'Tis the Season -- for leftovers

 

This year Bob and I celebrated Thanksgiving for two instead of in our usual extended family group.  Because of COVID advisories we have been ordering our groceries delivered to the house.  Sometimes it is necessary to choose possible alternatives and sometimes we get really bizarre substitutions.  Nevertheless, we are thankful we have this option for shopping.  We ordered a turkey, within a pound range, and ended up with 14.4 lbs instead of 10 lbs.  That made for plenty of leftovers.  However, it was okay because we both like turkey and usually have it only once or twice a year.  In addition to the traditional Thanksgiving dinner we have made sandwiches, creamed turkey on rice, and put some in the freezer. My daughter-in-law S makes a great pot pie in a 9x13 pan with biscuit topping but we thought we would to try one with regular pie crust.  I was checking out all my cookbooks and couldn't find any pot pie recipes (after the fact I found one), so yesterday I made up this one and thought I would share it with family and friends.  I think this would work well with either leftover turkey or chicken.

Turkey, vegetables and gravy in the pastry lined pie pan
 

Top crust on and baked

 

 

Half eaten and the other half for the next night's dinner.
 

 

Chicken or Turkey Pot Pie                                                        preheat oven to 425F

 

Use your favorite double pie crust recipe

Roll out and fit the bottom crust in a 9” pie pan

 

Filling:

2 cups of leftover cooked chicken or turkey, chopped to bite sized pieces

1 large carrot, cut into bite sized pieces

1 large potato, cut into bite sized pieces

2 stalks of celery, sliced

1/3 to ½ large onion, diced

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon poultry seasoning

Pepper to taste

1/2 to 2/3 cup of frozen peas

1 to 1 ½ cups of leftover chicken or turkey gravy

Note:  the filling should equal approximately 4 to 5 (or 6 cups max) of combined ingredients

 

1.  Boil the cutup carrots, potatoes, celery and onion in a medium saucepan with enough water to cover for 10 min.

2.  Meanwhile, reheat leftover gravy in a small saucepan.

3.  Drain the vegetables reserving the liquid in case you need to add some to the gravy

4.  In a large bowl mix the chicken or turkey pieces with the cooked vegetables, stir in seasonings, frozen peas, and the gravy.  Add a little of the vegetable broth if necessary.

5.  Pour the mix into the prepared pie pan lined with crust.

6.  Roll out the top crust and finish the pot pie crust just as you would a fruit pie.  Be sure to put the steam vents in the top.

7.  Bake at 425 degrees F for 30 min.  Increase the temperature to 450F and bake for an additional 10 min. or until the crust is golden brown on top.

Sad tale of unsettled jam

Why would anyone keep old pectin instructions when instructions are in every new box?  Last year we made both strawberry and raspberry freezer jam.  It never set properly and we wanted jam not syrup so all of it ended up in the disposal.  This meant an entire year without strawberry jam  following a year when the freezer failed and we lost all that year’s jam too.  Grumbling, gnashing of teeth, despair.

The pectin boxes had long since been recycled so it was impossible to check the expiration date but we thought that the pectin might have been too old and it was just our fault for not checking the dates.  A closer inspection of dates and manufacturers this year revealed that the same parent company made all the pectin on the store shelves regardless of the brand name.   I have been making freezer jam for more years that I care to admit.  The instructions for last year and this year looked a bit off to me but I followed them to the letter this year being extra careful to measure the sugar and fruit and cook the pectin mix exactly as written.   The manufacturer put those instructions in the box and surely they use a test kitchen to try these things out before selling to the public.  Hmmm.  Guess what?  The jam did not gel this year either. 

