Norwegian butter cookies
These traditional butter cookies are served during the festive period in Norway. If you can’t get hold of pearl sugar (also known as nibbed sugar), use flaked or chopped almonds instead.
MAKES about 40 PREPARATION TIME 35 minutes, plus chilling
COOKING TIME about 10 minutes
300g plain flour l
1tbsp baking powder l 200g cold butter, plus 2tbsp, l cut into cubes
125g icing sugar, plus 2tbsp l 2tsp vanilla sugar l
1 medium egg l
1 medium egg white, lightly beaten l Pearl sugar or chopped almonds, l to sprinkle
1 Mix the flour with the baking powder and a pinch of salt in a bowl. Add all of the cubed butter and mix with your fingers until it forms crumbs, then add all of the icing sugar and vanilla sugar and mix again. Add the whole egg and mix until the dough is even (but do not overmix).
2 Pop the dough into a bag and leave to settle in the fridge for an hour.
3 Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan) mark 4. Line several baking sheets with baking parchment.
4 Cut the dough into about 40 equal pieces (about 15g each), roll them into small balls and place on the lined baking sheets. Make sure you leave space around each piece of dough, as they spread out while baking. Using the back of a fork, press each one down gently in the middle to a diameter of about 3cm (they will spread more when baking). If you prefer a flat surface, use the bottom of a glass or similar.
5 Brush the biscuits with the egg white and sprinkle the pearl sugar or chopped almonds over the top.
6 Bake in the oven for around 10min or until just baked through (don’t let them go brown – you only want a slight hint of colour at the edges). Baking times vary depending on your oven, so keep an eye on them. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before storing in an airtight container.