cup whole milk

2/3 cup condensed milk

2 vanille pods, seeds

4 tbsp. Cuban Rum

Dark Quality Chocolate for topping

Whip the cream until light and fluffy. Add the remaining ingredients and and whisk to combine. Pour into your ice cream maker and let it run for approximately 20 minutes or until it tells you that the ice cream is finished. Serve immediately if you want a soft ice cream or transfer to an airtight container and freeze. We always freeze the ice cream for 2-4 hours before serving as we like the consistency to more firm than soft ice, but it is a only a matter of taste 🙂

Serve after a good dinner with a glass of rum 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (6 servings)

5 dl cream

1 dl whole milk

200 g condensed milk

2 vanilla pods, seeds

4 tbsp. Cuban Rum

Orange Cake with Chocolate chips and Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Aside ~ October 3, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

This was my first ever orange cake, and I must admit that i am quite proud of myself. It looks good and tastes delicious – what more can one demand?

Ingredients (10 servings)

1 stick butter, room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

1 1/4 cup flour

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 tbs. baking powder

1/4 tbs. salt

1/2 cup orange juice, fresh-squeezed

2 tbsp. orange zest

1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (I prefer to use Amedei Toscano Black 70%)

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

7 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup confectioners sugar

2 tbsp. orange zest

In one bowl whisk together flour, salt and baking powder.

In another bowl whisk together butter and sugar until light and fluffy with an electric mixer, then add one egg at a time and whisk thoroughly between each egg. Now add vanilla extract and whisk again.

Shift in flour mixture i two batches, alternating with orange juice. Whisk until just combined and smooth. Fold in orange zest and chocolate chips (if your chocolate chips are big, you might want to chop then into smaller pieces).

Add half of the batter into a 6 inch greased springform pan and bake at 350 degrees fahrenheit for about 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let rest on a wire rack for 10 minutes before removing the cake from the springform. Do the same with the other half of the batter. Let both cakes cool completely.

When the two cakes are cooled down, whisk together cream cheese and half of the confectioners sugar. Then add one tbsp. sugar at a time until the frosting has the right texture. Whisk till the frosting is smooth and fluffy. Fold in 2/3 of the orange zest.

Add one forth of the frosting on top of one of the cakes, and spread it around and make sure that you get all the way to the cake edge. Take the other cake at put on top of the first one. Cover the whole cake with the rest of the cream cheese frosting and sprinkle the last 1/4 tbsp. orange zest on top.

Ingredients (10 servings)

113 g butter, room temperature

112 g granulated sugar

3 large eggs, room temperature

155 flour

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 tbs. baking powder

1/4 tbs. salt

1.25 dl orange juice, fresh-squeezed

2 tbsp. orange zest

50 g dark chocolate chips (I prefer to use Amedei Toscano Black 70%)

Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

200 g cream cheese, room temperature

2.5 dl confectioners sugar

2 tbsp. orange zest

Banana and Blackberry Muffins with Browned Butter Glaze

September 13, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

Bananas is one of those wired fruits which you either love or hate. I out household we hate them, but due to their high level of carbohydrates I alway eat one after my training pass. Sunday evening I realized that I had bought new bananas without eating the old ones first, so I decided to use the old ones for some kind of cake. I never bake anything containing bananas so I did not have any recipes and I therefore had to ask my Facebook friends and search the web, and in the end it ended up the with a combination of several recipes 🙂

If you are more into chocolate than blackberries, you can of cause change that part of the recipe, but if you do that, I would recommend that you chop the chocolate and fold it into the batter instead of placing it in the middle, like the blackberries.

Ingredients (12 muffins)

1/3 cup butter, melted

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. soda

1 pinch of salt

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. honey

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 large bananas, ripe

45 blackberries, fresh or frozen

Glaze:

1 stick butter

1/4 cup sugar

Place bananas in a bowl ans mash well. Set aside while preparing the rest.

Shift flour, baking powder, soda, salt cinnamon and nutmeg into a bowl. Add sugar and mix well. In a second bowl, with a folk, beat together eggs, vanilla extract, honey, butter and milk.

Add the bananas to the egg mixture and stir to combine. Pour the flour mixture into the egg mixture in three steps, folding gently between each.

