On the 12th day of Christmas your true love made for you - Christmas cookies! The Swedish Christmas cookie tradition of Sju Sorta Kakor may sound like an elaborate and yet delicious way of celebrating the festive season. BUT did you know that all seven of these cookies are made using the same vanilla shortbread dough? YES! You can make seven types of cookies this Christmas without losing your mind I promise :) This is a pushy recipe idea Dear Reader!
I was recently at a lunch chatting to the lovely woman sitting next to me called Anna. She was from Sweden and we were talking about food (I mean what else, right?) and she casually mentioned a Swedish Christmas tradition called Sju Sorta Kakor. It translates to "Seven Kinds of Cookies" which are served in households in Sweden and Swedish speaking areas of Finland or Norway. A few years ago I had made a similar cookie selection and it was such a hit at Christmas that I thought that I really wanted to try the Swedish version.
Swedish Christmas cookies start with mördeg, basically like a shortbread dough made with flour, sugar, butter, egg and vanilla. This simple little dough transforms into seven different tasting and looking "småkakor" or little cookies. Why seven? The number seven is linked with mythology and luck. During “kafferep” (coffee parties for women) it was said that if you served less than seven then it wasn't enough, but more than seven it was deemed showy. A crowdsourced cookbook titled "Sju Sorters Kakor" was published by Ica Provkök in 1945 and has since been updated to suit more modern times.
The seven types of cookies depends on whomever is baking them. Anna mentioned that they were all based on the same dough but some hosts make different doughs perhaps to demonstrate their culinary skill or because they have a favourite cookie. I went with some of the ideas from this blog Scandinavian Simple Eating. Tomorrow on the 13th of December is the St Lucia festival of lights that celebrates Saint Lucy or Lucia, the patron saint of the blind. Young Swedish girls dress up in white dresses with red sash and candles. Pepparkakor (gingersnaps) are often served after the St Lucia parade and part of Sju Sorters Kakor.
This recipes makes a lot of cookies but they're so buttery and delicious nobody ever complains about too many cookies. At this volume these cookies are best shared for guests and I brought some of these to an Elliott family picnic. It was a birthday picnic for Mr NQN's nephew Jett who was turning 9. Jett is pretty chatty and really loves Halloween and really gets into dressing up. He loves talking Halloween and scripts elaborate stories for his costumes.
I asked his mother Amaya what Jett wanted for his birthday. She sent me a few options and one of them really surprised me. Apparently the kid wanted either a digital watch or a 10 pack of croissants from the supermarket. "He wants croissants? From the supermarket?" I confirmed. We bought him the digital watch and then on the day of the picnic we planned to stop by the supermarket for his croissants so they were as fresh as possible. When I got there I couldn't find the 10 pack but a nice person in the bakery found me a 9 pack and gave me a fresh box of the croissants that just came out of the oven rather than the box on the shelf telling me that those were baked yesterday. "These are better," she said smiling.
Although the birthday party was supposed to start at 11am we told them that we would be there around 12:30pm because we had some things to do. But even then we weren't the latest to the party with people arriving an hour after we did (it never pays off to be on time for an Elliott do). Mr NQN's father Roger was there back for a couple of months. He usually lives in Thailand where his search for a girlfriend goes on. Also at the picnic were Mr NQN's Finnish aunt and uncle Sisko and Seppo and when they saw the cookies it reminded them of the Christmas Finnish cookies.
"Is that bag yours?" asked Jett shortly after we arrived. He had peeked inside the bag we had put down and could see the box of croissants. He was also surprised because he thought that he was only getting the croissants for his birthday but now he had a new watch. "Are you sure this is a 10 pack?" he said eyeing the box and I had to break it to him that they only sold 9 packs. Amaya played the ukelele and we sang along in the park Roger's voice booming across the green. Then it came time to open our gifts from Mr NQN's father Roger. He gave us some gifts - mine was an enormous wooden Thai statue and some pretty trinket boxes. Always enigmatic Roger gave Mr NQN got a bike bell with a mysterious photo of the Elliotts as children. There was someone ripped out of the corner of the photo and nobody could figure out who it was that was removed or why they were removed!
So tell me Dear Reader, do you make Christmas cookies? Have you ever tried this Swedish tradition? And what is the most random thing you've asked for for Christmas?
