Grandma's Christmas Confections
Granma's Christmas Recipe
One of the Christmas traditions that I have taken with me from Denmark to Spain is the pleasure of once a year to prepare my Grandma's Christmas Confections.
My grandparents had a dairy, so there was never a shortage of butter, cheese, cream and other dairy products, in my childhood. My grandmother was a magician in the kitchen, and Christmas was the peak of the year.
All of us kids could hardly wait for the Christmas goodies to be put on the table after finishing the Christmas dinner. There were platters of orange carrots with tiny green stalks made of marzipan and food coloring. Best of all, however, was grandma's oatmeal balls rolled in coconut flakes ...
I have decided to share my grandmother's recipe with you ... It is simply too delicious to keep to myself. My grandmother was a very loving person, and I am sure that she would not mind sharing.
But let us first have a look at which kitchen tools we need.
Grandma's Oatmeal Balls Recipe
Ingredient
| Ounces
| Grams
|
|---|---|---|
Oatmeal Flakes
| 18
| 500
|
Icing Sugar
| 18
| 500
|
Cocoa Powder
| 3 1/2
| 100
|
Unsaltet Butter
| 8
| 220
|
Coconut Flakes
| 8
| 500
|
3 - 4 Egg Whites
| ||
Cream or Cold Coffee
|
Grandma's Oatmeal Balls
In my grandma's days the food processor wasn't invented, so she had to run 500 gram or half a kilo of oatmeal flakes through a parsley chopper to get it pulverized. Actually she probably did three times as much, as we often were quite a lot of people for Christmas. Luckily we don't have to go through that hassle because the food processor has been invented.
Let's get down to business!
- Put 500 gram / 18 ounces of oatmeal in the food processor and chop them until they are powdered.
- Mix the powdered oatmeal with cocoa powder and icing sugar in a mixing bowl. Distribute the mixture into 3 different mixing bowls.
- Divide the unsalted butter into 3 slices and put one in each of the mixing bowls.
- Now you are ready to use the food processor again. You have divided the mixture into 3 portions because the food processor can't handle the whole portion in one go. Use the knives and see how the nougat colored powder mixed with butter, and a little twit of cream or cold coffee, turns into a chocolate colored spongy mass.
- When you have done all 3 portions put them together in one mixing bowl and leave the mass in the fridge for 3 - 4 hours.
- If the mass is still sticky when you take it out knead a little more icing sugar into the mass.
- Now you roll small oatmeal balls with your hands. ( Yes it is sticky...it is finger licking sticky - so enjoy it!)
- Leave the balls on a tray or on some plates to dry for en hour or two.
- Prepare 2 deep plates: one with egg whites and the other with coconut flakes. Roll the balls - first in egg white and then in coconut flakes.
- Leave the balls covered in coconut flakes to dry without touching each other for a couple of hours.
- How many oatmeal balls you get depends off cause of the size you make them. I make them rather small because they get bigger when rolled in coconut flakes. I normally get approximately 200 out of this recipe.
Presentation and Storage
Don't make them too long before Christmas. First of all you need to keep them in the fridge until about an hour before you serve them, and secondly they taste too good to be hanging around.
They are very "morish". You take one just to see how they taste, and then you take another to verify that it was really that delicious, and all of a sudden - they're gone!
A week or two before Christmas is fine.
Besides from being a delight for you and the ones you spend your Christmas with - they are also a very appreciated Christmas gift or greeting for most people.
It all comes down to presentation! You can make or buy a decorative candy box to present your homemade oatmeal balls.
Besides from sending my grand mother a loving thought there is nothing left to say but Merry Christmas - or in Danish: Glædelig jul!