Line standard muffins tins with paper liners. Fill each paper line with 1 tsp. of the banana batter. Then place 4 blackberries in the middle of the batter. Then add another tsp. of the batter. Make sure that the blackberries are fully covered with banana batter.

Bake at 375F for 20 minutes or until at toothpick comes out clean. Let rest in muffin tins for 5 minutes and then 5 minutes in a wire rack.

While cooling, melt the butter in a saucepan and let brown lightly (be careful not to burn). Transfer to a small bowl – same diameter as the muffins. Dip the top of the cupcakes in the browned butter and sprinkle with sugar.

Serve immediately with a cup of good quality coffee or hot chocolate 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredienser (12 cupcakes)

75 g smør, smeltet

250 gram hvedemel

1 tsk. bagepulver

1/2 tsk. natron

1 knivspids salt

1/2 tsk. stødt kanel

1/2 tsk. stødt muskatnød

115 gram sukker

1 tsk. vanilje ekstrakt

1 tsk. honning

2 store banner, modne

2 æg

1.25 dl mælk

Triple Chocolate Cheese Cake

September 1, 2013November 25, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 1 Comment

Friday was my last day as research assistant at University of Southern Denmark. I was employed at the university during my Master studies in public health and stayed as research assistant after I graduated in April 2012. It was three great years where I developed many skills – both professionally and personally, but now it is time to move on and try something new 🙂

During the three year I have put my colleagues through at least 50-75 different cake recipes (especially in the months before our wedding) so of cause it was expected of me to bring a cake on my last day. A favorite of my own is a traditional cheese cake, but I have always (since I learned to eat cheese cake) wanted to bake a chocolate cheese cake and now I wonder why I did not do that earlier in my baking career. It was nothing less than WONDERFUL!

I found the recipe in an old Taste of Home Magazine, and made a few changes to fit what I had in the pantry that day. In the recipe I have written ‘quality chocolate’, and definitely believe that you should go and buy the best chocolate that you can find when making this cake, as the taste of chocolate is as intense as it is. Personally I always use chocolate from Amedei due to the fabulous taste and the fact the it is both gluten free and without any additives. It might seem expensive, but I promise you that you will get what you pay for – the best chocolate in the world (several of the products has won the Golden Bean Award, so I am not kidding when I promise you the best chocolate in the world).

As a new service to our European/Danish readers, I have converted all measures to the metric system. This can be found in the bottom of the post.

Ingredients (16 servings)

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

1 tbsp. baking cocoa

2 tbsp. sugar

1/2 cup butter, melted

Filling

32 oz. cream cheese, room temperature

1 1/3 cups sugar

10 oz. dark quality chocolate (70%), melted and cooled

1/4 cup baking cocoa

4 eggs (lightly beaten), room temperature

Ganache

3.5 oz. dark quality chocolate (63%)

1/3 cup cream

1 tbsp. butter

Berries for decoration

Cover the outside of an 9-inch springform pan in a double layer tin foil.

In a small mixing bowl, combine graham crumbs, cocoa powder and 2 tbsp. sugar. Stir in the melted butter. Press onto bottom of prepared springform pan and bake for at 350F for 10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

In a bowl, beat cream cheese and the remaining sugar until smooth. Beat in cooled chocolate and cocoa. Add eggs and beat until combined. Pour over the cooled crust.

Place springform pan in a large baking pan and add 1 inch of boiling water to larger pan.

Bake at 350F for 60 minutes or until center is just set and the top appears dull. Remove springform pan from water bath and remove the tin foil. Cool the cake on a wire rack for 10 minutes before you loosen the edges from pan with a knife. Let cool on the wire rack for one more hour. Refrigerate overnight.

Take the cake out of the fridge 2-3 hours before serving to make sure that it reaches room temperature (if the cake is served cooled it feels heavier and the taste of chocolate is not as intense as you want it to be).

For ganache, place chocolate in a small bowl together with cream and butter. Place over a saucepan with simmering water and let melt slowly. Stir occasionally until smooth. Cool to reach a spreading consistency.

Remove the cake from the springform pan and place on an appropriate cake stand. Spread ganache over cake just before serving.

