Sunday, April 14, 2013

TRADITIONAL FOOD SERIES: DANISH KIRSEBAERKUGLER

Hello my friends...Danni here form Silo Hill Farm and it's my turn to share a traditional recipe from my heritage.  
 I'm Danish, mostly, and I would love to tell you how I grew up eating tons of wonderful Danish food, baked by my apron-wearing mother, using recipes handed down to her from generations dating back to the 1600's while my grandfather told us Hans Christian Andersen fairy tales.  
But no.
Although my Danish Grandfather did not read us stories, his name was Hans.  Actually, he had 6 names...Janse Hanse Peter Theodore Leo Martensen, to be exact, because if the Danish can make something more difficult, they will.  This Danish recipe, however, will be simple and tasty, I promise.

I can tell you that when I was a child, on Christmas Eve and visions of sugarplums danced in my head, they looked like this....
 Yeah.....that's a cherry inside that wonderful, flaky Danish pastry dough and then covered with cream icing. So much easier to make than they are to say!  You can just call them "Cherry Balls" if you want.
Here's what you need to make them.
  •  1/2 cup softened butter
  • 1/4 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups flour (just regular all-purpose flour)
  • 1/8 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp vanilla or almond flavoring (I used half of each)
  • Maraschino Cherries
Icing:  
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 2-3 Tbsp. heavy cream
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
This recipe made 16 Cherry Balls.  You can double it if you want more, but you should divide the dough in half and cover one while you work with the other so it doesn't dry out.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix butter and sugar to a creamy consistency.  Add flour, salt and vanilla.  Mix with your fingers.  
 Don't mess with Heritage recipes...if it says use your fingers, use your fingers.  This dough comes out so flaky..like pie crust. Just mix it until all of the ingredients are combined and it looks a little crumbly, about like pie crust dough.
 Now you are ready to wrap the dough around the cherries.  I know that many Danish women pride themselves on how thin they can get the dough in this process, which yields more cookies.  I'm not one of them.  I did it about like this.
Make a little ball of dough, flatten it out with your palm, make an indentation in the center for cherry and pinch the dough around it.
 Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 13-15 minutes.
Cool and dip in icing.  I sprinkled mine with colored sugar because I'm a big old kid and I like colored sugar....and anything that I might even imagine to be sugarplums!
No wonder Hans Christian Andersen came up with such wonderful fairy tales.  His mother probably did wear an apron and make these for him while his Grandpa told him stories
These make an awesome addition to your Christmas cookie trays, but they're pretty yummy anytime.
Do you have a recipe from your heritage that you like to make?  If you do, write up a post about it and come back to the Inspiration Cafe and link it up at our first-ever linky party which will start on April 29th.  I think it will be a blast to see some traditional recipes from the blog world!  
Next week, the fabulous Mel will be posting a recipe from the "Land Down Under" and you won't want to miss that!  

Linking up to any or all of these fine parties:
      
    

39 comments:

  1. Danni, these look delicious! I spent a year in Sweden and developed a love for Scandinavian baking. Yum.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Danni - these look heavenly! I love cherries! I'm going to pin this recipe. I can see them being lovely little treats on a special occasion (or at a fancy tea party with the girls).

    ReplyDelete
  3. Danni these look so amazing I have to try these!

    ReplyDelete
  4. These look so good. And I agree with Tara, these would make a perfect addition to a tea party. And the perfect excuse to have one.
    Thanks for sharing your family tradition.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Those look good! They seem easy to make too....bet the kids could do them....once they stop laughing about the name "cherry balls" that is.....

    ReplyDelete
  6. ^ what all of those folks said, these look wonderful! Thanks for the fancy share. :)

    ReplyDelete
  7. Awesome! Bet they taste as good as they look!

    Estelle xx

    ReplyDelete
  8. So, so pretty. I love to make anything that is not only delicious, but beautiful to look at. My kids are going to love these!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love to eat anything with a cherry near it. These sound delicious. I am not sure about the pastry making - I usually fail this part miserably. They are very pretty. How in the world do you pronounce the name?

