December 3.

One of the classic Danish christmas cookies is vanillekranse, a crispy, sweet, buttery cookie with the distinctive vanilla flavor. These cookies have always been one of my favorite.

What can you do with a perfect cookie to make it more Danish or Nordic? In this day and age - you have to add liquorice, and so I did.

Liquorice wreaths is a new take on vanillekranse, the traditional christmas cookie in Denmark. The liquorice taste is subtle and is perfect in this classic crispy cookie.

Ingredients:

200 g butter
150 g sugar
1 egg
250 g all-purpose flour
100 g liquorice marzipan
3 teaspoons raw liquorice powder

Directions:

Cream the sugar and liquorice marzipan with the butter. Mix in the egg, and finally mix in the liquorice powder and flour.

Put the dough into a decorating bag with a star decorating tip. You can also use a cookie press. Pipe the dough in small circles approximately 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter, onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

If you have a stand mixer, a meat grinder attachment and a vanillekranse attachment to make stings of star shaped dough; you can do this instead of piping the cakes:

If using a stand mixer, chill the dough in the refrigerator overnight. Add the cold dough to the feeder on the grinder, and push it into the grinder, and long strings of star shaped dough comes out of the grinder. I do this on medium to high speed. Place the strings of dough on the table, an cut them into 4 inch pieces. Join the ends to form a wreath, and place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 356℉ (180℃) 12-15 minutes, until browned on the edges. It's kinda hard to tell, but it's better to bake them 30 seconds longer than ending up with soft cookies. Cool the cookies on a wire rag. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Enjoy!

The Danish version:

Lakridskranse

Dette er en del af Madblogger udfordringen #5 Nordisk Jul.

#MadbloggerUdfordringen5 og #MadbloggerUdfordringen.

Der er lakrids i alt efterhånden, så jeg måtte lige se om dette ville fungere. Og ja det holder hele vejen. Det er stadig den sprøde lækre krans man kender fra vanillekransen, med en skøn eftersmag af lakrids.

Ingredienser:

200 g smør, stuetemperatur
150 g sukker
1 æg
250 g hvedemel
100 g lakridsmarcipan (jeg brugte liquorice marzipan fra Bülow)
3 tsk rålakridspulver (raw liquorice powder fra Bülow)

Fremgangsmåde:

Sukker, lakridsmarcipan og smør røres sammen, indtil det er luftigt. Rør ægget med i og tilsæt slutteligt lakridspulver og hvedemel. Mix kun til dejen netop har samlet sig.

Dejen kommes i en sprøjtepose med en stjerne tyl & sprøjtes straks ud i "kranse" på bagepapir - diameter ca. 5 cm. Bages ved 200℃ til de er let gyldne - ca. 12 - 15 minutter. Giv dem hellere lidt længere tid, da de er svære at bedømme udfra farven. Det er ikke sjovt at få bløde småkager.
Afkøles på bagerist og opbevares i tætsluttende dåse.

Velbekomme!