Decorate with berries and serve with a good quality vanilla ice cream and a good glass of bubbles 🙂

On the picture below I have replaced the ganache with whipped cream which works just as well as the ganache 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (16 servings):

5 dl graham cracker crumbs

1 tbsp. baking cocoa

2 tbsp. sugar

1 1/4 dl butter, melted

Filling

900 g cream cheese, room temperature

3.2 dl sugar

300 g dark quality chocolate (70%), melted and cooled

0.6 dl baking cocoa

4 eggs (lightly beaten), room temperature

Ganache

100 g dark quality chocolate (63%)

75 g cream

1 tbsp. butter

Berries for decoration

Mom’s Blackberry Jam

August 22, 2013September 29, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

Every single year since I can remember, my parents have gathered blackberries to make jam for the rest of the year. This year I insisted on going with them on one of their trips, as I did when I was a child.

We went to one of their secret blackberry spots and within 40 minutes we had gathered 11.2 oz of delicious blackberries 🙂 As they has already been out twice within the last week (with a total gathering of 36 oz), I took home all the berries and began thinking of different way to use them. My parents made jam out of their HUGE portion and gave to the neighbor family who LOVE it (we have received several pictures of babies (and their parents) with jam all over the face).

As other people often have different and/or great ideas, I asked followers on our Facebook site and as expected they came with a dozen of great ideas. Besides this delicious jam recipe, I have decided to make blackberry vinegar, blackberry liqueur, blackberry vodka, blackberry ice cream and the rest went into the freezer for smoothies or cupcakes 🙂

Has anyone of you been on blackberry hunt this summer??

Ingredients

2 cups blackberries

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 lemon, juice

Place all the blackberries and the lemon juice in a saucepan. Let stand at medium heat for 10 minutes, stirring every other second minute so all berries get warm. It should end up looking like the picture below.

Add the sugar, combine and remove from the heat. Stir until the sugar has dissolved. It takes 5-7 minutes of constant stirring. Using a wooden spoon, you can feel when the sugar has dissolved. You can stop stirring when the ‘crunchy’ feeling of sugar is gone.

Transfer to a clean jar, close the lid and refrigerate immediately. Use within 3-4 weeks.

If you want it to last longer (if you make a large portion to last until next blackberry season), you can add a teaspoon of liquid preservatives just before you pour it into the jar.

Serve with pancakes, breakfast rolls, ice cream or use it when making sauces 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients

500 g blackberries

280 g sugar

1/2 lemon, juice

What to do on a rainy day macaroons

August 8, 2013September 29, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

This summer has, contrary to the last 4-5 summers, been sunny and warm but today it has been cold and rainy. So what to do on a rainy summer day??

Well, I decided to bake some macaroons and ask out Facebook followers what they would like as filling. There were so many delicious suggestions and it was not easy to decide on one – so I decided on four different fillings 🙂 So I should probably say thanks to Martin, Kirsten, Kis and Pernille for their great suggestions 🙂

When making this macaroon recipe you will need a few basic tools:

A digital thermometer

An electric mixer

A rubber spatula

A pastry bag and

A 1/2-inch plain round tip

Without these, I doubt that you will succeed (but that shouldn’t keep you from trying if you have the drive) 🙂

Ingredients (60 macaroons)

1 1/8 cup almonds, blanched

1 3/5 cup confectioners sugar

7/8 cup granulated sugar

2 x 2 egg whites

1/3 cup water

Blend the almonds into fine almond flour in a hand blender or food processor. Then add confections sugar and blend again for at least 20-30 seconds. Shift into a mixing bowl. If there are anything left in the strainer, blend it further and shift again.

Take half of the egg whites and mix them into the blended almonds. mix until well combined and even.

In another bowl whisk the other half of the egg whites until they make soft peaks. Find a saucepan and add granulated sugar and water. Heat until the syrup reaches 230F, stir once in a while (use a digital thermometer). Pour the heated syrup slowly into the egg whites while whisking on medium-low speed. Be careful not to get burned on the sugar – it hurts like hell! When all the syrup has been added, turn up the volume of you mixer and whisk until the meringue has reached room temperature. It take about 10 minutes.

