Danish Aebelskiver

Full Aebelskiver pan and sugar dish waiting to receive them.

A close childhood friend introduced me to one of the best breakfast foods ever. We would have Friday night sleepovers at his house and in the morning while we watched cartoons his mom would make, what I called, ball pancakes. I couldn't stop talking about them when I went home and persuaded my mom to get the recipe from his mom.

Well, unfortunately making this treat requires more than just the recipe. The pan is one of a kind. Heavy cast iron with seven hemi-sphere wells or cavities. Long story short my mom bought one and started making them. They eventually ended up becoming a Christmas time regular at our home. My mom gave me an Aebelskiver pan this year and so for Christmas Eve I have instituted the Aebelskiver brunch, which I plan to make a running tradition. The recipe is below, and as I studied the recipe more closely, my childhood description holds true they are basically fancy pancakes. I added a few other seasonings to spruce them up a bit.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 Cups buttermilk (can be milk w/ lemon juice)
• 3 Eggs - Separated
• 1 teaspoon Cardamom (optional)
• 1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon (optional)
• 1/2 cup Powdered Sugar or White Sugar (Depends on what you prefer)

Steps & Notes:

1. Mix dry ingredients: Put together the flour, salt, baking soda, and seasonings
2. Add buttermilk & Yolks: Mix these together well. Keep the Egg whites out for next step.
3. Beat egg whites: Beat the egg whites until fluffy
4. Add whites: Gently mix in the fluffy egg whites into the rest of the batter.
5. Cook one side: Grease the pan however you like, butter, oil, spray. Fill each cavity 3/4 or mostly full. Let cook for a minute or two over a medium to low heat.
6. (Optional): Add some filling. You can put fruit, jam, or other items in the middle before flipping it over. If you are putting something runny in the middle to should only half fill the cavity, add the filling, then finish filling the pan. This way it get's baked in and won't spill when you roll it over.
7. Cook second side:Roll over with fork or other utensil ( I use chop sticks) and let it cook another minute or two.
8. Add sugar topping: Remove and sprinkle with sugar. 
9. Eat warm.

Good for all ages. My son really liked them, don't let the face fool you.

Result:

• 5 stars!
• Fairly easy and straight forward recipe. Like pancakes, waffles, and eggs, this one is hard to really screw up.
• My wife and I both prefer normal granulated sugar on the top over powdered sugar. And I would really recommend eating them warm.

Possible Improvements:

• Try blending cream cheese and sugar together and use that for a filling. (That was my wife's idea, but I really like it)
• Try a mix of other spices in the batter, could make it more seasonal with spices similar to what is used in pumpkin pie.

Cheese Dips

Garlic & Parsley

Before this post goes to far, I must confess that I have done one experimented with making Boursin again and not posted the results. I had roughly the same result as last time; the only improvement being the texture and flavor were a little better, primarily because I finally used cultured buttermilk.

With the fall season upon us and Halloween approaching my wife and I got the itch to experiment with a discovery from last fall, Pumpkin Butter. I will have to get my wife to post the recipe. It's good, and last year we made a really fun treat with it by simply adding cream cheese to make it creamier. We decided for our Halloween/Fall party it would be fun to add our Neufchatel instead of store bought cream cheese.

I got curious on what the difference between neufchatel (I also learned it is called farmers cheese) and normal cream cheese was, so I did some research. It appears that cream cheese, surprise, has more cream added to it. I decided to try adding some cream to the neufchatel recipe to see what kind of a difference it would make, the result was pleasing.

Ingredients:
Milk:

• Quantity: 1/2 Gallon 
• Brand: Kirtland Whole Milk 
• Notes: It says it's pasteurized, I don't know if it was ultra pasteurized. Grade A, Homogenized. 

