Knit cap is finished incl. fur top

I have finalised the knitting of this cap using a recipe from my local yarn shop Garn i skovhytten here in Vejle. The applied yarn is Onion knit No. 4, which is made from 70% organic wool and 30% nettle fibers. And I tell you, that the nettle is NOT burning your ears.

I have adjusted the length of the knit cap from 27 cm mentioned in the recipe to 29, so it fits my head perfect. As finishing touch I have brought a fur top, which is added to the knit cap using a push bottom. SO, you can take the fur top of the knit cap and put it on a another knit cap. You can also remove the fur top, when you have to wash the knit cap.

My next knit project is the sweater called Striber på langs by PetitKnit.

Knit cap is halfway finished

My knit cap in darker red is halfway finished. And the knitting goes around and around :-)  I have knitted all of the ribbing, the lower part of the cap, which will be folded halfway up, while wearing the cap.

So now I "just" have to finish the upper part of the cap, which is knitted in stockinette stitch. According to the recipe, the entire cap should have a length of 27 cm, but I think this is too little, as the ribbing part is 14 cm, which actually only will be 7 cm, when using the cap due to the folding.

The good thing about knitting is, that you can adjust the length to your very own body/head :-)

Knitting festival in Horsens February 2020

Yesterday I participated again in Horsens strikkefestival Horsens Strikkefestival together with two friends. All of us had signed up for two knit workshops.

The first workshop was on multi rib knitting, which covered further development within ribbing. We tried out three different types of multi rib pattern.
I was struggling a lot with the first pattern, as it seems quiet strange for my mind. However, I really liked the obtained pattern, as it looked a little as lace pattern.
The remaining two multi rib pattern I did not struggle, here I got the pattern more easily into my fingers. 


The first workshop is weave knitting, which will create pattern and structure in the knitting.

The second work shop was on weave knitting, where you are able to create texture and structure into your knitting.

Again here we tried out three different pattern (rice corn, butterfly and dimples. For the rice corn pattern we tested the impact of using different size of knitting needles on achieved pattern.


Both workshops were led by Jytte Pallisgaard, which is an excellent instructor.

To learn about weave knitting I brought a book containing 70 different weave pattern.


I think I will trying out these knitting technics again here at home to get a better understanding of them.









After the work shops we had a look around the exhibition area with the many yarn companies. And here I found yarn for four new knitting projects in form of knit poncho with arms, yarn in thin blue mohair for a cardigan, yarn in orange colour for Oslo sweater by Petit Knit and finally a summer dress in cotton & linen. There was a good discount on the yarn for both the cardigan and Oslo sweater, so therefore it was very tempting to buy this yarn.

Shrovetide bun with apple twist

I learned to bake these very classic buns at the bread baking course, and this recipe works excellent for a bog range of various buns incl. classic Shrovetide bun with remonce for this Shrovetide Sunday.

Shrovetide bun are connected with fasting, which starts 49 days before Easter. And when in the fast period you are not supposed to eat meat and wheat flour as well as not drink milk or alcohol. So before the fast starts there was big parties, where you would indulge in these foods. Fastelavnssøndag (Shrovetide Sunday) and the following Monday were the last days, where you could eat meat. The following Tuesday was the last day of eating wheat flour, where wheat buns were baked and eaten. This White Tuesday is also known as Pandekagedagen (Pan Cake Day) again relating to the use of wheat flour in pan cakes.

I baked these buns for this knitting festival in Horsen ,where a good friend with lactose intolerance participated, so therefore I made them with sunflower oil, apple juice and mashed apple with marzipan instead of butter and milk. And this turned out pretty good.

