Fastelavn

Fastelavn means Carnival in Danish and is celebrated in February - either the Sunday or Monday before Ash Wednesday. Cats and carnival masks adorn branches in people's homes - Fastelavnris which is what I have made my cookies look like. The children will wake their parents demanding "boller" cream filled pastries which are completely delicious! Often children dress up and a King or Queen is crowned for the day

There is a bit more information here for those who wish to find out more and a recipe for the Fastelavn boller  http://blogs.denmark.dk/diane/2014/02/24/fastelavn-2/

Beautiful cookies and thank you for sharing the story behind them. I clicked on the link several times and was unable to open it. It keeps saying "internal server error". I will keep trying as I see others have opened it. I'd love to see the recipe for the Festelavn boller.

Joanie posted:

Beautiful cookies and thank you for sharing the story behind them. I clicked on the link several times and was unable to open it. It keeps saying "internal server error". I will keep trying as I see others have opened it. I'd love to see the recipe for the Festelavn boller.

Not sure what's wrong with the above link - it was working before; it's likely an issue with that person's site. Here's another one that describes the festival and its traditional sweets in some detail: http://denmark.dk/en/meet-the-...aditions/shrovetide/

Julia M. Usher posted:

Joanie posted:

Beautiful cookies and thank you for sharing the story behind them. I clicked on the link several times and was unable to open it. It keeps saying "internal server error". I will keep trying as I see others have opened it. I'd love to see the recipe for the Festelavn boller.

Not sure what's wrong with the above link - it was working before; it's likely an issue with that person's site. Here's another one that describes the festival and its traditional sweets in some detail: http://denmark.dk/en/meet-the-...aditions/shrovetide/

And here's a recipe for Danish boller; I can't vouch for it at all, as I just grabbed it from the web: http://www.food.com/recipe/dan...-rolls-boller-441880

Perhaps Marie has one she uses; you might message her.

Joanie posted:

Beautiful cookies and thank you for sharing the story behind them. I clicked on the link several times and was unable to open it. It keeps saying "internal server error". I will keep trying as I see others have opened it. I'd love to see the recipe for the Festelavn boller.

Thank you Joanie sorry that link isn't working at the mo. I do have a recipe for them I was going to try out this weekend that I pasted into word and now I can't remember where I got it, but I will pop it here. You can also top them with a bit of glaze in different colours or make a chocolate glaze too. 

• 800g plain white flour
• 140g caster sugar
• 150g butter
• 50g fresh yeast (preferably) or one 7g packet of dried yeast
• 525ml whole milk
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 300 ml whipping cream
• Icing sugar
• 1 egg

1. Melt the butter
2. Mix the flour, sugar and cardamom in a bowl (and dried yeast if using that)
3. If using fresh yeast, mix this with some of the milk in a cup
4. Mix the rest of the milk with the warm melted butter
5. Add the milk, butter and yeast mix (if applicable) to the flour/sugar, and mix well (with an electric mixer preferably)
6. Leave the dough to rise so that it doubles in size (takes approximately 1 hour if you put the bowl in a sink with hot water)
7. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a long sausage. Cut each sausage into smaller pieces, and make each piece into a round ball about the size of a mandarin orange to make buns. Put each bun on a baking sheet.
8. Leave the buns to rise further for approx 15 mins
9. Brush the buns lightly with some beaten egg
10. Cook the buns in the oven for approx 8-10 minutes on 230°C (sometimes longer, depending on the size of the buns). When the buns have a light brown ring underneath them and a light brown colour on top, they should be cooked.
11. Remove the buns from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack
12. Meanwhile, whip the cream, adding some caster sugar to taste
13. Once cool, slice the buns in half and fill with whipped cream
14. Dust the buns with icing sugar and serve!

Marie - LilleKageHus posted:

Joanie posted:

Beautiful cookies and thank you for sharing the story behind them. I clicked on the link several times and was unable to open it. It keeps saying "internal server error". I will keep trying as I see others have opened it. I'd love to see the recipe for the Festelavn boller.

Thank you Joanie sorry that link isn't working at the mo. I do have a recipe for them I was going to try out this weekend that I pasted into word and now I can't remember where I got it, but I will pop it here. You can also top them with a bit of glaze in different colours or make a chocolate glaze too. 

Ingredients (makes around 20 buns)

• 800g plain white flour
• 140g caster sugar
• 150g butter
• 50g fresh yeast (preferably) or one 7g packet of dried yeast
• 525ml whole milk
• 1 tsp ground cardamom
• 300 ml whipping cream
• Icing sugar
• 1 egg

 Method

1. Melt the butter
2. Mix the flour, sugar and cardamom in a bowl (and dried yeast if using that)
3. If using fresh yeast, mix this with some of the milk in a cup
4. Mix the rest of the milk with the warm melted butter
5. Add the milk, butter and yeast mix (if applicable) to the flour/sugar, and mix well (with an electric mixer preferably)
6. Leave the dough to rise so that it doubles in size (takes approximately 1 hour if you put the bowl in a sink with hot water)
7. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces, and roll each piece into a long sausage. Cut each sausage into smaller pieces, and make each piece into a round ball about the size of a mandarin orange to make buns. Put each bun on a baking sheet.
8. Leave the buns to rise further for approx 15 mins
9. Brush the buns lightly with some beaten egg
10. Cook the buns in the oven for approx 8-10 minutes on 230°C (sometimes longer, depending on the size of the buns). When the buns have a light brown ring underneath them and a light brown colour on top, they should be cooked.
11. Remove the buns from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack
12. Meanwhile, whip the cream, adding some caster sugar to taste
13. Once cool, slice the buns in half and fill with whipped cream
14. Dust the buns with icing sugar and serve!

Thank you so much Marie. Please let us know if this recipe compares to what you are familiar with. They sound amazing. Thank you again.