Subject: Christmas cookie

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 10 Sep 1994 21:31:21 GMT

I am trying to find a recipe my grandmother used to make for Christmas.  It is
either a recipe from Norway or Sweden.  It is a fried cookie that is then
covered in powdered sugar.  We used to roll the dough very thin and then cut
out diamond shapes. We then cut a slit in the diamond shape and pull one end
through.  We then deep fried them and covered them in powdered sugar.  After
my grandma died the recipe was lost.  I want to find it again for a birthday
present for my mother any help would be appreciated.

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From: jlc14.cornell.edu (janis lee cochranj)
Date: Tue, 13 Sep 1994 20:47:47 -0300

> present for my mother any help would be appreciated.

Your description sounds like "fattigman (sp?)," something my Norwegian
grandmother made every Christmas (along with lutefisk -- not a favorite
with the kids, especially when the alternate dish, for those folk who
couldn't tolerate lutefisk, was liver and onions!).  I'll try to track down
a recipe, but it will take a bit of time since I must write letters to
relatives who don't have the luxury of E-mail.  Meantime, try the library. 
Community cookbooks published in states such as Wash., Minn., and
Wisc.(where there are sizeable Norwegian communities) might yield a recipe.
 Also the NordicWare baking equipment people might be able to help.  They
manufacture stuff like krumkake irons and flatbread rolling-pins.  There's
also a "Norwegian" store in Seattle -- while you're at the library, check
out the Yellow Pages.  Let me know what you find out, and I shall do the
same.

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From: Alan Deacon <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 1994 13:01:52 GMT

>present for my mother any help would be appreciated.

Phew got lost in rec.food.cooking cyberspace for a while there looking for 
this post. Okay the cookies you describe are called Klejner the following
recipe is from a Danish recipe book 'Politikens Bagebog':

KLEJNER    (makes around 100 cookies)
=======

   Flour			500g (8.5 dl)
   Butter or Margarine		150g
   Grated rind of 1 lemon
   Sugar			175g (2dl)
   Eggs				3
   Cream			3 tablespoons

   For cooking: palm oil, fat or oil

Crumble the fat into the floup. Add the grated lemon peel.
Mix in the sugar. Whisk the eggs lightly, and mix into the
flour mixture. Mix in the cream and knead the dough.

Place the dough in a cool place for at least 1-2 hours.

Roll the dough out and cut into diamonds around 10x3cm.
Cut a slit around 2cm long in the middle of each diamond,
and pull one point through the slit.

Aside:
       ______  B       ______  B          __  B
      /     /         /__   /          /\/ /
     /  /  /          \ A| /          _\/_/
    /_____/             \_/          / / \_\
  A                               A --    

Sorry for lousy picture. Take one point feed through slit (which is along
the length of the diamond) and pull back to where it came from. You should
end up with a small knot.

Warm the frying fat. Cook the klejners in the warm fat, a few pieces at
a time. When cooked lay on greaseproof paper.

If the fat froths up while cooking the klejner, this may be because the
dough is too fat or too sweet, or that it contains added ammonium carbonate
(salt of harts horn). The latter can be replaced by baking powder [which
doesn't have this problem?].

Be careful not to put too many klejner in the fat all at the same time
or the temperature of the fat will fall too low.

It wasn't in the recipe but I'm pretty sure you dust with Icing sugar at
the end.

======

I *think* I've translated most of this correctly. I've never seen hartshorn
at the baking counter in this country (UK) though I know some Alchemists
who deconcoct it (okay they use Cow's Horn but you still get Ammonia). We
tend to use Cream of Tartar (Wine Stone) as well as Bicarb of Soda.

I've never been too clear on how these various raising agents work.

Similar recipes to the above can be found in other cultures. There is a
Jewish pastry in a crescent moon shape called Haman's Ears. And an Afghan
recipe for Elephants Ears with added Cardamom.

--
	Alan Deacon (User Services)
	Information Systems Division 		Email: [email-masked]
	University College London		Tel: +44 71-380 7359
	Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT		Fax: +44 71-388 5406

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From: jlc14.cornell.edu (janis lee cochranj)
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 1994 20:57:32 -0300

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked]
wrote:

> either a recipe from Norway or Sweden.  

Here's another recipe for Fattimand bakkel (trans. -- so I'm told -- a poor
man's food)      

3 egg yolks																																	
1 egg																														
dash salt
1/4 c. sugar
1 c. flour, more or less -- save some for kneading 
dash vanilla and/or whatever alcholic stuff you have on hand: esp. brandy.

Beat yolks, whole egg, and salt until very, very stiff.  Add sugar and
flavoring and beat to incorporate.  Add flour, all at once, and beat until
incorporated.  Knead the dough 10 minutes or so until blisters form on its
surface.  Roll, shape, fry in lard (on both sides), and drain in accordance
with the recipes listed above.  Dredge with powdered sugar before serving.
About 2-3 doz.

Essentially, this is a slightly sweetened noodle dough, enriched only by
its bath in lard and the sweetness of sprinkled sugar.  My grandmother, who
came from Norway in the 1880s, no doubt would frown on the inclusion of
lemon zest recommended by other writers, but that might be a lovely
addition to this otherwise bland recipe. 

As an aside, and thinking of the people who are wondering about what
Vikings ate, lutefisk must have been in the diet.  But why cure it in lye
before drying it?

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From: [email-masked] (Anubis)
Date: 17 Sep 1994 14:35:27 -0500

In article <[email-masked]>, Alan Deacon 
<[email-masked]> wrote: 
>>I am trying to find a recipe my grandmother used to make for Christmas.It is
>......
>KLEJNER....
>......
>......

Heh heh! The above is an *excellent* picture and is exactly the way my 
grandma taught me to make the traditional Ukrainian fried twists called 
"vernuhy"!! Basically the same recipe, too (eggs, sugar, flour, etc.). We 
usually ate them plain but some families like to dust the cookies with 
powdered sugar.

-- 
Larisa
[email-masked]

***"Double, double, toil and trouble..."*** W. Shakespeare