Kakemenn

We’re already a week into December and I’ve yet to post a Christmas cookie recipe. Pathetic, I know. Now typically I go for Christmas cookies that are full of either spice, chocolate, or butter. But I have something different for you today 

Kakemenn. Cookie men. Every Norwegian child’s favorite. Or at least the favorite of kids who aren’t as crazy for pepparkaker as my four year old nephew, Nicolai, who sneaks down into the basement in the middle of July to eat half-year-old pepparkaker out of the pantry. According to this kid, the only thing better than pepparkaker are hot dogs. Or maybe white rice with ketchup. The kid’s got personality, I tell you.

 

 

But back to kakemenn. These little guys (or women, angels, pigs, or trees, as they technically don’t have to be cut into men-form) are super simple and keep forever. Which is why it’s a good idea to make them in the beginning of December and stash them in a huge tin for the rest of the month. They’re nothing fancy, but a good people- pleaser, since they’re crisp, not coyingly sweet, and can be decorated any way you please- we choose to keep them simple and only decorate them with our teeth marks.

 

 

The only thing to note is that traditionally, Norwegians use ammonium bicarbonate as the leavening agent for kakemenn. This is a fairly common ingredient in Scandinavian baking, but I do recognize that it’s a bit of an oddity and nearly impossible to get a hold of in much of the rest of the world. Might I also mention that it Norway, it’s referred to as Hjortetakksalt (deer antler salt) as it originally was produced by taking a dry distillation of an actual deer antler! Thank goodness for the children of 2010, ammonium bicarbonate is no longer made this way and can actually be substituted for equal parts baking soda and baking powder.

 

 

Before I hand over the recipe, I’ll leave you with a few photos from today, the second Sunday in advent. Sundays in December are all about lighting candles, setting a few logs on the fire, and sitting back with a plate of cookies and James Brown’s Santa Claus, Please Come to the Ghetto. Wouldn’t you agree?

 

Kakemenn

Norwegian Cookie Men

*Makes anywhere between 2-4 dozen cookies (depending on the size of your cutter)

 

4 Tablespoon (50 g) butter, melted

1/2 cup (100 g/.5 dl) sugar

1/3 cup (1 dl) milk

2 cups (240 g/5 dl) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon ammonium bicarbonate (or substitute 1/4 tsp baking soda and 1/4 tsp baking powder)

 

1. In a large bowl, mix together the melted butter, sugar, and milk.

2. In a separate bowl, mix the ammonium bicarbonate into the flour. Add the dry ingredients into the wet mixture. Mix well, then chill for at least 2 hours.

3. Once thoroughly chilled, preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Roll the dough out into a 1/4 inch (1/2 cm) thick circle and cut out shapes using a cookie cutter. Put the cookies on a baking sheet, gather up the remaining scraps of dough, re-roll, then bake for 7-10 minutes. The cookies should still be mostly white when taken out of the oven, but fluffy and not doughy. Keeps for about 3 weeks in a cookie tin.

Comments

[Nicole @ Arctic Garden Studio]

Siri- I always love your cookie recipes. I still make your snickerdoodles and your ginger cookies. These look very good as well. I do like a simple cookie.

[Rebecca]

The pictures in this post are so magical, I love the lights in the snowy tree. The perfect thing today as it's just freezing fog here. I think some Christmas baking is in order. I shall be raiding your archives as I always love your Christmas cookies.

[Jon]

Please do more Christmas cookies!

[Sassy Molassy]

Beautiful snow pictures! I wish Oregon had a lovely blanket of snow over it, but alas, it is Oregon. That looks like a very simple recipe. Nothing wrong with that! Do people put jam or anything on them or just eat them w/ coffee or tea?

[lisakjellerød]

Beautiful photographs!

[siri]

Nicole, Rebecca, and Lisa- Thanks!

Jon- I plan to do another one or two (despite strict orders from my husband to keep our sugar consumption this Christmas to a minimum). You should check out my series on the 7 Cookies of Christmas from last year- lots of good ones in there!

Lauren- It's ok to be jealous of all this beautiful snow this month, but come March, I'll start being envious of you. You could top these cookies with a little icing or maybe even some jam, but they're mostly just served plain or with a few drops of food coloring to give a face and little outfit to the cookie men and women.

[Anne Kamsvaag]

I found your blog a while back when I was looking for a recipe for Rosinboller - which turned out great!

"Baker's Ammonia" is sold by King Arthur Flour - http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/bakers-ammonia-ammonium-carbonate-27-oz

It makes GREAT cookies - baking soda and baking powder will work, but believe me, cookies don't come out as light as they do if you use the ammonium bicarbonate.