Christmas lunch 2015 for "The Wonderful Women"

The annual Christmas lunch for "The Wonderful Women" took place this afternoon for a small and very exclusive group of two persons. Next year a much bigger turn out is expected (you know how I am referring to in Horsens, cousin and on Greenland).

This time we went for a classic cheese board being a mixture of 7 different cheese. As company for all the cheese I had bakes two breads: cooking pot spelt bread with walnuts and malt bread with almonds and cranberry.







As tradition demands we started the Christmas lunch with a bobbling cocktail made from home-made gløgg extract and sparkling wine. Besides from this the rest of the alcoholic part of the Christmas lunch was an expert sensory evaluation of three various Christmas aquavitas in form of:

• Christmas aquavit
• Christmas aquavita a la Blomsterberg
• Christmas aquavita with spices

As the non alcoholic part we got a vitamin punch in form of the juice RED SUNSET.







This year we had enough room in our stomachs for home-made ice cream in form of saffron ice cream and chai ice cream served together with a few pieces of chai fudge.

Farewell to Christmas Calendar 2015

I hope you have enjoy our journey through this busy month of Christmas reading and hopefully getting inspiration for your own kitchen reading my daily Christmas Calender posts for 2015, as I have enjoy spending time making it in my little kitchen.

I keep entertaining myself during the dark and grey Winter time creating my very own Christmas Calendar just like the ones on TV ! For me it is a way for keeping my mood up during a long, dark, gray and rainy Winter season with days having around 7 hours of sun light in case, that the sun actually shows it´s face ! as it keep me busy instead of hiding under my duvet like a little moody and sleepy brown bear !!!

So I  baked different stuff and made Christmas sweets, which I have been using as stocking fillings for a good colleague at work as well as serving all these goodies at both and filling up all the empty tins of my mother.

Reviewing your visits to my Christmas Calendar 2015, I have made a TOP 5 over the most popular Christmas Calendar Daily entries according to your preference:

1. Cookies with cholate, orange peel and walnuts
2. Pistachio marzipan bread
3. Marzipan with liquorice and raspberry
4. Chai sugar
5. Pot bunswith Christmas twist

So based on these most popular post I will conclude, that you here in 2015 as usual like baked goods in form of cookies, spice sugar and bun and sweet goods in form of marzipan, which fits perfect into the Danish Christmas tradition.

Already now I will promise you, that 2016 will also bring bring you another Christmas Calendar. If you have an idea, please feel to leave a comment. You are also more than welcome to share your opinion on the Christmas Calender 2015 at the same time.
I think, that I as many other bloggers appreciate your comments, as we when know, that someone actually is reading our blogs !! So do not be shy, but make my day by leaving a comment :-)

Chai scones

Scones are some of the most easy thing to bake. You are able to serve hot scones 30 minutes after you started making them, so they are brilliant to serve for unexpected guests coming by.

As inspiration for some great Christmas scones you could also have a go baking these scones with mincemeat, scones with German Christmas twist, scones with Christmas spieces, saffron scones or spicy scones with dried fruits in your kitchen.

UPDATE 26 December 2015:
This ice cream is being forward for the monthly blogging event Tea Time Treats having the theme of sugar and spice. Tea Time Treast is managed by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Jane from The Hedge Combers.

Chai Scones: - 12 pieces

• 450 g cake flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder
• 60 g sugar
• 125 g cold butter
• 1 egg
• 2 dl milk
• 10 tablespoon of David Rio vanilla chai powder
• chai sugar - optional

1. Heat the oven (conventional) to 250'C.
2. Mix the flour, salt, baking powder and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
3. Cut the cold butter into small pieces.
4. Grind the butter pieces into the flour mix.
5. Heat up the milk with the chai powder in it - I use the microwave oven for this purpose
6. Add the egg to the hot milk and whip it together.
7. Mix milk-egg and flour-butter together without kneading it a dough.
8. Place the dough on a pieces of baking paper.
9. Flatten the dough into a height of 3 cm.
10. Use a glass to cut out scone pieces.
11. Sprinkle the top of the scones with chai sugar.
12. Bake the scone at 250'C for 10-15 minutes.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Merry Christmas to all of you

I wish you a merry Christmas during your visit in my little kitchen :-) I hope you will enjoy your stay here, being either a short browse or a long stay.