What to do?  After spending $22 for a flat of berries, $18 for the pectin and about $12 and for the sugar the jam was already almost as expensive as the less tasty variety in the grocery store.  A check on the Internet showed that we were not the only folks with this annoying problem.  Several solutions were suggested but most involved cooking the berries.  I did not want to do that because freezer jam tastes just like fresh berries mostly since it is NOT cooked.  Some of the other solutions required more work than I wanted to invest at this point.  One very hot day of standing and stirring is enough of that.  Finally I found a fix that sounded reasonable enough to try.  So back we went to the store for more pectin and lemon juice (lemon juice had not been used the first time, it wasn’t in the instructions).  I didn’t want to use lemon juice since the berries seemed tart enough without it but was willing to do that if necessary to make the pectin work and the jam set.  When I emptied the soupy jam mix into a large bowl it looked just like what I remembered from previous years before adding the pectin.  There was an old stack of recipes with a rubber band around them in the kitchen.  I dug through that and found an ancient pectin box instruction sheet that had somehow survived the recent cleaning frenzy.  With some alteration my solution is a little easier and the jam did set within an hour.

Happy ending to the sad tale of the unset jam—

1.    Do one batch at a time.*  It will take more time but the proportion of fruit, sugar and pectin will be correct.
2.    Have empty clean containers and lids ready.
3.    Pour the unset jam into a large bowl and stir to remix sugar and fruit (some of the fruit may have separated from the sugar if it has been sitting for the recommended 24 hours).
4.    Put ¾ cup of water in saucepan, add one box of pectin, stir and bring to a boil over high heat.  Boil for one minute.
5.    Pour the hot pectin mix into the fruit & sugar mix.  Stir for 3 minutes.
6.    Pour the new jam into clean containers and put lids on.  Label & date the new jam.  It should set within an hour or less. 
7.    Let sit for 12 to 24 hours, then freeze or refrigerate. 

The instructions in the current pectin boxes have the sugar, water and pectin boiling together for 1 min.  I am not sure but I think this is where the problem lies.  Just like mixing yeast with salt (the yeast won’t work) it seems like mixing the sugar with the pectin doesn’t allow the pectin to work correctly. 

For new strawberry freezer jam if your pectin** box instructions are different than what is below, don’t use them unless you want syrup not jam:

2 cups crushed fruit
4 cups sugar
¾ cup water
1 box of pectin

1.  Mix the crushed fruit and sugar in a large bowl.  Stir until all or most of the sugar crystals are dissolved.  Let sit 10 min.
2.  Put ¾ cup of water in saucepan, stir in pectin bring to a boil on high heat and boil for 1 min.  The pectin might be a little lumpy to start but as it boils it will dissolve.
3.  Pour hot pectin into fruit and sugar.  Stir for 3 min.
4.  Pour jam into clean containers, seal with lid, label and date.
5.  Let sit on counter for 24 hours.
6.  The jam is now ready to put in the freezer or refrigerator.

And there was much rejoicing . . .


.......................................................................................

*  I used 24 fluid oz. rectangular freezer safe containers for most of the jam and smaller round containers for the remainder.  The recipe makes 5 cups of jam and will fill about 2 1/2 to 3 of the 24 fluid oz. containers depending on how big a margin is left (instructions say to leave 1/2 inch).  Therefore, one batch here means I emptied 3 boxes of unset jam into the bowl for each box of pectin and 4 of the round containers equaled one batch. 

** Qualifier:  I used Sure Jell but MCP and Certo are also made by Kraft.  These three brands were the only ones available in the local stores here.  See Michelle's comment below about Ultra Gel.  I will look for it next time. 

Rømmegrøt

When we visited Norway in June 2014 one of the treats we had was Rømmegrøt.  It is hard to explain to Americans who do not have Scandinavian roots what this dish is like.  I had heard of Rømmegrøt from childhood but I don’t remember my grandmother or my mother ever making it.  It is often served combined with a plate of thin sliced lunch meats and crackers. 

The best way I can think of to describe it is as a cross between a soup, porridge, and pudding.  It is both sweet and slightly sour and can be dressed up with more melted butter, sugar (brown or white), raisins, cinnamon or whatever else appeals to the appetite.  We had it hot like a soup for lunch with lunch meats but it tastes wonderful cold too. 

