Hazelnut Roses

December 19th 2018

Hazelnut Roses

Today, for me, marks the last day of baking the 'syv slag', the seven must bake Christmas cookies that a Norwegian home should have for bringing in the season, ready for unexpected and invited guests alike.  And if like me you have baked the seven or even just one or two, you may have already run out of one variety of cookie already!  I am about to bake my second batch of pepperkake this year and my third of the sugar cookies.  Every year I tell myself to bake bigger batches, you think I would have learnt by now!  Although maybe I should take a leaf out of my mormor (mother's mother) leaf and just say, 'You eat whilst they are here and when they are gone they are gone for another year...'   She was much slimmer than me!

Pepperkaker: Cookie 1
Serinakaker: Cookie 2
Brunne Cookie: Cookie 3
Chocolate Biscotti: Cookie 4
Chocolate Christmas Cookie: Cookie 5
Vanilla Wreath Cookie: Cookie 6

So the last cookie recipe I share with you today is very similar to an old favourite I have shared before but with a slight twist in that, we mix two types of nuts.  You can, of course, use any nut you like and keep it to only just one type if you prefer.  This simple and quick recipe comes from Trine, link below and if you like melt in the mouth and favour a nutty meringue-like cookie, then this is for you... enjoy...

Cookies made using a small star nozzle for piping

You will need:

100g ground hazelnuts
75g ground almonds
150g sugar
2 egg whites
pinch of salt
For the decoration:
whole hazelnuts to decorate
100g chocolate for melting








♥  Preheat the oven to 180 Celcius.
♥  Mix the ground nuts and sugar thoroughly.
♥  In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until very stiff.
♥  Carefully fold in the nuts to the egg whites trying not to lose too much air.
♥  The mixture needs to be stiff enough to hold its own shape but not so stiff that it cannot be piped.
♥  Spoon the mixture into a piping bag with a large as possible star nozzle.

Once baked the cookies look more appealing

♥  Pipe directly onto lined baking trays.  Depending on the size of your nozzle either pipe a rose shape or if your star is on the small size pipe in concentric circles.
♥ Bake for 10-14 minutes or until just golden do not overbake otherwise the cookies will become too dry.
♥  As soon as you remove the trays from the oven place a whole hazelnut in the centre of each rose.  Press the nut in firmly to avoid it falling out later.  Leave to cool on the tray for a good five minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
♥  Once completely cold, melt some chocolate and dip the underside (or brush the underside) of the cookie.  Allow the chocolate to set by placing the cookie upside down on the wire rack.  I tend to cover only half of the cookies with chocolate bottoms.
♥  These cookies freeze well but place some baking paper between each cookie if you are to freeze.  These defrost in about 15 minutes once removed from the freezer and will keep for 3 months.

Hazelnut Roses without chocolate bottoms

This lovely cookie recipe comes from one of my favourite Scandinavian cooks, the Danish Trine Hahnemann, do pop over and see her recipe and cookie:  Trine's Hazelnut Roses

It was hard to show you that the cookies had chocolate
underneath, so I turned them upside down!

Cookie number 6, Vanilla Wreaths
and Cookie number 7, Hazelnut Roses

 ♥  Seven cookies now baked for Christmas  ♥

Serinakaker ~ a popular Scandinavian Christmas biscuit

December 4th 2018

Serinakaker:  If you really want uniform cookies,
then each dough ball should weigh 15g

Along with pepperkaker , serinakaker are my favourite Christmas cookie.  Scandinavians like to add spice to their cookies and this one uses vanilla.  Although we only bake these at Christmas, they are really perfect for any time of the year, they truly are scrumptious.  Very quick to make and melt in the mouth, what is not to like?


Not only is this a favourite in our household but throughout Scandinavia too.  I blogged about these cookies exactly four years ago to the day, see the post here.  I possess 10 slightly different variations of this cookie recipe but my latest find may possibly be my favourite.  Written by the talented Dane, Brontë Aurell and featured in her latest book  Scandinavian Christmas, a book whose introduction pulled at my heartstrings and made me shed a tear has not been far away from me in the kitchen since I purchased it back in October.  If you are keen on trying new foods and are interested in Scandinavian Christmas food, then this is a book for you.

Serinakaker:  Bakers sugar compromises of very large sugar grains
that do not melt entirely when baked, if unavailable, use chopped almonds

Serinakaker


You will need:

300 g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
pinch of salt
200g of cold butter, cubed
125g icing sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla sugar or 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
1 egg
1 egg white
bakers sugar or chopped almonds

Lined baking trays

Serinakaker:  Brush with egg whites
and sprinkle with Bakers sugar

♥  Mixing flour, baking powder and salt add the cubed butter and mix until breadcrumb like.