Today is the day of farewell to this year Christmas Calendar 2015, which I hope have brought you joy during a perhaps stressful Christmas time. I have for sure got a kitchen full of Christmas goodies, when making all the many blog posts for this year´s Christmas Calendar.

Thank your for dropping by and have wonderful Christmas together with your family :-)

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Christmas pickled beetroot

Beetroot is one of my favourite vegetable, which I like to have a juice with beetroot, part of oven baked root vegetables or as pickled beetroot.

One of my good colleagues has some farm land, where he grows various vegetable for own use as well as sharing some of the surplus with us his colleagues.
So when I asked, if he could share some beetroots with me, I did not get a little plastic bags with 10-15 beetroots. No I got a feeding bag 1/3 full with beetroots, carrots, pastinac and onions :-)






So one Autumn evening I turned my little kitchen into pickled beetroot creation place. I boiled 1½ kg beetroot at the time. The boiling time depends on the size of beetroot, so everything between 20-50 minutes, so check after 20 minutes cooking with a kitchen knife, if the beetroot is firm or soft.

When the beetroot is boiled, place them in a big bowl or the kitchen sink, which is full of cold water. This will cracking the skin on the beetroot, so you push the skin off using your hands. Afterwards slice the beetroot in thinner slices. Now they are ready to be placed in the pickle liquid.

Beetroots will giving off plenty of colour, so consider to wear plastic gloves, when you remove the skin and slice the beetroot. Otherwise you hands can get a nice purple colour.

For the upcoming Christmas I created a special pickle liquid

Christmas pickled beetroot: 2-3 glasses

• 600-750 g boiled and sliced beetroot
• 500 g plain vinegar
• 250 g sugar
• ½ red chili
• 1 (organic) orange - peel & juice
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 star anise
• 5 black pepper corn

1. Add vinegar, sugar, orange peel 6 juice, cinnamon stick, chili, star anise and pepper corns in a cooking pot.
2. Bring the pickle liquid to the boil.
3. Add beetroot slices into the storage glasses, which has been sterilised with boiling water.
4. Pour the hot pickle liquid into the glass, covering all the beetroot slices.
5. Store the pickled beetroot as ambient temperature, when not opened. 
6. After opening a glass of pickled beetroot store the rest in the refrigerator.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Apple gløgg

Many times guests would like to have an alcohol free alternative to gløgg (mulled wine) in connections with Christmas visits. As other alcohol-free alternatives to gløgg you could also serve cherry gløgg.

This year I decided only to use raisins and mulberries (brought in Malmö) as ingredients in my apple gløgg. You could also have added some almond splits as well.

Apple Gløgg: - 15-20 servings

• 3 l apple juice
• spice bag with

• 3 sticks of cinnamon
• 2 star anis
• 3 cloves
• 2 all spice
• 4 cardamon kernels
• 200 g mixture of raisins and mulberries

1. Place the spices in a plastic bag, which is hit several times by a baking roll.
2. Pour the spices into paper tea bag, which is closed by a knot.
3. Pour the apple juice into a big cooking pot and add the spice bag into the apple juice.
4. Heat up the apple juice.
5. Store the apple juice with spice bag cold for 12-24 hours.
6. Heat up the apple juice with the spice bag and mixture of raisins and mulberries to the boil.
7. Serve the apple gløgg hot in glasses.
8. Enjoy and have a safe drive home :-)

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Saffron ice cream

Typical I use saffron into baked goods, so I am expanding my kitchen knowledge by making saffron ice cream. The use of saffron is giving a wonderful egg yolk yellow colour combined with the most fantastic exotic flavour in this ice cream - uuuhmmm.

As other ice cream with Christmas twist you could also have a go with this Christmas ice cream or this nougat ice cream.

This ice cream recipe is carefully calculated following the guidance from my work colleagues, which are some of the world leading ice cream experts ! So this recipe is calculated according to the "golden rules" for good ice cream having higher level of milk solids non fat, correct "ice cream factor" and some "magic" powder (functional food ingredients).

If you have any idea, what type of ice cream with Christmas twist I should create for as well for Christmas, please feel free to share your suggestion with me :-)


UPDATE 21 December 2015:
This ice cream is being forward for the monthly blogging event Tea Time Treats having the theme of sugar and spice. Tea Time Treast is managed by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Jane from The Hedge Combers.

