Norway: Mandelkaker (Almond Refrigerator Cookies)

This Norwegian recipe might or might not have started out life as a refrigerator cooky, but it works perfectly as one. A substantial dose of ground almonds recalls the flavor of some of the lighter, flourless cookies of Scandinavia (often raised with hartshorn / ammonium bicarbonate), but these come out with a less crisp, more straightforwardly cooky-ish texture, similar to that of a sugar cookie. Vanilla is added to these for flavoring purposes, but you could substitute other flavor extracts if you liked, as the almonds aren't all that assertive a flavor in the mix. (Or add almond extract to make that flavor more assertive: just as you wish.)

Making the cookie dough in a mixer or food processor takes about ten or fifteen minutes: then you leave it in the fridge at least overnight. After that, it's cookies on demand, whenever you feel like it until you run out of dough. This recipe makes about 48 / four dozen.

Click on "read more" for the recipe.

Mandelkaker: Norwegian Almond Refrigerator Cookies

• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup sugar or vanilla sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup ground almonds
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, or other preferred flavoring extract

Warm the butter so that it will become manageable (around here we sometimes give it ten or twenty seconds in the microwave: be careful with this, you don't want it to melt outright) and add the sugar. Cream together well in a mixer or food processor. Add the flour a little at a time. Then add the vanilla (or other flavoring) and the ground almonds.

Shape into a roll about 1 1/2 inches thick, wrap in plastic wrap / clingfilm or waxed paper, and place in the refrigerator overnight. (As the roll will sag a little while cooling, you might want to remove it after the first hour or so and roll it gently on the counter to recover the perfect round shape. Then replace in the fridge.)

The next day: preheat the oven to 375F / 160C.

Remove the cookie roll from the refrigerator (and from its wrapping!) and slice thin slices from it: 1/4 inch slices seem to work out well. For thinner slices, allow the roll to stand out in the warmth of the kitchen for fifteen or twenty minutes before slicing, and make sure you're working with a good sharp chef's knife, slicing slowly so that the cookie slices don't crumble.

Place the slices on a greased (preferably buttered) baking sheet. Bake until light brown, about 5-7 minutes. Keep an eye on them, as oven temperatures sometimes vary, especially if you're using a fan oven.

Serve. Warm, these are wonderful. But they also keep well in a tightly closed tin.

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