Serinakaker

These are my very well-liked Christmas cookies. They’re a ancient Norwegian holiday cookie, and concept to be one of many few we ever baked in my household. (Increasing up, the entirely time there had been *ever* cookies in the house became Christmas. My brothers and I hated entirely getting cookies as soon as a year, nonetheless on story of some failed batches of cookies at diverse conditions of the year, we had been additionally convinced that on story of some curse, the entirely time of year that our oven may well per chance also in actual fact get hold of first rate cookies became at Christmas!).

Serinakaker are extraordinarily straightforward—most steadily appropriate buttery shortbread thumbprint cookies. But by some ability they model so great extra complicated and savory than you may well per chance also anticipate. They’re so fair accurate that concept to be one of my pals grew to was fully addicted to them, and closing iciness, when out nasty-nation snowboarding, he bought in actuality drained and refused to head any extra unless I got right here snowboarding by to give him cookies. Miracle of miracles, my fogeys stopped by and they came about to be carrying some serinakaker in their pockets (that is what we construct round Christmas as an various of the usage of energy bars), which they equipped to him, and he done the ski tour!

So yeah, they’re that fair accurate.

The recipe I in actual fact get hold of is scrawled in Norwegian, in metric measurements, in an ragged, falling-apart notebook of my mother’s. This model is my strive at making it comprehensible for pals and others who favor in order to get hold of serinakaker. —fiveandspice

Directions

1. Mix the flour, baking powder, and butter collectively in a bowl unless it looks extra or much less luxuriate in sand, the usage of your fingers to rub the butter into the flour. Subsequent, blend in the sugar alongside with your fingers. Within the waste, add the egg and vanilla. I serene utilize my hands for this nonetheless you may well well additionally utilize a wood spoon, and mush, break, lumber, and push the dough unless it comes collectively into a ball (it on the entire seems a piece on the dry facet).
2. Whenever you may well per chance also get hold of fashioned it into a ball, cowl it with plastic wrap and build it in the refrigerator overnight. If you are prepared to bake, let the dough warm up a piece; otherwise, it may well perhaps per chance also be almost unattainable to work with.
3. Crash off objects of the dough, and roll them into balls that are about 1 to 1 1/2 inches all the strategy in which by, and build on cookie sheets. As soon as the entire dough is made into balls, press your thumb into every to get hold of an indentation. Loads of the cookies will crack round the aspects as you press into them. Within the event that they totally crumble, appropriate break them up and roll them into contemporary balls, nonetheless if there are appropriate some cracks, that’s fragment of the heed.
4. Brush the tops of the cookies with the egg white to glaze. Then sprinkle some pearl sugar and/or chopped almonds into every indentation. (Pearl sugar is a sure form of sugar for ornament that looks luxuriate in runt white rocks, or one thing of the kind. If you may well well’t procure any, you may well well utilize appropriate finely chopped almonds.)
5. Bake the cookies at 350° F for roughly 16 minutes, unless golden. Transfer to a cooling rack and allow to wintry. These cookies are savory with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, or a mug of hot spiced wine. On the opposite hand, they’re the absolute very superb as a snack while you’re out on the nasty-nation ski trails, in the event you happen to be a foul-nation skier. They support for per week or two sealed in cookie tins, and they additionally freeze and defrost successfully, in the event you favor to must get hold of them forward.