Saffron ice cream:

• 630 g whole milk, 3-3.5% fat
• 39 g skimmed milk powder
• 96 g sugar
• 32 g glucose syrup as powder
• 6 g ice cream stabiliser
• 1 teaspoon saffron

1. Dry-mix all the powder ingredients. Pour them into the milk, as the milk is whipped.
2. Pour the milk base into the a cooking pot.
3. Heat the ice cream mix over medium heat until hot, but not boiling.
4. Pour the ice cream mix into a plastic container with a lid on.
5. Cool down the ice cream mix in the refrigerator, let the mix stand for minimum 4 hours or night over.
6. Whip the ice cream mix prior to freezing it.
7. Pour the mix into the ice cream machine and freeze it into ice cream, which takes around 30-40 minutes.
8. Store the ice cream in the freezer.

Ceramic from Langeland

Recently my mother and I went away on a week-end stay at Broløkke on Langeland. One of the days we drove on the small roads from the Southern tail to the Northern top of the entire island of Langeland.

We saw various places with sign posts leading to different ceramic workshops. I decided to shop at one of the workshops, which was a very lucky punch, as the colours and forms of the specific workshop Potteriet really were really appealing for me :-)

I think I spend one hour touching more or less very single piece of ceramic having a hard time making up my mind, what I should bring back with me. At the same time I had a great talk with the potter seeming the workshop and hearing more about the work process

Typical my mother really dislike it, when I want to go browsing around in shops touching and looking at more or less every single item in the shop. So she decided to stay in the car, when I went into the workshop. However, after something like 45 minutes she came inside, wondering where I had disappeared to !

I went home with a cup, a breakfast bowl, a little and larger vase.




So if you are a fan of ceramic and comes to Langeland, I will really encourage you to visit this wonderful workshop called Potteriet.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Stollen with fromage frais

One of my favourite Christmas cakes are the Stollen cake originally coming from Germany. I have even brought my very own stollen form, so I can get the right shape for this specific cake.

If you are a stollen fan like me, you could have a look into these stollen recipes: German Christmas cake stollen, Christstollen and stollen with marzipan and cranberries.

Stollen with fromage frais: -1 cake

• 500 g (cake) flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 200 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar
• 2 cl rum
• 2 egg
• 175 g butter
• 250 g fromage frais
• 250 g raisins
• 150 g almond - roughly chopped
• 50 g icing sugar

1. Heat up the oven to 180'C
2. Add all the ingredients in the mixing bowl from the stand alone mixer.
3. Stir everything into a homogeneous mass.
4. Grease the stollen form with oil.
5. Add the cake mass into the stollen cake form.
6. Place a baking tray covered with baking paper on the open surface of the stollen form.
7. Turn everything up-side down, so the stollen form covers the cake mass during baking.
8. Bake the stollen at 180'C for 60 minutes in the lower part of the oven.
9. Cold down the stollen.
10. Before serving the stollen sprinkle the surface of the cake with icing sugar.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Oat flakes with butter and liquorice

I decided to twist the taste of these oat flakes pellet with butter and rum into ore of a liquorice direction, so remove the rum flavour, vanilla sugar and cocoa powder and replacing it with liquorice flavouring.

I make already now tell you, that my good friends in Horsens thinks, that the taste of liquorice is way to dominating !!!!

Oat flakes pellets with butter and rum: - 30-40 pellets

• 100 g butter . soft
• 100 g oat flakes - finely rolled
• 50 g icing sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon rum flavour
• coconut flakes

1. Add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl. 
2. Stir into a homogeneous mass.
3. Place the mass in the refrigerator for ½ hour.
4. Shape the mass into pellets having the size of walnuts or hazelnuts.
5. Roll the pellets in coconut flakes.
6. Store the oat flakes pellets cold in the refrigerator in airtight container.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Saffron Christmas kougelhopf

Using the very last portion of the kougelhopf flour mix left from my Summer vacation to Alsace, I decided to twist my Christmas kougelhopf with another Christmas flavour in form of saffron. It turned to be a excellent taste combination :-)


Saffron Christmas kougelhopf: - 1 cake

• 250 g kougelhopf flour mix
• 40 g sultana raisins
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron
• 10 g sugar
• 12 g fresh yeast
• 120 g water
• almonds for top decoration
• Icing sugar - optional

