a chrismukkah kransekake

/

Around here, it just isn’t the holidays if, after being buried under a mountain of cookies all month, I don’t then emerge to make a holiday cake. It usually has marzipan or a storm of coconut snow or some type of gingerbread house-inspired element, and it’s typically my contribution to Nick’s extended family’s holiday party. This year I decided that it was time to tackle the magical Kransekake!

Kransekake is a Norwegian and Danish cake that’s traditional to have at big celebrations like weddings, Christmas celebrations, and Syttende Mai (Norwegian Constitution Day). In my eyes it’s the centerpiece of the celebration. It presides over the party. Whenever I’m in the room with one I just gaze at it with heart eyes because it’s so stunning and geometrically pleasing. The circles stacked up look so clean and pretty and I just always assumed that it would be extremely complicated and time consuming to make. So I started my research months ago and tapped friends and family for their recipes and tips. I learned of secret almond paste sources and admired Erin’s gingerbread version and got the story from Chantell and Brett on the wedding tradition of pulling off the top ring to see how many other rings stick to it and that symbolizes how many children you’ll have (!!!) Hah. I love it. 

Probably my favorite thing that I learned was [whispers] that it’s actually easy to make. It may look delicate and time consuming, but in reality it’s quite sturdy and pretty difficult to screw up. The dough is easy to work with and there’s no gluten in it so you don’t have to worry about overworking it. The only thing that requires pre-planning is ordering the molds on Amazon. Past that, you don’t need a stand mixer or fancy ingredients or days and days of time. With good time management, you can crank one out in a day. 

Also!!!! It’s so tasty!!! It’s basically baked marzipan. Crisp on the outside, super chewy on the inside, it bursts with almond flavor, and it also kinda lasts forever so you can totally make it far in advance. I can’t sing enough praises about Kransekake. It’s officially my favorite Norwegian thing since Bernie. 

My version is a Chrismukkah Kransekake. It’s decorated with a paper chain that’s a miniature version of the rainbow felt chain that Nick and I made years ago for our Chrismukkah bush. (It’s rainbow because rather than going with a red/green Christmas theme or a blue/white Hanukkah theme, we just went with all of the colors!) It’s a pretty standard Kransekake recipe that I’ve embellished slightly with rosewater or orange blossom (both go so well with almond) and I like to grease the pans with coconut oil for a hint of coconut flavor. You could always go with butter though.

So if you’re looking to impress all of your fronds with a holiday party centerpiece that’s less labor intensive than a gingerbread house (and, well, much tastier), make this!!!! 

Kransekake

Makes 1 large Kransekake

Ingredients

500g (4 c + 7 tb) almond meal, plus more for dusting

500g (4 c + 3 tb) powdered sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

4 large egg whites

1 tsp almond extract

1/2 tsp orange blossom water or rosewater, optional

Softened butter or coconut oil, for greasing

For assembly

Royal icing (I just bought meringue powder from my local grocery and followed the recipe on the back!)

Sprinkles, paper chains, flags, any other fun decor!

Clues

In a large bowl, whisk together the almond meal, powdered sugar, and salt. Add the egg whites, almond extract, and orange blossom water or rosewater (if using) and stir with a spatula to combine. At first it will seem like there is not enough liquid to hold everything together but just keep on mixing and it will eventually form a dough. Pat the dough into 2 discs, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 2 hours or up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 400ºf and position the racks in the center of the oven. Use your hands to grease your kransekake molds liberally with butter or coconut oil and set aside. I prefer to set the molds on large baking sheets so that they’re easier to move around. 

Working with one dough disc at a time, chop off a piece of dough and roll it into a rope that’s a generous 1/2” thick (or, if you’re pulling your kitchen ruler out, just go with 5/8” thick…), dusting with additional almond flour if the dough is sticky. Coil the rope into the molds, pinch off any excess dough, and pinch the ends to seal them together. Continue this, re-rolling scraps as needed, until all of the molds are filled. Don’t worry about overworking the dough! Bake until golden; begin checking for doneness at 9 minutes. You’ll likely need to bake these layers in batches, which is totally fine, just keep any dough that you’re not working with covered and in the refrigerator. 

