Vanilla Fingers

December 3rd

Christmas cookies but maybe too good
to save just for Christmas?

Today is my little sister's birthday and in our household, although Advent has begun, we have lit the first candle, the star is in the window to welcome passersby and the kitchen is full of Christmas cheer, from tonight onwards we can begin to buy and wrap presents.  It has always been an unspoken rule that we wait for Nina to have her birthday celebrations and then can begin Christmas in earnest.  Do you have any December birthdays in your household, if so what do you do to ensure the day is separated to the run-up to Christmas?

SECOND COOKIE BAKE OF THE SEASON
The below cookies are vanilla flavoured and not the typical spiced type that we come to expect of Norwegian Christmas baking, although vanilla does feature heavily in the Scandinavian kitchen.   These are my husbands favourite, he says they have a gentle crunch and then they melt in the mouth.  Give then a try and tell me what you think.  Love to hear from you.

Roll out cookie dough into sausages

Vaniljestenger

♥  250g softened butter
♥  180g sugar
♥  1 large egg
♥  2 tablespoon of vanilla sugar or 2 drops of vanilla essence
♥  350g plain flour



Decoration
♥  1 egg white
♥  50g chopped almonds
♥  7 tablespoons of bakers sugar or the largest grains of sugar you can find

Method
♥  Whisk the butter and sugar together until a smooth consistency.

♥  Add egg and continue to whisk.

♥  Sift the flour and vanilla sugar into the mixture and then knead to a soft dough.

Cut each cookie sausage on the diagonal

♥  Divide the mixture into eight equal parts.  Roll each one onto a sausage shape to fit across a baking sheet covered with greaseproof paper.  You should be able to fix 4 on each of the two baking sheets.

♥  Gently press your finger along each dough of sausage to flatten the top.

♥  Brush each sausage with egg white and drizzle on the baker's sugar and the chopped almonds.


♥  Bake in a preheated oven of 180 degrees Celcius for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

♥  Cool for a few minutes on a wire rack and then cut each sausage into cookie size cutting on the
diagonal, see photo for clarification.

♥ Place in an airtight jar.  They will last for up to 10-12 days if you can resist not eating them all before!

Vanilla cookies have a gentle crunch and then melt in the mouth

 ♥  Do you have a family favourite cookie recipe you care to share?  ♥

Vanilla Wreath Cookies

December 18th 2018

Today I share with you the penultimate of the seven cookies that I will be baking for a 

Vanilla Wreath Cookies

Norwegian Christmas.  These vanilla based cookies are not dissimilar to shortbread, the difference being they are thinner and therefore really melt in the mouth and are very quick to make, only seven minutes in the oven!

I do so hope the Advent time has been a joyful one for you all and that you are taking time out to enjoy.  As each year passes I become less stressed and think what will be will be.  I make and do that which I enjoy and no more.  These cookies are made most years and are truly one of the seven traditional cookies made by most Norwegian or if not made then bought.  These along with pepperkaker epitomise the Norwegian coffee table at Christmas. So let's get baking if you fancy it...


Vanilla Wreath Cookies ~ makes about 40-50

You will need:

2 vanilla pods

Divide the dough into sections

175g plain flour
125g sugar
pinch of salt
200g butter, straight from the fridge
100g ground almonds
1 egg yolk


♥  Sift the flour, sugar and salt into a large bowl.
♥  Rub in chopped butter with your hands until it resembles breadcrumbs.
♥  Split the vanilla pods and scrape out the seeds and add to the mixture along with the ground almonds.
♥  Add the egg yolk and using your hands' mix to form a dough. Kneading in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface for a couple of minutes.
♥  Wrap in cling film and chill for a minimum of two hours or preferably overnight, but it is not necessary.
♥  Preheat oven to 200 Celcius.

Form sausage shapes before
making them into wreaths

From the sausage lengths form circle shapes

♥  Either roll out the dough or using food processor attachment with a star-shaped nozzle make sausage length of about 6 cm long and a diameter wide.  NOTE:  I tried piping these with a piping bag once, it does not work, so either roll out, use the food kransekake) then use that.  I also mark out the dough into sections to give me an idea of how many each portion should give me, to try and keep it the same size.  I divided mine hereinto 8, so I hoped to get 6-7 out of each section.
processor method or if like me you have a
metal piping contraption (used for piping
♥  Shape each sausage length into a flat circle like wreath, see the photograph.
♥  Place on  lined baking sheets.
♥  Bake for 7 minutes or until very lightly golden.
♥  Cool on a wire rack and store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.  Although I doubt they will last this long.

Eat and enjoy, bet you have more than one!

♥  What preparations do you enjoy doing for Christmas?   ♥