1. Dissolve the yeast in the water in the mixing bowl.
2. Grinding the saffron and sugar together in the morter. Mix into the yeast liquid.
3. Add in the flour mix, knead the dough on stand alone mixer, first 3 minutes on speed 1 followed by 10 minutes on speed 4.
4. Add in the raisins and knead until they are distributed homogeneously in the dough.
5. Let the dough raise at 20'C for 1 hour.
6. Place almonds in the bottom of the kougelhopf form. Place the dough in the form on top of the almonds.
7. Let the dough raise in the form at 30'C for 1½ hour.
8. Heat up the oven (conventional) to 160'C.
9. Bake the kougelhopf in the lower of the oven at 160'C for 50-60 minutes.
10. Cool down the cake, before it is removed from the form.
11. Before serving the kougelhopf sprinkle it with icing sugar.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Oat flakes pellets with butter and rum

I traditionally make these oat flakes pellet with fromage frais, but it is interesting from time to time to try new version of "old classics", when I decided to make oat flakes ball by "Maden i mit liv" using butter instead of fromage frais. I think it will be a once off occasion, as the texture easily become greasy during the rolling process, as the butter start to melt in your warn hands ! This is not the case, when use fromage frais.

Oat flakes pellets with butter and rum: - 30-40 pellets

• 100 g butter . soft
• 100 g oat flakes - finely rolled
• 50 g icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon rum flavour
• coconut flakes

1. Add all the ingredients into a mixing bowl. 
2. Stir into a homogeneous mass.
3. Place the mass in the refrigerator for ½ hour.
4. Shape the mass into pellets having the size of walnuts or hazelnuts.
5. Roll the pellets in coconut flakes.
6. Store the oat flakes pellets cold in the refrigerator in airtight container.

Gløgg evening for fantastic women of Vejle 2015

It this time of the year, when it is time again to invite some fantastic women for an annual gløgg evening, which will help me out hopefully various of my Christmas creations.


I an looking forward to an evening, where my kitchen living area will be full of good talks and great laugther, while the fantastic women will do their best to eat me of my kitchen !!!!

The liquid part of the "menu" will be alcohol-free apple gløgg served together with the usual coffee and Christman tea, which will assist the local "helping mouths" in enjoying the following "creations" from the Christmas Calender 2015:

• Milk chocolate with nuts and cranberry
• White chocolate with raspberry
• Pistachio marzipan bread
• Marzipan with liquorice and raspberry
• Chai fudge
• Oat flakes pellets with butter and rum
• Oat flakes pellet with butter and liquorice
• Cookies with chocolate, orange peel and walnuts
• Saffron Christmas kougelhopf
• Stollen with fromage frais

And yes, ladies of Vejle you will be invited again for gløgg evening in 2016 :-)

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Milk chocolate with nuts and cranberry

After my success with making a block of white chocolate with raspberry, I continued by making a block of milk chocolate with pistachio nut, walnuts and dried cranberries as topping.

Again I paid a lot of attention into getting the right temperature of the chocolate during the tempering process. When the chocolate sets very fast after your work with it, when the tempering has been done correctly. So spend the time and always use a thermometer.

These decorative and beautiful chocolate block with nuts and fruits, which you can in many places always looks very tempting back at me. When you look at the price, and when you reconsider. I am always tempted to buy chocolate, when I see the beautiful blocks of chocolate with colour pattern and/or toppings of nuts and berries. So it was time for me to make my own creations of chocolate blocks.

Milk chocolate with nuts and cranberry:

• 100 g milk chocolate
• 10 g pistachio nut - medium chopped
• 4 walnuts - medium chopped
• 1 tablespoon of dried cranberries - medium chopped

1. Temper the white chocolate to 30-31'C, 33'C is the maximum temperature allowed !!!
2. Cover a baking tray with baking paper.
3. Pour all the tempered milk chocolate into this form.
4. Sprinkle the milk chocolate with chopped nuts and dried cranberries.
5. Let the chocolate settles, before it stored in one big block in an airtight container.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Pistachio marzipan bread

After my success making marzipan with liquorice and raspberry I decided to create these pistachio marzipan bread by Odense Marcipan, as it seemed like an easy recipe. Well, was NOT the case !!! This recipe turned to be quiet difficult due to the softness of the marzipan mass.

So another time you should either freeze the marzipan mass for 3-4 hours or reduce the amount of added lime juice. Using less lime juice is reduce the freshness of the taste, which I like as you during Christmas time get plenty of very sweet stuff. I did not wanted to continue to increase the firmness of the marzipan mass due adding more and more icing sugar,so after 5 tablespoons of icing sugar I stopped.

