These cookies is a classic Danish Christmas cookie. You can buy them in every store come mid November, but nothing beats the homemade kind.
Makes approximately 100
Bakers, please note: these cookies will be soft out of the oven and until completely cold. Do not bake until hard or you will have burned lethal throwing discs 😋
Ingredients
125 grams of butter
100 grams of sugar
100 grams of dark syrup
1 teaspoon of potash
2 teaspoons of water
1/2 a teaspoon of cardamom powder
1/2 a teaspoon of ginger powder
1/2 a teaspoon of cloves powder
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder
25 grams of finely chopped Pomerans zest (also called bitter orange)
25 grams of chopped blanched almonds
250 grams of flour
Instructions
Heat butter, sugar, and syrup until just boiling then remove from heat. Stir it so it doesn’t burn.
Mix potash with cold water, then add to the warm mix.
Let it all cool until temperate.
Add all the other ingredients and knead the dough well.
Roll into 5 cm thick sausages and leave in the fridge 1-2 days. Roll them if they loose shape while resting in the fridge. It’s important they are completely cold all the way through.
Slice thinly (2-3 mm) and place on a baking tray (not to close)
Bake for 200C at the top of the oven for 6-7 min.
Tip:
The dough keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks so make a big batch and pull it out for when guests are coming over. Just slice and bake and you can serve freshly home baked cookies.
I love making christmas cookies, I leave the cinnamon out as I’m allergic, but they always taste the best!
Love, Amie ❤
The Curvaceous Vegan
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Oh no, must suck being allergic to cinnamon. Is it full on allergic or only when eating? And yes, luckily most things can be made without the cinnamon ❤️
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Sounds delicious! No idea what potash is though 😂 I’m guessing you’re not in the UK? Xx
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Hehe nope. I’m Danish. It’s also called pearlash, potassium carbonate, salts of tartar, and carbonate of potash. Here in Denmark you can find it in most stores in the spice section but no idea about the rest of the world 😋
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Like cream of tartar? I’ve heard of potassium carbonate but it’s not something that can be easily found in grocery stores here. Every store carries cream of tartar though.
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It’s not quite the same as far as I know and I’m not sure how it’ll work. You could also just use baking soda (use half the amount as you would potash) but it could affect the taste of the cookies.
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I do have baking soda! Thanks for the suggestion. 😀 Unsurprisingly, cream of tartar is not a common ingredient where I live (yet common in the baking aisle) and I don’t really know how it works either.
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I never heard of cream of tartar before starting to use British recipes hehe it’s not a Danish thing 😋
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I love Christmas cookies. Is there something I can use in the US instead of potash?
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Yes, you can use baking soda (use approximately half the amount of baking soda as the recipe says for potash) but it might change the taste of the cookies. 😊
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Are these the ones with the icing sugar dusting? The ones that taste like almonds? I love those cookies. I once tried homemade ones and they were so much better than store bought! Is it bad I have no idea what potash is, and that it’s even used in baking?
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No, no sugar dusting. At least not in the danish version.
Potash is also called pearlash, potassium carbonate, salts of tartar, and carbonate of potash. You can use baking soda, but it will change the flavor of the cookies a bit (use half the amount you would potash)
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Very interesting! I feel like doing some research on this cookie. I’m intrigued.
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It’s an old cookie from around 1850 so got a long history 😊
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In Danish it’s called Brunkage (in case you wanna google hehe)
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Thanks for the info, Tea. Yes, that’s very helpful since I wasn’t entirely sure what they were called. 😅
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I just looked it up, and I haven’t tried this cookie before. These cookies look really yummy! 😋
Also, these cookies are very different than the cookie I was thinking about. I was thinking about those moon crescent almond cookies LOL
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Oh yum Tea – these look so good – will have to try them.
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