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Fastelavn/Danish Carnival

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Today is Fastelavn/”Shrovetide” in Denmark! This is Lutheran/Scandinavian carnival.

I was never a big fan of this tradition as a kid. Probably because you had to dress up in the middle of the Winter standing in a line and beat a barrel in the cold winter snow! The barrel is similar to a piñata but shaped as a barrel with a picture of a cat on it. Its called “beat the cat out of the barrel” and in the old days there used to be a real black cat in it as a symbol of getting rid of evil. Now the barrel is filled with candy and oranges. Much better. The child who beats the bottom off the barrel becomes “Cat Queen” and receives a queen crown and the child who beats the last board off the barrel gets the title “Cat King” and a king’s crown.

Little kids also walk around in groups in their neighborhoods and knock on people’s doors all dressed up in their costumes. They sing a little song about how they will make trouble if they don’t get any buns and then receive a piece of candy. Much like Halloween. Just a lot colder… As a child I would also get a “fastelavnsris” which is a bouquet of branches decorated with fun stuff such as paper masks , pretty paper wraps and… candy, of course! I definitely liked that part of Fastelavn – and the yummy pastry buns called “Fastelavnsboller”.

So yesterday I took an old family recipe for fastelavnsboller and they came out so good considering the recipe was pretty simple. We have already eaten half of them and they reminded me of some of the Danishes you can buy in the bakeries. And what’s even more exciting – I now feel up for trying to make real danishes soon!! Actually, I’m very excited about bringing real danish pastry to America! When you can’t buy it – you gotta make it yourself!

As you can see in the pictures I let my four-year old decorate the fastelavnsboller. And they somehow ended up looking like something from a 70’s cookbook… I need to work on my photo editing skills I guess. But it is a children’s festivity after all… And you can really decorate them any way you want. Next year I will put some more effort into shaping them more uniformly – haha! – and decorating with pretty pink and light blue icing and sprinkles.

 

Fastelavnsbolle recipe

Ingredients:

200 gram butter

1 dl whole milk

1/2 dl warm water for proofing the yeast

1 1/2 package of active dry yeast

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp sugar

1/8 tsp salt

Filling:

Half a package of Jello’s vanilla pudding mix stirred with 1 1/2 cup milk

Icing:

Confectioners sugar, cocoa powder and a little water

M&Ms, sprinkles, anything fun/pretty for decorating

 

This is how you do it:

Melt the butter in a small pot, add the milk.

Proof the yeast in warm water and add it to the luke warm milk and butter in a mixing bowl.

Stir in vanilla, salt, sugar and the egg. Then blend in the flour. The dough is supposed to be soft and sticky. You might want to add a little more flour if it is overly sticky. Knead a for a little bit

Let it rise for 45-60 minutes under a dish towel

Whisk up the vanilla pudding in a separate bowl and set it aside

Knead the dough a little and roll it into a big square with a rolling pin. It should be about 20 x 20 inches and only 1/4 inch thick. Then you cut it into 20 little squares with a knife.

Place the squares on a baking sheet, lined with parchment paper and put a small spoonful of the pudding in the middle of each square

Then you fold the corners of the dough squares towards the middle where you stick them together. Make sure to press the sides firmly together so the little package is closed and no filling spills out (don’t worry, a little came out of some of mine, once in the oven, and it was still ok).

Flip them upside down so you have the foldings underneath the buns

Cover the baking sheets with a dish towel and let the buns rise for another 30 minutes

Then you coat them with a whisked egg

Bake in a 400 degree Fahrenheit warm oven for 18-20 minutes

Once they have cooled off on a baking rack you can decorate!

I made a classic sugar icing with about 1 1/2 cup confectioners sugar and just enough cocoa powder to turn it nicely chocolate brown. Slowly add a little water at a time, only enough to give it the right thick consistency. Carefully top the icing of each bun using a small spoon

Let some kids decorate – if you dare!