Buttermilk:

• Quantity: 1/8 cup - 1/4 cup or more 
• Brand: Meijer (Regional Store) generic. 
• Other attributes: Cultured, Lowfat (1%), Grade A 

Whipping Cream(You should probably use heavy cream):

• Quantity: 1/2 cup 
• Brand: Dean's: Since 1925 
• Other Attributes: Grade A, Ultra-Pasteurized

Other Ingredients:

• 1/8 tsp. (4-6 drops) Organic Vegetable Rennet. Double Strength Plus, Gluten Free, Non-GMO 
• 1/8 C. water 
• 1/2 tsp. salt 
• 2/3 c. pumpkin butter (added to pumpkin butter batch) 
• 1 tsp. garlic powder (added to garlic batch) 
• 1/2 tsp. dried parsley (Added to garlic batch) 

Steps & Notes:

1. Buttermilk: Using cultured buttermilk has proven to make a huge difference. In the past I tried substituting it for milk + lemon juice and it just didn't work. 
2. Mix Buttermilk w/ Milk: I wasn't very strict on my measurements this time around. I started with 1/8th of a cup of buttermilk, but I added another 1-8 to 1/4 Cup. I don't remember the exact amount because I was just eyeballing it. 
3. Mixed in Cream: All the recipes I read said to use heavy cream. All we had in the fridge was whipping cream. I decided to try it out, just to see what happened. I kind of just winged the measurement. I don't remember the exact measurement, but it was 1/4-1/2 cup of whipping cream. 
4. Warm milk: Warmed milk to 65° F 
5. Add Rennet: I added 1/8 tsp. of rennet (Which was pre-mixed into 1/8c. of cold water). 
6. Let Sit: I let it sit for about 20 hours covered and mostly undisturbed at room temperature (I can't really confirm that because it was on the stove and my wife did do a lot of cooking while I was at work). 
7. Cut Curd: I thought because I let it sit for so long the curd would be nice and firm. It wasn't. It was very delicate and didn't keep it's form at all. I was able to cut it into 1/2 inch curds, but I couldn't ladle them out without them disintegrating. 
8. Strain/Drain Whey: I poured the whole pot into a handkerchief and and let it strain for about 2 days. I probably should have left it another day because I wasn't able to get rid of a lot of the whey before putting it in the cheese cloth it was still very moist. My wife liked the consistency that resulted though. I believe this is where the difference between the final product being spreadable vs. dip-able was made. 
9. Add Salt: I added about 1/2 tsp. of salt into the cheese 
10. Mixed in flavoring: As I mentioned at this point I have been splitting the cheese into different container and trying different flavoring. 

• In the first container I added some of my wife's pumpkin butter to one. The end result was a sweet, creamy dip with a slight pumpkin spice flavor. A surprisingly good dip for pretzels and I would imagine good on toast. 
• In the second container I went the boursin route with garlic powder, a little more salt, and dried parsley. I still got the garlic a little strong, but still tasted good. It was a great pretzel/chip dip. 
• With the leftover I just left it plain. 

Results:

• Taste: Good. The garlic batch was still slightly too garlic-y, but overall people liked the flavor. The Pumpkin was excellent. 
• Texture: It was a very smooth and consistent texture. Smooth and creamy like a vegetable dip, but a bit thicker. It reminded me of some cheese I used in Brazil called, requeijão. The pumpkin butter batch was a little more liquid because the pumpkin butter diluted the thick creamy texture a bit. 
• I would give it an overall rating of about 5 stars. 

Pumpkin Butter

Possible Improvements:

• Use less garlic. 
• Work out the exact measurement of cream, buttermilk. 
• Figure out how to get a more solid curd.

Neufchatel

A little more spreadable and creamy, but still too salty

After my attempt at making Boursin I decided to start at square one, which was to get a comfortable with neufchatel. I took another stab at it this weekend with some better results.


Ingredients:
Milk:

• Quantity: 1/2 Gallon
• Brand: Cub 2% Reduced Fat Milk.
• Notes: It says it's pasteurized, I don't know if it was ultra pasteurized. Grade A, Homogenized.