    ReplyDelete
  10. I am drooling over here ! Pinned :-) {Hope you will link this up at our party tomorrow ;-) }

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yum, Danni! What a great recipe and pics! I am so happy these are egg free! I Can't wait to make these...they are sure to be an a staple at the holidays in my home! Thanks for the great share!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Yummy! Those look so beautiful. Almost too pretty to eat.

    ReplyDelete
  13. These look heavenly, like angel pompoms, and sinful, like I could eat a dozen in one sitting!! They are simply beautiful! The recipe looks pretty darn easy, too. I'm pinning and plan to make these for next year's Christmas cookie tray. Thanks, Danni

    ReplyDelete
  14. I really, really shouldn't, but these look so good, I have to make some!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I'm making these! They look so pretty. I can already hear the grandkids oohing and aahing over them! Pinning, of course.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I have a family recipe called cherry triangles. Very labor intensive, so I won't be sharing it because I don't have time to make it for pictures. But we always had it at Christmas.

    Your treat looks yummy and if I baked anymore I would definitely make them. But I'll be saving the recipe for someone else to make!! Thanks for sharing. I think what you're doing with the recipe sharing is such a great idea! I'll be watching...Kateri

    ReplyDelete
  17. I've never heard of these, Danni, but they look amazingly delicious and really pretty! Thanks for sharing the recipe and keeping this for next Christmas! ~Cindy@littlemisscelebration.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. These look awesome! I love maraschino cherries I can't wait to try this out. kraiger5@me.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. So yum - I cant wait to make these Danni - I love cherries!!!! Your grandfather had such a cool long name too - love your history xxx

    ReplyDelete
  20. Ok, Danish, not German. lol
    And you're right, these look very easy to make! I've made chocolate covered cherries for Christmas, but wow, they were hard and time consuming. This looks like a great alternative! (and I could dip in chocolate if I needed the fix!)
    Debbie :)

    ReplyDelete
  21. These look amazing! I'm Swedish (heritage) but sadly I have never learned to cook Swedish food. I think I may change that habit this year!

    Thank you so much for linking up with Much Ado About Monday at Huckleberry Love. We hope you come back next week and share what else you've been up to!

    Karla
    www.huckleberrylove.com

    ReplyDelete
  22. That looks so yummy ~ Thanks for sharing.....
    Cheryl
    zany-mayd.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  23. These look delicious and they are so cute! Would you consider sharing this and any other projects you may have over at my Pinterest Party?

    http://www.thetaylor-house.com/2013/04/17/pinterest-power-party-features-6.html

    Thanks!
    Chrissy

    ReplyDelete
  24. Popping over the hop! Pinned and will probably make later. These look yummy! I love to make traditional recipes from my heritage, too. And I don't have any recipes passed down from the generations either. Just those my mom taught me. *snort*

    ReplyDelete
  25. Seems like a great recipe for kids to make and eat. Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Looks like fun to eat!

    Thank you for partying with the Wildly Original Crowd.
    <3 Christina at I Gotta Create!

    ReplyDelete
  27. These look sooooo good!!! I am mostly Swedish, I think we are destined for having a sweet tooth :) Thank you so much for sharing your yummy recipe at Pretty Things!

    xo, Tanya
    twelveOeight

    ReplyDelete
  28. Being of Danish decent, I am surprised I didn't get the memo on these lovely little delights. This is the first I have seen of these. I do love to bake Danni, so I pinned these little beauties!!!! Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  29. These look amazing!! YUMMY! Thank you so much for sharing at A Bouquet of Talent last week. So sorry I am late visiting. Hope you are having a wonderful weekend. :)
    XO
    Kathy

    ReplyDelete
  30. Oh my those look delicious, and not that difficult either!

    ReplyDelete
  31. Ok these are delicious but my dough is always too dry and falls apart so easy I have made several batches now how can I fix it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Karen, you might try adding a little more cream. I will say that the less you handle these the better. I noticed that they did tend to get more crumbly the more I messed with them.

      Delete