♥  Next, mix in the icing sugar and vanilla sugar/extract.

♥  Add the whole egg and mix until the dough just comes together.

♥  Wrap the dough in cling film and leave in the fridge for minimum an hour, I left it overnight.

♥  Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius.

♥  Divide dough into quarters, leaving 3/4 in the fridge and working with a quarter at a time, the dough softens fairly quickly. Each quarter should make about 10 cookies.  Roll each quarter into 10 balls of similar size.  If you want the cookies to be exact then measure each ball on scales at 15g each.

Serinaker:  Flaten the cookies
with the bottom of a flat glass

♥  Place the balls evenly spaced on the lined baking trays, remembering they will spread a little in the oven.  Press each ball gently to squash it a bit, I used the base of a drinking glass to go this to produce a level surface.


♥  Brush each cookie with egg white and sprinkle with either the bakers' sugar or chopped almonds, don't be shy give a good sprinkling.

♥  Bake for about 10 minutes or until just golden.

♥  Cool on a wire rack and then store in an airtight container.

These cookies will last for several days but do occasionally become a tad soft, if this is the case, I often pop them in a preheated oven of 150 degrees Celcius again for about 5 minutes making sure to allow them to cool completely to crisp up before eating.

♥ These are Moorishly delicious, you have been warned ♥

Do let me know if you bake them and thank you to everyone who has commented here, on Facebook, on Instagram, emailed me directly and to those silent readers too.  

It's lovely having you back my friends.

Serinakaker

Advent

December 2nd 2018

Pepperkake Advent candles

I love the tradition of lighting a new candle each Sunday in Advent, the mad rush there's still so much to do, how will I fit it all in, oh, look there's another idea that's caught my imagination, have I time to squeeze that make in too? slow countdown to Christmas.  In an ideal world, there will be time to sit with a glass of something with loved ones and enjoy each others company but the reality is so often not that.  However, this season,  I am on a mission to slow down more.

The yearly coffee table centrepiece of the Advent candles have taken a different slant this year and I have used Elin's idea that she shared on her wonderful Norwegian baking blog and recreated my own Advent candle 'pepperkake' holder.  Hope you like it...

♥  TIP 1
Using the traditional pepperkake recipe which you can find HERE , it was relatively easy and quick to make.  The trick for me was to make sure I rolled out the rectangular base to the correct size for the plate I wanted to use, you can, of course, create a circular one if you wish, it's gingerbread house making on a very different level, no 3D sculpting and watching in disbelief as it all falls apart, oh yes, I have been that person and never again will I make a gingerbread house. Never; I'm shuddering just thinking about my epic fails on that score.

♥  TIP 2
The other trick is to use a biscuit cutter large enough to create a hole to accommodate a tealight candle.  I actually used an old tea light casing to make the circular hole.  Then once baked and as soon as they are out of the oven, I reinserted the tealight and ensured whilst the biscuit was soft that I cut away any more to guarantee a good fit.  Leave it when the biscuit has cooled and the hearts will break, this must be done when the biscuit is warm  You have been warned.

I used an egg white icing to decorate and kept it like Elin did, very plain and simple.

I used 1 egg white and squeezed the juice of a lemon and enough sifted icing sugar to create a fairly thick icing, using also a couple of blobs on the underside of each heart to 'glue' them into position on the biscuit base.

If you are into elegant decor, this will not be your style, but if rustic works for you and homemade, then this will be a winner!

Decorated pepperkake Advent candle holder

1st Sunday in Advent

Advent pepperkae candle holder

♥  Now I'm going to sit back relax and smell the pepperkake  ♥

Edit 2019:  I had a bit of a dilemma with this advent holder as I came down one morning to this...

...the cats had nibbled it in the night!!!

Pepperkaker A Norwegian Christmas tradition

December 1st 2018  

I can't help myself, it is December and something stirs inside me like a small child.  The excitement despite my advancing years creeps in and a smile is never far from my face.  This is my favourite time of year.  The run-up to Christmas for me brings joy.  It is a time spent happily in the kitchen making and baking with love.  Yes, we are surrounded by commercialism and we stress too much and rush around trying to fit everything in but what is important?  To me, it is family and friends and sharing time together and when I am in my kitchen baking the traditional 7 biscuits for the season I do it thinking of my loved ones near and far and counting my blessings.  I make no apologies for sounding mushy and over-sentimental and soppy, this is my time of year.

