KRANSEKAKE MADNESS

 I first saw Kransekake on a recent episode of the Amazing Race and thought that although these are Norwegian wedding cookies, they would be great for Christmas.  So I ordered the cookie molds and made the traditional almond cookies.  Next year I will make them into gingerbread cookies.  I made 7 of these to give to friends and party hostesses.  Everyone loved them and most people, like me, had never heard of them.  I also took a shortcut of buying almond flour instead of grinding blanched almonds.  Also, I used egg whites from the carton.  The recipe is below.

Dough: 

1 pound of almond flour

1 pound of powdered sugar

4 egg whites 

potato starch for rolling

Icing:
3 cups of powdered sugar
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon of powdered sugar for dusting

Mix all ingredient until a dough forms.  If it's sticky, add more flour or egg whites.

Roll dough into a ball using potato starch to prevent sticking.

Grease cookie molds.

Roll dough into ropes about 1/2" thick and fill each ring.  You can also use a piping bag to fill the rings.  If the rings get disconnect, just overlap slightly and press down gently using your finger dipped in the potato starch.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes until golden brown. 

Mixing icing ingredients. Using a pastry bag with #3 tip or a Ziploc bag with a small snip of the bottom corner, ice the largest cookie with a zigzag pattern.  Continue with each cookie.  I use icing on the bottom of the first cookie to anchor the tree to the plate. Decorate with Christmas decorations or sprinkles using the icing as glue.  Dust the cookie with powdered sugar.

Tips:

  Make an extra cookie from the leftover dough into a star shape for the top.

Bake the three larger molds and three smaller molds separately.  I noticed that the small rings bake faster so this will make the rings more equal in color.

The icing dries quickly so stack each cookie after icing so it bonds to the cookie below.