Danish Cookie Rings Vanille Kranse Food

KRANSEKAKE

Steps:

• Arrange a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 300 degrees F.
• Add the almond flour and 1 pound of the confectioners' sugar to a food processor. Pulse about 10 times to combine. Add the egg whites and vanilla extract. Run the processor for about 20 seconds until the dough forms into a ball; it will be slightly sticky. Remove the dough from the food processor and form it into a disc. Tightly cover with plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 20 minutes.
• Spray the kransekake molds with nonstick spray and sprinkle with semolina, tapping off any excess.
• Working with a quarter of the dough at a time, roll it out into a rope long enough to wrap into each mold. The width should be even and no thicker than 1/2 inch. (Keep the unused dough covered with plastic wrap.) Repeat the process until all the molds are filled. Transfer the molds to 2 baking sheets.
• Bake until lightly golden, about 20 minutes, rotating halfway through. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes in the molds. Carefully remove each ring from the molds onto cooling racks for 10 minutes.
• To make the royal icing, add the remaining 1/2 pound confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 4 tablespoons water to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk until stiff peaks form. If desired, stir a few drops of food coloring into the icing with a rubber spatula. Put the royal icing into a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Pipe icing onto each ring and stack them, largest to smallest. Dust with confectioners' sugar right before serving.

DANISH COOKIE RINGS (VANILLE KRANSE)

Steps:

• Grease cookie sheets; set aside.
• Process almonds in food processor until ground, but not pasty.
• Place almonds, flour, sugar and baking powder in a large bowl.
• Cut butter into flour mixture with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture is crumbly.
• Beat egg, milk and vanilla in a small bowl with a fork until well blended.
• Add egg mixture to flour mixture; stir until soft dough forms.
• Spoon dough into a pastry bag fitted with medium star tip.
• Pipe 3-inch rings 2-inches apart on prepared cookie sheet.
• Refrigerate rings 15 minutes or until firm.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Cut each cherry in half. Cut each red cherry half into quarters; cut each green cherry half into 4 slivers.
• Press red cherry quarter onto each ring where ends meet.
• Arrange 2 green cherry slivers on either side of red cherry to form leaves.
• Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden.
• Remove cookies to wire racks; cool completely.
• Store tightly covered at room temperature or freeze up to 3 months.

DANISH BUTTER COOKIES (VANILJEKRANSE)

Steps:

• Use a food processor or a blender to ground the almonds into an almond flour.
• Open the vanilla bean and scrape out the vanilla seeds. I have made a simple guide how to do this - find it here on my blog.
• Mix sugar, vanilla seeds, the soft butter, all-purpose flour and the almond flour together in a bowl.
• Add the egg and mix it all together into a soggy and soft dough.
• Pour the dough into a piping bag and use the star nozzle.
• Extrude the dough into small circles with a diameter of about 4-5 cm (1.5-2 inch). If you have a meat grinder use the star attachment and extrude the dough into long strips. Cut the strips into smaller pieces and put them together in circles.
• Place the vanilla cookies on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Place them with a distance of 4 cm apart (1.5 inch).
• Bake the cookies at 200 C (400 F) for about 6 minutes or until they have a light-brown color.
• Let the cookies cool off on an oven grid. When cooled off, keep the cookies in a cookie jar.

DANISH ALMOND RING

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheet. In a small bowl, using fork, combine sugar, margarine and almond paste; mix well. Set aside.
• Unroll dough into 2 long rectangles; over lap long sides to form 1 large rectangle. Firmly press perforations to seal. Press or roll out 16x8 inch rectangle; cut lengthwise into three equal strips.
• Place 3 tablespoons filling mixture evenly down center of each strip. Gently press filling to form 1 inch wide strip. Overlap side of dough over filling; firmly pinch edges to seal. On ungreased cookie sheet, loosely braid 3 filled strips.
• Form braid into ring; pinch ends of strips together to seal. Brush with egg; sprinkle with sugar and almonds.
• Bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes; remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm.

KRANSEKAKE (NORWEGIAN ALMOND RING CAKE)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line 2 sheets with parchment paper.
• Combine confectioners' sugar, ground almonds, and baking powder in a large bowl. Add unbeaten egg whites one at a time, mixing until a firm dough forms. Knead dough for 2 minutes until it holds together and doesn't fall apart easily.
• Roll dough into 18 ropes the thickness of your index finger, each rope a little longer than the next. Shape each rope into a ring. Arrange rings on the baking sheets.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Watch smaller circles carefully, as they may finish baking before the larger ones. Remove from the oven and let cool.
• Mix confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract together to make icing. Pour icing into a piping bag fitted with a small tip.
• Place a doily on a serving plate. Pipe a ring of icing as large as the largest cake ring. Place the largest cake ring on the icing. Pipe icing in a zig-zag pattern over the ring. Stack remaining cake rings on top, from largest to smallest, piping icing between each ring.

KRANSEKAKE

Steps:

• Dough: Place almonds in a food processor and process to form fine crumbs, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and salt and process until well combined and powder-like, about 1 minute. Add egg whites and process until a dough forms (it will have the texture of cookie dough). Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat oven to 300°F with oven rack in the middle. Brush a set of 6 kransekake molds with butter. Divide dough in half. Working with one half of dough at a time, cut into small portions and roll into ropes that are slightly thicker than the diameter of a pencil (about 3/8-inch-to-1/2-inch thick). Fit ropes into rings of 3 molds, trimming to fit. Place molds on an unrimmed baking sheet and bake until puffed and lightly golden brown, about 30 minutes.
• Transfer molds to a wire rack and let cool completely on baking sheet. Repeat shaping and baking process with remaining half of dough and remaining 3 molds. Carefully remove rings from molds.
• Royal Icing: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine confectioners' sugar and egg whites. Mix on medium-high speed until combined and thickened, about 8 minutes. If decorating with more than one color, divide icing into batches. Using the end of a toothpick, add food coloring until the desired shade is achieved.
• To Assemble: Sort rings in order of size. Fill a piping bag with icing and pipe a few dots onto the base of the largest ring and adhere to a cake plate. Pipe icing onto the base of next largest ring, and stack on top of the first ring. Repeat process, continuing to stack rings in decreasing size to form a tower of 18 rings. Decorate as desired. Allow icing to set before serving.

VANILLA KRANSE (VANILLA WREATHS)

Steps:

• Work all ingredients together and let the dough stand for 20 minutes, in a cool place.
• Put dough into a pastry bag or cloth and press/roll dough into long thin rolls.
• Cut rolls into equal sized pieces (about 5-6 inches long) and on a well-greased cookie sheet, form each piece into a small ring slightly overlapping the cut ends.
• Bake in a fairly hot (400°F, 200°C, GM 6) oven for 10 minutes or until light brown.