Danish bakery in Williamsburg

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Noma founder Claus Meyer has opened a pop-up Danish bakery in Williamsburg’s Margo Patisserie. It will be serving poppy-seed Danishes, rye bread and their special buns every Saturday from 9 am! I am so jealous and will recommend everyone living nearby to go there! Yum!

http://grubstreet.com/2016/02/meyers-bageri-pop-up.html

 

 

Rye bread granola

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Danish children eat fairly healthy. For example they eat rye bread every day. But to my frustration my own children won’t really eat this even though in Denmark it is a staple like pastry and coffee…

So last night I decided to make my childhood classic: rye bread granola. It is basically oven roasted rye bread crumbs with sugar. Don’t all kids eat pretty much anything as long as you add sugar? Yup, my four-year old daughter, Ava, had three portions of yoghurt with rye bread granola! Little one-year old Anton had a hard time chewing it and gave up after one never-ending mouthful… This made my daughter suggest we make a chocolate granola for him – and her… so I guess that will be up next! It will be something baby friendly with cocoa powder, oats and honey. But still less sugary than what you buy in stores.

Ingredients:

500 gram of German Whole Rye Bread from Mestemacher (it has to be the hearty German kind, not the soft rye bread. You can also buy it in stores like Whole Foods, or online)

1/2 cup light brown sugar

A little cinnamon if you like

Here is how I made it:

Finely chop the rye bread into little crumbs

Mix them in a bowl with sugar and spice

Spread them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper

Bake them in the oven on 400 degree Fahrenheit for 10 minutes, stir it with a wooden spoon after 5 minutes

Let it cool off and store in a glass container

Serve as topping on yoghurt – and there you have a classic Danish kids’ breakfast!

Super easy and hearty buns

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Is there anything better than fresh bread right out of the oven? This recipe is so simple and easy that anyone can do it without previous baking experience plus it can be fitted into a busy schedule. With a one-year old and four year-old around me all day recipes need to be pretty simple these days… You just mix it all together before you go to bed, leave it in the fridge overnight and voila next morning you bake them and half an hour later you can enjoy warm freshly baked buns!

Ingredients

3 1/2 cup warm water

1 1/2 package active dry yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon honey

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats, or walnuts or craisins

1/8 cup flax seeds

2 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, rye flour, buck wheat flour or spelt

3 cups all-purpose flour

Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, oats for sprinkling

This is how you do it:

Proof the yeast in 1/2 cup of the warm water with 1/2 a teaspoon sugar

When the yeast starts to rise and bubble after 5 minutes pour it into a mixing bowl and blend it with the remaining 3 cups water, salt and honey

Mix in oats and flax seeds

Then blend in the whole wheat flour

Stir in the all-purpose flour. Stir with the mixer on for some minutes.

The consistency should be just sticky and liquid enough so that you can still stir in it with a spoon – but without it being too liquid. If you can’t stir in it, add 1/4 cup more water. The dough is supposed to be stirred, not kneaded.

Leave the dough in the bowl, covered with saran wrap, in the fridge overnight.

Next morning you use two tablespoons to put the buns on a baking sheet with parchment paper. It will be sticky and the shape won’t be perfect at all!

Then you coat the buns with water and sprinkle them with oats, poppy seeds and sesame seeds.

Bake in the oven on 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 20 minutes.

Copenhagen

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Having been to most of the major cities, Copenhagen is still the cutest, most charming city I know of! And best of all – the bicycles rule! Biking is definitely the way to get around on wide and separated bicycle lanes. This way you don’t have to view the city from behind a windshield and you get a lot of free exercise every day.

Another lovely thing about Copenhagen is all the parks! There are so many places to take a break from busy city life. I can think of at least five great parks in the center of Copenhagen. Among these “Kongens Have” or “The Kings Garden” with Rosenborg Castle in the middle is the most popular and central. It is literally located in the heart of the city. It has a rose garden, beautiful flowerbeds and lots of old trees. In the Summer you can see the city’s residents using it as their own backyard for picnics, parties, sunbathing and soccer games, you name it! This is definitely my favorite park of all time – but it was also here I met my husband on our first date so I am biased…..

Kongens Have/The Kings Garden