It is hard for Norwegians to imagine Christmas without Christmas cookies, preferably seven or more kinds. The tantalizing smell and taste of these delicious treats are an important ingredient of the Christmas experience.
3/27/2006 :: News of Norway, issue 10, 1996
Many of Norway's traditional Christmas cookies - jønnbrød, goro, sour cream cakes (rømmebrød), skivarbrød, strull, curled cookies ( Krumkaker),waffles and tynnbrød - date back to the Middle Ages. Other cookie recipes have been added but the old favorites are increasingly popular. A revolution has taken place since itinerant baking women went from farm to farm with their heavy cast iron lefse griddles, to today's modern kitchen appliances. Food processors, mixmasters, electric griddles and ovens have now taken over, but the recipes are the same. For generations, children have put the same cookies on their wish list. It's a satisfying feeling to see cookie jars and boxes fill up with pepper nuts (peppernøtter), syrup snaps (sirupssnipper), Berlin wreaths ( berlinerkranser), serina cookies (serinakaker), sand tarts (sandkaker), curled cookies (krumkaker), cream cakes ( fløtekaker), oatmeal macaroons, fruit cake and honey cake. The finished products make it easy to entertain guests during Christmas.
Almond Wreath Cake ( Kransekake)
Along with cream layer cake, almond wreath cake is regarded by the Norwegians as the "cake of cakes" at special events.
lb/500 g almonds, 1 lb/500 g powdered sugar, 3-4 egg whites, semolina for the cake forms. Powdered sugar icing: 1 egg white, 1 1/8 cup/100g powdered sugar. Blanch almonds if desired or make the cake with equal amounts of blanched and unblanched almonds. The almonds must be dry before they can be ground. Grind the almonds alone once and mix with powdered sugar and grind again. Add egg whites until you have a firm dough. Put the dough in a sauce pan and heat until it becomes too hot to knead. Press the dough through a pastry bag or roll into ropes and put in well-greased kransekake tins dusted with semolina. Bake 12-15 minutes on cookie sheet at 350 degrees F or 200 degrees C. Cool rings before taking them out of the tins and continue cooling on racks. Mix egg whites and powdered sugar into relatively thick icing. Put in pastry bags and pipe the tops and sides of the rings in even scallops. Stack the rings with the largest on the bottom, forming a pyramid, and decorate with party snappers, tiny flags and bonbons. For Christmas, top the cake with a small nisse. the cake should be stored in a plastic bag in the freezer if it is made before Christmas. Thaw in bag.
Gingerbread House
The highlight of Christmas baking is the making of a gingerbread house. Many of us are armchair architects. Every Christmas you can realize some of your dreams by building replicas of old castles, churches, houses and cabins- even entire gingerbread villages. Draw and cut out paper models of your house. then put them together and see if they fit. If you don't have much space, make a gingerbread house you can hang on the wall. They also make nice gifts.