Danish Style Strawberry Pies

Yes, I am still baking like a maniac. Although these delicious strawberry pies are typically a summer dessert I decided to give my first attempt yesterday. Maybe it was the sudden switch to 15 °C and sunshine. Kansas weather is like a roller coaster :-)

Vanilla Cream:

1/2 L cream
100 g white chocolate
35 g sugar
1 vanilla bean

Dough:

300 g flour
150 g salted butter at room temperature
100 g powdered sugar
1 egg

Mazarin:

125 g Marcipan at room temperature
75 g sugar
50 g salted butter at room temperature
1 egg

Kransekage:

75 g sugar
45 g eggwhites
200 g Marcipan at room temperature

Fresh Strawberries

Directions

Vanilla cream: Split the vanilla bean and scrape the seeds out. Mix the seeds with some of the sugar to separate them. Heat up the cream with the empty vanilla bean. Add vanilla seeds sugar and chocolate. Once everything is melted together, place it in cold container in the refrigerator until completely cooled down.

Dough: Mix all ingredients and let rest in refrigerator for half an hour. Roll dough out and cut circles of about 8cm and place in the muffin forms. Press the edges up along the side so it form a cup in the form.

Mazarin: Mix all ingredients until an even texture is achieved. Divide out the mixture in the dough cups and bake at 180°C / 350 F for approximately 10 min. Cool down.

Kransekage: Mix sugar and egg whites. Let the sugar dissolve for about half an hour. Add marcipan little by little and mix well. Place mixture in a decorating bag with a large star tip. Squeeze the mixture out creating an edge circle on the dough cups and bake again at 190°C / 360F for 6-8 minutes. Cool down. Whip the vanilla cream and place in the center. Decorate with sliced strawberries. Serve cold on the same day. Makes 10-12 mini pies.

KU Basketball Game

Yesterday I went to my first basketball game ever. Shame on me, considering that we have multiple national championships and the man who invented basketball created the game at Kansas University in the late 1800's. Tickets were sold out and the energy was quite amazing.  I might go again:-)

Blueberry Dream

While in China I was deprived of baking sweets. Now I'm back and I have an oven that has been going almost nonstop since I've been back. This rich creamy cake is one of my favorites yet.

Blueberry jam :

1/2 vanilla bean
100 g sugar
juice from half a lemon
200 g blueberries

Blåbærsylt:
1/2 vaniljastang
100 g sukker
Saft fra 1/2 citron 
200 blåbær

White Cream :

2 sheets of gelatine
1/2 l heavy cream
150 g white chocolate
All the blueberry jam

Hvid Creme :
2 bl husblas
1/2 L piskefløde
150 hvid chokolade
Al blåbærsylten

Chocolate bun :

175 g butter
1 dl water
1/2 vanilla bean
300 g sugar
200 g flour
4 large eggs
75 g cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder

Chokoladebund:
175 g smør
1 dl vand
1/2 vaniljestang
300 g sukker
200 g hvedemel
4  æg
75 g kakao
1 tsk bagepulver

Directions :

Blueberry jam: Split the vanilla bean and scrape all the vanilla out with a knife. Mix with a table spoon sugar to separate the seeds. Place the vanilla sugar, the vanilla bean, sugar, lemon juice and blueberries in a pot and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Remove the vanilla bean and cool mixture down in the fridge for at least 2 hours

White Cream: Place the gelatine in cold water for 30 minutes. Heat the cream in a saucepan with the white chocolate until it all has melted together. Take the saucepan off the heat and add the cold gelatine sheets. Stir the cream mixture and place in the refrigerator in Tupperware for at least 3 hours.

Whip the cold cream and add the blueberry jam.


Chocolate bun: Melt butter and water in a saucepan. Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the vanilla seeds with a knife. Mix with a tablespoon of sugar to separate the seeds. Whip the vanilla sugar, sugar and eggs until it becomes a thick texture. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into the thick "eggs schnaps". Mix carefully. Add the heated butter water mixture. Grease up a springform and pour the mixture into it.  Bake at 175 C for 35-40 minutes.

Once the cake has cooled down, the blueberry cream can be added on top of the cake in a decorative arrangement.

Travel Diaries

Denmark

China

Dubai

The Philippines

Paris

Last year was a great travel year.  I am back in the States now with proper internet connection (non existent in China), my dear tools and crafts and time for blogging about my projects.

3 Strand Cable Braid Tutorial

 

I had almost forgotten how to do this and realized there are no good tutorials on 3 strand braids on the internet - or if there are any, they are hiding from me:-)

What you need

15 stitches

Extra Needle Held in the Front.

You will need yarn, knitting needles and an extra needle. I tripled the yarn and used 8mm needles to get a really chunky braid. Then cast a multiple of 3 onto the knitting needle ( I used 15 stitches).

Recipe for 15 stitches :

Row 1 : K15 = Knit 15
Row 2 : P15 = Purl 15
Row 3 : C10F, K5 = Cast 5 masks onto the extra needle and hold it in the FRONT. Knit 5 from the original needle. Knit five from the extra needle. Knit the last 5.
Row 4 : Like row 2
Row 5 :  Like row 1
Row 6 : Like row 2
Row 7 : K5, C10B = Knit 5. Cast 5 masks onto the extra needle and hold it in the BACK. Knit 5 from the original needle. Then knit the last five from the extra needle.
Row 8 :  Like row 2

*Repeat the 8 rows.

Be careful not to twist the extra needle.

This "braid recipe"can be inserted in any knitting project. It would also make some nice pillows with a couple of braided rows.

Sorry about the grainy pictures my camera lens is currently in need of repair. Good Luck!