When we returned home I looked on-line and found several recipes, selected one and tried it out.  Disaster!  It didn’t have the consistency or the flavor we remembered from our trip.  I found a recipe card from a friend with another version that looked simple enough to make but didn’t look quite the same either.  Next a small Norwegian-American cookbook was consulted and it had two recipes to choose from but neither looked like it would taste exactly as I recalled.  What to do?  Mix them up and see what happens.  Here is my own Rømmegrøt recipe.  Three bowls later Bob agrees that this version tastes the most like what we experienced in Norway.  He had seconds and asked for more.  


Rømmegrøt

1 cup butter (two sticks)
¾ cup flour
3 cups milk
1 ½ cups half & half
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sour cream
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Melted butter, sugar (brown or white) raisins, cinnamon to put on top when served

Melt the cup of butter and add flour to make a roux.  Cook about 5 to 10 min. over medium low or low heat stirring constantly so as not to scorch or burn the bottom.  Meanwhile heat the milk, half & half, cream and sour cream to boiling using medium to medium high heat. The milk & cream have to be stirred more or less constantly also to prevent burning or scorching. [At one point I had a spatula in each hand and was stirring both pans at the same time.]  Add the hot milk/cream mix slowly to the roux.  Cook a few minutes and then add the 1/3 cup sugar.  The soup/porridge mixture should be like a medium thick soup not runny and not too thick.  Serve in a cup or bowl topped with melted butter, sugar, raisins, cinnamon etc.

yum!

Be warned this is very filling and rich.

[Maybe my Norwegian cousins will tell me how close I got to the real thing.]

‘Tis the season, dessert, 11 – Tusenbladstärta

I thought I was all done with baking for this season and then wanted to do something special for Christmas Eve.  The result is this Swedish dessert called Tusenbladstärta  that I modified just a tiny bit to make it red & white for Christmas.   It is made in parts and then assembled several hours or overnight before serving.  The original recipe is found in Betty Crocker’s International Cookbook, p. 314-315.  I have quadrupled this recipe in the past and made the rounds larger than 7 inches when serving a large group of people but it is rich and this small version can be cut into 12 pieces.  Although it was eaten the last time before I could try it, I think it would freeze well too.

Pastry

¾ cup butter
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
4 Tablespoons very cold water
6 Tablespoons granulated sugar

Mix butter, flour, salt & cinnamon until crumbly.  Sprinkle in the water and stir with a fork until the pieces start to adhere to each other.  Gather the dough into a ball, then divide ball into 6 parts.  Roll each part into circles of approximately 7” (the size of a dessert/salad plate.  Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  Prick the pastry rounds with a fork and sprinkle with 1 Tablespoon sugar.  Bake each circle on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool on wire rack or paper towels.

Custard filling

¼ cup sugar
1 Tablespoon cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup whipping cream, chilled

Mix sugar, cornstarch and salt in a 1 quart saucepan.  Stir in milk.  Cook over medium to medium high heat stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and boils.  Boil and stir for 1 min.  Remove from heat and stir in the slightly beaten egg.  Blend and bring to a boil.  Boil for 1 min.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Cover and let the custard mix cool a little before putting in the refrigerator and cooling completely (about one hour).  When the custard is cold, whip the cream until stiff.  Fold the cream into the custard.

Applesauce layer

1 cup thick Applesauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix together.

Assembly

Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on the serving plate or dish and place one of the round pastry pieces on the sugar.   Put 1/3 cup of the applesauce mix on the top of the first layer.  Place second round on top and put 1/3 to ½ cup custard mix on the top of this layer.  Alternate ending with the custard on top so it looks a little like frosting.  Decorate with more powdered sugar sprinkled on, almond slices and at the last minute before serving add maraschino cherries.  Adding the cherries too soon will result in the red bleeding into the custard, which is fine if that is the look you are trying to achieve but if the separate colors of cream/white and red are desired don’t put the cherries on too soon.

What's for dinner? Quiche!

