Christmas Cookies

Traditional Christmas cakes from Norway called Fattigmann, Smultring, Krumkake, Kransekake and Tjukklefse. Traditional Christmas Cakes from Sweden called Lussebulle, Havreflarn and Rullrån. Traditional Christmas Cake from Romania called Gogosi. This mixed with a few non-traditional variatons of American Chocolate Chip Cookies. You can find all the receipts here on my blog so just click on the link under the picture and explore the Cookie world!

Gogosi – Romanian traditional Christmas cake which is a variation of doughnuts

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/12/gogosi-romanian-style-doughnut.html

Chocolate Chip cookies with oatmeal and banana

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/07/banana-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-breakfast.html

Havreflarn - Traditional Swedish Christmas cookies  with oatmeal

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/12/havreflarn.html

Kransekakebiter - Almond Cookies made of Kransekake dough, traditional festive cake in Norway

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/12/mandelkaker.html

And here is the link to the traditional Kransekake - Norwegian Festive Cake

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/10/norwegian-kransekake.html

Smultringer- Norwegian traditional doughnuts

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/12/smultringer.html

Fattigman- Norwegian traditional Christmas cookie

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/12/fattigmann.html

Krumkake – A traditional Norwegian cookie  and called Rullrån in Swedish.

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/10/norwegain-krumkaker.html

Pepperkake- traditional Norwegian and Swedish Gingerbread cookies

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/12/gingerbread-cookies.html

Lussebulle- traditional Swedish Lucia Roll with Saffron

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2012/12/st-lucia-saffron-rolls.html

Tjukklefse – A traditional Norwegian cake

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/10/norwegian-lefse-tjukklefse.html

Chocolate Chip Cookies with chickpeas

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/07/chocolate-chip-cookies-med-kikarter-och.html

Mandelkaker

Delicious Almond cakes

This is a variation of the Norwegian Kransekake that is used for festive occations, even for Christmas.

Ingredients:
500 gr almonds
4 eggwhites
500 gr icing sugar

Directions:
Blanch half of the almonds by boiling them in water on the stove for 3-5 minutes. Remove and cool and remove the skin by pressing the almonds out of the skin with your fingers. Leave the almonds on a towel to dry. When dried (overnight), grind in an almond grinder both the blanched and unblanched almonds. Do not use a food processor or mixer to grind the almonds. It will not make the right texture and the cakes will fail. You have to grind with a almond grinder.

Add the egg whites and the icing sugar to the grinded almonds. Mix to a dough. You can put the mix in the pan and stir on low heat on the stove until it forms a sticky dough.

Remove from oven and let it cool off. Wrap in plastic wrap and leave it to rest in a cool place for a couple hours.

To make the cakes form round cakes and press them a bit flat. Or make small short sticks. Place on baking paper on a baking tray and bake in the oven at 200 celsius degrees for about 10 minutes. Take out and cool the cakes.

Melt chocolate and dip the cakes in the chocolate and let it cool.

Keep the cookies in a cake box or in the freezer.

Havreflarn

These Oatmeal cookies are old traditional Swedish Christmas cookies. They are delicious served with whipped cream.


This makes about 24 cookies
When serving you put two together with whipped cream inside, so it will make 12 ready to serve cookies.

Ingredients:
75 gr butter
1 dl sugar
1 dl oatmeal
1 dl flour
1,5 tbs milk
1,5 tbs syrup (light)
1 tsp ginger
0,25 baking powder

Directions:
Heat the oven to 200 Celsius Degrees

Place a pan on the stove. Melt the butter in the pan. Turn off the stove and remove the pan. Mix the sugar, oatmeal, flour, milk, syrup, ginger and bakingpowder into the melted butter.

With a tablespoon place small cakes on a baking paper on a baking tray. For one cake take 1/2 tbs batter. Place them with distance from each other on the tray, since they will melt down and float out flat in the oven while baking.

Bake in the  middle of the oven for five minutes or until golden brown. They should look a bit like caramel.

Take out from the oven and let them cool off before you remove them from the baking tray.

You can store them in a cake box or in the freezer. When serving you whip cream and put in the middle of two cakes. Don´t let them sit after putting the cream inside since this will make them soft.

They should be crispy when served.

Smultringer

This is the Norwegian style doughnut made for Christmas in Norway and also one of the cakes that belongs to the ”seven kinds” that you are supposed to have on your coffee table.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

250 gr sugar

1 dl whipped cream

100 gr butter

1 tsp lemon zest

¼ tsp ground cardamom

1 tsp horn salt

500 gr flour

Directions:

Whisk egg and sugar white and fluffy.

Add the whipped cream and the melted cooled off butter.

