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FOOD ART
'SKOVSKYRE' SHORTBREAD “Skovskyre” or “forest acid” is an edible clover that grows in forests throughout Denmark. Its heartshaped leaves are a popular ingredient in New Nordic dishes including salads, dressings, and cold sauces. This recipe for lemon shortbread uses pressed skovskyre as a lovely adornment atop each cookie. The red variety (or “rød skovskyre”) featured here has a beautiful, deep purple hue on the underside of its leaves. The melt-in-your-mouth citrusy shortbread pairs perfectly with the fresh, slightly sour flavour of the skovskyre. These cookies are simple to make yet have such a pretty impact. PHOTOGRAPHS CLAIRE BOGUSZ / ISTOCK
SKOVSKYRE SHORTBREAD MAKES 24 COOKIES
COOKIES: 200 g flour (hvedemel) 50 g potato starch (kartoffelmel) 1.5 tsps baking powder (bagepulver) 130 g softened butter 100 g caster or fine sugar (bagesukker) 1 lemon, washed 2 egg yolks Coarse sugar (perlesukker) for garnish Optional: food colouring to dye cookie dough
FLOWERS: To press flowers (or leaves), arrange flowers gently on a piece of parchment paper, facing down. Put another piece of parchment paper on top. Top with a stack of heavy books to flatten the flowers. Leave for at least 30 minutes before using.
TEXT CLAIRE BOGUSZ
METHOD #1 Whisk together flour, potato starch and baking powder in a medium bowl. Set aside. #2 Using an electric mixer and large bowl, cream together butter and caster sugar (bagesukker) for 3 minutes. Zest the lemon, and squeeze the juice. Add zest and juice to the butter mixture. #3 While mixing on low speed, add egg yolks one at a time and fully incorporate. Add flour mixture and mix until combined. #4 At this point, if you’d like to dye the dough, add a few drops of food colouring and knead the dough together to incorporate dye until you have your desired shade. Transfer dough to a plastic bag or plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. #5 Roll out the dough and cut cookies (using a cookie cutter or small inverted drinking glass). Put coarse sugar (perlesukker) in a shallow dish and roll edges of each cookie until coated in sugar. Place your cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake in a preheated, 180°C oven for approximately 10 minutes. #6 As soon as you have removed the cookies from the oven and while they are still hot, gently press flowers into the tops of the cookies using your fingers. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and allow cookies to cool completely before serving.
HELPFUL
TIPS AND HINTS If you don’t have your own garden, skovskyre is a readily accessible plant found in most flower shops. Alternatively, you can use any edible flowers to adorn your cookies; just make sure they are non-toxic and aren’t treated with any chemicals. You can store leftover pressed flowers in an airtight container for future use!
SEPTEMBER 2020 - WWW.THE-INTL.COM
CLAIRE BOGUSZ BAKER AND BLOGGER Claire grew up moving around frequently, never imagining she’d have the opportunity to experience raising her own children as expats one day. In 2018, her husband’s job relocated the family from the USA to Copenhagen. Living in the capital city, they’ve loved biking, travelling, and the ability to immerse their three children in a foreign language. Donuts to Danish was born out of Claire’s passion for creating art and her love of baking. She finds great joy in helping others celebrate special moments with custom-made cakes and cookies. For order inquiries, email claire@donutstodanish.com www.donutstodanish.com @donutstodanish