Due to the softness of the marzipan mass I could not dip the marzipan bread into the white chocolate, so instead off I had to brush the marzipan mass with the melted white chocolate. First on the top, waiting for the white mass to get firm, so the marzipan bread could be turned upside down, so the bottom could be covered with melted white chocolate.

Pistachio marzipan bread: - 24 pieces

• 50 g pistachio kernels - grated finely like flour
• 150 g marzipan
• 3 teaspoon lime (organic) peel - finely grated
• 4 tablespoon of lime juice
• 5 tablespoon of icing sugar
• 150-200 g melted & tempered white chocolate
• freeze-dried raspberries - optional

1. Knead marzipan, pistachio "flour", lime peel, lime juice and icing sugar together.
2. Place the marzipan mass cold for ½ hour in the refrigerator and ½ hour in the freezer.
3. Divide the marzipan mass into 24 pieces, which is shaped in form bread shape.
4. Temper the white chocolate to a maximum temperature of 32'C.
5. Brush the marzipan bread on all sides with white chocolate.
6. Sprinkle the top with freeze-dried raspberries.
7. When the white chocolate coating is firm, store the marzipan bread in airtight container.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Marzipan with liquorice and raspberry

As preparation for my annual Christmas entertainment of local friends it is time to make various sweet treat with marzipan as main ingredients.

The first marzipan sweet treat is marzipan with liquorice and raspberry using a Odense Marcipan recipe. As it was impossible for buy the used liquorice marzipan anywhere here in Vejle, I decided to use plain marzipan with addition of liquorice flavouring instead off. I did my best to control the flavour addition in order not to scare my good friends in Horsens, which usually start to tremble from fear, when I using liquorice in my little kitchen !!!!

Marzipan with liquorice and raspberry: - 24 small marzipan pieces

• 150 g plain marzipan
• 1/8 teaspoon Dr. Oetker liquorice flavouring
• 2 tablespoon freeze-dried raspberries
• 150 g milk chocolate
• freeze-dried raspberries

1. Knead marzipan, liquorice flavouring and raspberries together.
2. Divide the marzipan portion into 24 smaller pieces, which is formed into bread shape.
3. Temper the milk chocolate, maximum temperature is 33'C.
4. Dip the marzipan bread into the melted chocolate.
5. Place the chocolate marzipan pieces on a piece of baking paper.
6. Sprinkle the marzipan pieces with freeze-dried raspberries.
7. Let the chocolate hardened, before the marzipan pieces are stored in airtight container.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Saffron pot buns

Today it is Lucia Day, which is celebrate both in Denmark and Sweden with a blond girl in front walking around with burning candles on their head followed by the rest of the singers in burning candles in the hand.

The Danish Lucia song by Alex Garff:

Nu bæres lyset frem                       - Now worn light up
stolt på din krone.                          - proud of your crown.
Rundt om i hus og hjem                  - Around the house and home
sangen skal tone.                            - the song should sound.
Nu på Lucia-dag                            - Now on Lucia Day
hilser vort vennelag                         - welcome to our friends
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia.               - Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia

Her ved vor ønskefest                    -  Here at our desire celebration
sangen skal klinge.                          - the song to fade.
Gaver til hver en gæst                     - Gifts for every guest
glad vil du bringe.                           - glad you bring.
Skænk os af lykkens væld              - Grant us the happiness wealth
lige til livets kvæld                          - right to life eve
Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia.               - Santa Lucia, Santa Lucia.

Typical Lucia buns contains plenty of butter, so here 

Saffron pot buns: - 6 buns

• 5 g fresh yeast
• 250 g whole fat milk
• 150 g dairy whipping cream, 35-40% fat
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 5 tablespoon sugar
• ½ g saffron
• 435 g wheat flour

