In the beginning of February we celebrate Fastelavn here in Denmark. Fastelavn is the name for carnival here in Denmark, and the other Nordic countries. It’s a bit like the Nordic Halloween. Its all for the kids really. They dress up and ‘slå katten af tønden‘ (“hit the cat out of the barrel”), which is somewhat similar to a piñata. Back in the day, there actually used to be a real cat in the barrel, and beating the barrel was superstitiously considered a safeguard against evil. Thankfully we don’t do that anymore. Now the barrels are full of candy and oranges. We also eat fastelavnsboller (Shrovetide buns) which are sweet buns filled with either, custard, whipped cream or remonce (a Danish heavenly...

This is a very Danish specialty. I actually don’t think any other country makes these. I know that many countries have their version of a rum ball, but these rum tree logs covered with marzipan are typical Danish  (as far as I know) and can be found in any bakery around the country. The center is a delicious chocolatey/rum/cake mixture. The ingredients are the same as a rum ball, but tree logs are of course shaped different like a log and also as mentioned covered in marzipan and more chocolate. When bakers made these rum balls and tree logs, the mixture was actually made of cake leftovers from the bakery (yummy, I know…) and then added lots of jam and...

Summer in Denmark means eating lots and lots of koldskål, which is a cold buttermilk soup with vanilla and lemon. There are lots of ready-made variations in the grocery stores, some are better than others so the past few years I have made my own. It’s really easy to make and I don’t have to worry about which preservatives have been added. And I can also make my own variations. Like this strawberry version which is so much better than the store bought strawberry version. You just can’t beat fresh strawberries. I also baked a batch of biscuits called kammerjunker, which what we usually add to the soup. They are small, light and crunchy biscuits with lots of vanilla. I...