Christmas Cookie making Number 2

6th December

Did you see the sky yesterday morning, it was worth getting up for!

I woke up yesterday to the most glorious sky, the pinks, oranges, purples and golden hues made for a dramatic scene and I thought today can only be a good day after such a beginning.  I was up early and decided to grab some Christmas books to work out which of the seven biscuits I would make today, there are so many to choose from, but became sidetracked when I realised how many Christmas books I own.  I had not before had them all together,  as I squirrel books away in different rooms, I love books, don't you?  But I think maybe I have a problem, look at just some of the books I have on Christmas...

A selection of my Christmas literature!

Today is day 2 of making our seven lots of Christmas biscuits or as the Norwegians would say 'Julens småkaker.'   As I was off out for a girlie breakfast, I had decided to shop for todays' ingredients that I had chosen from one of my 'Jul' (Christmas in Norwegian) books afterwards in the local supermarket.  However, the car would not start, thus putting a spanner in the works literally.  So a couple of phone calls later, the RAC were on their way and so too was my girlfriend who was to have made me breakfast!  A quick frantic dash around the house to make it look presentable, including me on my hands and knees scrubbing the floor as I decided it looked too dirty for visitors, a frantic bleach of the downstairs toilets and some throwing of laundry clothes in the cupboard and I was ready to make breakfast.  I too had to dash to the little corner shop as I had nothing to offer for breakfast other than some old weetabix and porridge.  The good old shop provided me with smoked salmon and I made scrambled eggs, courtesy of my unexpected breakfast guest it was accompanied by rye bread and avocado.  Lovely coffee and fresh juice to wash it all down with and we were 'god og mett' (full up).  After breakfast and a good old chit chat in the warm Christmasssy kitchen, I still had no ingredients to make my biscuits.  In the meantime, the lovely man from the RAC arrived and jumped in the car and it started for him immediately, I did feel like a dizzy blond.  I felt too that time was ticking and so I should raid the cupboards instead to see what I could conjure up and perhaps make a different type of Christmas biscuit to that which I had intended.   Now,  I have told you I am a collector and hoarder so consequently I had everything I needed for hasselnott meringues!  No surprises there really.   These are lovely and a basic quick hazel nut meringue in biscuit form.


Hasselnott meringeus

You will need:        OVEN TEMP: 180 Celsius for 18 mins
250g hazelnuts, ground, plus 20 whole nuts
250g icing sugar
3 egg whites
chocolate for drizzling

♥  Grind the hazel nuts if whole, reserving 20 for decoration

♥  Whisk the 3 egg whites until stiff

♥  Mix together the ground nuts and icing sugar

♥  Add dry ingredients to the egg whites and mix well, try not to over mix if possible

♥  Line baking trays with greaseproof paper and with two spoons, place  heaped spoon of mixture onto the tray.  The mixture should spread a little, but not much on the tray even before putting in the oven.  You should be able to make 20 biscuits.  These do spread out further, so leave large spaces, I manage to fit about 8 or 9 on a baking tray. (See below)

♥  Place a nut in the centre of each biscuit.

♥  These biscuits should not be dried out in the oven and so place in the oven for 18 minutes only

♥  Remove from oven, immediately put onto cooling rack,
they will be very soft and pliable, so BE CAREFUL, whilst cooling, they will harden up

♥  Once cooled, melt chocolate and drizzle over.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

♥You have your second Norwegian Christmas cookie♥

 

Anyone for coffee?