 Quiche

Since Bob broke his leg I have been cooking in his kitchen with his pans, utensils, and stove and having to learn how to do without some of my favorite recipes and equipment.  We had some leftover ham and decided to try a quiche for dinner so I looked one up on Foodnetwork.com and made some adjustments to come up with something closer to what I would make at home.  It turned out well enough that the two of us ate ½ of the rather large pan full.  

Pastry*

1 to 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup (1 stick) butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
2 Tablespoons water
1/8 teaspoon salt

Blend flour, salt and butter in medium sized bowl until crumbly.  Mix egg and water in a cup and add to the flour mix.  Stir and work with hands until the dough makes a very soft ball.  Add extra flour if necessary (if the dough is too sticky or gooey).  Let rest for about 5 min.

Filling:

3 slices of cooked ham, cubed
1 cup Swiss cheese, grated
2 Tablespoons diced onion
½ green pepper, diced
1 large mushroom, halved & sliced
3 eggs
2 cups half & half
Salt & pepper to taste**

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Butter a 9” pie pan.  Spread the pastry dough in the pan covering the bottom and coming up to just above the lip.  Crimp the edge if there is enough dough.  Bake for about 5 min.  The crust should still be soft and pliable.  If the dough has pulled away from the sides of the pan, push it back into place.   Gently mix the half & half & eggs together in a small bowl with a wire whip or fork.  Put the ham, cheese, peppers, onions, mushrooms, and cheese in the pan.  Pour in the egg mixture over it all.  Bake for 1 hour or until the top is nicely browned and a knife comes clean when stuck in the center of the quiche.  Let sit for 10 minutes, eat while hot or warm.  Serve with fruit and/or green salad.

Leftovers

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Notes:

*For the really lazy I think a tube of extra flaky biscuit dough could be used instead of making pastry from scratch.  Just press it into the pie pan and bake for a few minutes before adding the filling.

** Both the ham and the cheese can be salty so it may not need additional salt.


Omit the ham and add another vegetable in its place such as chopped broccoli, chopped spinach, or sliced zucchini to make a vegetarian dish.

For the original recipe check out http://www.foodnetwork.com  (Quiche Lorraine)

'Tis the season, cookies (?), 10

 

 Cinnamon rolls 

Many years ago, I cannot remember exactly when this tradition began in our family, we started having cinnamon rolls/buns for Christmas Day brunch.  People who have made yeast dough breads know that normally it takes between 3 and 4 hours to make rolls or bread due to the time it takes for the dough to rise and rest.  This recipe takes roughly 90 minutes from start to finish.  It is still a fair amount of work but the rolls are yummy and make a special holiday treat.  Most often rolls like these have a white sugary glaze on the top but we like a butter and brown sugar topping instead.  The recipe will make enough for 3 or 4 loaves of bread depending on the size of the loaf pan, or 3 large pans of rolls, or 2 pans of rolls (approximately 24 rolls) and one loaf of bread.  I often cut it back by ¼ and make 2 pans of rolls (one large pan and one smaller pan or about 30 rolls).

Basic dough for both bread & rolls:

4 cups of warm water
4 tablespoons of dried yeast or 4 cakes of yeast
4 teaspoons of salt
8 tablespoons of sugar
4 tablespoons of melted butter
10 to 12 cups of flour

For cinnamon rolls add:
Soften butter to spread on dough
Brown sugar
Cinnamon

Topping:
½ cup butter (1 cube)
¾ cup dark brown sugar

Mix together and heat to form a carmel-like sauce.

Use a large bowl and large spoon.*  Dissolve or soften the yeast in 1 cup of the warm water.  Mix in some flour (2 or 3 cups).  Add rest of water.  Add the sugar, salt, and melted butter.  (Caution:  be sure to add the salt last after there is sufficient flour to keep it from deactivating the yeast, otherwise, the dough will not rise properly.)  Add remaining flour to form a soft elastic but not sticky dough.   Divide into 3 or 4 equal sized balls.  Cover and let stand for 15 minutes.  Using a mallet or the handle of a heavy wooden spoon pound each piece for 1 minute.