Add the lemon zest and horn salt.

Mix all the ingredients together. Add the flour and mix thoroughly.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator.

Making the Smultringer:

Roll the dough with a roller on the table to a thickness of about 4 mm. Cut the doughnuts with a doughnut cutter (round with a small hole in the middle).

Fry the Smultringer in oil or coconut fat until golden brown. Take out and cool of on baking paper. The Smultringer can be stored in a cake box or better in the freezer.

To serve they can be served plain or heat them a little and roll in sugar. You can even sprinkle with icing sugar through a sieve or even serve with icing like American doughnuts. However, traditionally in Norway they are served plain. 

Fattigmann

 

Norwegian traditional Christmas cookie that belongs to the ”seven kinds” that is supposed to be on a Norwegian Coffee table for Christmas.

Ingredients:

6 eggyolks

6 tbs sugar

6 tbs whipped cream

½ tsp cardamom

200-250 gr flour

Instructions:

Whisk egg and sugar stiff and fluffy

Mix in the whipped cream

Sift 200 gr of the flour and stir in carefully. The rest of the flour you use for the rolling.

Divide the dough in smaller parts and roll out a little at the time.

Cut the cakes into rectangular pieces (see picture) and make a cut in the middle.  Form the “fattigman” by putting the end of the rectangular cut cake through the cut in the middle (see picture).

Fry the cakes in oil or coconut fat until golden brown. Take out and put on baking paper to cool off.

Serving:

For serving they can be served as they are or even heated a little and turned in sugar (or turned in sugar mixed with cinnamon). You can even sprinkle with icing sugar through a sift before serving. However traditionally in Norway they are served plain.

Gingerbread cookies

Gingerbread Cookies and Lucia Rolls with Saffron. This is a “must” in Sweden and Norway for Christmas. At Lucia, 13^th December in Sweden we also eat Gingerbread Cookies and Lucia Rolls. Here on my blog I have receipts for both Gingerbread Cookies and Lucia Rolls that are great tasting. At the end I am giving you the link to the Lucia Rolls with Saffron.

Gingerbread Cookies

Ingredients:

2 ½ dl brown sugar

¾ dl syrup (light)

¾ dl water

150 gr butter

1 tbs ground cinnamon

1 tbs ground ginger

1tsp ground cloves

8 dl flour

1 ½ tsp bicarbonate

Instructions:

Mix the sugar, syrup, spices and water in a pot on the oven. Heat until the sugar and syrup has dissolved in the water. Add the butter and let it melt.

Take the pot off the oven and let it cool off without stirring.

Add the bicarbonate and ¾ of the flour. Mix the dough to a smooth paste. Let the dough rest packed in plastic wrap. You could let it rest for some hours or even until the next day in a little cool place.

Baking the cookies:

Set the oven to 175 degrees Celsius.

Work the dough smooth on the table. If it is soft add the remaining flour while working it with your hands.

Use a roller to roll the dough thin and cut cookies with gingerbread cake cutters.

Put the cakes on baking paper on the baking tray. This will let you remove them easily when baked.

Bake for about five minutes or watch them carefully to see when they are done.

Cool off on the tray before you remove the cakes.

When cooled off you put the cakes in a cake box or in the freezer.

Serving:

When you serve the gingerbread cookies they can be served as they are or with icing made from icing sugar. For the icing you can take icing sugar and mix with some drops of water or egg white. If you want it more decorative you can even add food color to the icing. Use your creativity.This receipt is great tasting, and I can roll it without adding any flour! I love the consistency of it really.

Lucia Rolls with Saffron

Visit my other link for the receipt of the best Saffran Rolls!

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2012/12/st-lucia-saffron-rolls.html

Gogosi - Romanian style doughnut

Gogosi is made in Romania for Christmas, Easter and special holidays.

Ingredients

2 eggs

2 tablespoons butter, melted

1/3 cup sugar + 1 teaspoon

Zest of one lemon

For frying

3 cups of oil for frying

For decorations

2 cups of icing sugar (to dust doughnuts)

Vanilla sugar

Directions:

Mix the yeast, warm milk, one teaspoon of sugar, and one teaspoon of flour in a small bowl and set aside to activate for 5 minutes.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, the remaining sugar, lemon zest, and melted butter.

Add yeast mixture and slowly incorporate the flour, until the dough is well combined.

Gently flour your workspace, and knead your dough. Place the dough in a clean bowl, cover with a tea towel, and allow it to rest for 20 minutes.

Once the dough is rested, separate it into four sections in order to make it easier to work with and roll the dough out about ¼ inch thick.

Use a medium-diameter glass to cut out circles, or another cake cutter.

