Norwegian Sandbakkels

These are Sandbakkel cups

Norwegian people began migrating to Minnesota in the 1850s and according to my Mom, Norwegians were always welcome because they were "Scandinavian" and "the perfect people," she once told me. I never understood what she meant by that until I visited my Aunt Fran and had my first taste of the Norwegian Sandbakkel. 

There was a small bakery in downtown Fergus Falls and Aunt Fran, who had a sweet tooth but refused to let it control her, would go there and buy baked goods for special occasions. On this occasion- a meeting of school administrators- she chose the Sandbakkel as her theme offering.

Given that my Mom made other goodies with a Norse heritage, such as fattigmanns and rosettes, it still seems odd to me that she never made Sandbakkel. But I guess she had her reason. 

Sandbakkels are small cookies, molded into teeny tins and usually filled with some kind of fresh fruit or jam or, well anything that's not too runny! 

You may have seen these tins in the baking area in Hobby Lobby or Michaels.  I bought a set of "fancies" that are used primarily for thick filling. But you can get them in other shapes online. You're going to need large and full sets of sandbakkel molds unless you want to be baking all day. And maybe Mom just didn't find making these worth the investment. I can't say for certain but that would sound like Mom!

Using the molds is simple: just press them into the shell side and bake. I recommend using a baking tray otherwise they could fall through the rack tines. Yes, they will puff some but not much, and a few toothpick pricks or even pricks from a shellfish scraper will work to help keep the puffiness down.  Some cooks like to place some parchment into the shells and put weights in them, cook them partway, remove the weights and parchment, and finish cooking. But in my opinion, that is more work than it's worth.

Mom used to put a tea towel on her tray when placing in the molds then she would remove them to the baking tray. Why? To keep the tins from sliding around!

Anyway, you can find sandbakkel tins on Amazon.

The recipe is simple enough:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups flour

1. Cream the butter and sugar and add in the egg.
2. Stir in the flour.
3. Press into the sandbakkel tins and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
4. Cool and gently remove.

I invert them on thick sheets of newspaper covered with waxed paper or onto very clean tea towels. But one thing for certain- you have to let them completely cool before moving them or you could end up with a crumbly mess!

You can fill your sandbakkels with anything that isn't watery or runny. A cooled but not cold pudding, berry compote, and, if you leave the sugar out, you could conceivably put a pate' in them. Me? I like the shell by itself!