Let the rings cool in the pans and then carefully pop them out (a small offset spatula or butter knife will help) and transfer to a baking sheet or wire rack. 

Make your royal icing and stack the rings up and then pipe on your decorations or pipe on your decorations, let them dry, and then stack them up. When you stack them up, “glue” them together with dots of royal icing (I do dots at 12 o’clock, 3 o’clock, 6 o’clock, and 9 o’clock). Let the icing dry and then decorate with sprinkles, paper chains, flags, or other decor as desired! This is good for at least a few days uncovered at room temperature, so feel free to make this in advance!

hazelnut gelt cookies

/

These cookies were born out of my desire to build a repertoire of Hanukkah cookies in a Christmas cookie world! I mean I obviously love a Christmas cookie but I also love a Hanukkah dessert that a) doesn’t require me to fry anything and, b) can allow me to pull out all of the sprinkles and decorate stuff. A few years ago, I learned the joys of making homemade gelt. It’s so simple yet fun! You just melt blobs of chocolate and add any toppings you want. And you can control your own currency and game the dreidel system so that whatever happens, you’re rich! (Oh, your gelt is topped with sunflower seeds? Well mine is way more valuable since it’s topped with sea salt. Therefore I win.) So this year I decided to up the ante and put this gelt right on top of a cookie. Gelt on cookies is nothing new, but homemade gelt on a thick soft hazelnut cookie is a thing of modern beauty! You could obviously schmear melted chocolate on any kind of cut out cookie but I’ve used these hazelnutty orange zesty pucks here because they’ve got more personality than your standard holiday sugar cookie. The result is a combination of textures (soft cookie + snappy chocolate) and flavors (hazelnut + chocolate + orange) that is worthy of a prime spot in your Hanukkah cookie box.

So have at it and let your creativity run wild! Make some for your Ultimate Hanukkah Challenge viewing party*!!! 

*Your daily reminder that the Ultimate Hanukkah Challenge is a show that exists and it is premiering on December 21st at 9pm/8c on Food Network.

Hazelnut Gelt Cookies

makes about 26 cookies

ingredients

for the cookies:

3 1/2 c (448g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 1/3 c (150g) ground toasted hazelnuts (you can make your own or buy hazelnut flour, bob’s red mill sells it!)

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1 c (226g) unsalted butter, softened

2/3 c (137g) granulated sugar

2/3 c (80g) powdered sugar

Zest of 1 orange

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

for the topping:

6 oz (168g) chopped milk chocolate or milk chocolate chips

sprinkles

clues

to make the cookies, in a medium bowl, combine the flour, ground hazelnuts, baking powder, and salt and set aside. in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, cream together the butter, sugars, and orange zest on medium high until pale and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each, and then add the vanilla.

reduce the speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until blended. at this point you can wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour, or up to two days, or you can get going on rolling out your dough and cutting out your cookies immediately. 

when ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350ºf. line two baking sheets with parchment and set aside. working with half of the dough at a time, roll it out on a lightly floured surface to a thickness that’s just under 1/2” thick. cut out 2 1/2” circles with a biscuit cutter and then transfer to a baking sheet, 1" apart. re-roll scraps and cut out more shapes. bake until they’re lightly browned on the bottom; begin checking for doneness at 12 minutes. let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes and then carefully transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

To decorate, melt the chocolate in a double boiler or in a microwavable bowl in 30-second increments, stirring after each. Melt until it’s just smooth and then remove from heat. Spoon a teaspoon of chocolate onto the top of each cookie, and spread it around with a spoon into a little Gelt-sized circle. Top with sprinkles and let set in the fridge or at room temperature. Enjoy!