Classic Shrovetide buns with remonce: - 14-16 buns

Bun dough:

• 650 g wheat flour
• 50 g sugar
• 100 g sunflower oil or 120 g butter
• 50 g fresh yeast
• 1 egg
• 8 g salt
• 250 g apple juice or 250 g full fat milk

Filling:

• 3 apples - peeled and dived
• 1-1½ dl water
• 75 g marzipan - grated

• Egg wash

Decoration - options:

• Icing sugar
• Apple juice or water
• Only icing sugar

1. Weigh all the ingredients directly into the mixing bowl of the stand alone mixer. Keep salt & sugar away from the yeast.
2. Place the bowl on the stand-alone mixer.
3. Start knead the dough at speed 1 for 8 minutes.
4. Afterwards increase the speed to 4, knead for 2 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough. If it is not OK, when knead it at speed 4 for another 2 minutes. Again check the consistency. If needed, knead again for 1 minute and when check consistency of the dough.
5. Let the dough raise in the mixing bowl for approx 40-60 minutes under a damp cloth. The dough can also be raised on the kitchen table under a damp cloth
6. Meanwhile boil the apple into mashed apple. Bring peeled and divide apples to the boil. 
7. Simmer the apple gentle for 15-20 minutes, before the apple is turned into apple mash.
8. Cool down the apple mash.
9. Stir grated marzipan into the apple mash. This filling can be made the day before.
10. When you evaluate, that the dough has raise enough, divide the dough into smaller pieces with a weight of 80 g each.
11. On the flatten bun dough place a teaspoon full of remonce.
12. Fold the dough together around the filling - fold it close together
13. Place the bun up-side-down on the baking plate.
14. Raise the buns for another 40 minutes on baking trays covered with baking parchment. Do the raising under damp cloth (tea towels)
15. Glaze each bun with whipped egg.
16. Heat up the oven to 200'C (fan oven).
17. Bake the buns at 180'C (fan oven) for 15-20 minutes.
18. After 10 minutes baking switch the baking trays around in the oven. 
19. Cold down the buns.
20. Decorate the buns with icing sugar or a glazing of apple juice and icing sugar. 
21. Enjoy :-)

Preparing for the knitting festival February 2020 in Horsens tomorrow

I am preparing to participate in Horsens strikkefestival tomorrow Sunday. I am bringing along various yarn left overs from several knitting projects (knit poncho, orange sweater and knit cap). I will needing the yarns, as I have signed up for the two knit workshops.

The first workshop is weave knitting, which will create pattern and structure in the knitting.

The second workshop is multi rib knitting, which further development within ribbing.

Naturally I will share my impression from both the knit festival as well as the work shops later on.

Suggestion for Shrovetide bun for Fastelavn 2020

shrovetide buns in Spring colour

Tomorrow it is Shrovetide Sunday (Fastelavnssøndag) here in Denmark. What does it mean ? It is the peak day for eating Shrovetide buns, until you can not stand the sight of these very rich and fatty buns for another year.

Shrovetide bun are connected with fasting, which starts 49 days before Easter. And when in the fast period you are not supposed to eat meat and wheat flour as well as not drink milk or alcohol. So before the fast started there was big parties, where you would indulge in these foods. Fastelavnssøndag (Shrovetide Sunday) and the following Monday were the last days, where you could eat meat. The following Tuesday was the last day of eating wheat flour, where wheat buns were baked and eaten. This White Tuesday is also known as Pandekagedagen (Pan Cake Day) again relating to the use of wheat flour in pan cakes.

The traditional Danish "fastelavns"/Shrovetide song is like this:

Fastelavn er mit navn                                             Shrovetide is my name

Boller vil jeg have                                                    Buns I would like to have

Hvis jeg ingen boller får                                          If I get no buns

Så laver jeg ballade                                                When I will make trouble

Boller op, boller ned                                               Buns up, buns down

Boller i min mave                                                   Buns in my tummy

Hvis jeg ingen boller får                                         If I get no buns

Så laver jeg ballade                                                When I will make trouble

If you have no clue, what kind of Shrovetide Bun to bake tomorrow, please look below for further inspiration.

And if you want to know that Shrovetide bun, which I am baking tomorrow, when visit my blog again tomorrow afternoon.