1. Stir yeast, milk and cream together in a big mixing bowl. Add salt, sugar and saffron into the liquid and stir well.
2. Afterwards add in the wheat flour and stir very well with a cooking spoon. 
3. Rise the dough to rise at room temperature overnight - minimum 12 hours or to 24 hours.
4. Take the dough out off the mixing bowl, move 1/3 of the dough in over the rest of the dough, keep repeating this process until you have a small size of the dough.
5. Clean the mixing bowl for any dough leftovers.
6. Glaze the dough bowl with oil.
7. Place the dough again in a clean dough, let is rise again for 2 hours.
8. Heat up the small cooking pots (2-3 dl) incl. lid on a rack in the lower part of the oven at 250°C (fan oven) for ½ hour.
9. Remove the small cooking pots from the oven, remove the lid. 
10. Place the dough in the hot cooking pots, put the lid back on. Place the cooking pots in the lower part of the oven, let it bake at 250°C for  15 minutes.
11. Remove the lid from the small cooking pots, and let the buns bake at 225°C for another 10 minutes. 
12. Let the buns cold down on in small cooking pots for 30 minutes. before it is taken out.

Christmas shopping on Langeland

Last week-end my mother and I went to Langeland, where we had two nights stay at estate Broløkke on the Southern part of the island of Langeland.

So we visited the Rudkøbing (the largest town on Langeland), where I found some food stuff, which I can used during this month of Christmas.

A little bottle of Danish cherry wine, which could make excellent company to the traditional Danish Christmas dessert of ris a la mande / rice pudding with cherry sauce.
Two pomerans (sucred orange peel) at a very low price of 10 DKK/piece.

And finally some apple syrup made from a mixture of apple and grape juice. Here it is going to be interesting to compared this apple syrup to my own home-made apple syrup. At least I got a nice glass container as part of the apple syrup, which I can use for my own kitchen creations.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - White chocolate with raspberry

I am trying to expend my capabilities within the sweet treat area working more chocolate and the correct tempering of various chocolate types. I will say, that I am improving from creation to creation.

I am always tempted to buy chocolate, when I see the beautiful blocks of chocolate with colour pattern and/or toppings of nuts and berries. So it was time for me to make my own creations of chocolate blocks.

I started off with this white chocolate block with pink colour and decorate with freeze-dried raspberries.

One of the tricks is always to have to extra un-melted chocolate, so you can lowering the temperature during the tempering process to the correct level, which is actually the lowest for white chocolate.

White chocolate with raspberry:

• 100 g white chocolate
• a few drops of red colour
• freeze-dried raspberries

1. Temper the white chocolate to 29-30'C, 32'C is the maximum temperature allowed !!!
2. Cover a baking tray with baking paper.
3. Pour most of the tempered white chocolate into this form.
4. Add the red colour into the remaining white colour to colour it.
5. Add the red coloured chocolate into the white chocolate, and make pattern.
6. Sprinkle the white chocolate with freeze-dried raspberries.
7. Let the chocolate settles, before it stored in one big block in an airtight container.

Christmas shopping in Helsinki

At the very beginning of December I had a short business trip to Finland, where I had the opportunity to look around for some Finnish Christmas food. So with me back from Helsinki I brought some Finnish white mulled "wine" based on 100% apple juice (from Finnish apples) and cinnamon. 

Also two Christmas teas have found a "new home" in my kitchen, both teas comes from the company Johan & Nyström. The first tea is called Lucia, which is black tea, flavour (orange, saffron and chili), rose pepper, orange peel, sandalwood.

The second tea is Saffran & Apelsin, another black tea with 4.5% natural flavours, 2.5% orange peel, 2.5% rose pepper, 2.5% Centaurea Jacea and 0.5% chili.

The use of saffron in tea is not common here in Denmark, so I knew at once, I had to buy these two teas, as saffron is my favourite spice. So fare I have only been drinking and enjoying the Lucia tea, which has a great smell and taste of saffron.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Cherry sparkling cocktail

Lets have an easy day in the kitchen drinking a cocktail, while you look into new recipes for what to do next for the annual Christmas Calendar.

Cherry sparkling cocktail: - 1 cocktail

• 2 cl cherry wine
• sparkling wine

1. Pour the cherry wine into a champagne glass.
2. Fill up the glass with sparkling wine.
3. Say cheers - have a nice week-end

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Chai Fudge

After  my success making liquorice fudge I decided to make a more spiced version using some of the sweetened condensed milk from my shopping expedition to Malmö. For the spicy taste I used vanilla chai powder from David Rio. Another option could have been to use some of the chai sugar.

As I had some surplus whipping cream standing looking at me in the refrigerator I decided to use only dairy whipping cream instead of a combination of butter and milk.

For the whipping part after the cooking I decided to team up with my very good kitchen help. You could also use a basic electrical beater or whip the fudge by hand, if you need to exercise during this calorie rich season.


