Chocolate Cake with beer (Eng vers.) maj 26, 2008

Cake:
1 cup Guinness
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cups superfine sugar
3/4 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Frosting:
8 ounces cream cheese (optional)
1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350° and grease and line with parchment paper a 9-inch springform pan.

Pour the Guinness into a large saucepan and add the sliced butter.

Heat until the butter is melted and remove from the heat.

Whisk in the cocoa and sugar. In a separate bowl, beat the sour cream with the eggs and vanilla. Add the sour cream mixture to the Guinness mixture in the saucepan. Finally, beat in the flour and baking soda.

Pour the batter into the greased and lined springform pan and bake for 45 minutes to an hour. (I baked mine for 53-55 minutes, checking with a toothpick for doneness and it came out well. Your oven may vary.) Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

For the frosting, beat the powdered sugar and cream cheese together until well combined and creamy. Add the cream and beat again until it’s a spreadable consistency. I found slowly adding the cream and beating the icing very well gave excellent results. At first there seems like a lot of frosting for just the top of a 9-inch cake but don’t skimp!

The idea is to frost the top of the cake until it resembles the frothy head of a pint of Guinness. It’s quite dramatic and lovely.

French coffee cake april 4, 2008

1 package (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm water (110° to 115°)
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1/3 cup evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-3/4 to 4-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

FILLING:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup evaporated milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

TOPPING:
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup cold butter
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the butter, sugar, egg yolks, milk and salt; mix well. Add 2 cups flour; beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

For filling, combine the chocolate chips, milk and sugar in a saucepan; cook and stir over low heat until smooth. Stir in cinnamon; set aside.

For topping, combine the flour, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl; cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts. Set aside.

Punch dough down. Turn onto a lightly floured surface; roll into an 18-in. x 10-in. rectangle. Spread with filling. Roll up jelly-roll style, starting with a long side; pinch seam to seal. Place in a well-greased 10-in. fluted tube pan, with seam facing inside of pan. Sprinkle with topping. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 350° for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand for 10 minutes before inverting onto a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle with confectioners; sugar if desired. Yield: 12-16 servings.

Raisin pie

2 cups raisins
1 cup water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pastry for 2-crust, 9-inch pie

Place raisins in a saucepan; add water. Simmer raisins for 10 minutes. Mix corn syrup with cornstarch and salt; add to raisin mixture in saucepan. Continue cooking, stirring constantly, for about 3 minutes..

Cool; pour into pastry-lined pie pan. Arrange top crust over top or cut into strips and arrange strips in a lattice fashion. Bake at 425° for 20 minutes, until pie is done and pastry is golden brown.

Truffled quail eggs marts 29, 2008

50g fresh/preserved black winter truffles
¼ cup hazelnut oil
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
24 quail eggs
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh chives

¾” round cutter & pastry bag fitted with a ¼” plain tip

Very thinly slice truffles. Cut out circles from slices with round cutter. Mince enough scraps to measure 1 tbsp and reserve with 2 tsp juice from jar if using preserved truffles. Whisk oil into lemon juice in small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Spoon 1½ tbsp vinaigrette into another small bowl and add truffle circles. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Cover quail eggs with 1″ water in small saucepan. Simmer covered 5 minutes, then refresh under cold water. Peel eggs and halve lengthwise. Push out yolks and mash with chives, minced truffles (and any juice if using preserved truffles), and remaining vinaigrette to create paste.

Season with salt and pepper and transfer to pastry bag fitted with tip. Chill deviled yolks in bag. Arrange egg white halves on platter and pipe in just enough deviled yolks to fill holes. Cover each yolk with a truffle circle.

Roast Pork

3kg belly pork with skin
130g coarse salt
A pinch of five-spice powder

Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Score the inner pork belly with a sharp knife.Rub the meat with 30g of coarse salt and the five-spice powder.

Pierce metal skewers through the upper and lower portion of the pork belly to prevent it from shrinking during roasting. Rub the remaining coarse salt on the skin of the pork belly.

Roast the pork for 45 minutes to an hour. Halfway through the roasting time, remove the roast pork from the oven and rub off all the salt from the skin. Prick the skin all over with a stainless steel tenderiser needle.

Return the pork to the oven and roast it on high heat until pork is blackened and skin is crispy. Remove from oven and scrape off the blackened part.

Return to oven and continue roasting till done.