stollen bars

/

This time last year when I was a million months pregnant, I got the wildest craving for Stollen, the yeasted spiced Christmas cake that has a bunch of tasty mix-ins (most notably, marzipan). This craving came out of nowhere because I don’t think I’d even ever had Stollen before?! I guess I wanted all of the warm spices and a cake with not too much sweetness, and, obviously, marzipan. Because, spoiler alert, I am approximately 75% marzipan during the holiday season. But then when I started looking for recipes, I realized I wanted something with a little more instant gratification because I was too impatient to let stuff rise. I also wanted a softer moister denser texture than a yeasted cake could give me. After searching high and low, I came across Dan Lepard’s Stollen bars!! They are a stroke of genius and delivered everything I was looking for: a buttery soft blondie-like consistency, loads of flavor, hidden surprises like chewy dried fruit and toasty pistachios, not too much required in the way of time or energy, and gigantic chunks of marzipan. GIGANTIC CHUNKS OF MARZIPAN!!! They were SO GOOD!!! I made multiple batches and gifted them all over the place. My only challenge was that the recipe was written in British and required a lot of Googling and trial and error to figure out suitable equivalents to “mixed spice” and strong white flour, as well as the meaning of “sultana.” I also ended up throwing in some dried cherries because I’m in a dried cherry phase, and some orange zest and almond extract because they tie all of these flavors together soo nicely. 

So here is my version of Dan’s bars and, ugh, I am obsessed with these. I love the earthy understated look. They’re sturdy, reliable, low maintenance (make them ahead! they last for a few weeks!), and all around delicious. The cream cheese in the dough adds a sparkle of tang and melted butter brushed on top combines with a storm of powdered sugar for a wintery rustic alternative to glaze. If colorful frosted sugar cookies are the fancy sequined holiday party dress that you’ve been planning on wearing for months, these bars are the very comfortable jeggings and oversized sweater that you decide to wear at the last minute with absolutely no regrets!

Stollen Bars

Makes 25 squares

Ingredients

2 c (260g) all-purpose flour

2/3 c (75g) almond flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

A pinch of ground cloves

A pinch of allspice

3/4 c (168g) unsalted butter, divided, at room temperature

4 oz (112g) cream cheese, room temperature

1 c (200g) sugar

Zest of 1 orange

1 large egg

1/2 tsp almond extract

1/3 c (53g) dried cherries

1/3 c (53g) golden raisins

1 c (112g) roasted pistachios

8 oz (227g) marzipan, chopped into 3/4” pieces

1/3 c (40g) powdered sugar

Clues

Preheat the oven to 350ºf. Grease an 8” square pan and line with parchment paper so that 1” wings come up on two sides. Set it aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, cardamom, cloves, and allspice. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, beat together 1/2 cup of the butter, the cream cheese, sugar, and orange zest on medium high until pale and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add the egg and almond extract and beat until combined. Reduce the speed to low and then beat in the dry ingredients followed by the cherries, raisins, and pistachios. Fold in the marzipan pieces by hand. Scrape into the pan and spread it out evenly with your hands or a rubber spatula. Bake until golden around the edges and lightly browned on top; begin checking for doneness at 28 minutes. 

Spread the remaining 1/4 cup of butter all over the top while it’s still hot out of the oven so that the butter melts and then sprinkle with powdered sugar. Let cool in the pan and then cut into squares and enjoy! Keep in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge for up to two weeks.

-yeh!

photos by chantell and brett quernemoen

mazariner

/

OK, I am officially in major baking mode for the holiday season. But Molly, aren’t you always in major baking mode?? Well, uh, yes, but consider this major baking mode plus because these days I’m not just testing blog recipes and baking the occasional birthday cake, but I’m also cranking out tasty lil gift boxes for people around town and my entries for the various cookie swaps that I’m going to this month. 

So what does baking mode plus look like? There is a steady supply of butter softening on my counter at all times, my fridge is filled with stacks of discs of dough wrapped in plastic wrap, two stand mixers are out on the counter, I have a regular container of well beaten egg wash sitting in my fridge ready to go at a moment’s notice, the smell of almond and vanilla is in the air, there is probably flour on my face, and I am dressed warmly in fluffy socks and sweaters because I like keeping it kind of cool in the kitchen so that doughs are easier to handle. Also, Christmas movies or ice skating are always always on the TV. And water is in my cup. Because cold Midwest tap water has been at the top of my cravings list and also because everything I read about drinking tea while preggo is kind of a question mark?? I can’t really keep it straight, so I’ve pretty much been avoiding it altogether, even though I realllly want to complete this vibe with sugar cookie Christmas tea, which is probably just vanilla flavored water, but I’m just that paranoid. 

