It snowed yesterday, the wind is blowing in Southeast Minnesota, and the local radio station has switched to its all-Christmas music schedule until after Christmas. All of these are sure signs that Christmas will be here soon!

What does that mean in a lot of Minnesota kitchens? It’s time to start baking cookies! Especially Norwegian Christmas cookies! Many of the recipes have been handed down in families for years and years along with the cookie making tools.

You can easily make Norwegian Christmas cookies whether you have that long tradition of baking them or you are just starting a new tradition.

This week we are going to focus on Krumkake and Berliner Kranse. Both of those cookies bring back fond memories to me. Growing up, we had an elderly Norwegian couple living next door. The husband, John, loved to play tricks on the kids in the neighborhood. He had lost some fingers in a logging accident many years ago. He would slip the cone-shaped cookie over the remaining stump and eat the cookie until he had “eaten his finger down to the stump!” Time and time again, he’d play that trick on us and chuckle heartily.

The name Krumkake literally means cream cake.

Berliner Kranse was a specialty of his wife, Olga; the wreath-shaped cookie was formed by rolling the dough into six inch ropes and then forming it into a wreath. A beaten egg white stiffened with sugar, was brushed on and then Olga added Swedish pearl sugar to decorate. Red and green food coloring was mixed with pearl sugar and dried to make colored pearl sugar.

Olga often made the Berliner Kranse when the neighborhood kids were skating on the pond across the road. She’d carefully watch for us to start taking off our skates and then call us to stop in for some welcome hot chocolate and cookies. We kids always called the Berliner Kranse “worms” for two reasons—Berliner Kranse was tough to say and the ropes before forming a wreath looked like worms to us!

Kranse means wreath or circle in Norwegian.

Norsland Lefse makes it easy to make both Krumkake and Berliner Kranse. You can purchase both Krumkake mix and a double krumkake iron with the wooden cone roller. The Swedish pearl sugar for the Berliner Kranse can also be found on the Norsland Lefse website.

Below you will find my recipes for Krumkake and Berliner Kranse as well.

Krumkake Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs, separated
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Step 1: Separate the eggs; in a large sized bowl, beat the egg whites until with an electric mixer until stiff and dry. While beating the egg whites, mix the egg yolks, white sugar, flour, cornstarch. cooled butter, and vanilla in another bowl. Fold the egg whites into the rest of the dough.

Step 2: Heat the Krumkake iron to a medium heat. If you are using an antique Krumkake iron over the stove, heat over a medium flame. With my electric krumkake iron, I set it on 3. Once the iron is heated, open the iron and put a tablespoon of batter in the iron. Antique irons will require you to turn the iron at when one side is baked; this is not necessary for an electric iron.

Step 3: Once the cookie has turned a light gold, remove the cookie from the iron and quickly wrap it onto the roller. Let it cool while the next krumkake bakes; remove when cool in time to roll the next krumkake. Store in a closed plastic food container to keep them crisp.

Berliner Kranse Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup softened butter
• 1/4 cup butter-flavored solid shortening
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons grated orange peel
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg white
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• Swedish pearl sugar
• red and green food color

Directions:

Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, beat on medium speed the butter and shortening until creamy. Gradually beat in 1 cup white sugar until well-mixed; add the two eggs, beating well after each egg. On low speed gradually beat in the flour, orange peel, and vanilla.

Step 2: Divide the dough into four parts and form into balls. Wrap each ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. 

Step 3: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Working with one ball of dough at a time, divide the ball into 16 pieces. Roll each piece into a 6 inch rope. Loop the rope to cross itself to form a wreath and place on the parchment paper.

Step 4: Beat egg white until foamy on high speed; gradually beat in the 2 tablespoons sugar and beat until stiff peaks form and sugar dissolves. Brush beaten egg white on the wreathes. Decorate by placing white Swedish pearl sugar on the wreath and the red sugar at the intersection of the dough rope and the green sugar on the ends of the rope.

Step 5: Bake for 10 minutes until golden; cool on cookie sheet for five minutes and then move to a cooling rack. Store in plastic food container to keep fresh.

NOTE: The sugars need to be colored a day or two ahead of time so they can dry. Simply put some pearl sugar in a ziploc baggie and add paste food color. Close the baggie and mix. Once colored, spread out the sugar on a plate to dry.

Enjoy the fun of making your very own Norwegian cookies. The fragile Krumkake is fun to eat - try not to end up with too many crumbs! The Berliner Kranze makes a pretty addition to a cookie plate with its decorations using the Swedish pearl sugar - a colorful, textured wreath.

Check out the step-by-step photos to make Berliner Kranse below!

1. Coloring the Swedish Pearl Sugar with paste food colors.

2. Mixing the sugar and food color in the closed baggie.

3. Finished colored Swedish Pearl Sugar

4. Dough divided into four balls to be refrigerated.

5. One ball divided into 16 pieces to be rolled into ropes.

6. A rolled rope.

7. Ropes of dough have been formed into wreathes and brushed with the beaten egg white.

8. Swedish Pearl Sugars decorate the wreathes.

9. Berliner Kranse baked and cooling.