Classic shrovetide bun with remonce

Shrovetide bun with raspberry filling

Shrovetide bun with caramel sauce

Shrovetide buns with liqourice



Shrovetide bun with cherry and marzipan



Shrovetide bun with raspberry and marzipan



Speculoos shrovetide bun



Shrovetide bun with marzipan cake filling



Shrovetide bun with marzipan filling

Knit cap in darker red

After the knitting of this sunny sweater in orange it is time to knit a small project in form of a knit cap. I have found this recipe on a knit cap at my local yarn shop Garn i skovhytten here in Vejle.

For the knit cap you need 2 x 50 g yarn from Onion knit No. 4, which is made from 70% organic wool and 30% nettle fibers. I hope, that the nettles will NOT burn my head, as the nettles, which can be found in abundance in my neighborhood :-)

Rich potato soup

I have found this recipe potato soup in the weekly magazine "Alt for damerne", issue 6/2020. I have made a few changes to the recipe, as I have replace the celeriac with parsnip, as it is easier to cut parsnips into smaller squares compared to celeriac, which is quiet big root fruit.

I also decided to increase the amount of dairy whipping cream from1 dl to 2½ dl, as the minimum portion of dairy whipping cream in Denmark is 2½ dl. So, I only used 1 dl, I would have been left 1½ dl dairy whipping cream, which most likely would have ended up in the drainage after a couple of days storage in the refrigerator.

Other suggestion could be this one on potato soup, which has a less filling texture.

Rich potato soup: - 4-6 servings

• 1 kg potatoes -peeled and cut into smaller squares
• 3 parsnips - peeled and cut into smaller squares
• 2 leeks - cleaned and cut into medium slices
• 2 onions - peeled and medium chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic - peeled and roughly chopped
• olive oil
• 1½ l vegetable stock
• 2½ dl dairy whipping cream - 30-38% fat

1. Pour the olive oil into a large cooking pot, and heat it up
2. Add on the chopped vegetables into large cooking pot, and let the vegetable saute in the oil without changing their colour. Saute for 8-10 minutes with regular stirring.
3. Add in the vegetable stock, bring the soup to the boil.
4. Let the soup boil simmer gently under the lid for 30-40 minutes.
5. Blend the vegetables into a homogeneous mass using a hand blender.
6. Add into the dairy whipping cream.
7. Bring the soup to the boil.
8. Serve and enjoy :-)

Orange sweater is ready for use

So almost 4 months after I brought the yarn for this orange sweater at the knitting festival in Horsens in October, I have finished the knitting of the sweater. The sweater has been pretty easy to knit, as you more or less the sweater in one go from bottom up with incl. of the two arms.

The yarn used for this sweater is sweater is a mixture on two yarn type. The more heavy yarn is 55% lambs wool and 45% cotton. The lighter yarn is Super kid Mohair, which is 66% mohair, 4% wool and 30% polyamid.

My next knitting project is a small one in form of knit cap.

Chicken in enchiladas sauce a la Valdemarsro

I have found this recipe on chicken enchiladas by Valdemarsro. It is a very tasty recipe, and it is very easy to make, the only thing is, that is takes quiet some time to prepare. And you also need a pretty good selection on various herbs and spices in more kitchen.

I left out the smoked paprika spice, as I did not have this specific spice in my kitchen collection.

I decided to make two portions of enchiladas sauce, while I made this sauce. The rest of the sauce I have placed in my freezer, so I can make a new portion of enchiladas faster next time.

Chicken in enchiladas sauce a la Valdemarsro: - 4 servings

Enchiladas sauce:

• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 nip of cayenne pepper
• 2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• ½ onion- finely chopped
• ½ teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon wheat flour
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes - 400 g
• 1 dl vegetable stock

Pulled chicken:

• 2 chicken breats
• ½ dl vegetable stock
• 1 can of chopped tomatoes - 400 g
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic - finely chopped

On top:

• 150 g maize corns
• 240 g black beans - boiled or from can
• 50 g Cheddar - grated
• 8 tortillas

Enchiladas sauce:

1. Add all the ground spices dry into a cooking pot.
2. Roast the spices, while stirring, until it smells great.
3. Remove the cooking pot from the heat, add in the olive oil, onion and garlic.
4. Fry the onions, until they are soft.
5. Sprinkle the flour over, stir well and when pour in the vegetable stock. Stir well to avoid the formation of flour lumps.
6. Add in the chopped tomatoes, and the sauce simmer gently without the lid on for 10-15 minutes.
7. Season the sauce with salt & pepper.

