The Tale of an Acorn

Back when we could still wear short sleeved t-shirts outside, we spend some afternoons gathering acorns nearby.

I read that it's possible to make acorn flour and thought, why not? It's been a while since I indulged a completely unnecessary experiment.

When I say we spend a couple afternoons, it was because I made the rookie mistake of picking the green acorns instead of the brown. After we spend some hours de-shelling the acorns we gathered that day, we found out that we needed to use the brown ones and had to with a couple off weeks before we went back.

Acorns need to go through quite a long process before you can actually eat them. They contain a lot of tannin, and I am sure you could get a mean stomach ache, if you ate them unprocessed. First they need to boil, then you need to dry them (I did this in the oven), and to make flour you obviously need to mill the dried acorn pieces (or as I did: use a very good food processor). After all this work, we ended up with around 250 g of flour, which doesn't sound of much, but it was enough to make a couple of batches of acorn cookie during the fall. I used a normal short bread recipe and replaced half the normal flour with our the acorn flour.

I was wondering if the taste would be worth all the work, and even though it is not the best cookie I've ever had in my life, it was really unlike anything I ever tried - not at all bad, but very sweet. So I won't reject that I would go through the same laboursome process when next years fall when the ground once again will fill up with acorn en masse.

The Tale of a Kransekage

Last year, when we were in Paris for New Year, I attempted my first kransekage. For those of you who don't know what kransekage is, it is a baked marzipan cake - sometimes filled with nougat, sometimes not- and it is very common to eat at big celebrations such as weddings and very traditional to have with the Champagne at the stroke of midnight on new years eve.

Last year, I just made straight pieces, but this year I felt like taking on the challenge of the kransekage-tower - something a bit more festive - since we were going to kliché new years dinner.

In the end, I was quite satisfied with it, even though I had slight problems with getting it to harden in our gas oven. But I managed and they all fitted on top of each other. So next year, I will just have to focus on making it look prettier.

The Tale Of Fastelavnsboller

It has been a couple of weeks since it was Fastelavn, but I just came around to work on these pictures now. As you may have already read, I made fastelavnsboller, or at least my own interpretation of these. From back home I know two different kinds. One is a bun with creme-filling, the other a pastry with a lot more cream-filling. I decided to combine these two in one and attempt choux for the first time. After that decision I also found this recipe that I thought looked amazing. All of a sudden I felt compelled to try out both.

First one - the bun with the cheese and berries - I started a couple of days before, because I adapted the recipe to sourdough. With sourdough the process always takes a bit longer, but I am still amazed every time I am standing with a dough that has risen without any added chemical our yeast. And as I am trying to experiment more and more, it gets to be more and more fun. Earlier I used to hate doing bready dough, but now it has become one of my favorite kitchen activities.

As already mentioned I was trying "choux" out for the first time, and although the dough was fairly easy to do, I think I need to practice using the pastry bag a couple more times before getting it right. My choux turned out rather uneven and in all shapes and sizes. But the taste of coffee and raspberry filling was good, and I don't think anyone would complain if I started practicing more regularly until I have the shape right.

The Tale Of A Kanelstang

 

Over Easter I attempted to make the Danish pastry Kanelstang for the first time. And with great success. Since it is one of Vincents favorites, I thought I would give it a try. I have to admit that I prefer this to homemade cinnamon buns. Just because the dough turns out a bit more succulent.

I can dream of this for the next month while I am doing a no sugar diet. In the meantime I most likely only take pictures of really healthy food.

In case you would like to try it yourself, here is the recipe I used. Though I only did half the portion.

The Tale Of A Sweet Potato/Canjun Burger

A while ago when I saw this recipe, I immediately told Vincent that we had to try and cook this. It just looked to good to pass out on. With some home made ketchup and spelt-buns it was really delicious and my expectations from glancing at the picture were certainly met. One of the best joint cooking we have done so far. So thanks to Kimberly Hasselbrink for posting this great recipe.