Kakemenn (Norwegian Christmas Cookies)

I thought I was done with my Christmas cookie baking, but then my friend Lisa mentioned that kakemenn are her favorite Christmas cookies. I was floored.

You see, I’ve always thought kakemenn were the most bland and boring of the Norwegian Christmas cookies. So now I was intrigued. Maybe I had misjudged kakemenn?

Kakemenn, or “cookie men,” are pale cookies with crispy edges and soft centers, cut into fun shapes and painted with food coloring. Their light color makes them perfect canvases. They’re only slightly sweet and keep for weeks, so they’re a nice complement to more extravagant Christmas cookies.

You can find all of my Scandinavian Christmas recipes here.

And after talking to Lisa, I realized that kakemenn are probably also a great choice for more picky eaters, especially children, who might not always like all the spices and textures of other cookies. Plus they’re so fun to decorate! Painting cookies with food coloring is a lot easier and less time consuming than decorating cookies with frosting.

After Lisa told me how much she loves kakemenn I was of course very curious about her kakemenn recipe. And luckily for me (and you!) her mother Beathe generously agreed to share the recipe.

This recipe uses hornsalt, or ammonium carbonate (baker’s ammonia), which is an old fashioned leavening agent that predates baking soda and baking powder and is still used in many Scandinavian recipes. You can buy it on Amazon here. You can use a mixture of baking soda and baking powder instead, however the texture of the cookies won’t be quite the same. But I also recommend using baker’s ammonia because baking with it is quite an experience! Plus you can use it in lots of other Scandinavian recipes, like smultringer and dream cookies.

If you’re wondering why baking with hornsalt is an experience, the answer is the smell. Instead of filling your home with the sweet smell of freshly baked cookies, kakemenn made with hornsalt will fill your home with the scent of ammonia. And there’s something so Norwegian about it. I mean Norwegians are the people who like to cook fish in lye, so are we surprised they bake their cookies with ammonia?

And kakemenn use a lot of baker’s ammonia. 5 teaspoons!

You do need to chill the dough in the fridge overnight, so remember to plan accordingly.

As their name suggests, kakemenn are traditionally cut into people shapes, but it’s of course more fun to use all sorts of different shapes.

Lisa and I mixed the food coloring with a bit of water and then used Q-tips to decorate the cookies.

You can switch the recipe from US measurements to metric by clicking from “US Customary” to “Metric” under Ingredients.