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By Janet (Olson) Watson
Woodinville, Washington
There are so many wonderful memories of our family’s Scandinavian Christmases on the farm in Valley City. My grandparents immigrated from Norway and bought the farm in the early 1900s. They carried their delicious baking traditions with them from Oslo and Larvik. My mother learned all the recipes and baking traditions as a 17-year-old hired girl at the farm – her future mother-in-law taught her well!
The tradition was that they serve 13 different kinds of cookies and breads for the holidays. Spritz, krumkakke, fattiman, pepperkakke, sandkakke, rosettes, norge nut cookies, Berliner kranser, sugar cookies, lefse, yulekakke, flat bread, and rusks.
After moving to Washington in 1961, our family kept this wonderful tradition going. We began sharing our treats with our church family on the second Sunday in December. Our family still keeps the wonderful tradition to this day. What an enjoyable labor of love to pass on to our children and grandchildren!
Recipe
9 eggs, room temperature, slightly beaten
9 tablespoons sugar
11 tablespoons cream
3 tablespoons cooking brandy
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1½ teaspoons lemon extract
1½ teaspoons fresh-ground cardamom
5½ cups sifted flour
Chill. Do not roll. Spread dough with hands to quarter-inch thickness. Cut into diamond shape and make a half slash in each center. Pull one end through slash, deep fry until golden brown, turning once.
Makes 80 cookies.