UPDATE 10 December 2015:
This sugar is being forward for the monthly blogging event Tea Time Treats having the theme ofsugar and spice. Tea Time Treast is managed by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Jane from The Hedge Combers.

Chai fudge:

• 1 tin of 397 g sweetened condensed milk
• 450 g sugar
• 265 g dairy whipping cream, 35-40% fat
• 6 tablespoons of David Rio vanilla chai powder

1. Mix the condensed milk, sugar, cream and chai powder together in a large saucepan. Boil up this mass, while you stir regular. Cook the mass up to 115'C. 
2. Pour the fudge mass in a whipping bowl and add in the liquorice powders. Whip the fudge mass on speed 2 for 10 minutes.
3. Cover a baking form with baking paper.
4. Fill the fudge mass into this form.
5. Let the mass cool down
6. When the fudge is firm enough, cut it into squares of 2 x 2 cm each
7. Store the fudge in an airtight container.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Liquourice Truffles

Another recipe from the Dr. Oetker Christmas recipe collection, which I have been testing out in my little kitchen as part of my annual Christmas Calender.

Instead of using only dark chocolate I used a combination of both dark and milk chocolate.

When you roll the truffles into the ball shape you can get some very dark hands from the truffle mass.

Liquorice Truffles: - 25 truffles

• 100 g dark chocolate - roughly chopped
• 50 g milk chocolate - roughly chopped
• 1 dl dairy whipping cream, 35-40% fat
• 50 g fine chopped almonds
• 2 teaspoon liquorice flavouring
• liquorice vermicelli - optional

1. Bring the dairy whipping cream to the boil in a cooking pot.
2. Remove the cream from the heat, and stir in the chopped chocolate. Stir until the chocolate in completely melted.
3. Stir in the almonds and liquorice flavouring.
4. Place the truffle mass cold in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
5. Form the truffle mass into small ball size, and roll it in liquorice vermicelli.
6. Store the liquorice truffles cold in an airtight container.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Pepper nut muffins

When I noticed this recipe on pepper nut muffins in a small Christmas recipe folder from Dr. Oetker,I knew at once, that I should make these muffins for my annual Christmas Calender. I have no modifications to the these muffins.

Another time I would reduced the amount of butter inside, as the muffins are actually quiet greasy. The muffin are also quiet sweet doe to the addition of white chocolate, so an option could be to reduce the amount of white chocolate from 100 g to 50 g.

This recipe is a typical Dr. Oetker recipe, as the majority of in the ingredients inside are various Dr. Oetker ingredients.

Pepper nut muffins: - 14 muffins

• 75 g corinths
• 1 tablespoon boiling water
• 175 g butter - soft
• 175 g sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 portion of Dr. Oetker pepper nut spice mix
• 1 portion Dr. Oetker lemon peel
• 150 g (cake) wheat flour
• 100 g white chocolate - cut into smaller pieces

1. Heat the fan oven up to 80'C.
2. Pout boiling water over the corinths.
3. Whip sugar and butter into a foamy mass on a stand-alone mixer.
4. Whip in the egg one by one.
5. Afterwards mix in the pepper nut spice, lemon peel, what flour.
6. At the end stir in the corinths and white chocolate pieces.
7. Fill the muffin dough into the muffin forms.
8. Bake the muffins at 180'C (fan oven) in the middle of the oven for 20-25 minutes.
9. Check, that the muffins are baked, before removing them from the oven.
10. Cool down the muffins, before serving them.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Apple Syrup

When I saw this recipe on making apple syrup in my local newspaper, I cut the recipe for later use in my kitchen, which is now in connection with my daily Christmas Calendar.

I imaging, that I will use this apple syrup later on in:

• Christmas cocktail, perhaps made from sparkling wine
• Served together with ice cream
• Served together with yogurt and granola

so stick around in my kitchen I see how I will use this apple syrup. I could also imaging, that you boil the apple juice together with cinnamon stick, vanilla pod etc.

Apple syrup:

• 1 l apple juice
• 80 g sugar

1. Pour the apple syrup in a cooking pot.
2. Boil the apple juice for 1 hour, thereby the volume is reduced.
3. After 1 hour of boiling stir in the sugar. Stir until dissolved.
4. Fill the apple syrup in a clean bottle.
5. Store the apple syrup cold in the refrigerator.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Pot buns with Christmas twist

As you can bake breads in cooking pots like this Best Bread of the World, you can as well bake buns in very small cooking pot/forms.