Pommes Dauphine marts 26, 2008

1 large baking potatoes, peeled and quartered
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup flour
1 eggs
1/2 dash pepper
Salad oil for deep frying

In small saucepan cook potatoes in water to cover with salt until tender, about 25 minutes. Drain, reserving 2/3 cup potato water. Dry out potatoes over low heat to rid excess moisture. Mash potatoes. Do not add milk. In medium saucepan combine reserved water (or 1/2 cup water) and butter or margarine. Heat over medium heat until water is boiling and butter has completely melted. Reduce heat. Add flour all at once. Stir briskly with wooden spoon until mixture leaves sides of pan and forms a ball. Remove from heat; cool slightly.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Blend in potatoes and pepper. In deep-fat fryer or deep saucepot, heat 1 1/2 – 2″ oil to 375 F on deep fat thermometer. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls or by #20 ice cream scoop into hot oil. (Puffs double in bulk, so fry only a few ata time.) Fry 8 minutes, until puffed and golden brown. Remove with slotted spoon, drain on paper towels. Keep warm in 200 F oven.

Note: You have scaled this recipe to serve/make 4 (originally serves/makes 8). Please adjust for pan sizes, cooking times, measurements in the directions, and divided ingredients accordingly.

Du kan finde den danske opskrift her: dk-kogebogen

Loaf with a twist marts 11, 2008

Here is the link to where I got the recipe – another foodieblogger: Happy home baking

Old English trifle marts 10, 2008

Old English trifle, consisting of raspberry jelly, bananas, trifle sponge, custard and topped with whipped cream and decorated with flaked almonds and fresh raspberries.

Recipe here: Old english trifle

Pears Belle Hélène

Poached Pears

1 cup sugar

3 cups white wine or white grape juice

3 cups water

Zest of 1 orange, in 1 by 3-inch strips

1 cinnamon stick

8 whole cloves

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

6 slightly underripe Bosc pears, peeled and cored, with stems intact
Chocolate Sauce

1/3 cup heavy cream

1/3 cup Fra Angelico liqueur

1/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

8 ounces shaved semisweet chocolate or chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups vanilla ice cream or low-fat frozen yogurt, softened, for serving.

SERVES

6 connoisseurs

This classic French recipe stands a poached pear in ice cream topped with chocolate sauce like a sundae. A low-fat frozen yogurt can also be used. Use a tall, elegantly shaped, and long-stemmed poaching pear like the Bosc.

To make the poached pears, combine all the ingredients except the pears in a nonaluminum Dutch oven or soup pot. Bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add the peeled pears, stem side up, and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the pears are just tender. (Ripe pears will cook much quicker.) Remove the pears from the poaching liquid with a slotted spoon and regfrigerate for at least 2 hours. The poaching liquid can be stored and reused.

To make the chocolate sauce, bring the cream, liqueur, sugar, and salt to a boil in a saucepan. Remove from heat, add the chocolate, and cover. After 3 minutes, blend in the chocolate until the sauce is smooth. (The sauce can be prepared several days ahead and chilled.)

To assemble, warm the chocolate sauce, if chilled, over low heat or in a double boiler. If it is too thick, add a few drops of cream. Place a large spoonful of vanilla ice cream in each dessert cup. Stand a chilled pear in the ice cream and spoon the warm chocolate sauce over the pears. Serve immediately, with your best silver spoons.

Wholemeal Crust/Grahamsskorper marts 8, 2008

A lot of sugar is often added to this bread, but that is not nessesary. This recipe is low on sugar and is easy to adjust either way.

50 g yeast
500 ml milk
100 g butter
50 g sugar
500 g wholemeal flour
350 g white flour

Method:
Bring milk and butter to lukewarm and crumble the yeast into the mixture. Add the remaining ingredients and knead the dough until it is shiny and firm. Leave to rise for about 45 minutes.
Knock the dough down and form into oval oblong rolls. Place on greaseproof paper on a baking sheet and leave to rise for another 30 minutes. Put into a preheated oven at 200°C for about 35 minutes until light brown.

Remove from oven and leave to cool to the touch. Cut in half and dry out in the oven at 125°C until dry and crisp.

The crusts should be stored in an airtight container and will keep fresh for a relatively long time.

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50 g gær
500 ml mælk
100 g smør
50 g sukker
500 g grahamsmel
350 g hvedemel

Fremgangsmåde:
Mælk og smør lunes til ca 35 grader, og gæren smuldres ned i og røres ud. De øvrige ingredienser tilsættes, og dejen æltes, til den er blank og smidig og slipper let. Den stilles til hævning et lunt sted i ca 45 minutter.

Dejen slås ned og formes til ovale boller. De sættes på bagepapir på en bageplade og efterhæver i ca 30 minutter. Stilles i ovnen og bages ved 200 grader, til de er lysebrune, ca 35 minutter.
Bollerne tages ud af ovnen og afkøles noget, inden de flækkes og stilles til tørre i ovnen ved ca 125 grader, til de er gennemtørre.

Grahamsskorper opbevares i tætsluttende dåser og kan holde sig friske længe