Basic Dough for Sju Sorta Kakor
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Serves: Many! Around 35 people. This makes enough dough for each of the seven varieties
4 cups/600g/21ozs. plain flour
300g/10.6ozs. caster or superfine sugar
450g/1lb. butter, cubed, room temperature*
2 large egg yolks (reserve 1 egg white for brushing)
1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
Pinch salt
2-3 tablespoons water
The butter should not be melted but should be soft enough and you should be able to press it down easily with your finger*
Step 1 - Place the flour and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and use a hand whisk to combine. Add the butter, egg yolks, vanilla bean and salt and fit with a beater attachment. Beat the mixture for 1 minute adding water 1 tablespoon at a time until you get a soft, cohesive dough. Remove from the bowl and divide into 7 portions. My total dough was around 1380g/3lbs so each portion was around 200g/7ozs. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 60 minutes.
Finska Pinnar (Finnish Sticks)
1 quantity of dough (around 200g/7ozs.)
1 tablespoons cocoa, sifted
Egg white for brushing
3 tablespoons pearl sugar*
2 tablespoons finely chopped toasted hazelnuts
Pearl sugar is a popular item in Scandinavian cooking. It can be difficult to source but a quick way to make pearl sugar is to take white sugar cubes and place them in a zip lock bag and hit with a meat mallet. Crush until you get smallish lumps.
Crushing sugar cubes to make pearl sugar
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with parchment. Place the dough with the cocoa in the mixer and beat until cocoa is combined. Roll out onto between parchment or cling film until it about 1/2cm/0.2in in thickness. Brush with egg white, sprinkle with pearl sugar and hazelnuts and then bake for 15 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes and then cut into 2cm/0.8 inch slices with a sharp knife.
Hallongrottor (Raspberry Caves or Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies)
1 quantity of dough (around 200g/7ozs.)
3 tablespoons raspberry jam
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with parchment and have some small chocolate paper cases ready. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls and then place into the paper cases. With a floured thumb push down to create a cave or deep hole but don't go all the way to the bottom. Fill with jam and bake for 20 minutes.
Brysselkakor (Brussels cookies)
1 quantity of dough (around 200g/7ozs.)
4 tablespoons of white sugar, divided
Red and green food colouring
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with parchment. In two small cups or bowl mix 2 tablespoons of sugar with a couple of drops of red colouring and then repeat with the green colouring (be sparing with the colouring, a little goes a long way).
Step 2 - Roll the dough into two logs 1 inch in diameter wrapping them up in cling film and place them in the fridge for 20 minutes to firm up. Unroll the cling film and spread out the coloured sugar on the film and roll the dough log in the coloured sugar. If the dough is too soft place back in the fridge. You want the dough to be firm when you slice it. Cut into thin slices with a sharp knife around 3/4cm or 0.3in thick and place on the tray. Bake for 10 minutes.
Schackrutor (Chessboards)
1 quantity of dough (around 200g/7ozs.)
1/2 tablespoons cocoa, sifted
Egg white
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with parchment. Place half of the dough with the cocoa in the mixer and beat until cocoa is combined and not streaky. Roll out the vanilla dough between parchment or cling film into a small rectangle around 1cm/0.4in thick. Repeat with the chocolate dough. Brush the vanilla dough with the egg white and then place the chocolate dough on top. Cut the dough into 1cm logs. Take two logs and place the dough with the opposite colour to make a chess board pattern and place in the fridge to firm up for 20 minutes. Cut into 1cm/0.4in slices and place on the parchment. Bake for 10 minutes.
Caramel Almond Cookies
1 quantity of dough (around 200g/7ozs.)
75g butter
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with parchment. Roll out onto between parchment or cling film until it about 1/3cm or 0.13inch in thickness and around 20x15cms or 8x6inches wide. Place in the fridge until needed. Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the sugar and honey and bring to a simmer. Add the flour and allow to thicken and stir in the almonds. Cool for 5 minutes. Then pour over the dough and bake for 30-35 minutes until the caramel is sticky and not soft in the centre.
Important: allow to cool completely before cutting. Then cut the dough into two rectangles and then slice up into 2cm/3/4inch slices on an angle.
Butterscotch Shortbread Stars
1 quantity of dough (around 200g/7ozs.)
1.5 tablespoons butterscotch chocolate chips (or white or peanut butter)
30g/1oz. white chocolate
Silver cachous
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with parchment. Mix the dough with the chocolate chips and roll out between cling film or parchment to around 3/4cm or 0.3in. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes and then cut out star using a star cutter. Bake for 15 minutes.
Step 2 - Melt white chocolate and place in a small parchment piping bag or zip lock bag with the end snipped off. Pipe lines across the stars and add silver cachous/nonpareils before the chocolate sets.
Step 1 - Preheat oven to 180C/350F and line a baking tray with parchment. Place the dough with the cardamom in the mixer and beat until cardamom is combined. Shape into walnut sized balls and place on tray and flatten a little. Brush with egg white, sprinkle with raw sugar and place a whole hazelnut in the centre and bake for 15 minutes.
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