Kransekake Ring Cake Recipe

Kransekake (Ring Cake) is a type of cake that is popular in Norway during the Christmas holiday season. It is served at weddings and other celebrations as well. The dough of this cake is made from almonds and confectioners sugar so the cake is somewhat dense, moist and chewy. It tastes a lot like a really good almond cookie. Kransekake is also different from most cakes in that it is baked as a series of rings that are plastered together with a sweet, almond icing and then adorned with a wide variety of candies or other decorations. Discover this cake this holiday season. It's fun to make and even better to eat.

Recommended Equipment:
spice or coffee grinder
tape measure or ruler

Ingredients:
cake:
6 cups of water
1 pound of whole almonds
1 pound of confectioners sugar
2 tspn almond extract
3 egg whites
potato flour (for dusting the rolling surface)

icing:
4 cups confectioners sugar
1 tspn lemon juice
1 tspn almond extract
2 egg whites
your choice of candy for garnish. I used cinnamon imperials.

Preparation:

1. In a large saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add half of the whole almonds. After a few minutes, the almonds will begin rising to the surface of the water. As they do this, remove them from the saucepan when they hit the surface using a slotted spoon or strainer. Set them aside to let them cool. When you have removed all of the almonds from the saucepan, rinse them in cold water and remove the skins. Distribute them on a paper towel to let them dry completely. Wash the saucepan to use later.
2. Using your spice or coffee grinder, grind up the half pound of almonds that still have their skins. Pour the ground almonds into the large saucepan. Do the same with the almonds that have their skins removed. You may need to regrind any of the large pieces of almond that were not ground originally.
3. Add the confectioners sugar to the saucepan along with the almond extract and egg whites. Place the saucepan over low heat. Mix the ingredients together until they form a smooth paste that pulls from the sides of the saucepan.
4. Remove the saucepan from the heat. Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it overnight.
5. The next day, preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and grease 2 to 3 baking pans.
6. Dust a counter top or other flat surface with the potato flour.
7. Roll the dough into 1/2 inch ropes. The length of these ropes will range from about 14 inches to 20 inches, varying in length by 1/2 inch each. So, you will make a rope of each of the following lengths: 14, 14.5, 15, 15.5, 16, 16.5, 17, 17.5, 18, 18.5, 19, 19.5, and 20 inches.
8. Form a ring from each of these ropes and bake them for between 12 and 15 minutes until they turn golden brown. Remove them from the oven and let them cool for about 5 minutes before removing them from the baking sheets to cool further. You can bake 2 to 3 rings on a single baking sheet.
   
9. After you have baked all of the rings that you were able to make from the dough, construct the icing. In a mixing bowl, mix together the confectioner's sugar, lemon juice, almond extract, and egg whites using a wire whisk. When the icing mixture becomes thick and smooth add it to a pastry bag (or you can use a plastic freezer bag with one small corner cut). Pipe the icing onto the top of each ring. This will help to cement or secure the next ring that is placed on top. Start with the largest ring on the bottom and then add the ring that is 1/2 inch shorter next, until you have used all of your ring. You can add additional icing and candy garnish as you see fit.
10. Serve and enjoy! Store this cake in an air tight container with a couple of slices of apple to keep it moist and chewy.

Norway [ print this recipe for Kransekake (Ring Cake) ]

Egg Nog Recipe

From Norwegian Cakes and Cookies by Sverre Saetre

I usually make egg nog for Christmas. I quite simply make a vanilla sauce that I add liquor to, such as blending chilled vanilla sauce with vodka. I prefer to store the nog in bottles in the refrigerator. The nog thickens when it stands, so it's important to shake it well before use.

Vanilla Sauce

This is a basic sauce that is the starting point for many sauces and desserts and the base for egg nog. It is important to be careful when a sauce is thickened or warmed so that it doesn't separate. Take the saucepan off the burner several times during the warming so that you have control of the temperature. Be sure to have a bowl and sieve on hand before you begin to thicken the sauce.

