Scandinavian Christmas baking 5 ~ Havreflarn cookies

Havreflarn Cookies ~ Oat Cookies
December  15th 

Is it obvious that this is my favourite time of the year? The kitchen decorated in red and festive songs

Havreflarn (oat) cookies

on the radio is where you will usually find me in December.  I truly am at my happiest.  Feeding the beast that is this blog does mean that posting every day in December each year pushes me to try out new cookie recipes and seek out new traditions as well as trying some old ones that perhaps were not so common to our family and I am totally enthralled by this adventure.  It is not a chore blogging in December it is pure pleasure and thank you for coming along for the ride. 
                                        

Today's recipe comes from Manuela a Norwegian blogger living in Sweden with her husband and 5 children.  Not a professional baker in the sense she studied the art of baking but more that she has a passion for it and has learnt by trial and error.  Her photographs of her bakes are always in pastels and delicate shades and you can tell she too is doing something she loves... It is no wonder that she was voted Norway's best blogger a few years ago.

This 'small cake' recipe is full of flavour and texture and a good addition to the 7 cookies that we bake for Christmas, as it has none of the classic warming spices, it makes for a complimentary taste. I tend to only sanwich half the cookies with melted chocolate and leave the others as 'single' cookies. 

Ingredients needed for the havreflarn (oat) cookies

Havreflarn cookies ~ oat cookies

Havreflarn dough ready to make into cookies

You will need:

♥  200g unsalted COLD butter

♥  150 g sugar

♥  250 g oats (I use porridge oats)

♥  38 g plain flour

♥  1 tbsp egg white

♥  1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

♥  1 tsp vanilla bean paste

For the filling:

♥  175 g dark chocolate

♥  sea salt for drizzling

Roll into small balls slightly smaller
than the size of a teaspoon

1  Put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly until it forms a dough.  See photograph.

2  Make small balls slightly smaller than the size of a teaspoon and place them on a lined greaseproof paper tray.  Space the balls a good distance apart as they will flatten out and swell.

3 place in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celcius for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.

4  The cookies will be very soft when they come out, so do not handle them.  I tend to pull the whole sheet of greaseproof paper and put it on the cooling rack.  Once the cookies can be handled they can then be placed directly on the cooling rack.

5  Once the cookies have crisped up, melt the chocolate either in a Bain Marie or in the microwave and add 1-2 teaspoons of the melted chocolate to one cookie.  Drizzle on some sea salt on top of the chocolate and then carefully place the second cookie on top.

6  Enjoy!

Cool the havreflarn cookies on a wire rack,
see how they have spread evenly in size

Add melted chocolate to one side of the
cookies and sprinkle with some sea salt

Havreflarn oat cookies all ready for eating or gifting

The oat cookkies have a melted chocolate and sea salt filling

♥  Have you made any cookies for Christmas?