We would like to share some Christmas recipes for all who read this blog. We will post a recipe on a frequent basis. Be careful of your waistline.
Great Aunt Ellen's Smorbakelser
Submitted by
Caroline Johnson, New Brighton
"Every year, my Great-Aunt Ellen made her Smorbakelser cookies for Christmas Eve. The recipe came from Sweden with her mother in 1882.
Great-Aunt Ellen ground the cardamom for the cookies in the old coffee grinder her mom had used to grind coffee in the galley of the ship on her way to America. Every Christmas, Great-Aunt Ellen's gifts to us were her cookies and the story about how she and her family would ride in a horse-drawn sleigh, warmed with hot bricks, from their farm in North St. Paul to Christmas Eve services. As Great-Aunt Ellen used to say, this is how it was long, long ago."
Makes 5 dozen
1/3 cup sugar plus additional sugar for dipping cookies
1 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
3 teaspoons baking powder
3-1/2 cups flour
1 cup butter
1 cup whipping cream
To prepare oven: Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
To make dough: In bowl, mix sugar, cardamom, baking powder and flour. Using pastry blender, cut in butter until mixture is crumbly, resembling piecrust dough. Mix in whipping cream. Shape into a ball. Divide into 3 balls.
To bake cookies: Using 1 ball at a time on lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8 or 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes. (Note: Traditionally, Smorbakelser were cut with a doughnut cutter and dipped in granulated sugar, but they also can be cut into heart and tree shapes and dipped in colored sugar.) Dip top of each cookie in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet ¼-inch apart. Bake thicker cookies for 14 to 16 minutes or until brown on bottom and quite pale on top. (Note: Thicker cookies resemble shortbread.) Bake thinner cookies for 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to wire rack. Cool completely.
To make chocolate mixture: In heavy saucepan (low and wide works better than deep one), melt shortening over low heat. Add chocolate. Heat, stirring occasionally, until melted. Stir in molasses. Combine sugar and soda. Add to warm mixture. Heat until mixture bubbles and becomes quite thick. Continue heating, stirring occasionally, for 2 minutes or until sugar crystals no longer grate on bottom of pan. Remove from heat. Cool.
To finish dough: Sift together flour, salt, nutmeg, ginger and cinnamon. Set aside. Beat egg into cooled chocolate mixture. Transfer cooled mixture to large mixing bowl. Gradually add flour mixture. Mix thoroughly. (Note: Mixture is thick; you may need to mix with your hands.) Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until chilled throughout.
To prepare oven, cookie sheets: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or lightly grease. Set aside.
To bake cookies: Roll out dough to ¼-inch thickness on lightly floured board. (Note: Roll dough thicker if you prefer softer cookies.) Cut out with cookie cutters. Transfer to prepared cookie sheet, placing cookies fairly close to each other. (Note: These cookies do not spread when baking.) Bake for 8 minutes. Remove to cookie racks. Cool completely. Frost and decorate with favorite icing.
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