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

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

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

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 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

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

christmas