Berlinerkranser

When I make cookies for the holidays, they are often new recipes that I have never tried before. I think about the main categories of flavors (like mint, eggnog, spiced) but then I give myself the flexibility to find recipes that look interesting to me that still fall into holiday flavor categories. This cookie is one that I actually have made before, but it was a different recipe and many, many years ago.

When I started baking, I didn’t have as many recipe choices as I do now. I had some cookie cookbook that included these Norwegian Christmas Cookies, and they looked interesting. I made them, and when I served them, my uncle said that they were a cookie he’d had growing up but hadn’t had them in years. The recipe has changed over time, as the accessibility of ingredients differs. When I first made these, the only topping I could come up with was to crush sugar cubes. Now I am able to find pearl sugar at the store.

This dough is simple but does require the super unusual ingredient of hard boiled egg yolks. I have the worst luck peeling hard boiled eggs, so I did buy ones that were cooked (and I needed some others for a different recipe). I made the dough, let it chill and I ended up dividing the dough into 15 pieces. In shaping the dough, this made for big, hefty cookies, which cracked a little when shaping. Thankfully that is easy to fix, and next time I may make them smaller, but still shape them into a 7” log. They bake nicely, and there are a very different choice for a holiday cookie plate!

Berlinerkranser (Norwegian Wreath Cookies)
2 hard-boiled egg yolks
2 (raw) egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup butter, room temperature

2 egg whites, lightly beaten
Pearl sugar    

In a medium mixer bowl, mash the hard-boiled egg yolks with a fork. Add the raw egg yolks and sugar and mix on medium until light. Alternate adding the flour and butter, starting and ending with the flour. The dough will be soft; be careful not to overwork the dough.

Chill the dough for one hour.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into balls, then into a rope about 6-7” long. Twist the dough into a wreath shape, crossing the ends of the dough. Brush each cookie with beaten egg white and then sprinkle with pearl sugar.

Bake for 10 minutes, until slightly browned on the bottom and set on top. Cool completely.

Recipe from Adamant Kitchen

Pepperoni Pizza Quiche

This month’s What’s Baking theme is quiche, which really opens up a world of possibilities. I make quiche or frittatas for dinner every once in a while, and they are a great, quick dinner. My husband likes quiche, too, which is great. I went looking for something interesting, beyond the traditional ham and cheese quiche and I found this recipe for pepperoni pizza quiche. I figured that would be a winner since my husband is such a big fan of pepperoni pizza.

This recipe only uses 3 eggs, which isn’t a lot of for a quiche. The filling also has evaporated milk, which in the end gave this quiche a lovely consistency. This was very easy to make, and we really loved it. The ingredients can be whatever you have. I used turkey pepperoni since it has less fat, and used a combination of shredded mozzarella and shredded Mexican blend, as that was what I had on hand. We added mushrooms. You could really use any combination of meat, cheese and vegetable add in.

As I said, my husband and I really loved this. It was quick and easy to make and tasted wonderful. The texture was nice and creamy, but didn’t have the feeling of being under baked. This will now be my go to recipe for quiche, and I can change up the mix-ins depending on what we have on hand. Thanks to this month’s host, Liz of Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks .

   

Pepperoni Pizza Quiche

1 unbaked 9-inch frozen pie shell

5 ounces sliced mushrooms

8 ounces shredded cheese, divided

2 ounces sliced pepperoni, quartered, divided

12 ounce can evaporated milk

3 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Sauté the mushrooms over medium heat until cooked. Allow to cool slightly.

Into the bottom of the pie shell, sprinkle 1 cup of the cheese, half of pepperoni pieces and the cooked mushrooms. In a medium bowl, whisk together the evaporated milk, eggs, flour, Italian seasoning, and the garlic powder. Pour the egg mixture into the pie crust. Top with the remaining cheese and pepperoni. Place the quiche on a baking sheet.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Recipe from Nestle

Eggs Baked in a Bread Bowl

For this round of the recipe swap, we are doing a secret recipe style swap, which means that I get to pick any recipe from the blog I receive in the swap. I got to pick something from the blog: Cooking with Crouton by Kelsey. I knew right away from the kitty pictures that I saw on the blog that this would be a good blog for me! I love kitties. My kitties don’t pay too much attention to me while I am in the kitchen, but here’s a picture of our kitty Jazzy anyway.

I didn’t want to pick a cookie recipe or some other sort of dessert. I looked through all the recipes as soon as I saw this one I was very interested in trying it: Eggs Baked in a Bread Bowl. So I ended up picking a baking recipe, but very different in style than what I typically bake. The recipe looked fairly easy and the picture looked so good, so I knew I had made a good choice.

Initially I thought about making my own rolls, but I didn’t do that. I bought small ciabatta rolls which were great for this recipe. I think it would work with any roll that had a good outer structure. Since the hollowed out roll is the baking vessel, you want it to have some fortitude. I used Cheddar cheese and parsley as that is what I had. You could mix this up with different cheeses, seasonings, and I would like to try this with some diced ham. I made these on a weeknight after a long day at work and they were just perfect. I baked mine for just under 20 minutes and the yolks were a tiny bit runny, which I like. I loved this recipe and I can’t wait to make it again. Thanks for the recipe Kelsey!

6 small rolls
6 eggs
6 teaspoons cream
Salt and pepper
6 teaspoons finely shredded Cheddar cheese
Chopped fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Have a baking sheet on hand.

Cut off the tops of the dinner rolls and scoop out the bread in the center. Crack an egg into each hollowed-out bowl, and drizzle a teaspoon of cream on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, cheese and parsley.

Arrange the rolls on a baking sheet (leave the tops off for now). Cook for about 20 minutes, more or less depending on how runny you like your yolks. Add the tops to toast in the last 2 minutes.

Recipe from Cooking with Crouton