When your meringue has reached room temperature, add half to the almond mixture and mix well until combined. Then add the rest of the meringue and fold around – do not whisk, as this will ruin the batter! Fold until the batter is evenly combined and smooth.

Now it gets a bit tricky – the texture of the batter needs to soft, but not to soft. It still needs to keep the round shape when added to the baking paper, but it should be soft enough to prevent the macaroons from getting small tops. Did that make sense?

Transfer the batter to a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch plain round tip, and pipe 3/4-inch rounds 1 inch apart on a baking tray with baking paper. Turn the baking tray into the table top 8-10 times, to remove air bubbles from the macaroons.

Let the macaroons dry at room temperature for an hour. Bake at 300F for 13-14 minutes. Transfer the baking paper with the baked macaroons to a wire rack and let cool completely before filling or storing them.

Below there are 4 different fillings for your macaroons. Each filling recipe is for 20 macaroons.

Caramel:

1/2 cup sea salt caramel

Place the caramel in a piping bag and warm it with your hands until it is soft enough to be squeezed out onto the macaroons.

Coffee Liqueur Ganache:

1/2 cup Amedei Toscano White (or another good quality white chocolate)

1/8 cup cream

1/8 cup coffee liqueur

Place all three ingredients in a he alt proof blow and place over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted and combined. Transfer to a piping bag and fridge until cooled completely. If the ganache get at bit to cold, you can warm it in your hands until it is soft enough to squeeze onto the macaroons.

Rum ganache:

1/2 cup Amedei Toscano Black (63%)

1/4 cup cream

4 tbsp. good quality rum

Black Currant and Liquerice Ganache:

1/2 cup Amedei Toscano White (or another good quality white chocolate)

1/4 cup cream

2 tbsp. freeze dried black currant powder

1/2 tsp. raw liquorice powder

Place all chocolate, cream and freeze dried powder in a he alt proof blow and place over a pan of simmering water. Stir occasionally until melted and combined. Transfer to a piping bag and fridge until cooled completely. If the ganache get at bit to cold, you can warm it in your hands until it is soft enough to squeeze onto the macaroons. Sprinkle the raw licorice powder on top of the ganache before putting on the top macaroon.

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (60 macaroons)

200 gram almonds, blanched

200 gram confectioners sugar

200 gram granulated sugar

2 x 80 gram egg whites

0.8 dl water

Caramel:

4 tbsp. sea salt caramel

Coffee Liqueur Ganache:

80 g Amedei Toscano White (or another good quality white chocolate)

20 g cream

20 g coffee liqueur

Rum ganache:

80 g Amedei Toscano Black (63%)

30 g cream

4 tbsp. good quality rum

Black Currant and Liquerice Ganache:

80 g Amedei Toscano White (or another good quality white chocolate)

30 g cream

2 tbsp. freeze dried black currant powder

1/2 tsp. raw liquorice powder

Lime and Coco Milk Cupcakes

July 31, 2013September 29, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ 2 Comments

I am at the moment writing on a scientific article comparing two surgical techniques and such work definitely needs a cake or two 🙂 I’ve been working on the project for 7 month and are finally beginning to see the end of it!

Today the writing went well and I decided to reward myself with a cupcake experiment. The choice of lime and coco milk came from a quick look in our pantry, that among other things contained a lot of limes a single can of coco milk. Unfortunately the coco milk was a light version (only 8% fat) and the taste of coco was not as strong as I had wished, so next time, I will definitely use a full-fat version.

If your are not a fan of lime you can use lemon instead, but I will recommend that you try it with lime first as it is a perfect match for coco milk 🙂 Hope that you will love them as much as I already does.

Ingredients (16 cupcakes)

1 stick butter, room temperature

1 cup + 1 tbsp. granulated sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups of flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 cup coco milk

1 lime, zest and juice

Frosting

1 pound cream cheese, room temperature

1 lime, juice

4 tbsp. confectioners sugar

2 limes for decoration

Place butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and whisk until light and fluffy. scrape the sides of the bowl if necessary. Add the eggs one at time and whisk until incorporated. then add the vanilla extract.

Combined flour, baking powder and salt in another mixing bowl. Add the flour mixture to the butter and eggs mixture alternating with the coco milk, lime juice and zest. Scrape the sides of the bowl again, if necessary. Only whisk until the batter is combines. Over-whisking the batter might ruin the end result, as the fluffiness of the batter will disappear.