Other Ingredients:

• 1/8 tsp. Organic Vegetable Rennet. Double Strength Plus, Gluten Free, Non-GMO 
• 1/8 C. milk
• 1/8  Tbsp. of lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. salt

Steps & Notes:

1. Buttermilk: I still don't have buttermilk so, again, I mixed 1/8 Tbsp of lemon juice with 1/8 C. of milk. This seemed to be the general substitute for buttermilk I could find on the internet.
2. Mix Buttermilk w/ Milk: I added the 1/8c. of 'Buttermilk' to the 1/2 Gal. of milk
3. Warm milk: Warmed milk to 65° F 
4. Add Rennet: I added 1/8 tsp. of rennet (Which was pre-mixed into 1/8c. of cold water).
5. Let Sit: I let it sit for 12 hours covered and undisturbed at room temperature. The curd was a little harder this time around, but still seemed a little soft. I don't know if having real cultured buttermilk will make the difference on this one or not.
6. Cut Curd: into 1/2 inch curds.
7. Strained Curd: I put the curd in a handkerchief and and let it strain overnight, because the curd still wasn't very hard, the whey was hard to separate out and it still seemed pretty moist. 
8. Add Salt: I added about 1/2 tsp. of salt into the cheese
9. Whipped cheese: The cheese still seemed a little curd-y and not very smooth, so I decided to experiment and whip it up a little to see if it smoothed out.
10. Let dry some more: I let it hang in the fridge a few more hours to get a little more of the whey out.

Results:

• Taste: Salty still. 1/2 tsp. was still a little too much for the 1/2 Gal. recipe. 
• Texture: It is a little more smooth and spreadable like a cream cheese.
• Overall the flavor and texture reminds me more of a fine curd cottage cheese. I think that's because I'm not using buttermilk. I read a few cottage cheese recipes where they use lemon juice to acidify the milk, but I haven't seen that in an neufchatel recipes.
• My wife likes it, except for how salty it is, so that is a good sign.
• I would give it an overall rating of about 3.5 stars. 

Possible Improvements:

• Use less salt.
• Use real cultured buttermilk. I think you might really need the buttermilk cultures, not just the acidity, so a imitation like adding lemon juice to milk doesn't help you much.
• I also had the idea of using the steamer pot that has a strainer that fits nicely into a majority of the pot. I can cut the curd, then lift the curd out and let the whey drain off more easily than trying to scoop out the already delicate curds.

Lavash Flatbread Chips

This isn't a very gourmet post, but I just had a short lived infatuation with some Flatbread chips I picked up on an impulse buy at Costco, they always get me with their free samples.

I think it is Costco's generic Kirkland brand Lavash Flatbread Chips made with some olive oil, flax seed, and rosemary. My excuse for buying them was for something to keep me awake on a recent road trip. They were great for that, and I didn't feel like I had to eat a ton of them to fill up, just a few handfuls and I was good.

I found a few other uses for them.

1. They made some killer nachos. Cheese on rosemary flavored chips, I don't know how you can go wrong.
2. Crushed up and used to top soup and chilli.
3. Crushed up and used as topping to casserole or to bread anything (I actually didn't test this one, but I think it would be really good.)

They certainly won't be a staple food that will always be found in the cupboard, but we got some good mileage out of them.

Ultimate Mozzarella Failure: Can't rush a good Cheese

This failure was worse than the last failure. Both were
grainy, but this time I ended up working with it until
is completely disintegrated in my hands.

Don't have to add much more to this post. My wife asked me to make some mozzarella for a pasta salad she she made for the same picnic for which I was attempting to make Boursin.

I tried making it very quickly while at the same time making the Boursin; possibly another reason the boursin didn't work out. I was trying to finish the mozzarella as my wife and son were walking out the door.

