Swedish Hallongrottor (Raspberry Cookies)

  Swedish Hallongrottor (Raspberry Cookies)
    

Ingredients

200 g butter

1 dl sugar

1, 5 tsp vanilla sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

4, 5 dl wheat flour

0, 5 dl raspberry jam

Directions:

1. Set the oven to 175 celsius degrees. Allow the butter to be room tempered.

2. Whisk together sugar and butter with an electric whip.

3. Mix baking soda with vanilla sugar and wheat flour in a bowl. Stir the flour mixture into the butter and sugar and work together to a dough.

4. Form the dough into a roll about 20 cm long and cut the roll into 20 cm pieces.

5. Roll each piece into a ball and put on a baking tray covered with baking paper.Make a small depression in the middle of each cake using a floured finger.

6. Fill the recess with about 0, 5 teaspoon of raspberry jam.

7. Bake the cookies at 175 celsius degrees for about 18-20 minutes. Let cool on a grid.

Pokémon Cookies

To make the Pokémon Cookies you first make cookies from the receipt of sugar cookies. You can make them in any shape or form you like and than decorate with Icing. I have here made Pokémon Pokeball Cookies.

Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions

In a bowl, with mixer on medium, beat butter and sugar until fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla extract. On low, beat in flour and salt.

Divide dough in half; shape each half into a 1/2-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic wrap; chill until firm.

Heat oven to 175 degrees Celsius, ( 350 degrees F).

On floured surface, roll dough, 3 mm (1/8-inch) thick; cut into shapes. Transfer to ungreased baking sheet(s). Bake until lightly golden around the edges, 10 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on sheets; transfer to racks to cool. Decorate as desired; store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks, or freeze, undecorated, up to 3 months.

Icing

3 cups sifted confectioner´s sugar, or more to thicken icing

Little juice of a lemon

Red, and black food coloring

Water or eggwhite for mixing into the confectioner´s sugar for icing to get wanted thickness

To make the icing, whisk the egg whites or water into the confectioner sugar, pass a little lemon juice through a fine sieve, to remove any pips or bits. Mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice, (if too thin add more confectioner´s sugar, if too thick add a little water till you have the consistency you want) Mix the ingredients and divide into different bowls and add the color you like to each bowl. If the color makes the icing thinner, add more confectioner´s sugar. Mix and pour the icing into bags for decorating your cakes.

You want to divide into three bowls. One for black color, one for red color and one for white.

Decorate the cakes with the icing and leave to dry and harden. 

Mandelmusslor (Almond ”clams”)

Mandelmusslor (Almond ”clams”)

Mandelmusslor are traditional in Sweden and it is almondcakes baked in a special mold.

Ingredients:

100 gr almonds, blanched and grinded

5 dl flour

210 gr butter, room temperature

1,5 dl sugar

Butter for the cake molds

Directions:

Boil the almonds and take off the skin. Let them dry and when dried grind in an almond grinder. It also works to use almond flour that you can buy in the store.

Place the flour on the baking table. Put the butter, grinded almonds and sugar in the middle. Work it all together with your fingertips until it is smooth dough.

Let the dough rest in a cold place about 1 hour.

Heat the oven to 200 Celsius Degrees.

Grease the cake molds brushing them inside with melted butter.

Roll out the dough and divide to about 40 pieces and press them out in the molds.

Bake in the oven for about 8-10 minutes.

Take the cakes carefully out while still warm. They can be a bit difficult to get out of the molds.

Serve with whipped cream and jam or fresh berries on the top.

If you serve them without anything, place them upside down on the tray, since they look nicer that way.

Jødekake

Jødekake

  

This is like a sandwich cookie

This is a cake that gives me really nostalgic feelings. I used to make this with my grandmother, my dad´s mother, when growing up. We lived in the same house and I also used to sneak off between meals to eat these cakes in her kitchen. I ate them with butter and Norwegian goat cheese (brown cheese) together with a glass of sour milk that my grandma made and always had in a big bucket in her cupboard.

Nowadays we call it Kefir in Norway and you buy it in the grocery store. It works perfect to eat with milk, tea or coffee as well.

When I was thinking about putting this recipe on my blog I was worried about the name of the cookie, whether it would be a problem to use the name I know this cake by. I actually googled to see if I could find if there had been anything written about it. And I found this cake is very common in Denmark as well and there had been some controversy about the name but that it is still used. I also found that it had never been a problem in Norway. So I hope it is not. To me it is just the name of a cookie I loved growing up and that brings all these cozy and nice memories of my grandmother and her kitchen.

Ingredients:

2 cups sour milk (Kefir in Norwegian/Filmjölk in Swedish)

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

6 tsp Ammonium Carbonate or Baker’s Ammonia (Hjorthornssalt in Swedish/Hjortesalt in Norwegian)

Flour enough to make a nice dough for rolling and cutting cookies. Just add a little at a time until you have the dough you like. You don´t want it to stick to the table when rolling and you don´t want it to be too hard either.

Roll the dough with a roller until it is about 3-4 mm thick. Cut cakes with a glass or a cake cutter.

Bake in the oven at 200 Celsius Degrees for about 10 minutes or until light golden.

The time depends a bit on the oven. They are not supposed to get dark. So watch carefully. How big cake cutter you use is up to you. It depends how big cakes you want basically. I use a coffee cup or a milk glass as a cutter.