Line standard muffins tins with paper liners. Fill each paper line with 1 tbsp. of the batter and bake at 400F for approximately 16-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting

Place all three ingredients in a mixing bowl and whisk until smooth and fluffy. Put the frosting in a piping bag with your favorite piping tip (this one is a 1/-inch round pipe) and decorate the cakes.

Cut the limes into thin slices and place slice on top of the frosting and press it slightly down.

Serve for afternoon coffee or as a dessert for girl night 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (16 cupcakes)

113 g butter, room temperature

225 g granulated sugar

3 eggs, room temperature

1 tsp. vanilla extract

250 g flour

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1.25 dl coco milk

1 lime, zest and juice

Frosting:

450 g cream cheese, room temperature

1 lime, juice

4 tbsp. confectioners sugar

2 limes for decoration

Italian Ricotta Ice Cream with Chocolate and Roasted Almonds

July 13, 2013September 29, 2013 ~ Ann & Chris Demant ~ Leave a comment

Last night we were having guest for dinner and I had been speculating for days about what dessert to serve. Normally I would have baked a cake, as they are some of my greatest cake fans :-D, but it has been quite warm these past days so I wanted to make something more refreshing.

Then one evening when I turned on the TV, I turned passed a channel showing Italian women and their childhood recipes. One of the recipes was this ricotta ice cream with roasted almonds and chocolate and I immediately knew, what I was going to make 😀

It turned out to be great, but I must admit that it would have been better, had I made it on an ice cream machine – but that is still on the ‘to-buy-list’, so I will have to settle with the old freezer method for a while yet So if you have an ice cream machine, you should use that, but this method can be used as well!

Ingredients (8 servings)

1 cup ricotta cheese

1 cup cream

4 tbsp. cane sugar

1/2 cup almonds

1/2 cup quality chocolate 70%, preferably Amedei Toscano Black

20 cherries

20 strawberries

10 raspberries

Roast the almonds on a dry pan at medium heat for 5-10 minutes. Stir occasionally to avoid burning. The almonds a ready when you can begin to smell a nutty aroma in the kitchen. Set a side to cool down.

Chop the roasted almonds and the chocolate into medium sized chunks (or what ever you prefer).

Place ricotta cheese in a mixing bowl and stir with a rubber spatula until smooth. Add sugar and stir again until the sugar has dissolved – it takes a few minutes. Set aside.

Whisk the cream until it forms soft peaks. Be very careful not to over-whisk it, as it might ruin the end result.

Carefully turn the whipped cream into the ricotta and fold until evenly combined. Then add the chopped chocolate and almonds and fold again.

Cover a springform pan with plastic wrap and make sure that it covers the sides too.

Pour the ricotta cream into the form and cover with yet a layer of plastic wrap. Make sure that the plastic wrap lies down close to the ricotta mass and up the sides of the form.

Freeze for at least 12 hours before serving.

Take the ricotta ice cream out of the freezer approximately 10 minutes before serving. Remove both the form and the plastic wrap and place on a cake stand and decorate with cherries, strawberries and a few raspberries.

Serve with a glass of sparkling wine on a hot summer day or a cup of delicious Italian roast espresso on a cold winter day 🙂

Bon Appétit!

Ingredients (8 servings)

2.5 dl ricotta cheese

2.5 dl cream

4 tbsp. cane sugar

1.25 dl almonds

80 g quality chocolate 70%, preferably Amedei Toscano Black

20 cherries

20 cup strawberries

10 raspberries

Food on Demant

by Ann & Chris Demant

Dessert

Ebelskiver or Æbelskiver as we call it in Danish

Liquorice Marzipan – my Christmas addiction

Cuban Rum Ice Cream

Orange Cake with Chocolate chips and Orange Cream Cheese Frosting

Banana and Blackberry Muffins with Browned Butter Glaze

Triple Chocolate Cheese Cake

Mom’s Blackberry Jam

What to do on a rainy day macaroons

Lime and Coco Milk Cupcakes

Italian Ricotta Ice Cream with Chocolate and Roasted Almonds