For this buns I have used inspiration from some breakfast buns served at my "usual" hotel in Paris, where sucat (dried orange peel) is added into a buns/small bread. In order to twist into more Christmas style I added chai sugar together with the sucat.

To get a more dark colour as in bun enjoyed in Paris I also add in a small amount of malt flour.

Pot buns with Christmas twist: - 8 buns

• 3-4 g fresh yeast
• 30 g sour dough - optional
• 300 g water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon chai sugar
• 40 g sucat / dried orange peel
• 15 g malt flour
• 200 g whole grain wheat flour
• 225 g wheat flour

1. Stir yeast, sour dough and water together in a big mixing bowl. Add salt, sugar and chai sugar  into the liquid and stir well.
2. Afterwards add the sucat, malt flour and wheat flour and stir very well with a cooking spoon. 
3. Rise the dough to rise at room temperature overnight - minimum 12 hours or to 24 hours.
4. Take the dough out off the mixing bowl, move 1/3 of the dough in over the rest of the dough, keep repeating this process until you have a small size of the dough.
5. Clean the mixing bowl for any dough leftovers.
6. Glaze the dough bowl with oil.
7. Place the dough again in a clean dough, let is rise again for 2 hours.
8. Heat up the small cooking pots (2-3 dl) incl. lid on a rack in the lower part of the oven at 250°C (fan oven) for ½ hour.
9. Remove the small cooking pots from the oven, remove the lid. 
10. Place the dough in the hot cooking pots, put the lid back on. Place the cooking pots in the lower part of the oven, let it bake at 250°C for  15 minutes.
11. Remove the lid from the small cooking pots, and let the buns bake at 225°C for another 10 minutes. 
12. Let the buns cold down on in small cooking pots for 30 minutes. before it is taken out.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Christmas Aquavita a la Blomsterberg

Aquavita is a key ingredients in connection with Christmas lunches. And aquavita with various flavours are very popular during Christmas time. This Christmas aquavita is actually the most popular Christmas Calendar posting from 2011.

It is  good to break the usual routine and try new versions, so when I found this recipe on a Christmas aquavita a la Blomsterberg in the weekly magazine Søndag (issue 47/2015), I had to make it for Christmas this year. I love the use of various spices together with citrus fruits.


Christmas Aquavita a la Blomsterberg:

• 1 muscat nut - cut into half
• ½ vanilla pod
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 10 cloves
• 3 teaspoon cane sugar
• 1 bay leave
• ½ organic lime - only the peel
• ½ organic lemon - only the peel
• ½ l aquavita with neutral taste (klar Brøndum)

1. Open up the vanilla pod, but let the vanilla corns remain inside the pod.
2. Place the muscat nu, vanilla pod, cinnamon stick, cloves, bay leave, lime peel and lemon peel in a clean bottle.
3. Pour the aquavita in the bottle on top of the ingredients.
4. Let the aquavita remain with the ingredients for 5 days, before removing the ingredients.
5. Shake the bottle every day.
6. Remove the ingredients, Pour the aquavita through a sieve as well as a coffee filter, before the aquavita is poured into a new clean bottle.
7. Store in a dark place.

Christmas Calendar 2015 - Chai sugar

Christmas time is for me a time, where I can use full power on the spice side, as spices play a central during Christmas side.

As spice sugar cinnamon sugar is classic within Denmark. As inspiration for new type of spice sugar I have used chai teas, which I am a huge fan of, when drinking tea.

For my non-Danish readers having no idea how to use chai sugar, I would suggest that you could try it here:

• sprinkle on top or use inside scones.
• sprinkle on rice porridge together with a lump of butter
• sprinkle on Christmas cookies
• sprinkle on top of hot chocolate
• sprinkle on top of hot chai drink

UPDATE 4 December 2015:
This sugar is being forward for the monthly blogging event Tea Time Treats having the theme ofsugar and spice. Tea Time Treast is managed by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Jane from The Hedge Combers.

Chai sugar:

• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1 teaspoon all spices
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 5 tablespoon (cane) sugar

1. Add sugar and the various spices in the storage glass.
2. Close the storage container and turn it several times to mix every thing very well together.
3. Store in a dark place.
4. Sprinkle on top various food stuff as taste provider.