FLØDEBOLLER | DREAMY DANISH SWEETS
Imagine your dreamiest chocolate sweet—the thing you’d eat with abandon if you could do so without consequence—if toothaches and stomachaches and snug waistbands were the made up things of terrible fairy tales. Mine would be a Flødeboller, pictured above—though, I only recently learned that is what they’re called. I knew them in childhood simply as chocolate-coated marshmallow treats—but not just any marshmallow—it would have to be an pillowy, airy, freshly made marshmallow without even the faintest resemblance to the kind you might find in a bag. And not just any chocolate coating—this would have to be thin and snappy and give to the slightest pressure from the tooth—made with the highest quality dark chocolate you can find (I link to one of my favorites, below).
When I say this is a treat I knew as a child, I saw that loosely—since I only had a marshmallow treat this delicate once or twice in all of my decades, and have hoped for a repeat ever since. Thanks to my friend Katrin Björk, creator of the beautifully accessible new nordic cookbook, FROM THE NORTH, my waiting is over—and yours can be, too. She’s sharing her luscious recipe with us here today. I won’t say too much more about it, or her, just yet— because this is part one of two more really heart-felt and important posts I want to share with you about Katrin, and her family; Those two posts are going to require a lot of words, so hang tight, but for now, I leave you with this from Katrin—a fair and honest warning with which I 100% agree.
“They are time-consuming and a bit messy to make, I will not lie. However, they are so absolutely worth it!” ~ Katrin Björk
Skip on down for the recipe, and please come back to learn more about Katrin and her family this week. xo
FLØDEBOLLER
Making flødeboller is time-consuming and it does require tempering the chocolate (which you might or might not find intimidating) If you follow the instructions you will be just fine; it’s not complicated, I promise! And most importantly, it’s oh-so-worth it. They are delicious in a true Scandi grandma-esque way.
reprinted with permission from From the North cookbook
3 tbsp (45 ml) water
5 oz + 2 tbsp (165 g) sugar, divided
2.5 oz (75 ml) glucose
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 egg whites
20 small waffle wafers
8 oz (225 g) dark chocolate, divided
Shredded coconut, freeze-dried fruit or nuts for sprinkling
MAKE THE MARSHMALLOW
Bring the water, 5 ounces (140 g) of sugar, glucose and lemon juice to a boil in a small saucepan. Let the syrup boil until it reaches 242°F (117°C). Remove from the heat and set aside. Whisk the egg whites and 2 tablespoons (25 g) sugar with a stand mixer or electric whisk until soft peaks form, approximately 3 minutes.
Pour the syrup mixture slowly, in a thin but steady stream, into the egg whites, while whisking constantly. Whisk or mix for 8 minutes or until the whites are completely stiff and you can turn the bowl upside down without them falling out. Transfer the egg white mixture to a piping bag and pipe tall spirals onto the waffle wafers (or marzipan thins). Let the flødeboller stand in a cool place to dry for 6 hours (preferably longer or overnight).
Tempering the chocolate
When ready to assemble the flødeboller, slowly melt two-thirds of the chocolate over a warm-water bath or in the top of a double boiler and bring it to 113°F (45°C). Chop the remaining one-third of the chocolate and stir together with the melted chocolate; adding the chocolate should bring the temperature down to 82 to 84°F (28 to 29°C).
Continue stirring and the chocolate should slowly heat up to 88 to 89°F (31 to 32°C), which is the perfect temperature for shiny chocolate that will have a nice crack to it when you bite into it.
Place one flødebolle on an offset spatula and ladle the tempered chocolate over, let it drip before placing the flødebolle on a rack to harden. Add sprinkles (coconut, freeze-dried fruit or nuts) while the chocolate is still wet.
Store the flødeboller in a dark and cold place. I keep mine in the refrigerator because I love, love, love cold chocolate, but that is not necessary.
Cook’s Note: if you can’t find wafer cookies small enough, slice pre-packaged log of marzipan into thin rounds and bake at 350 degrees F until dried enough to hold their shape, about 5 to 7 minutes.
Makes 20 sweets
TIME: 8 hours
**This is not a sponsored post. All opinions are my own.** images belong to Katrin Bjork, and should not be pinned or posted without attribution. **
Photos + Styling // KATRIN BJORK