What's a Norwegian Christmas without pepperkake, the English equivalent of Christmas ginger cookies.  Well, it's not Christmas in our household without this firm favourite and by the time the season is over, I will probably have made 4 or 5 batches.  Those of you who are returning friends will recognise these biscuits immediately as we bake them year on year, you too will notice it is exactly the same photo with the old pepperkake recipe, why fix something that is not broken, eh?  For new friends, welcome to the eclectic home, grab a drink and stay a while and peruse the very eclectic mix of baking, making and life from a multicultural home with a twist-heavy on the Scandinavian side.

Great to nibble on, wonderful with a cup of coffee and the perfect small homemade gift.

Keep some dough in the fridge ~ it can last if wrapped well for about 3 weeks, you can roll out a few biscuits and have them on hand warm and ready to eat within twenty minutes.  They do keep well in an airtight container for the festive season too.  AND the dough can be frozen in advance too for up to 3 months, just remember to defrost it thoroughly before using!

Pepperkake:  this recipe comes out year after year

Method:

♥  Melt on a low heat, the syrup, sugar and butter.

♥  Allow to cool ever so slightly and then beat in the egg thoroughly.

♥  Sift in the flour, baking powder and spice and mix well.

At this stage the dough is quite gloopy, I tend to leave it in the pan and then place it in the fridge overnight, but you can transfer to a smaller bowl if you so wished.  This year I allowed it to cool in the pan for an hour or so and once it began to be semi-hard, I removed the mixture from the pan and rolled it into two fat sausage shapes, wrapping each separately in cling film and then placed into the fridge overnight.  This allowed me to slice off the next day exactly the right amount to roll out small batches at a time.  TIP: this dough softens very quickly, so only roll out and use a small amount at a time.

♥  The next day take out only a small amount of dough (see note 3) and roll out on a floured surface to about 3-4 mm thick and cut out shapes placing cookies on a greaseproof lined baking tray.  this is important.

♥  Bake on 175 degrees for approximately 10 minutes, or as in my fast oven less, until just golden brown.

♥  Cool on a wire rack before either icing or placing in an airtight container.  These will last for 2-3 weeks

Pepperkake can be cut out with any cookie cutter but 
traditionally they are heart shapes in Norway.

Adding icing to the peperkake give them a very different look

Pepperkake make great little gifts, recycle old jam jars,
 making good airtight containers too

♥ Baking the 1st of 7 traditional Norwegian biscuits for the festive season, will you join in with me?  ♥

Scandinavian Christmas baking 5 ~ Havreflarn cookies

Havreflarn Cookies ~ Oat Cookies
December  15th 

Is it obvious that this is my favourite time of the year? The kitchen decorated in red and festive songs

Havreflarn (oat) cookies

on the radio is where you will usually find me in December.  I truly am at my happiest.  Feeding the beast that is this blog does mean that posting every day in December each year pushes me to try out new cookie recipes and seek out new traditions as well as trying some old ones that perhaps were not so common to our family and I am totally enthralled by this adventure.  It is not a chore blogging in December it is pure pleasure and thank you for coming along for the ride. 
                                        

Today's recipe comes from Manuela a Norwegian blogger living in Sweden with her husband and 5 children.  Not a professional baker in the sense she studied the art of baking but more that she has a passion for it and has learnt by trial and error.  Her photographs of her bakes are always in pastels and delicate shades and you can tell she too is doing something she loves... It is no wonder that she was voted Norway's best blogger a few years ago.

This 'small cake' recipe is full of flavour and texture and a good addition to the 7 cookies that we bake for Christmas, as it has none of the classic warming spices, it makes for a complimentary taste. I tend to only sanwich half the cookies with melted chocolate and leave the others as 'single' cookies. 

Ingredients needed for the havreflarn (oat) cookies

Havreflarn cookies ~ oat cookies

Havreflarn dough ready to make into cookies

You will need:

♥  200g unsalted COLD butter

♥  150 g sugar

♥  250 g oats (I use porridge oats)

♥  38 g plain flour

♥  1 tbsp egg white

♥  1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

♥  1 tsp vanilla bean paste

For the filling:

♥  175 g dark chocolate

♥  sea salt for drizzling

Roll into small balls slightly smaller
than the size of a teaspoon

1  Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly until it forms a dough.  See photograph.

2  Make small balls slightly smaller than the size of a teaspoon and place them on a lined greaseproof paper tray.  Space the balls a good distance apart as they will flatten out and swell.