For bread form into loaf shape and place in greased or sprayed** loaf pans.  Cover and let rise for 30 minutes.  The dough should double in size.

For cinnamon rolls—roll out on lightly floured surface forming a more or less rectangular shape.  Liberally spread with soft butter, sprinkle with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Roll up into a long tube shape and cut into 1/2”  to 1" slices.  Spray or grease 9x13 or 9x9 inch pans.  Place rolls close to each other in the pans.  Cover and let rise 30 minutes.   The dough should double in size.

Bake both bread and rolls in a preheated 400 degree F oven for about 30 minutes or until nice and brown on top.

While the rolls are baking make the topping by melting the butter in a small pan on medium low heat.  Add the dark brown sugar and mix together to make a carmel-like sauce.  Do not boil this mixture or you will never get it out of the pan!  Let the topping stay on the stove on “Low” heat to keep it warm and liquid but do not let it set up.

The rolls are best served hot/warm with more butter and the carmel topping.   The bread is good warm with butter and jam but is also good after it has cooled down.


…………………………………………………..
The basic dough recipe is from Tried & True, p. 18 --  “Jessie Evans Smith’s 90-min. Bread”


*  I am used to using spoons and hands to work with dough.  In theory it should work just as well using a heavy duty mixer like a Kitchen Aid with a dough hook.

**  I often use PAM or some other vegetable spray to grease the pans.

'Tis the season, cookies, 9

 

Gingersnaps—a crisp cookie with a burst of molasses, ginger, cinnamon and clove flavors.   These cookies are easy to make and are one of the few cookies where I use shortening instead of butter and the mixer instead of a wooden spoon or my hands.  The shortening makes the cookies crisp and the “snap” in Gingersnap, I think, is supposed to mean super crisp.  Makes 5 to 6 dozen small to medium sized cookies that keep well. 

Gingersnaps

2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon ginger
¼ teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups sugar
¾ cup shortening
¼ cup molasses  [the original recipe called for light molasses but I use dark molasses for more flavor]
1 egg

Use an electric mixer to cream 1 cup of the sugar and the shortening until light and fluffy.  Add molasses and egg.  When well blended slowly add the flour, flavorings, baking soda and salt.  If the dough is too sticky to handle put it in the refrigerator for about one hour.  When ready to bake, pinch off small amounts and form into 1 to 1 ½ inch balls.  Roll the balls of dough in the remaining 1/3 cup sugar and place on greased cookie sheets.  Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for about 10 minutes.  

During the baking the cookies will flatten out and get cracks or crinkles on the surface.  This is supposed to happen!  I was worried the first time I made them as they looked so different when they came out of the oven.  One problem when using the dark molasses is that it is hard to tell when the cookies are done because they are dark colored to begin with so you will have to test one out after it has cooled to see if it is crisp enough.  My oven is “slow” so I often have to add a minute to two to the suggested baking times.  



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From:  McCall's Cook Book, page 186

'Tis the season, cookies, 8

These cookies are for my European cousins and friends who have asked for a typical American cookie.  I make chocolate chip cookies at other times of the year but not necessarily at Christmas, however, they are about American as apple pie so here it is.  The recipe comes conveniently printed right on the bag of Nestle’s chips.

Chocolate Chip Cookies  (Toll House Cookies)

2 ¼ cups of flour
1-teaspoon baking soda
1-teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1-teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12 oz. package) chocolate chips

Since many people have nut allergies I omit the nuts but if you like them and can eat nuts feel free to add:

1 cup chopped nuts (optional—recommended nuts are walnuts or pecans)

Cream the butter, sugars and vanilla.  Add the eggs, one at a time mixing well.  Next add the flour, salt, and soda (sifting together before adding to the butter mixture is also optional).   The final thing to add is the bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (& nuts).  Stir together.  The dough should be fairly stiff.

