Somethings Old, New, Green, Redo!: Danish baking

Showing posts with label Danish baking. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 21, 2023

Danish Rhubarb Strawberry Torte/Pie

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It's our favorite time of year---RHUBARB TIME.

This was a post from five years ago of our Family's favorite pie/tart recipe and adapted from my Danish grandmother's.

One of the first fresh fruits to ripen in the upper Midwest is Rhubarb. Tart and tangy it is one of our favorites. This recipe includes some quick tips and variations.

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We have two Rhubarb plants and they were huge, below is a photo from May12th I think, and they are 4 times as large now.

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I always pick the biggest and reddest stalks for pie. The leaves immediately go to the compost pile. A wonderful compliment to the Rhubarb are Strawberries, which are plentiful and reasonable right now.

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So, I just had to make some Strawberry/Rhubarb pie. At this point this recipe is mine or one learned long ago and from memory.

Sandi’s Strawberry Rhubarb Pie or Tart

Fills 2-8” pre-made pie crusts or one very large tart pan. (I allow thawing time for the pre-made pie crusts) A cookie crust adds some extra flavor in a tart. (I'll use a lemon/vanilla cookie recipe for tarts.)

Mix:

8 cups of diced rhubarb

2 cups sugar or sweetner

½ tsp of salt

Stir in large microwaveable bowl. Cook on high for 4 min, and stir and then another 4 min on high. ( Pre-cooking the rhubarb gives a warm solution for the corn starch to dissolve and helps to shorten baking time).

Add:

4 cups of sliced cleaned strawberries

2 tsp of vanilla or more-this is what makes it Danish!

Stir together into rhubarb

Here you can add 2 tsp of vanilla if you wish, we always do.

Make a mixture of

2 TBSP of cornstarch or thickener of your choice

½ tsp nutmeg

1 TBSP of cinnamon (we love cinnamon)

Stir into warm fruit until well mixed-

Split into pie shells or tart pan.

Mix 2 cups of rolled oats (Not quick-cook) in bowl or chopper

1/2 cup of sugar

1/2 cup of flour

5 TBSP of cold oleo/butter

1 tsp cinnamon

(you could add chopped almonds to this also)

Pulse in chopper or mix with a pastry cutter in bowl, until well mixed and crumbly.

Spread over fruit

Bake 1 hour to 1 hour 15 min at 350 degrees.

Serve with icecream/whip cream/ or cool whip.

Delicious warm or cold!

As a girl when I stayed a summer in Denmark, we had rhubarb and strawberry treats all through the summer. Also, rhubarb pudding with fresh scraped vanilla bean was my favorite and of course drowned in rich cold cream. I will have to make that next!

I'll be sharing at these fine parties:

Farmhouse Friday

Creative Fluster Muster

Weekly Link Party

LouLouGirls Fab Party

Vintage Charm

Happiness is Homemade

Love Your Creativity

Tuesday Turn About

Please do not use photos without linking back to this blog without my permission.

Thank you for your cooperation,

Sandi

Saturday, December 19, 2020

Great Gramma's Finsk Brod: Adapting Old World Recipes

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Butter the size of an EGG?*!*!

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My mother was never a baker, her expertise was no bake cookies, basically syrup, marshmallows and some sort of cereal. But, my extended family relied on the old world baking of my Grandmother with her vague, old, hand-written in Danish, recipes from Frederickshavn, Denmark.

During the holidays, her kitchen always smelled of butter, vanilla and cinnamon.

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Infinite butter cookies were washed down with dark rich coffee, sweet cherry wine, or rich Droste old fashioned cocoa in milk. Not a marshmallow in sight.

I have many old hand-written baking recipe's in Danish with obscure measurements such as 'butter the size of an Egg', Fars cup of sugar..versus Mors cup of sugar??? (Father's cup and Mother's cup), scrape a vanilla bean soaked in vodka, and many more oddities, not too mention litres, millilitres, etc.

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I was fortunate to have helped my Gramma bake at Christmas time. I often spent days at her house while my mom worked extra in the family's Fish Market.

Christmas was always their busiest time of the year. So many cultures use fresh fish and shellfish, imported cheeses. and delicacies in their traditional Old World holiday dinners.

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Today, Gramma would be 122 years old, so now I'm Gramma and I often bake for gifts. What could be better than real Danish Poundcake? It took me quite a few years to get the balance right on this old recipe.

Tip: Don't use extra large eggs or the dough will be too heavy and not rise.

Recipe Here:

Bestemor's Pund Kage

Grandmother's Pound Cake

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Now the kitchen smells like Christmas!

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Also excellent in the summer with strawberries on it

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and fresh whipped cream!

I ran across an old family recipe for Finsk Brod, basically meaning Finnish Bread--a short bread cookie from my aunt, who had tried to duplicate the Danish cookies we were all so fond of.

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I always use a recipe as written first, and then try and tweak it to what I remember it really tasting like.

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Suprisingly without leavening these still puff up.

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The rich dough is rolled into finger size pieces, then dipped in beaten egg.

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The recipe said to roll in chopped almonds and a bit of sugar. (The problem with this is the sugar burns on the bottom...so next time, we will sprinkle the sugar/cinnamon on top) after rolling the 'logs' in almonds.