A few of the things that I think went wrong:

1. I didn't steralize the pot. (We don't have a lot of pots and pans right now, so I reuse the same pot everytime I make cheese)
2. The milk was too hot when I added the rennet. I don't really know what effect this has on the cheese making processes, but the milk was quite a bit warmer than it should have been and didn't take the time to let it cool.
3. Didn't let the the curd setup as long as I usually do, which I think was the ultimate demise of the cheese.
4. Didn't get enough whey out before I tried to knead and pull the mozzarella.

The end result was a grainy curd, that wouldn't hold together. When I strained it the curd started to break up. I tried heating it in the microwave to no avail. As I pulled the cheese it wouldn't start streeching, instead it got grainier and started to disintegrate. As the ball got smaller and smaller I couldn't help feeling frustrated and in the end I washed it all down the sink so I could catch up with my wife, who at this point was already down the hall on her way out.

The lesson learned, don't try and rush a good cheese.

Attempted Boursin from Neufchatel

My sister-in-law pulled out some Boursin at her husbands birthday party we had on the 4th of July. It was delicious and inspiring. I left with my mind already decided to try and make some for our get together the next day.

After looking around on the internet, I decided to go with a neufchatel base, with added herbs. Many of the recipes I saw used cream cheese as a base then added butter, herbs, and spices. I decided to just try neufchatel because I couldn't find a good homemade cream cheese recipe. I didn't want to add extra butter, so I just left it out.

It was doomed from the start since I had never made neufchatel or boursin before and was in a hurry. The recipe I used is from Dr. Fankhauser and the details of what I did are below with more on the results at the end.

Ingredients:
Milk:

• Quantity: 1/2 Gallon
• Brand: Cub 2% Reduced Fat Milk.
• Notes: It says it's pasteurized, I don't know if it was ultra pasteurized. Grade A, Homogenized.

Other Ingredients:

• 1/8 tsp. Organic Vegetable Rennet. Double Strength Plus, Gluten Free, Non-GMO 
• 1/8 C. milk
• 1/8  Tbsp. of lemon juice
• 3 cloves of Garlic
• 3-4 Chives
• A few slices of Onion
• 1/4 cup Parsley ( I think)

Steps & Notes:

1. Buttermilk: I didn't have buttermilk so I mixed 1/8 Tbsp of lemon juice with 1/8 C. of milk. This seemed to be the general substitute for buttermilk I could find on the internet.
2. Mix Buttermilk w/ Milk: I added the 1/8c. of 'Buttermilk' to the 1/2 Gal. of milk
3. Warm milk: Warmed milk to 65° F 
4. Add Rennet: I added 1/8 tsp. of rennet (Which was pre-mixed into 1/8c. of cold water).
5. Let Sit: I let it sit for 4 hours covered and undisturbed at room temperature. The curd was a little soft, but proceeded anyway because I was short on time.
6. Cut Curd: I 1/2 inch curds.
7. Strained Curd: I put the curd in a handkerchief and and let it strain for a few hours. I tried to speed the process up by squeezing it at several points. 
8. Prepared Herbs: I mixed the garlic, onion, chives, and parsley in a cuisine-art. Measurements are estimates, I didn't really keep track of how much I put in.
9. Add Salt: I added about 1/2 to 1 tsp. of salt into cheese
10. Mixed Cheese & Herbs: I mixed part of the herb mix with a majority of the cheese. I left some out to see what the normal neufchatel would taste like.
11. Let sit: I let it all sit together for a few hours while more whey strained out.

Results:

• Plain Neufchatel Taste: It was really salty. The salt was over powering
• Herb 'Boursin' Taste: I put way to much garlic. I also over did it on the parsley not to mention I shouldn't have put in onion, the chives would have been enough..
• Texture: Somewhat moist, but more grainy and dry than creamy. It wasn't spreadable, it just kind of crumbled apart. I think partly due to trying to speed up the whey draining and also due to too much garlic, salt, etc...
• The people I shared it with at our picnic generally had good things to say, but curiously no one ate much more after their first try. A little 9 year old really liked it, he loved how garlicky it was.
• I would give it an overall rating of about 3 stars. 

