Baking For Christmas
Traditionally, one was supposed to bake at least 7 different types of cookies/cakes for Christmas in this country.
The varieties were different everywhere, but some you just "had to" have - like a local type of donut (smultring), another cookie that's deep fried that's called "fattigmann" (means poor man - supposedly that's what would happen to you when you baked it, it's got all sorts of expensive ingredients...), krumkaker (a flat cookie that's made in a special iron and rolled onto a pin while it's hot) and goro (another flat cookie, made in another type of iron, and that consists of A LOT of butter), and of course, gingerbread men (and women, children, pigs, hearts, xmas trees...). Most of these require a lot of work.
Other than that, the traditions vary around the country, and some adventurous housewives have been known to experiment over the years, thus introducing entirely new varieties.
A typical collection nowadays may look something like this:
For myself, I have been known to experiment. I've never made the deep-fried types. 1. They taste good on the first day. After that, they lose their charm to me... and 2. they're way too much work.
Still, there are types that I just can't skip, and that I make every year. One is Mazarines. They look like cupcakes - in fact they're made in little aluminium moulds, that are lined with a butter dough, filled with an almond paste and embellished with a little cross made of the lining dough. Marvelous.
An easy one, and a favourite with the kids, is made with egg yolks, caster sugar and a powerful rising agent. Little round cookies, that rise so that there's an empty space in the middle, almost like meringue, but need only 10 minutes in the oven.
Gingerbread men and so on... Kids love to make them, although it breaks my back.
Oatmeal cookies - easy and tasty.
On top of that (I do want to reach at least the goal of 7 types - tradition, you know), I make whatever takes my fancy, and I do try new recipes from time to time.
And then there's the marzipan. Home made. We usually make 4 kilos (8 pounds) of the stuff, and it all disappears by just after New Year. All the cookies usually go too.
Burn that, Relacore!
