Baked Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze

Yesterday, I awoke with an insane craving for doughnuts. Naturally, I had to make a batch.

 I remember when my mom used to open up a can of biscuits and cut holes out of the center of each one, and then fry them up. To this day, I think those are by far my favorite doughnuts. Now that I live in Denmark, I don't have access to refrigerator biscuits, nor do I fry anything. So, I decided to bake some.

Baked Doughnuts with Chocolate Glaze
Makes about 30 small doughnuts and 30 holes

For the Dough
3/4 cups (177mL) Warm Skim Milk, divided
1 packet Active Dry Yeast
1 tbsp. (14 grams) Margarine
1/3 cup (58 grams) Sugar or (5.8 grams) Splenda - I mixed the two
1 Egg
2 1/2 cups (250 grams) All Purpose Flour + extra
1 tsp. Nutmeg
1/2 tsp. Salt


Place 1/4 cup of the warm milk in a mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the milk, and let sit for 5 minutes.

In a separate bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup of milk with the sugar and butter.

Add to the yeast mixture, and mix to combine, using a stand or hand mixer.

Add the egg and mix again until incorporated.

Now add flour, nutmeg, and salt and mix until the dough starts to form.

Once the dough begins to form, change to your dough hook and 'knead' until the dough becomes smooth, if it's too sticky, slowly add more flour until it's no longer sticky.

Transfer to the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic and has formed a ball.

Place the dough ball in a large lightly greased bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.

Let it rest in a warm place for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.

When the dough has risen, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until it's about 1/2 inch thick.

Using a doughnut cutter or 2 biscuit cutters (I used a large cutter that was about 3 inches in diameter and the smaller was about 1 inch.), cut out the doughnuts until you have no dough left.

Gather up the scraps into a ball and roll it out and cut out more doughnuts, Try to avoid kneading the dough much further in this step, or your dough will be tough.

Place the doughnuts on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, about 2 inches apart - they don't spread much.

Cover with a clean towel and let rest again for about 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.

Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for about 7 minutes, until lightly golden brown, Taking care to not over-bake.  

Let the doughnuts cool for about 5 minutes until ready to glaze.

While the doughnuts are cooling make the glaze

For the Chocolate Glaze
2 tbsp. Skim Milk
1-2 tsp. Margarine
1 Chocolate Bar, broken into small pieces (I used 83%)
about 1/4 cup (32 grams) Vanilla Sugar (Confectioners Sugar + 1/2-1 tsp. Vanilla)- depending on your taste, I used about 3 tablespoons.
Boiling water to thin.

Combine the milk, margarine, and the chocolate bar in a small bowl. Microwave on high for about 1 minute, checking and stirring every 15-30 seconds.

When mostly melted slowly stir in the vanilla sugar sugar.

Once combined, add slowly mix in boiling water to thin. - I used about 2 tablespoons. whisk until the mixture is smooth.

To glaze, dip doughnuts halfway into the glaze and place back onto parchment paper.

Sprinkle or decorate any way you wish. I lightly dusted mine with vanilla sugar.

Let set for about 10 minutes, and enjoy!

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Christmas Market and Nativity Exhibits

Today, I am going to attempt to post in both Danish and English. I will keep things short because my Danish isn't so good.
I aften vil jeg prøve at skrive på både dansk og engelsk. Jeg vil fatte mig i korthed, da mit dansk ikke er særlig godt.

Because tomorrow is the first Sunday in Advent, the town is getting ready for Christmas. The big Christmas tree is in place and is covered in white lights. The shopping street is full of Christmas decorations, trees, and people, and the Holstebro Church is preparing to celebrate. Da det er første søndag i advent i morgen er byen ved at blive forberedt til jul. Det store juletræ er på plads og er dækket med hvide lys. Gågaden er fuld af juledekorationer, træer og mennesker, og Holstebro kirke gør sig klar til at feste.


This morning, Hans and I met up with his mom at the Christmas Market. We looked at all the homemade gifts for sale and had rolls and coffee. The Holstebro Church hosted an opening of Nativity Exhibits, where Hans sang in a small ensemble to kick things off.
I morges mødtes Hans og jeg med hans mor til julemarked. Vi kiggede på alle de hjemmelavede julegaver der var til salg og fik rundstykker og kaffe. Holstebro kirke afholdt åbning af julekrybbeudstillingen, hvor Hans sang i et mindre ensemble for at fejre åbningen.


Here they sing "Baby Jesus Lay in a Manger" Her de synger "Barn Jesus i en krybbe lå"






This song is "Away in a Manger". Denne sang hedder "En stald og en krybbe"








There were 29 different interpretations of the Christmas Nativity. Some were painted, some knitted, and some sculpted. All of them were unique. Here are pictures of a few.
Der var 29 forskellige fortolkninger af julenat. Nogle var malet, nogle var strikket, og nogle var skulpturer. De var alle unikke. Her er et par billeder af dem.

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Happy Thanksgiving

Christmas on a VERY tight budget

Last year was my very first Danish Christmas. Our Christmas tree was actually, a tree branch. 

Our ornaments were all thrifted, many were faded or made of cheap plastic. 

I made a few felt trees to decorate our entertainment center, as well as some paper snowflakes.

