Norwegian Table Stacking Cookies | Bordstabelbakkels
Wafer-thin butter cookies topped with almond meringue. They're often stacked in a crisscross pattern and, because of that, their name in Norwegian means table stacking cookies. These are part of the Norwegian tradition known as "syv slag" which means "seven kinds", in which 7 kinds of cookies are always served at the Christmas celebration.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tbsp heavy cream
- 125 g sugar ⅔ cup
- 250 g all-purpose flour 2 cups
- 125 g unsalted butter, softened 9 tbsp
Meringue
- 2 egg whites, room temperature
- 120 g powdered sugar 1 cup
- 120 g ground almonds with the skin 1¼ cups
Instructions
Dough
- In a large bowl, whisk together the egg with heavy cream. Then whisk in the sugar.
- Alternating between the flour and butter, use an electric mixer to beat everything in until a smooth dough forms.
- Place the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap and wrap it up. Use your hands to press the dough into the shape of a rectangle. This is a very soft dough, so it's easiest to shape it inside of the plastic. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until very firm.
- Roll out one half of the dough on a piece of parchment paper the size of your baking sheet, and roll out the dough to almost the size of the parchment paper. It should be rolled out pretty thin in order to make wafer thin cookies.
- Use a fluted edge pastry cutter (or just a knife) to cut ½" or 1¼ cm long strips in the dough. Then trim off the rough edges. Next cut the dough horizontally in three sections to make 4 inch or 10 cm long sticks.
- Place your parchment paper with the cut out sticks onto a baking sheet and pop this in the freezer for 10 minutes. Remove it from the freezer and it should be firm enough to be able to pull off the cookie dough sticks and arrange them spaced slightly apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Repeat the same process with the other half of your dough.
- Place your baking sheets in the refrigerator while you prepare your meringue.
Meringue
- Place two room temperature egg whites into a bowl and beat them until frothy. Then begin to add your powdered sugar a little bit at a time. Beat the meringue until you reach stiff peaks.
- Fold in your ground almonds and then spoon the meringue into a piping bag and pipe thin strips of meringue onto the length of each cookie.
- Bake them in a 350℉ / 180℃ for 6-8 minutes, or until barely golden around the edges. Let them cool fully on a rack and then arrange them in crisscross patterns on a plate to serve.