Jan. 19--Through a bakery window in Copenhagen, the resemblance is uncanny: baked rectangle pastries filled with rich, red fruit, crimped at the edges, frosted on top and covered with a confetti of colorful sprinkles. Danish, freshly-baked Pop-Tarts? Curiosity pulls me off the cold cobblestone streets and into the coffee-rich air of Lagkagehuset ("Layer Cake House") for a taste. The first bite melts on my tongue far more delicately than any grocery-shelf toaster pastry, but the flavors are comparable.
It takes a few more trips to Copenhagen before I can say hindbaersnitter (pronounced hind-bayr-snittuh), the Danish name for this pastry (in English: "raspberry slice"), but I get plenty of opportunities to practice my pronunciation: I discover the treat sells at bakeries, coffee shops, and even 7-11. Versions vary, but the design is consistent: a spread of raspberry coulis sandwiched between two thin layers of sweet, buttery shortbread, topped with powdered sugar glaze and decorated, either with flakes of freeze-dried raspberries or pretty confectionary sprinkles. Though usually cut into rectangles, triangles, or trapezoids, I have also seen them baked as individual rounds, like cookies.
"Usually, you bake them yourself, at home," says Johanne Jensen, a university student who works at Lagkagehuset (located on Ny Ostergade in central Copenhagen). She has never seen or tasted a Kellogg's Pop-Tart, but when I show her a picture on my phone, she admits it does look strikingly similar to the Danish pastry.
"We eat them for breakfast in America," I explain, to her amusement. I do not tell her that last year, Americans consumed more than a billion Pop-Tarts and that the most popular flavor, frosted strawberry, is the closest in taste to the Danish version. In Denmark, hindbaersnitter are a much rarer treat, best enjoyed in the afternoon.
"We usually sell between 40 and 50 a day at this location," she says. The pastries are made daily at a central bakery and aren't even delivered until the afternoon. "It goes with coffee -- something you bake when your friends come over."
"It's really a thing for kids," she continues. "Parents will get one for their kids after school, or you have them at birthday parties." In lieu of birthday cake, the raspberry slices might be arranged on a platter in the figure of a geometric clown -- easy for small hands to grab and eat. Yet, I'm still left wondering: Are hindbaersnitter in fact the distant Danish cousin of the American Pop-Tart? It would not be the first pastry that hopped the Atlantic.
"We could find no Danish connection to the origin of Pop-Tarts," a Kellogg representative told me. They claim Bill Post created Pop-Tarts in 1963 with the intent to design a breakfast food that fit inside a toaster. The portable breakfast pastries were test-marketed in Cleveland and found wild success, mostly among children -- just one more thing that parallels the story line of hindbaersnitter.
"I make them in summertime, for my grandchildren," says Else Marie Remmen, owner of Copenhagen's historic Hotel D'Angleterre and a grandmother of five. Originally from Jutland, in northern Denmark, Remmen graciously shared her recipe, featuring chopped pistachios instead of sprinkles. What's her secret? Use quality butter and don't over-bake the pastry. Then try one yourself and decide: Is it a Pop-Tart, or something even better?
Andrew Evans is a freelance writer.
Hindbaersnitter (Danish Raspberry Slices)
Prep: 25 minutes
Bake: 8 minutes
Makes: 20 pastries
1/2 vanilla pod
7 tablespoons (70 g) confectioner's sugar
8 1/2 tablespoons (150 g) butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (250 g) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup water
Filling
8 ounces (200 g) raspberry jam
Topping
7 ounces (200 g) confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons water
Finely chopped unsalted pistachio, to taste
Freeze-dried raspberries, to taste
1. Using a small knife, split vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape vanilla out. Mix with a bit of confectioner's sugar, borrowed from your 7 tablespoons.
2. Combine homemade vanilla sugar with remaining confectioner's sugar, butter, flour and baking powder. Incorporate water and knead the dough gently. Cover and chill dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Divide dough into two parts and roll onto a lightly-floured surface until a quarter-inch thick. (You want two long, equal-sized rectangles.) Lift the pastry gently onto a parchment-covered baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 minutes; let cool.
4. Spread the raspberry jam to the edges of the bottom layer of pastry, then add the top layer of pastry. Push together gently.
5. To make the topping, whisk the confectioner's sugar and water into a glossy glaze. Spread the icing on top of the cooled pastry and sprinkle immediately with chopped pistachio and freeze-dried raspberries.
6. Once set, slice the pastry into handheld-size pieces. Serve with a good cup of coffee or your favorite tea.