3 place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celcius for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

4  The cookies will be very soft when they come out, so do not handle them.  I tend to pull the whole sheet of greaseproof paper and put it on the cooling rack.  Once the cookies can be handled they can then be placed directly on the cooling rack.

5  Once the cookies have crisped up, melt the chocolate either in a Bain Marie or in the microwave and add 1-2 teaspoons of the melted chocolate to one cookie.  Drizzle on some sea salt on top of the chocolate and then carefully place the second cookie on top.

6  Enjoy!

Cool the havreflarn cookies on a wire rack,
see how they have spread evenly in size

Add melted chocolate to one side of the
cookies and sprinkle with some sea salt

Havreflarn oat cookies all ready for eating or gifting

The oat cookkies have a melted chocolate and sea salt filling

♥  Have you made any cookies for Christmas?

Paper and Scissors

Scandinavian papercraft
December 14th

Norwegian paper hearts 

For as long as I can remember we made paper hearts at Christmas.  As a small child, I recall how difficult it could be but how excited I was to see my finished woven paper heart hung on the Christmas tree holding a few sweets.  Memories are precious don't you think.  In this evocative time of year, it would not feel like Christmas to me if I did not have some paper hearts somewhere in my home.  This year they are to be found on the windowsill in our kitchen.  For details on how to make them click here . Many will argue that these are called Danish hearts, but in my heart they are Norwegian.

Woven paper hearts in situ in my Christmas kitchen

This year I have turned my attention to paper cutting baubles.  I had so much fun making these that the midnight oil was struck a few weeks ago as I just could not stop.  Fun, quick and easy to make.  I followed my pencil literally as I did not have a pattern and made it up as I went along.  All you need is some paper, a craft knife and some imagination.  The baubles are hung up in my study...

Paper baubles on the window. looking from the outside in 

Paper baubles on the window, looking from the inside out

Like snowflakes, no two baubles are the same

The Scandinavians have always enjoyed paper crafts at Christmas and the intricate details that some can manage is astonishing, the next link is for paid paper cuts but I show it here to give you an idea of what the Scandi's get up too... Swedish paper cut mobiles  And pop over and look at Ingrid's blog,
she maybe German but fell in love with paper art whilst in Denmark ... Ingrid    Norwegian artist Karen Bit has an international reputation for her paper art, it is beyond unbelievable.  And to give you some ideas of what you can do at home just look at this page from Pinterest:  paper cut 

♥  Have you dabbled in paper cutting? 

Scandinavian Market

A little piece of Scandinavia all over the world 
December 6th  

Nisse were to be found
in all shapes and sizes

Every year without fail I journey into London around the last weekend of November, just for one thing...the Scandinavian Christmas market.  I have always visited on a Friday but for several reasons could not do so this year and waded into town on Saturday. Also for reasons out of my control, John, my husband,  was dragged along with me.  Dragged because he's not a shopper as such and also we had a late night Christmas 'do' the night before and really the last thing he wanted was to visit a market, but he knew it meant much to me so he came along.

Elk burgers for sale at the Scandinavian market

Hamburg is the largest of the Norwegian Christmas markets around the world outside of Norway and over the course of it's few days has around 30 000 visitors.  In comparison, the London market is quite a bit smaller but comprises of not just the Norwegian market but that of the Swedish, Danish and Finnish too.  The Norwegian church and the Finnish church are only about 10 doors away from each other with the outdoor market running along Albion Road from one to the other.

Rye bread and smoked salmon smørgasborg

Here at the market local London business with a strong Scandinavian heart come and show their wares and tempt us with food from the Nordic countries.  Elk and reindeer feature heavily as the photo shows, elk burgers were on offer and a Scandinavian market would not be right without some smørgasbord.  And the Swedes had boxes and boxes of sweets for pick and mix.  Anytime we cross the border from Norway to Sweden, the first stop my children want to make is the enormous Swedish sweet shops.  Really they are HUGE!

Swedish godteri (sweets)

The Scandi Kitchen was also present which always pleases me, I try whenever I can to visit their cafe in London and have my 'fix' of Norwegian cafe culture here in our capital, I may also end up buying one or two food bits each time I visit to take home too.

The Scandi Kitchen selling their food wares

Somewhere to sit and eat all the Scandinavian food

We met up with our dear sailing friend Alasdair, owner of the only boat chandlers in central London, a treasure of a find if you are after an unusual shop with a very long historic story.  Arthur Beale was established over 400 hundred years ago and supplied Shackleton with rope for his many adventurous endeavours, the shop still has the original receipt and a telegram asking for more rope to be sent out.  You should follow them on Facebook or Instagram if you are interested in either boats and sailing or indeed if you enjoy seeing snippets of history, it's pure pleasure.  Alasdair has a great affinity to Norway having sailed there many times in his beautiful wooden Vertue boat.  Alasdair even spent a few years at evening school learning Norwegian just for the fun of it, not many can say they have done that!