To finish off my decorations, I found a tablecloth and bowl for the kitchen.

It was a difficult change for me. Not only was I away from my friends and family, but I had very few things that felt like home. 

This year, I was able to get a few more things. It feels like a mishmash of colors and styles, which plagues my OCD, but I'm trying to figure out how to incorporate it all into something that is pleasing to the eye.

Here in Denmark, you can't pop over to the dollar store and spend $20 or $30 on everything you possibly need for a cheap Christmas. Christmas lights come in strands with anywhere between 20 and 100 LED lights. A single strand of 80 lights cost us $15! The small (120cm/3'11''- including the base) Christmas tree we bought this year was about $32. Thankfully, the small glass ornaments were fairly inexpensive. 

It's still nothing compared to Christmas back home, but maybe next year we will be able to afford more lights, and maybe even some garland. 

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Postively Splendid

Homemade Bouillon

About a month or two ago I came across a recipe for homemade bouillon, and wanted to try it. Of course I put it off and forgot all about it, until I had a craving for some soup. 

Here in Denmark, it's hard to find chicken/beef/vegetable stock in a can. If you want broth, you will have to use bouillon cubes or make it from scratch. I don't know about you, but I find making vegetable broth from scratch a bit time consuming and wasteful. Though much more efficient, the bouillon is crammed full of MSG. 

So, I decided to re-visit the forgotten recipe and adapt it to my personal taste and available ingredients.

1 medium (about 200 grams) fennel bulb, chopped 

4 large (200 grams) carrot, well scrubbed and chopped

3-4 (100 grams) celery stalks

1/4-1/2 small (100 grams) celery root (celeriac), peeled and chopped

2 large ( about 400 grams) yellow onion

6-8 medium garlic cloves

1/4 cup sea salt (adjust to taste)

1/2 cup (about 40 grams) flat-leaf parsley, loosely chopped

2 heaping tablespoons chopped cilantro (I can only get this in a jar here, but fresh is way better).

I began by adding the first few ingredients into the food processor and pulsed about 20 or so times. Then added more and more. If your food processor is filled to the top and you still have more ingredients, that's ok, just empty the processed veggies into a bowl and start over again. When all the ingredients are processed, then combine them thoroughly. 

Place the mixture into bags or containers and store in the freezer. 

Because of the salt, it won't solidify much at all.

When making soup, I normally use about 1-2 tablespoons of bouillon in a medium sized sauce pan, and 2-3 tablespoons for a large pot. You can decide what amount works best for you.

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Peppermint Swirl Sugar Cookies

1 1/2 Cups (340 grams) butter, softened
2 Cups (400 grams) white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract or 4 drops peppermint oil
5 cups  (625 grams) flour, plus more for dusting
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
food coloring in your choice of color(s)

Start by creaming together butter and sugar until smooth. 

Beat in eggs and vanilla. 

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and add to creamed butter mixture.

Mix together thoroughly to form a dough.

Divide dough in half. 

Leave 1 half of the dough as is for a 'white' vanilla flavored dough. 

For the other half add food coloring and peppermint extract/oil and mix to incorporate.

Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.

Place parchment paper onto your working surface and lightly dust with flour, then add the first half of your dough and top with another piece of parchment. Like a sandwich. 

Roll out the dough so that it is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.

Repeat with the second half of the dough. 

When both doughs are rolled out to about the same size remove the top parchment from both and invert one onto the other, layering them so that the doughs meet and are sandwich between both pieces of parchment.

Roll out again, just to join the two doughs together.

Remove the top parchment again and begin to roll the dough, jelly roll style.

Cover and refrigerate the dough for another hour, and up to 3 days, or freeze for up to a month.

When ready to bake preheat oven to 400F/200C.

Slice your cookies with a knife and place about 1 inch apart on your cookie sheet. 

If you wish, you can dip the slices into colored sugar, or roll them in sprinkles or sugar, etc... before slicing.

Bake for about 8-10 minutes depending on how thick you cut your cookies. Mine were about 1/4 inch and 10 minutes was perfect.

Cool completely, and enjoy!

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Peppermint Mocha Latte

Yesterday I had a craving for something chocolaty and minty. I wasn't really up for baking, so I tossed around a few ideas in my head. I wanted something quick and easy. As I took a sip of my coffee the light came on, I was going to attempt making a Peppermint Mocha Latte.

To start, I used my electric kettle to boil some water, and made a thick 'syrup' of about 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder and hot water, and about 2 teaspoons of sugar.

Then, in a heavy bottomed saucepan, I steamed (do not let it boil) about 1-2 cups of milk, 1-2 drops of peppermint oil (or you can use about 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract) about 3 tablespoons of sugar - you be the judge on how sweet you want it.

Once my milk mixture was steamed, I poured it into the blender to make it nice and frothy. Then I added about 2 tablespoons of my chocolate 'syrup' to the bottom of my mug.

After the chocolate, I added strong brewed coffee (or espresso, or regular coffee + 1 tablespoon instant coffee) until the mug was about 1/2 full.

Take your now very frothy peppermint milk, and pour to fill the mug to the top. Spoon some foam on top of that, and if you're trying to feel festive (like I was) you can add to that any little decorative touches. I chose some green sugar.

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