Drop by spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for about 9 to 12 minutes or until crispy and brown.  This cookie is good as a soft cookie (bake less time) or a crisp cookie (bake longer).  I prefer the crispy cookie but some people really like them soft and the chocolate gooey (the chips melt a little during the baking).  Makes between 5 and 6 dozen medium sized cookies.


.........................................

Last minute tip from a friend--try dusting the chips and/or nuts with flour before adding the flour to the wet mixture.  This is supposed to help keep the chips and nuts more evenly distributed in the dough. 

'Tis the season cookies, 7

These cookies are a little more trouble to make than the ones I put up last year.  It has been several years since I made them and I noticed this time that the chocolate didn’t taste as strong or as flavorful as I would like.   If you want a stronger chocolate bite I would recommend 1 ½ cubes of melted unsweetened chocolate instead of just one cube or perhaps even some chocolate extract.  The cookies look festive and that is a plus.   The downside is you have to roll the two pieces of dough carefully so that you get two layers of colors and not a mix that looks all one color like well used play dough .   A variation of this type of cookie is to use peppermint flavoring and red flood coloring in place of the chocolate.  Roll the two colors separately into multiple small “snakelike” tubes, twist pieces together to form candy cane shapes.   Definitely more work and as I have said before I am basically lazy so the pinwheels are just fine. 

Chocolate Pinwheels*

½ cup soft butter
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla

Cream together.  Add:

1 ½ cup flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

Mix until the dough is stiff and pulls from the side of the bowl.  [I use a wooden spoon and my hands to mix the dough many people prefer to use a heavy-duty mixer like a Kitchen Aid.]

Melt in a double boiler or in a single pan at very low heat
1 oz (1 square) unsweetened baking chocolate

Divide the dough into two equal parts.  Add the cooled, melted chocolate to one section.  Chill both parts until firm enough to roll out.

Roll between waxed paper or plastic wrap.  I roll both pieces together at once rather than trying to make equal sized rectangles and pressing together afterwards but that is a personal preference.  Once the light and dark pieces are rolled out and pressed together form into a jellyroll shape.  Wrap in plastic wrap and foil. Chill over night.  When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F, cut the roll into approximately 1/8 inch slices and bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 10 to 12 minutes.  Makes about 3 to 4 dozen cookies.  These cookies can be frozen and keep well in a container. 

 

 
PS  I make a lot of cookies and my cookie sheets are old, well used, well loved and look the part!    I’m not apologizing.

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* From:  Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery, volume 3, page 434

Blackberry pie

 Blackberries

It’s the end of the summer and the warm days have filled the air with the scent of ripened blackberries.  There are at least two varieties of blackberries that grow wild here, the small, tart, low, hard to find, creeping kind of berry native to the area and the bigger bushes of Himalayan berries.  Himalayan berries are not native and sometimes considered invasive weeds.  They are sweeter and have more seeds.  It does not matter much to me as I think both kinds make excellent pies, however, some purists will only use the small native berries. 

Make enough of your favorite pie crust for bottom and top of a 9” pie pan or use this recipe:

Great Pie Shell (makes enough for a double crust pie)

1 cup less 2 Tablespoons shortening

6 Tablespoons boiling water

2 teaspoons milk

2 1/2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon salt

Put shortening in mixing bowl.  Add boiling water and milk.  Whip with a fork until smooth and thick like whipped cream.  Stir in the flour and salt.  The dough should come clean from the sides of the bowl to form a nice ball.  Cut in half, roll 1/2 between two sheets of waxed paper.  Peel off the paper and line the pie pan.

[From:  Tired and True Recipes, page 209] 

Pie Filling

4 cups freshly picked & cleaned blackberries
1 cup Sugar
1 Tablespoon Lemon juice (optional—if you like a tart pie and are using Himalayan berries you may want to add some lemon juice)
¼ cup flour
2 Tablespoons butter

Mix the berries with sugar, salt, flour and lemon.  Pour into crust lined pan.  Dot the berry mixture with butter.  Roll out the top crust, fold over bottom crust edge, pinch or crimp around the edge.  Cut slits and prick top crust to make steam holes.  Bake in a preheated 425F oven for about 45 to 50 min. or until the pie is bubbling and the crust is golden brown.   Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream. 