Arthur Beale stand at the Scandinavian market

The funniest moment of the day was after John had been fed, hangover required food and quick, when he suddenly realised where we were and what was on offer to buy, he said, "Why on earth are we here, it's like walking in to our own home the minute December 1st arrives."  I did laugh out loud as I looked around at all the nisse for sale and the sea of red around us.  There were too many people here at the market on a Saturday and spotting the queues to gain access to both the Norwegian and Finnish churches I turned to him and said it was time to leave.  Coming on a Saturday was not the same as visiting on a Friday, I shall not make that mistake again.



But there was a buzz in the air and it was wonderful to hear the Scandinavian languages above the hustle and bustle of the day, I had my Scandi fix and I was happy that we had been.  I may not have bought anything other than food, but that was not for me the point of the visit, I just love soaking up a bit of Scandinavia when I can ♥

A sea of red ay the Scandinavian Christmas market

Nisses were to be found everywhere at the Scandinavian market

♥  Have you been to any of the numerous 

Christmas fayres around at this time of year?

Christmas kitchen

Turning the kitchen red overnight...    
December 5th

Every year the night before December the first I begin transforming the kitchen and dress it up

A red Christmas kitchen from December 1st

for Christmas.  I am not alone.  Many many homes in Norway will be doing the same thing, bringing Christmas cheer into their home on December the 1st by creating a feeling of warmth and togetherness.  The Norwegians will also be decorating their porches from the 1st too, ensuring a candle is lit to welcome in friends and family to the hub of the home.

My daughter has begun studying this year at university and one of the first things she was worried about was not missing us or how she would make new friends or indeed be worrying about the workload, no, she was upset that she would not wake up on December the 1st and pad into the kitchen to suddenly wake up properly and see it had all turned red and Christmassy, she said she was going to miss that warm feeling.  I felt two emotions that day, pride and happiness that my love of the season and our family traditions mean as much to the next generation as it does to me and then worry about how I could help her recreate that warmth at uni.

I collected all my red kitchen paraphernalia and took a few pieces out to send to Ella so she and her halls of residence flatmates could create a smidge of Norwegian red in their shared kitchen.  I did not want to overwhelm Ella's new friends but also did not want Ella to miss out.  I think we hit the balance well...

A smidge of Norwegian red at university

Even a nisse made it onto
the hot water boiler

Note the tinsel was not from me, it was
the token British addition to the kitchen!

Red curtains for Christmas 

We do not normally have curtains of any sort in our kitchen, we are not overlooked and I like to see out to the garden, but come December the 1st the red Christmas cafe style curtains are put up.  We do not have curtain poles so I use an extending pole that suspends between the walls, it's great, no drilling or marks left for the rest of the year. I have three windows in the kitchen and all are dressed in red.

You may notice on the left of the photo with the red curtain a huge soup/gløg terrain.  It is part of the Norwegian Nisse dinner service produced by Porsgrunn Porselaen My grandmother started me on collecting this service and for all my birthdays and Christmas' for as long as I can remember I was given something to add to my collection.  Now close to 50, I have a full set of the dinner service and I bring it out every year with pride on December 1st.  Every time we use it and we do use it daily it brings back such memories of my grandparents, they are missed but most certainly not forgotten.

To give you an idea of the extending curtain pole, not my photo

All change on December 1st, the Christmas crockery
comes out and red ribbon is added to the shelf too

I even change the cushion pads on our chairs to bring in the red wherever I can in the kitchen, it brings it all together in a uniform happy way, I think!

Nearly everything has a touch of red at this time of the year.

Several years ago I also painted the ends of many wooden utensils to help bring the look together, I only use these ones, which cost just pence at Christmas only.  Nowadays there are several stores selling just red utensils too...

Red kitchen utensils

Every year I make a photo calendar of the previous year's memories.  I don't know about you but I am rubbish these days at compiling photo albums, we take so many photos now in this digital age that to print them all would cost a fortune and take up too much space.  So I take my time and towards the end of every year compile a calendar of memories from the year before.  I keep them all as my modern day photo albums.  I try also to make the month of December red, obviously, and add the previous years Christmas photos too!

December month is a red month

Walking into our kitchen in December warms my heart more than any other time of the year.  

I do so love this season, don't you?

♥  Do you decorate your kitchen for Christmas?