Serve with butter and cheese.

Kransekakebitar

Kransekakebitar

These cookies could also be called Almond cookies. They are made from the same recipe as the traditional Norwegian festive Kransekake. The taste of the cake is wonderful and it is also glutenfree. However to make the Kransekake tower and decorate it with flowers and all I usually only do for the most festive occations. So for christmas I use to make the cookies into small lengths and dip them in chocolate instead. Here is the recipt and the instructions.

Ingredients:

·         5 cups water

·         500 grams raw whole almonds

·         500 grams confectioner's sugar

·         ca 3-4 egg whites

·         2 tsp. almond extract

·         2 Tbsp. potato starch flour

You also need an almond grinder

Directions:

Pour the water in a pan and blanche 1/2 half of the raw almonds in boiling water until the nuts float to the top of the pot, about 5 minutes.

Rinse the newly blanched almonds in a colander under cool water. Remove and discard skins. 

Your unblanched almonds need to be completely dry before grinding. Place on a baking sheet and allow to air dry. 

Grind the unblanched almonds in a almond grinder or a coffee / spice grinder (don't use a food processor for this, for it will overprocess the almond flour). Repeat the process with the blanched and dried almonds. Mix together the unblanched and blanched almond flours and the confectioner's sugar. Then, run this mixture through your grinder a second time. 

Combine the ground almond-sugar mixture with 3-4 egg whites and 2 tsp. almond extract.  Knead the almond paste mixture over low heat until the sides of the paste pull away from the pot, about 5 minutes. The paste will have the consistency of homemade play dough. Wrap the paste in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight. 

Preheat your oven to 200 C º. Flour a pastry board or clean counter with potato starch flour. Roll the almond paste into 1,3 cm"-wide "snakes" and cut cakes about 5 cm long. 

Place on baking trays with baking sheets and bake in the center of oven about 10 minutes, until the cakes turn a light gold. Watch carefully, as they will burn quickly if unattended. Remove cakes from oven and allow to cool in the pan. 

When cooled melt chocolate and dip the ends in chocolate. Cool and store the cakes in a tight cake box or in the freezer. Frozen and taken out to eat at any time they will taste as good as new, maybe even better! If you want to make the Kransekake tower follow this link to the recipe and the directions. 



















NORWEGIAN KRANSEKAKE

http://ohemmabjorg.blogspot.se/2013/09/norwegian-kransekake.html

Skåne Gingerbread

Skåne Gingerbread

   

about 24 pieces

Ingredients

2 dl light baking syrup

½ dl brown sugar

1 dl granulated sugar

75 g butter

2-3 tsp ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground cloves

½ tsp ground ginger

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 dl cream

1 teaspoon baking soda

1½ tsp baking powder

10 dl flour

Directions

Boil the syrup, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a saucepan, add the butter and let it melt. Add the spices in the hot butter mixture. Cool the mixture.

Whisk together the eggs, yolk and cream and pour it into the mixture. Let it stand until it is cooled down and at some point during that time mix half of the flour with the baking soda and baking powder and stir into the bowl. Work in the rest of the flour, either with the dough hook of a mixer or you do it by hand.

 

Cover the mixing bowl and let stand in the refrigerator overnight and rest.

Divide the dough into smaller pieces as you roll into balls and flatten out, they should be about 6-7 cm in diameter and about 1 cm thick. The easiest way is to flatten them directly on the sheet that you covered with baking paper, put them thinly because they rise up and out when they are baked in the oven.

To get all the cookies the same size you can also use a roller to roll the dough until 1 cm thick and then use a round cookie cutter, a glass or something to stick out the cookies. This is the way I made them.

Bake the cookies in the oven at 200 celsius degrees about 10 minutes. Let gingerbread cool and freeze or keep in a plastic bag or plastic container so they keep smooth.

The best way to enjoy them is with butter and delicious cheese with a glass of ice cold milk!

Oatmeal Raisin and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 36 cookies

Ingredients

2cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

3cups oats (not instant)

1 ¹⁄₂cups raisins

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda in a bowl; set aside.

Whisk butter and sugars with a hand mixer on low, than add the eggs and the vanilla.

To cream, increase speed to high and beat until fluffy and the color lightens.

Stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until no flour is visible.

(Over mixing develops the gluten, making a tough cookie.) Now add the oats and raisins; stir to incorporate.

To make one cookie measure 2 tablespoons of dough and drop on baking sheet or roll with your hands and place on a baking sheet.

Bake 11-13 minutes (on center rack), until golden, but still moist beneath cracks on top.

Remove from oven; let cookies sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes before moving.

M & M Cookies

M & M Cookies

Ingredients
1 egg
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup cornstarch
2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup M&M
3/4 cup butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F/190 degrees Celsius

Beat sugars and butter in large bowl on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla and eggs; beat in flour, salt and baking soda on low speed. Stir in candies. Drop dough by teaspoon about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet or roll with your hands. Flatten slightly with fork.

Bake until edges are light brown, 8 to 11 minutes. Let stand 3 to 4 minutes before removing from cookie sheet.

Cookies made with butter will flatten more and tend to be somewhat darker along the edges, but are more flavorful. Watch carefully to prevent burning.

If you prefer higher cookies that spread less, vegetable shortening may be substituted for the butter, or use half of each. A higher temperature (400°F/205 C will help cookies set before spreading).