Besides eating the pie one of my fond childhood memories was picking the berries all the while smelling the heavenly ripe aroma in the afternoon sun.  The minor scratches from the berry stickers were forgotten almost as soon as they happened.

'Tis the season, Cookies, 6

Kitchen Aid with paddle

Here is another true Norwegian cookie I make called Hjortebakkels. I think they may be region specific to Os the area just south of Bergen. They take a whole crew of people to make and are a wonderful family activity during the holidays. This year we did manage to get enough people together to make them. It really is too much work for one person, although it can be done by one. We had four of us this year some years we have had six or more people helping. The cookies look a little like the better-known Fattigmann but Hjortebakkels are more like a donut and do not have powdered sugar on them. Just plain little brown twisted cookies that have that same cardamom bite. I could never figure out why Fattigmann is called Poor Man when it takes so much butter, many eggs, and expensive spices. Maybe the baker is poor after making them!

As a side note, I once offered Hjortebakkels to a young man I didn’t know very well. He wouldn’t even taste it because he thought it was fish (I made the tactical error of telling him they were Norwegian cookies). Go figure….

This recipe is from Maggie Landaas Lorig and may have come originally from her mother, Karen Landaas or even her grandmother, Kristi mor. There were no mixing instructions just a list of ingredients but my mother told me to just mix it up as you would normally do for a cake or cookies, i.e, cream the butter, sugar, eggs and add the dry ingredients so I am providing those instructions with the list. I do make most of my cookies by hand with a wooden spoon and not a mixer but I cannot imagine making these without a heavy-duty mixer with a paddle or dough hook. The dough is just too thick and sticky to work by hand.

Hjortebakkels

6 eggs (at room temperature)
6 Tablespoons butter (at room temperature, softened)
6 Tablespoons cream (in a pinch you can used canned milk)
[it calls for ½ cup Brandy here but since my family does not use alcohol we substitute 1/3 cup orange juice and it seems to work fine]
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups of sugar
2 teaspoons freshly ground cardamom
1 teaspoon mace
Enough flour to roll out (5 or 6 cups)

Equipment:

Deep fryer
Plenty of paper towels
Ruffled edged cutter like a pasta cutter
Slotted tool to turn and lift out the cookies from the fryer
Large bowl or pan to put the finished cookies in
Some sort of pastry board for rolling and cutting the dough
A “Gonzo” mixer helps (like a Kitchen Aid with a dough hook or paddle blade)
Sharp paring knife for cutting the slits
Metal spatula for lifting dough off the cutting board

1 Use a heavy-duty mixer to cream the butter, add the sugar and eggs then the cream.
2. When these are well creamed together add some of the flour (I usually put in about 2 cups of flour with the spices and baking powder), then the extra liquid (orange juice or brandy)
3. Gradually add more flour until the dough is very thick (pulls away from the side of the bowl).
4. Put in the refrigerator for a couple of hours or overnight. (This will help when rolling it out.)

Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight before rolling

The dough can be quite sticky so you may have to add more flour as you begin to roll out. Warning: the more flour you add the harder the cookie so if you want a soft donut like cookie use less and deal with the stickies.

5. Roll to make a rectangle and choose how thick you want your cookies to be. Thin cookies will be crunchier thick ones will be more donut-like.
6. Cut into roughly diamond shapes by cutting long strips two directions.
7. Cut a slit in the center of the diamond and draw one pointed corner through to make a buckle shape. (You may need to use a metal spatula to get the dough off the cutting surface.)

Roll, cut into strips to make diamond shapes, cut a slit and pull one corner through

Ruffled pasta cutter used to cut the strips of dough

Bee preheating and melting the shortening in the fryer

8. Drop raw cookies carefully into preheated, melted shortening in the fryer.

(I have never tried using cooking oil but I suppose it would work, we always just use Fluffo or Crisco brands of vegetable shortening.)