One treat I’ve been baking a ton of has been Mazariner, Swedish almond tarts. They are basically a buttery crunchy cookie cup filled with dense almond cake. In my mind, they’re marzipan in tart form, and you know how marzipan runs through my veins this time of year. I always used to get them for dessert at IKEA when my mom and I would go eat Swedish meatballs. They weren’t the prettiest dessert because they were unglazed and just two shades of brown, but they were by far the tastiest. I don’t actually know if they serve them anymore, but still to this day, I just cannot get enough of the texture of the filling. It’s a texture that I don’t see too often in desserts because even though it’s cakey, the only leavening agent in it is eggs, so it’s extra dense, almost as if it wants to be a blondie when it grows up. The whole tart is quite sturdy, which is one reason why I plan to gift a bunch of these this month. I’ve been topping them with a powdered sugar and heavy cream glaze, which makes a thick cloud-like topping, and to some of them I’ve been adding cranberry juice for bright natural color. And it’s kewt to decorate all of them differently, with fresh cranberries, herbs, sprinkles, etc., you know the drill!

And I’ve partnered with Pampered Chef on this post because their tools have been such amazing help during my big long baking days. I seriously use their stackable cooling racks every single day because of how much I can fit on them and how much space I save. I also love their medium sheet pans because of how sturdy and heavy duty they are. Other tools of theirs that rock are their pretty marble rolling pin, small spreaders (perfect for decorating these tarts), medium scoops (great for distributing the tart filling evenly), sturdy serving spatulas, heavy duty silicon-coated sauce whisks, classic batter bowls, muffin pan, small glass mixing bowls, and stainless steel mixing bowl set. All of the bowls I’ve used in this post have lids, which are so great because sometimes I need to keep glazes and egg washes going for a couple of days, or prep fillings and such a day in advance. Thank you so much, Pampered Chef, for providing these tools and sponsoring this post!!

mazariner

makes 12

Ingredients

Shells:

1/3 c (67g) sugar

1 3/4 c (228g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 tsp kosher salt

3/4 c (168g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed

2 large eggs, separated

Filling:

1 c (120g) almond meal

3/4 c (150g) sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

6 tb (85g) unsalted butter, softened

1 tsp almond extract

1 large egg

Glaze:

1 c (120g) powdered sugar

1/4 c (60 ml) heavy cream or 2 tb cranberry juice

1/4 tsp almond extract

To decorate: sprinkles, fresh herbs, sliced almonds, fresh cranberries

Clues

To make the shells, in a food processor, pulse together the sugar, flour, and salt to combine. Add the butter and continue to pulse until mealy. Add the egg yolks (reserve the egg whites for the filling) and pulse until the dough comes together. Press the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour, or overnight.

To make the filling, combine the almond meal, sugar, salt, and butter, either by blending it in the food processor (no need to clean it out after making the dough, you can just use it immediately for this step), or by stirring it together in a large bowl (I find it’s easiest to get in there with my hands). Add the almond extract, egg, and the reserved egg whites from the shells, and continue to blend/stir until smooth and combined. Set aside while you mold the shells. 

To mold the shells, grease a muffin tin. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to 1/4” thick, dusting with more flour as needed. Cut out 3” circles and press them into the muffin cups, pressing so that the dough comes all the way up the sides. No worries if the dough tears, just patch it up additional dough. Freeze the shells for 15 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 350ºf. Fill the frozen shells with the filling so that it comes up about 1/4” from the top. Bake until the tops and edges are lightly browned; begin checking for doneness at 30 minutes. Let cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then use a small offset spatula or a knife to remove to a wire rack to cool completely. 

To make the glaze, combine the powdered sugar and heavy cream or cranberry juice until smooth. Add additional powdered sugar or liquid to thicken it up or thin it out so that you get the consistency of a thick glue. Spread the glaze over the cooled tarts and decorate with sprinkles, herbs, cranberries, almonds, and anything else you’d like! These will keep for several days at room temperature or in the fridge. 

-yeh!

thank you, pampered chef, for sponsoring this post!!

photos by chantell and brett!