Egg Dumpling Tips
This is a gosh-and-by-golly recipe and I have never measured the ingredients.  Begin with beaten eggs.  Sprinkle in a bit of flour and stir.  Add a bit more.  It will appear that it is going to be a hopelessly lumpy mess.  Add a bit more flour.  Adding a few tablespoons at a time and stirring just a bit to get a sense of whether or not you’re getting close, continue this process until the egg and flour begin to come together and have a little stretch.  You’ll feel it.  If the mixture is too loose, the dumplings will be too dense.  If you add too much flour, they become fairly tasteless puffballs.  You’re looking for cohesive batter with a little tug, a little stretch, as you mix it or lift the spoon.  As soon as you get there, stop adding flour.

This recipe also falls into the gosh-and-by-golly category in that you can add whatever you like.  In fact, when I have been quite ill, I have just brought some chicken stock to a simmer and made dumplings alone.  Add whatever you have.  A leek is nice, a bit of onion, carrots, celery or celery leaves, a little garlic, cubed roasted chicken, parsley.  If you have a bunch of dill, waving the bunch through the broth adds nice flavor, too.

You can make these dumplings any size.  We prefer to use a dinner teaspoon.  You can make tiny dumplings or large ones, too.  Just adjust your cooking time a bit.

The finished dumplings should be eggy and chewy.

Chicken Soup with Egg Dumplings
Yield:  about four servings

Ingredients:
4 c. chicken stock (preferably homemade)
some cubed roasted chicken, perhaps 1 c.
a small onion and/or a small leek, diced
a few carrots, peeled and cut into coins
a few stalks of celery and their leaves, diced
1 clove of garlic, finely minced
a handful of parsley, chopped

5 eggs
flour
salt and pepper

Method:

• Warm a soup pot over medium low heat.  When it is warm, drizzle in just a touch of olive oil and add the garlic.  Saute for one minute, or until fragrant.

• Pour in the stock, the chicken, onion, leek, carrots, and celery and bring it to a simmer.  Simmer until the vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes.

• Meanwhile make the dumplings.  In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and season them with salt and pepper fairly generously.  Stir in flour bit by bit until the mixture comes together and there is a slight tug on the spoon.

• Remove the pot from the burner and wait for the simmering to cease.

• When the stock is still, using two teaspoons, scoop a mound of egg dumpling batter with one spoon and scrape it off and into the pot with the other spoon.  Continue making dumplings and placing them into the stock, placing them with a bit of room between them.  Allow them to rest in the hot broth for about two minutes or until they are beginning to set.

• Return the pot to the burner and bring the stock to a low simmer.  Simmer the dumplings for about three minutes, or until they are pale and beginning to rise.  Turn over the dumplings and simmer for another three minutes, or until they are cooked through.

• Scatter in the parsley.  Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary.

Danish Hazelnut Snails (Snegler)
Adapted from Beatrice Ojakangas’ The Great Scandinavian Baking Book
Yield: 24 muffin-sized pastries

Ingredients:
1 recipe quick method Danish pastry (recipe below)
½ c. softened butter
1 c. light or dark brown sugar, packed
1 c. finely chopped hazelnuts
1 t. cinnamon
1 slightly beaten egg

Method:

• Place paper cupcake liners in 24 muffin cups.

• Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to make a 20-inch square.  Spread with the butter.  Sprinkle with the brown sugar, hazelnuts, and cinnamon.

• Roll up jellyroll fashion.  Cut into 24 slices.  Place slices with cut side up into each of the muffin cups.

• Let rise in a cool place for 30 to 45 minutes, or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Brush pastries with beaten egg.  Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until puffed and golden.  Serve warm.

Danish Pastry Tips
We use cream and omit the cardamom seed, mix by hand, and don’t bother with bringing the eggs for the pastry to room temperature or with brushing the finished pastries with egg.

No need to bother with a thermometer for the water.  It should feel lukewarm and just above body temperature.

It’s convenient to make the pastry dough the night before you make the snails.  Then all you have to do is shape them and bake them the next morning.  We chill for the minimum 30 minutes during the rolling and folding of the pastry the next morning and let them rise the minimum 30 minutes.

Quick Method Danish Pastry

Ingredients:
3¾ c. all purpose flour
1½ c. chilled unsalted butter
2 packages active dry yeast
½ c. warm water, 105 to 115 degrees
½ c. heavy cream or undiluted evaporated milk
½ t. freshly crushed cardamom seed (optional)
½ t. salt
2 eggs at room temperature
¼ c. sugar

Method:

• Measure 3½ c. flour into a bowl, or into the work bowl of the food processor with the steel blade in place.  Cut the butter into ¼-inch slices and add to the flour.  Process or cut the butter into the flour until the butter is about the size of kidney beans.

• In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm water.  Let stand five minutes.  Stir in the cream or milk, cardamom, salt, eggs, and sugar.

• Turn the flour-butter mixture into the liquid ingredients, and with a rubber spatula, mix carefully just until the dry ingredients are moistened.  Cover and refrigerate four hours, overnight, or up to four days.

• Turn dough out onto a lightly floured board; dust with flour.

• Pound and flatten to make a 16- to 20-inch square.  Fold into thirds making three layers.  Turn dough around and roll out again.  Fold from the short sides into thirds.  This should result in a perfect square.  Repeat folding and rolling again if you wish.  Wrap and chill the dough 30 minutes or as long as overnight.