Possible Improvements:

• Don't add as much salt.
• Don't use as much garlic.
• Leave out onions.
• Give myself more time so I can (1) let the curd setup more (2) let the whey drain off at a slower pace, hopefully making a smoother consistency
• Use real cultured buttermilk. I think you might really need the buttermilk cultures, not just the acidity, so a imitation like adding lemon juice to milk doesn't help you much.
• Try adding some butter to the neufchatel to achieve a richer Boursin imitation.

Mozzarella - 3rd Times the Charm

I thought my third attempt was going to bomb as well, but it ended up coming out pretty well. Again, I used the Ricki's 30 Minute Mozzarella recipe from 'CheeseMaking.com'.

Ingredients:
Milk:

• Quantity: 1/2 Gallon
• Brand: Cub 2% Reduced Fat Milk.
• Notes: It says it's pasteurized, I don't know if it was ultra pasteurized. Grade A, Homogenized.

Other Ingredients:

• 1/8 tsp. Organic Vegetable Rennet. Double Strength Plus, Gluten Free, Non-GMO 
• 3/4 tsp. Citric Acid (Dissolved in 1/2cup cool water)

Steps & Notes:

1. Mix in Citric Acid: Added the diluted Citric Acid to the milk.
2. Heat Milk: It is supposed to be heated to 90°F. I think it went a little over that, but I was really close. I could tell at this step that things were going better. The pH must have been right because it was already looking curdled.  
   
3. Add Rennet: Added rennet that was mixed in about 1/8c. cool water. I mixed it well and after a about 20-30 seconds I could already tell it was starting to set up, so I stopped mixing.
4. Let sit: It is recommended that it sits for 5 minutes. I think this time 5-10 minutes would have actually worked okay, where in my other attempts the curd didn't seem very solid. I actually left and went for a walk with my wife for an hour and a half or so.
5. Cut the Curd: Cut the curd in 1 inch squares. I was a little worried because, while the curd seemed strong, it didn't look smooth. I think from trying to mix it to much when first adding the rennet.
6. Cook a little Longer: Reheated the cut curd to 105°F while slowly stirring.
7. Strained the Whey: Scooped the large curds out of the whey, then poured the whey through a strainer. I let it sit for a few minutes and then kneaded it a bit. I was worried because it wasn't very 'strechy' and seemed pretty grainy and curdy. While kneading I squeezed a bunch of whey out of the curds and it started to condense nicely.
8. Microwaved curd: I microwaved the curd to get a little more whey out. Not much came out, unlike the first time I made it and a lot came out. However, the heating of the curds made them 'melt' together a little more. I microwaved it twice more for about 20 sec. but whey wasn't coming out and it seemed to be cooking the cheese , so I stopped.



It's pretty fun once you get the stretchy taffy consistency

9. Kneaded Curds: It was painful, but while it was really hot I kept kneading and it started to turn into that taffy kind of consistency and smoothed out. I pulled and stretched it for about 5 minutes.
10. Added Salt: I tired to add the salt too late in the process. It was more of an after thought after the cheese was all stretchy and smooth, once it started cooling it was hard to knead in.
11. Formed the Cheese: Made the cheese ball as it cooled. I put it in cool water to cool off. 

Results:

• Taste: A little bland because I didn't add the salt at the right time and I need to work out how much salt to use. It has a good fresh taste
• Look: It looks like mozzarella! It is smooth and a solid consistency.
• Texture: Fairly Moist, squishy, and a little chewy. It is also a little stringy, like string cheese.
• I would give it an overall rating of about 4 stars. 

Possible Improvements:

• Add salt sooner, and in a larger quantity.
• Try and get a more moist consistency
• I don't think I want to microwave it as long or more than once if no whey is coming out. I think it would turn out a little more moist.