Our first Christmas cookies were called brunkager (brown cakes), which are a lot like our gingerbread cookies. They are made primarily of brown sugar and syrup, with spices. The mixture is rolled into a log-shape, and then frozen. Then you cut thin slices and bake them. Ours also have chunks of almonds, which were almost translucent because the cookies were so thin.
Next we made vanillekranse (vanilla-wreaths), which are a sugar cookie. However, the dough is pressed through an old-fashioned meat grinder, which makes into long tube. These are cut into smaller pieces and wrapped into circles, hence the wreaths. If the dough is still cold, the keep their shapes well while baking, and the have a very nice texture. I also discovered that these cookies are absolutely wonderful when dipped in hot tea…
Finally we made klejner, perhaps the most difficult cookie. The dough was simple enough, but it needed to be rolled into thin sheets, and then cut into a trapezoidal shape with a slit in the middle. You then have to fold the corner through the middle, to create a sort of bow. IT is simple enough to start out doing, but after a while it gets difficult, as it is very delicate and time consuming work. Nevertheless, the bows are then deep-fried in oil, which makes them delicious.
The rest of Copenhagen was also decorated for Christmas, and I thought a couple of more photos might be nice.