Ingredients:
1 cup (120 proof) vodka
1 vanilla bean
1 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream
1 cup sugar
5 egg yolks

Preparation:

1. Split the vanilla bean and scrape out the seeds.
2. Heat the milk, whipping cream, vanilla bean, seeds, and half of the sugar to the boiling point.
3. Lightly whisk the egg yolks and the remaining sugar together.
4. Pour the hot liquid into the egg mixture gradually while stirring with a whisk. Then, pour the sauce back into the saucepan.
5. Heat the sauce while stirring the bottom of the saucepan with a spatula. It is important to stir the entire time to prevent the egg yolks from hardening in the bottom of the pan.
6. When the sauce thickens. 183 - 185 degrees Fahrenheit(84-85 degrees Celsius) on a thermometer, strain it into a bowl. To see if the sauce is thick enough, lift sauce up on a spatula and drag a finger through it. If the sauce doesn't flow together again, it's ready.
7. Chill the sauce in the refrigerator.

Tip:
When you warm milk and whipping cream for something like vanilla sauce, it is important that it does not boil, but is only heated to the boiling point. Boiled milk doesn't taste particularly good.

Recipe courtesy of Norwegian Cakes and Cookies by Sverre Saetre

Norway [ print this recipe for Egg Nog ]

Puff Pastry Sticks with Brown Sugar and Cinnamon

From Norwegian Cakes and Cookies by Sverre Saetre

Puff pastry is a classic baked good that has a long tradition in Norwegian baking. This pastry is an important part of the pastry chef examination, and there are probably more than a few who have wept over it. To get puff pastry to rise correctly is, namely, an art. It is folded, buttered, and rolled until you have 256 layers. Puff pastry in itself does not have much flavor, but it has fantastic texture. You can combine it with savory just as much as with sweet, so this dough is used a lot in the savory kitchen, as well. It’s filled with meat, fish, vegetables, and stews, and in the past there were many pastry chefs who worked supplying chefs with puff pastry. Now, industry has pretty much taken over. We make our own puff pastry in my bakery, but it is very tedious, so I recommend buying it from the freezer section. Here, I have made sticks out of it and flavored it with sugar and cinnamon. These sticks are good to munch on, and are ideally suited as an accompaniment to desserts with rich creams and sour fruit or berries.

Ingredients:
1 sheet puff pastry
1 egg
1 tspn cinnamon
1/4 cup brown sugar

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 335 degrees Fahrenheit (170 degrees Celcius).
2. Roll the the puff pastry dough on a floured surface until it is 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick.
3. Whisk the egg with a fork and brush it on the dough.
4. Mix the cinnamon and sugar and sprinkle it over the sheet of dough.
5. Use a pastry cutter or divide the dough into rods of 1/2 x 3 inch(1 x 8 cm). Lay them on parchment paper and bake until they rise and turn golden, about 12 – 15 minutes.
6. Let cool then serve.

Variations:
Replace the brown sugar and cinnamon with:

• grated firm white goat cheese and paprika
• poppy seeds
• finely chopped nuts
• cinnamon and crushed, dried apples

Recipe courtesy of Norwegian Cakes and Cookies by Sverre Saetre

Norway [ print this recipe for Puff Pastry Sticks with Brown Sugar and Cinnamon ]

Sweet Cookie Recipe

From Norwegian Cakes and Cookies by Sverre Saetre

This is a sweet and tasty baked good that I make to give desserts and ice creams more texture. They’re a little like goro (cardamom cookies), and you can bake them in a goro iron, a krumkake (Norwegian waffle cookie) iron, or on a baking sheet in the oven. They’re not reserved for Christmas.


Recommended Equipment:
krumkake iron or goro iron

Ingredients:
1/3 cup (50g) powdered sugar
1/3 cup (50g) flour
2 egg whites (50g)
3 tbsp (50g) unsalted butter, softened

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
2. Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl, and stir it all into a smooth batter with a hand whisk.
3. Use a spatula or palette and spread out small cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
4. Bake the cookies in the middle of the oven for about 3 minutes, or until they are light golden. Let the cookies cool on a baking sheet. They can be bent and shaped while they’re warm.
5. A cake box is the perfect storage place for sweet cookies. They keep there for 2 weeks.
6. Another way to make the cookies is to put 1 tablespoon of batter in a krumkake iron. Bake (over medium heat on stove top) until golden and shape them as desired. They can also be cut while they’re warm.
   

Recipe courtesy of Norwegian Cakes and Cookies by Sverre Saetre

Norway [ print this recipe for Sweet Cookies ]