Pulled chicken

1. Add chopped tomatoes,garlic, olie, vegetable stock and chicken into a medium cooking pot.
2. Bring the content to the boil.
3. Let the chicken simmer under the lid for 30 minutes.
4. Cut the chicken meat into smaller pieces into the tomato sauce.

Enchiladas:

1. Heat up the fan oven to 180'C.
2. Spread some of the enchiladas sauce out on to a tortilla.
3. Fill pulled chicken, maize, black beans and grated Cheddar cheese on the tortilla.
4. Fold the content into the tortilla like a letter shape.
5. Place the folded tortilla up side down into a baking tray.
6. Bake the enchiladas at 180'C for 15-18 minutes in the oven
7. Serve the baked enchiladas together with guacamole, salsa and rice.

Valentine Cheese Cake

For Valentine Days I also created this Valentine cheese cake besides these Ruby Romance scones.

As starting point for the cheese cake I used this recipe on Champagne cheese cake with various modifications. The biscuit layer as the traditional biscuit layer made from Digestive biscuits and butter.

I worked with two different cheese cake fillings. The first filling was a more basic filling of cream cheese, icing sugar and gelatine with addtion of raspberry cordial for flavour purpose.
The second was a mixture of cream cheese, full fat sour cream, icing sugar, gelatine with the addition of ruby chocolate. I have heard, that if you want to maintain the pink colour of ruby chocolate, it is important, that the pH of the base is not neutral, but to the acidic/sour side. This is the reason, why I used sour cream instead of normal whipping cream to dissolved the melted ruby chocolate into.

Valentine Cheese Cake: - 10-12 servings

• Biscuit bottom:
• 200 digestive biscuits
• 130 g butter - melted
• Cake mass:
• 5 sheets of gelatine
• 400 g plain full fat cream cheese
• 250 g sour cream, 38% fat 
• 150 g icing sugar
• 150 g ruby chocolate - melted
• 5-10 cl raspberry cordial

Biscuit bottom:

1. Break the digestive biscuits into small pieces using a rolling pin. Place the biscuits in a freezing bag, so you can control the whereabouts of the cakes.
2. Melt the butter.
3. Stir the butter and biscuits together in a medium mixing bowl.
4. Afterwards press the mass into the bottom of the spring form (18-22 cm).
5. Place the mass cold.

Cake mass:

1. Place the gelatine sheets in a bowl with cold water, let the sheets soak for 5-10 minutes.
2. Add the cream cheese, icing sugar in a medium mixing bowl, stir it together using an electrical mixer. 
3. Squeeze the gelatine sheets from excess water. Melt the gelatine sheets in a cooking pot.  
4. Add the melted elatine into the cake mass, while you keep mixing to avoid lump formation.
5. Divide the cream cheese mass into two portions.
6. In the first portion stir in raspberry cordial.
7. Whip the sour cream with using an electrical mixer, until the texture becomes stiff.
8. Gentle stir in the melted ruby chocolate into the sour cream. 
9. Gentle mix the second cream cheese mixture with the sour cream mixture.
10. Pour the two cream cheese mixture into the spring form, and mix the two masses together.
11. Place the cake cold in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
12. Serve the cake with a sweet glass of real champagne and say "Happy Valentine" :-)

Ruby Romance Scones

Today you could celebrate Valentines Day making these Ruby Romance scones for your very own Valentine. I have used this recipe on plain yogurt scones as starting point.
The romantic/Valentine twist is the addition of cranberries and ruby chocolate, and I have replaced the plain yogurt with raspberry-rhubarb yogurt to both get some red colour parts for romance, and as I find ruby chocolate to have fresh fruitiness in the flavour, I think that the use of use of both cranberries as well as fruit yogurt can help to boost this fruity flavour.

If you do not have red fruit yogurt, you also use normal plain yogurt or thick milk, so there is no need to buy a special type of yogurt for the baking of  these scones.

