It’s time for another edition of Norwegian foods. While this isn’t actually a Norwegian recipe, the color certainly qualities it for inclusion. There’s something about Norwegians and cookies. We love our coffee breaks and we need a sweet bite to go along with it.
When Drew graduated from high school, he wanted a trip to Minnesota for his graduation present. He came home with tales of the coffee and cookie tour he was taken on. He said it was the state pastime to go from house to house visiting. Every relative he visited plied him with coffee and cookies. And, if he only ate one cookie, they kept getting him to try others until he found one he liked. I don’t think he ate another cookie for a very long time.
Greg and I love coffee and cookies, but the cookie we want is the shortbread cookie we had at every Starbucks we visited in England. It’s firm but mildly crumbly. It does not scream sweet, rather it whispers. We’re still looking. Until then there are these.
My mom would rather have red hot knitting needles poked in her eyes then be caught without a cookie if company stopped by. There was usually a selection, but you could always count on two, Chocolate Chips for my brother and Petticoat Tails.
This recipe is not original to mom. You can find it in the still iconic red and white Betty Crocker cookbook page 188. I’m lucky enough to have a 1950 First Edition that belonged to Grandma Olson, so your page number may differ.
Again, these aren’t terribly sweet, but they are perfect dunked in a cup of coffee. They are firm and hold up to a good dunking. If you want to know more about our love of sweets , check out Hygge, the Nordic secret for a happy life. There’s several books out now explaining it and our love of being cozy. Enjoy, or nyt as they say in Norway, this recipe.
Petticoat Tails
Beat well:
1 cup softened butter
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Add: 2 ½ cups flour/well sifted
¼ teaspoon salt
Press and mold into a long smooth log about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and chill several hours.
Cut in thin slices approximately 1/8 inch thick. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake until light brown around the edges approximately 8 to 10 minutes at 400 degrees.
Or place in a shortbread mold or pie pan and bake approximately 20 minutes. This is shortbread 2 ways.
* From the Recipe Box:
Mom always had a container of these cookies in the freezer. Mine never, ever turn out as well as hers.
Greg and I are still looking for the perfect shortbread cookie and until we find it, this one will work.
Great with coffee.
and remember: 9 times out of 10, you probably aren’t having a nervous breakdown. You just need a cup of coffee and a cookie. Big kiss, Lynn
From the Recipe Box 