My Danish Christmas Advent Calendar – 3 December (Pebernødder game)

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Welcome to My Danish Christmas Advent Calendar!  Join me every day in opening a new door.  Once again I’ve got a host of goodies to share with you – traditional Danish Christmas recipes, traditions, songs, games, decorations, crafts and landscapes…  So sit back, relax and enjoy!

3 DECEMBER

Yesterday I gave you a recipe for making pebernødder (“pepper nuts”) and told you that there’s a game you can play with these small rounds of yummy goodness.  Mus! “Mouse!”

Arm yourself with a (large – it’s Christmas after all!) supply of pebernødder and line some up in a row.  Five, six or seven is a good number to start with…

The first player decides which pebernød is going to be the mus or “mouse”.  Keep it a secret from your opponent!  (I’m just pointing it out here so you get the gist of the game.)

Player 2 starts eating pebernødder.  One at a time.  Slowly.

But if they pick up the one you earmarked, you shout out ”Mus!”  and they have to stop eating.   And that’s the end of their turn – ha! 😛

mus

Then you replace the pebernødder which have been munched – so you have a total of five, six or seven again – on the table.  It’s now Player 2’s turn to decide which one is “Mus” and Player 1′s turn to start eating.  And you keep taking turns until a) you run out of pebernødder or b) you get sick of eating pebernødder…  If you don’t feel you can trust each other (hmmm, siblings, anyone?), then you can cross off your ‘Mus‘ on a piece of paper before your start, so you have proof!

Held og lykke and velbekomme!  And don’t forget to check back here tomorrow when we open the next door!

Diane :)

My Danish Christmas Advent Calendar – 2 December (Pebernødder)

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Welcome to My Danish Christmas Advent Calendar!  Join me every day in opening a new door.  I’ve got a host of goodies to share with you – traditional Danish Christmas recipes, traditions, songs, games, decorations, crafts and landscapes…  So sit back, relax and enjoy!

2 DECEMBER

Okay, it’s time to get your pinnies on – we’re baking!  Yep, a lot of Danish families get together at Christmas in order to bake.  Not cakes – there’s no Danish version of the British heavy-fruit-packed Christmas cake or French bûche de noël (yule log).  No, they bake lots of different biscuits and cookies.  My daughter was invited over to her friend’s house on Saturday afternoon and they baked several tins full…

Today we’re making pebernødder – ‘pepper nuts’.  Small, spicy, crunchy biscuits that are a) good to eat and b) an essential ingredient in a Danish Christmas game.  But more on that tomorrow! 🙂

pebernødder

 

You can, of course, just buy them at the supermarket or from your local baker.

But they’re pretty simple to make.  So on with the show!

First of all you’ll need:

  • one egg

  • 125g of sugar

Beat these together in a bowl until you get a pale yellow frothy mixture.

Then add this lot to the bowl:

  • 250g plain flour

  • 125g butter (I always use Kærgården)

  • ½ teaspoon of baking soda (natron)

  • ½ teaspoon of cardemom (stødt kardemomme)

  • ½ teaspoon of ground ginger (ingefær)

  • ½ teaspoon of cinammon (kanel)

  • ½ teaspoon of ground black pepper

Beat them again and then scrape the mixture out of the bowl…

…and into a plastic bag.  Throw it in the fridge for an hour or so until the dough hardens up.

Cut off chunks of dough, then roll them into long sausage/worm shapes.  Take a knife and cut the sausage into small pieces (about the size of a small cherry).  Roll them into little balls.

Place them on a baking tray (I always use baking paper for easy clean up) and pop them into a warm oven – 200c/400f.

Bake them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until they look dry and are beginning to turn a pale golden brown.  Let them cool off and then you can a) eat them b) play with them (more on that tomorrow) or c) put them in little cellophone bag or boxes to give away as presents.

Velbekomme!  And don’t forget to check back here tomorrow when we open the next door!