Ruby Romance Scones: 12-16 scones

• 350 g wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 50 g sugar 
• 85 g butter - diced into small pieces
• 50 g dried cranberries - medium chopped
• 40 g ruby chocolate - medium chopped
• 190 g red fruit yogurt
• egg wash

1. Cover a baking tray with baking parchment. 
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, orange zest and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
3. Add in the butter pieces, rub in the butter using only your fingers, until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
4. Afterward add in the chopped cranberries and ruby chocolate. 
5. Make a hole in the mixture, where the yogurt is pour into. Knead the scone dough together, until it is soft.
6. Roll out the scone dough in a thickness of 2-3 cm.
7. Cut out the scones from the dough using a cutter. Do not twist the cutter, while doing this.
8. Turn the scone up side down, when it is placed on the baking tray.
9. Or press the scone dough into heart-shaped silicone form.
10. Let the scones raise for 15-30 minutes prior to baking or even more.
11. Before making, brush the the top of the scones with egg wash (only the top, as this affect the raising of the scone during baking). 
12. Bake the scones at 200'C for 15-20 minutes, until golden.
13. Cold down prior to serving.

Valentine treats - suggestions for home-made treats

Valentine brownie

Tomorrow it is Valentine Day, so perhaps you would like to make something special for your very own Valentine ?

Anyway you can be very, very certain, that I have been creative again, so look around again tomorrow where I will be sharing some more Valentine ideas with you.

I have the following suggestions, if you were my Valentine.

Valentine ice cream with cherry

Raspberry kiss

Valentine cream caramel as a little sweet treat



Valentine fudge

Valentine cookies with pomegranate kernels, white chocolate and rose extract.

Marzipan cake with raspberry and lime

Valentine Romance Scones baked in heart shaped form and full of butter, white chocolate and the wonderful Amarena Fabbri cherries

LOVE cupcakes full of yet some more amazing Amarena Fabbri cheeries.

My Valentine cocktail is sparkling tasty combination of rose extract, Cointreau, cranberry juice and sparkling wine for you celebrate your love with.

And as final suggestion thisValentine sparkling cocktail being sparkling wine with rose extract.

Banana bread with white chocolate & coconut

On a rainy and stormy day it can be great to spend time in your kitchen baking a cake, where you can use some very ripe bananas instead of throwing them into the bin.

I found this recipe in the weekly magazine "Søndag" on Banana bread with white chocolate and coconut. The only change, which I have made is, that as I could not find coconut flakes in my local supermarket, I decided to use ordinary desiccated coconut, which I when added into the cake dough instead of placing the coconut flakes on the top of the cake during baking.

Banana bread with white chocolate and coconut: - 1 cake

• 3 eggs
• 200 g brown sugar
• 125 g butter - soft
• 3 banana - use very bananas, if you have such
• 225 g wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 100 g white chocolate - medium chopped
• 50 g desiccated coconut

1. Heat up the oven to 180'C.
2. Whip the eggs and brown sugar in a mixing bowl using an electrical beater.
3. Add the soft butter and whip again.
4. Mash the bananas with a fork, and add the mashed bananas into the cake dough, whip again.
5. Add in the flour together with the baking powder, and whip the dough again.
6. Add in the white chocolate and desiccated coconut, and stir everything together.
7. Fill the cake dough in to 1 l bread form.
8. Place the cake the middle of the oven, and let the banana bread bake at 180'C for approx. 60-75 minutes.
9. Check that the cake is baked by screwing a knitting pine into the cake. The pine should be removed without any unbaked cake dough.
10. Cool down the cake, before slicing it and serving with together with a cup of tea/coffee. 

Sweater in orange - part 3

The sweater after 3½ work days full of meetings

The sweater before the meeting days

I recently shared with you the status on my orange sweater, before I was about to participate in 3½ days at work full of meeting starting Monday at lunch time. The "before" photo you see to right.

After having spend 3½ work days full of meetings activities I managed to finish knitting the two arms of the sweater, and when knit the lower part of the sweater together with the two arms. You can see the "after" photo at the top of this blog post.