Oh boy, these are ready to turn! See the slotted utensil used to turn and lift the cookies out of the fryer?

9. Watch the cookies carefully as they cook, turning as soon as you see the brown from the underside edging around the sides. Once they are turned it will not take too long for the other side to cook.

Mrs. Gimlet and Curly cooking and cutting. Chinook are you hoping for a treat to fall on the floor?

10. Lift out and place on paper towels to drain.

Oooh, don’t they look pretty? Yummy

Warning: Makes a TON of cookies but it is never enough for those of us who have acquired the taste for them.

'Tis the season, Cookies, 5

Krumkake

These are Norwegian cookies that are baked in a special Krumkake Iron or Krumkake Baker. I have used both. The Iron was old and heavy, fit on the small size burner on the stove and only allowed for making one cookie at a time. Since my Dad gave me the Iron it had sentimental value and I valiantly struggled on well past time to replace it. Making the cookies took forever! A few years ago I caved in and got the more modern Baker. It is electric and cooks two cookies at once. The entire batch of cookies is completed in an hour instead of taking almost all day. It is a little tricky getting both cookies out and rolled up before they get too brown or set up and crumble (as the name suggests). This recipe has been passed down from my great-great grandmother and is different from the recipes that come with either the Iron or the Baker.

Krumkake

3 well beaten eggs
½ cup sugar
½ cup melted butter
½ cup flour
1 teaspoon vanilla [alternative flavoring almond or lemon]
1 teaspoon freshly grated cardamom

Makes 2 dozen cookies or maybe a couple more than that.

I use a wire whisk but you could use an electric mixer to
1. beat the eggs until foamy
2. then add the sugar, melted butter,
3. and last the flour and flavorings.

It should make a thick, sticky, slightly runny batter.

Krumkake baker

4. Scoop out a spoonful of batter and put it on the preheated Iron or Baker. The Baker has a convenient light that tells you when it is hot enough and when the cookies are done. You will just have to guess with the Iron (much turning back and forth and peeking inside to see if it is ready to come out).
5. Use a spatula to lift the finished cookies out of the Baker or Iron.
6. Roll the flat cookies immediately (hot, hot, hot, watch your fingers!).

Roll the Krumkake into cones

The Baker came with a cone shaped roller device. I used to just roll the flat cookie into a tube with my fingers when I used the Iron.

Cardamom, whole seeds

I know it is a lot of work to get the whole cardamom seeds, break them open, and then chop them up finely but you really do want the freshest cardamom—strong enough to make your eyes water when the little seeds are ground up. After I get enough loose seeds out of the pod I use a Krups grinder to finely chop them up.

As long as the cookies are kept in an airtight container (so they don’t get soft) they will keep for a very long time but usually they get eaten up before too much times goes by. The cookies can be eaten as they are or just before serving the cones can also be filled with whipped cream and fruit sort of like an ice cream cone.

'Tis the season, Cookies, 4

Icebox cookies are great because you can make the dough a day or two in advance of the actual baking. That means you can make another cookie like the Spritz cookies that bake at the same temperature and when you are through baking those leave the oven on and bake the icebox cookies.

These were one of Bopa’s favorite cookies. They have finely chopped walnuts in them but otherwise are small and plain—no sprinkles or sugary frostings. The recipe comes from the 1963 McCall’s Cook Book, p. 180.

Vanilla Icebox Cookies

Bake in preheated oven 375℉
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes

2 cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup finely chopped walnuts

1. In a large bowl beat the butter until light with a wooden spoon
2. Add sugar, then egg and flavoring continue beating until light and fluffy
3. Add the dry ingredients in two portions and mix with hands to form stiff dough
4. Add the chopped nuts and combine well.
5. Form dough into a large ball, cut in half.


6. Roll the portions into two long rolls.
7. Wrap in plastic wrap and foil. Refrigerate overnight.
8. When ready to bake use a sharp knife to cut penny slices and bake on ungreased cookie sheets for approximately 9 min.



Makes about 120 small cookies.