Heat about 4 cups of oil (about 3” deep) in a large pan to ~350 (F) degrees.

While the oil is heating, combine vanilla sugar, and powdered sugar in a separate bowl (this is for sprinkling your doughnuts).

Place a few doughnuts in at a time, allowing them to fry for about a minute on each side. Once the doughnuts are golden brown, remove and place them on paper towel lined tray.

 

Allow the doughnuts to cool down for a couple of minutes, and you can either roll them in icing sugar, or use a sieve to sprinkle them lightly before serving.

Roasted Turkey

Roasted Turkey

Ingredients

1 Turkey

1 orange

1 lemon

Stuffing:

3 tbs butter

1 lemon

1 egg

0,5 dl water

1,5 tsp salt

0,5 tsp black pepper

750 g ground beef

1 dl bread crumbs
1 dl prunes

For the Turkey

4 tsp salt

50 g butter

1 dl pressed orange juice

2 tbs pressed lemon juice

Directions:

Defrost the Turkey and remove the giblets if they are in the Turkey. Save this for the sauce. Dry off the in and outside of the Turkey with a paper towel.

Divide the orange in smaller parts and even the lemon and put them inside the back part of the Turkey. Tie the legs with a steak string to keep the Turkey together. Put the oven on 175 Degrees Celsius.

Make the stuffing:

Cut the onion in small pieces and fry up in a frying pan in a little bit of oil, just enough for it to become shiny. Put aside.

Mix together the breadcrumbs, eggs, prunes cut in small pieces, water, salt and the ground beef. Last add the fried up onions.

Fill and roast the Turkey:

Put the stuffing inside the Turkey from the throat opening. Sew it up with a steak string to keep the stuffing inside while in the oven. Tie the legs together as well.

Put an oven thermometer inside the Turkey. Place it so you easily can see the temperature rising when opening the oven.

Take some butter and salt and pepper and mix with your hands and cover the Turkey all around with it.

Place the Turkey on a cooking grill and cover the Turkey with grill foil. Place in the middle of the oven. Place a pan underneath.  Pour some water in the pan, add the lemon and orange juice into the water.

As the Turkey is on the cooking grill the juice will be dripping into the pan underneath. After one hour open the oven and remove the foil and take a large cooking spoon and take from the juice and pour over the Turkey. Put the foil back over the Turkey and close the oven. Let it roast for another 40 minutes and do the same again with pouring from the juice over the Turkey.

After two hours in the oven, remove the foil. Roast for another 40 minutes and pour juice over the Turkey again.

Put the giblets in a small pan and cover with some of the juice and put in the oven to cook.

Try with a sharp knife if the Turkey is done. If the juice coming out is pink, roast for another 30 minutes. The temperature inside the Turkey should come up to 70 degrees Celsius when it is done.

Remember the breast part will be cooked and done before the legs. So try the legs with the knife as well. If it is not done, leave it inside the oven for another 30 minutes.

The time really also depends on the weight of the Turkey. I usually think about 45 minutes per 1 kg Turkey in the oven.

When it is roasted turn the oven off and leave the Turkey to rest 30 minutes before you decorate and serve it.

It is most important that you are pouring the juice over the Turkey regularly as you roast it. This will prevent the meat from becoming dry.

The gravy:

When the Turkey is roasted you will have a lot of juice in the pan underneath and also in the pan with the giblets. Pour the juice through a sift into a cooking pan and heat on the oven and make the gravy from this. To thicken you can mix a little Potatoe starch  or Tapioca starch with a little cold water (just 0,5 dl and some table spoons of the flour). Mix until dissolved and add into the juice from the Turkey. Cook to boiling point while stirring. When the gravy is as thick as you want it turn down the heat and taste. If you want more salt or pepper add. Usually it is enough taste from the juice in the pan. However this is a little after each and every one´s taste. Add a little cream into the gravy and stir.

Serve:

Serve with Brussels sprouts, carrots and mashed potatoes.

Cut the giblets and serve on the side as well.

Preparing the Brussels sprouts and carrots:

I prepared the Brussels sprouts and carrots through steaming them. Peel the carrots and cut in sticks the size you prefer. Steam to the tenderness you prefer them. This way they will be more crisp and not watery as if boiled in water, and you keep all the nutrients as well.

If you don´t have anything to steam them in, just boil them. 

To make the mashed potatoes:

Peel the potatoes and cut into smaller pieces. This will lessen the time you need for them to boil. Boil the potatoes until soft. Mix them in a mixer until smooth. Add some boiled milk and butter and salt and pepper. Add milk to the thickness you like your mashed potatoes.

You can even look at another Turkey variation I made last year on this link:

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2012/11/thanksgiving-turkey-coming-from-norway.html