The very interesting part of knitting on my sweater during these various work meetings was the interest and interactions, which I had with many of my work colleagues. Many were quiet interested as well as fascinated about the progress and even taking photos of the sweater :-)
And all of my colleagues fully understood, that I had full attention on, what was going on during the meetings.

Sweater in orange - part 2

I have knitted the lower part of the sweater in orange now sitting in front of the TV, so now I have moved on to the knitting of the arm parts. This was the status last Sunday afternoon, before a work week consisting of 3½ work days full of meeting started Monday at lunch time.

I am looking forward to share the next photo after 3½ work days full of meetings !!! as I will bring this knit project with me to work, so I can keep my focus on the meeting activities and not being tempted to read and write emails and loosing focus from the meeting activities.

The miller daughter's bun

Recently when my cousin celebrated her 60 years birthday at Vestermølle close to Skanderborg, I had the time to buy some locally milled flour by Vestermølle Laug. And when you buy some of the flour you also a small recipe collection on various bread and bun.

So, I have now been testing one of these recipe, the one called The miller daughter's bun. I have no modifications to the recipe. The buns have a great taste and they are quiet soft/juicy in the texture.

The miller daughter's bun: - 16 buns

• 3 dl boiling water
• 2 dl five grain mixture
• 3½ dl cold water
• 50 g yeast
• 3 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoon oil
• 400 g Vestermølle whole grain wheat flour
• 350 g wheat flour
• 1 egg - for glazing

1. Add the five grain mixture ad the boiling water into a smaller mixing bowl. Let the grain mixture soak for 1 hour.
2. Weigh all the ingredients directly into the mixing bowl of the stand alone mixer incl the soaked grain mixture. Keep salt & sugar away from the yeast.
3. Place the bowl on the stand-alone mixer.
4. Start knead the dough at speed 1 for 8 minutes.
5. Afterwards increase the speed to 4, knead for 2 minutes. Check the consistency of the dough. If it is not OK, when knead it at speed 4 for another 2 minutes. Again check the consistency. If needed, knead again for 1 minute and when check consistency of the dough.
6. Cover the mixing bowl with a damp tea towel, and the dough raise for approx 60 minutes.
7. When you evaluate, that the dough has raise enough, divide the dough into smaller pieces with a weight of 75-80 g each.
8. Shape the dough pieces into bun shapes. Place the bun pieces on the baking tray covered with baking parchment. 
9. Let the bun raise for second time for approx 40 minutes under a damp tea towel.
10. Heat up the fan oven to 200'C.
11. Use a knife to cut a cross on the top of the bun. 
12. Glaze the buns with whipped egg
13. Bake the bun at 200'C for 15-20 minutes. After half the baking time turn the baking trays around to get an even baking of all the buns.
14. Cold down the buns, before serving them. 

February - what´s up

February - what´s up ?

I have noticed the first crocus putting up their head in my lawn, here in the beginning of February, which is very early. So, wonder when the garden lion can role around in the crocus in the lawn this year ?

After a month where some people have been doing their best to ride off the extra Christmas calories during a "white" January in it is time again to have some more fun in form of calories from either butter or alcohol or both, not necessarily in combination.

So after a "white" January it is time again to enjoy some more calorie rich buns in connection with Shrovetide. A Shrovetide bun can be made from either a yeast dough or pastry dough. The inside of the bun can either be a cream fiiling or a mixture with marzipan as key ingredients. I personally have a preference for Shrovetide buns made from yeast dough with a marzipan filling.

Another key event in February is Valentines day (14 February), which I again will be celebrating in my kitchen making some heart sharped stuff.

So, lets start this last Winter month of February with a little inspiration for you and your kitchen. If you should have any ideas, which I could use for the upcoming Shrovetide buns and/or Valentine, please feel free to leave a comment :-)

Sweetheart juice

Valentine romance scones

shrovetide buns in Spring colour

Shrovetide buns with liqourice

I hope you will look by my kitchen from time to time here in February to see, what I am trying out :-)