aninra

Everybody loves chocolate, right? And the Danes are no different. In fact, they love chocolate so much they eat it on open-faced sandwiches...for breakfast! Admittedly, it' mostly a thing kids do, but if you ever feel like indulging your inner Danish child, butter up a slice of Danish rye and eat it topped with a couple of thin slices of chocolate, and then go crazy!

Get this. In Danish supermarkets you can buy chocolate slices specially prepared for the purpose of placing atop bread! It is available in either a milk or a dark variety, comes thinly sliced, and is cut to fit perfectly on a half a piece of Danish rye bread. But don't worry, you can enjoy your chocolate slices on pretty much any kind of bread for that matter. This isn't exactly gourmet cuisine, so you can get away with murder here. Toasted english muffins, baguette, melba toast, heck croutons! Whatever makes you happy.

But what if you are not in Denmark and want to treat yourself to a little slice of chocolatey breakfast heaven? Short of asking an uncle to send you a few packages in the mail (which is what I do), what are your options? Ah, worry not! You can make prepared chocolate slices yourself. All you need is some chocolate, a thermometer, and the technique I will describe in a moment. But first, I need to digress slightly...

All this talk of chocolate makes me want a cup of coffee. I, like many canadians of Danish origin, drink copious amounts of coffee (see per capita consumption data here for the main coffee drinking nations). And while there are many ways of preparing coffee - most of which I enjoy - I really enjoy coffee made using a Bodum coffee press. If you like coffee and haven't experienced this manner of preparing coffee, you have to check it out. And another thing, since the Bodum system doesn't keep coffee warm, many Danes also have a coffee thermos. I love these. They add a real "je ne sais quoi" - or a "det ved jeg ikke" as they (do not) say in Danish - to the morning breakfast table. Check out the classic Stelton thermos for a touch of retro Danish style.   

   

   

Ok, now back to making your own chocolate slices for Chocolate open-faced sandwiches. The trick is to use tempered chocolate - chocolate that has been melted, cooled to a specific temperature and then heated slightly. This results in a chocolate that sets firmly and maintains a nice glossy sheen - just what you want when enjoying your morning breakfast! And it doesn't melt all over your fingers the second you touch it. Here is how to temper your chocolate and make pålæg:

While chocolate on your open-faced sandwich may seem like a revelation, Denmark has another interesting chocolate specialty - called flødeboller. These delights are basically cookie topped with marshmallow and then dipped in chocolate. If you like the sound of this, you can find an approximation, albeit a poor one, in Canadian supermarkets - they are called Whippets cookies. As a child visiting Denmark, I always had an amazing time - mainly because my father and I would make a point of visiting one of the many old-time candy shops located on Strøget (the central Copenhagen walking street) to gorge on flødeboller in their many different  shapes and sizes - some plain milk chocolate, some coated in dark chocolate, some stuffed with marzipan, and some adorned with shredded coconut - so many options - as a kid, it boggles the mind. Just to keep you guessing, I have not included a photo, but you can check here for a Danish website with really authentic looking flødeboller. This is not my speciality, so I am leaving these to the experts. Enjoy!