Diane :)

My Danish Christmas Advent Calendar – 15 December

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Welcome to My Danish Christmas Advent Calendar!  Join me every day in opening a new door.  Just like last year, I’ve got a host of goodies to share with you – traditional Danish Christmas recipes, traditions, songs, games, decorations, crafts and landscapes…  So sit back, relax and enjoy!

15 DECEMBER

It’s the third Sunday of Advent and my daughter has a friend over to play today – and they’ve just asked me for some pebernødder (“pepper nut” ) biscuits because they’re going to play the game of Mus! “Mouse!”

Yes, as I told you when we made pebernødder a few days ago (the recipe is here), Danish kids use them for a Christmas game…

First of all, line up some pebernødder in a row.  Yikes – our homemade ones went fast!  Good job that I have some shop-bought ones in the larder! ;)

Okay, so you line up some pebernødder in a row.  Five is a good number to start with.

The first player decides which pebernød is going to be the mus or “mouse”.  Keep it a secret from your opponent!

Player 2 starts eating pebernødder.  One at a time.  Slowly.

But if they pick up the one you earmarked, you shout out ”Mus!”  and they have to stop eating.   And that’s the end of their turn – ha!

Then you line up more pebernødder – so you have five in total again – on the table, Player 2 decides which one is “Mus” and it’s Player 1′s turn to start eating.  And you keep taking turns until a) you run out of pebernødder or b) you get sick of eating pebernødder…  If you don’t feel you can trust each other (hmmm, siblings, anyone?), then you can cross off your ‘Mus‘ on a piece of paper before your start, so you have proof!

Now be careful not to go overboard on the pebernødder or you won’t be able to eat your dinner! ;)   And don’t forget to check back here tomorrow when we open the next door!

Diane :)

My Danish Christmas Advent Calendar – 11 December

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Welcome to My Danish Christmas Advent Calendar!  Join me every day in opening a new door.  Just like last year, I’ve got a host of goodies to share with you – traditional Danish Christmas recipes, traditions, songs, games, decorations, crafts and landscapes…  So sit back, relax and enjoy!

11 DECEMBER

Okay, it’s time to get your pinnies back on – we’re baking again!

Today we’re making pebernødder – ‘pepper nuts’.  Small, spicy, crunchy biscuits that are a) good to eat and b) an essential ingredient in a Danish kids’ Christmas game.  But more on that another day!

You can – selvfølgelig – buy pebernødder in any supermarket.  But last year we decided to make them ourselves…

First of all you’ll need:

  • one egg (1 æg)

  • 125g of granulated or caster sugar (sukker)

.

Beat these together in a bowl until you get a pale yellow frothy mixture.

Then add this lot to the bowl:

  • 250g plain flour (mel)

  • 125g butter (I always use Kærgården)

  • ½ teaspoon of baking soda (natron)

  • ½ teaspoon of cardemom (stødt kardemomme)

  • ½ teaspoon of ground ginger (ingefær)

  • ½ teaspoon of cinammon (kanel)

  • ½ teaspoon of ground black pepper (sort peber)

Beat again and then scrape the mixture out of the bowl…

…and into a plastic bag.  Throw it in the fridge for an hour or so until the dough hardens up.

Cut off chunks of dough, then roll them into long sausage/worm shapes.  Take a knife and cut the sausage into small pieces (about the size of a small cherry).  Roll them into little balls.  Or get some little nisser (remember those?)to roll them into balls…

 

Place them on a baking tray (I always use baking paper for easy clean up) and pop them into a warm oven – 200c/400f. 

Bake them in the oven for about 15-20 minutes until they look dry and are beginning to turn a pale golden brown.  Let them cool off and then you can a) eat them b) play with them (more on that another day) or c) put them in little cellophone bag or boxes to give away as presents.

Velbekomme!  And don’t forget to check back here tomorrow when we open the next door!

Diane :)