I recently found an antique krumkaker iron at a local thrift store for just $2, so I can’t wait to make my first batch. After they cool, krumkaker are either served plain or filled with whipped cream. While they’re still hot, these Norwegian Christmas cookies are quite flexible and will hold the cone shape as they cool. Krumkaker actually means bent cake, which helps to explain the shape of these thin, crispy norweigan cookies. Krumkake are wrapped around a cone-shaped mold as soon as they come off the iron. The oldest of these, krumkake and goro, along with vafler, a waffle like pastry, go back at least to the 1700s…” KrumkakerĪ thin waffle cookie, Krumkaker are made on special decorative irons like Italian Pizzelle. Fattigmann (dough twisted into a fancy shape and fried in deep fat).Krumkaker (a think, cone-shaped cookie also baked in a decorative iron).Goro (a rectangular cookie made with an intricately imprinted iron).Berlinerkranser (“Berlin wreaths,” made from a rich egg-yolk dough and sprinkled with large-grained sugar).

Sirupssnipper (similar to gingersnaps, but diamond-shaped and decorated with a blanced almond).Sandkaker (almond cookies baked in fluted tins, more familiar to Norwegian Americans as Sandbakelse or sandbakkels).Smultringer (donuts) or, tying for first place, hojortetakk (crullers made with hartshorn salt, that is, ammonium carbonate, also known as baker’s ammonia).Exactly which kinds appear varies from place to place and from family to family, but in a 1992 poll in Aftenposten (Norway’s largest daily newspaper) identified the seven kinds most likely to be the following: In former times as many as nine or eleven kinds were made, the number (always uneven) being a kind of status symbol that indicated the families’ wealth. ” Though two-career marriages have reduced the amount of time devoted to pre-Christmas baking, most Norwegian housewives still immerse themselves in the flurry of producing the tradtional sju slags or 7 kinds of cookies. These days, most Norwegians keep with tradition and prepare old fashioned Norwegian favorites (alongside other more modern Christmas cookies from elsewhere).Īccording to the book Keeping Christmas: Yuletide Traditions in Norway and the New Land, A sumptuous spread of Christmas cookies was a big part of Christmas celebrations, dating back to the middle ages. While 7 types of cookies may sound like a lot, there are so many types of Norwegian Christmas cookie that it can actually be hard to choose.Ĭhristmas cookies are popular just about anywhere Christmas is celebrated, but things are a bit different in Norway. There was no set group of 7, and each family made their favorite variations. As the custom goes, each family would make 7 types of cookies, known as the 7 cookies of Christmas ( syv slags julekaker). Historically, butter an expensive treat that was sold off the farm to pay the bills, but during the holidays, even the poorest rural families kept butter at home for a variety of festive holiday treats. Norwegian Christmas Cookies are a huge part of holiday festivities.

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