Serinakaker (Norwegian Butter Cookies)

After making the very complicated (and very delicious) Sarah Bernhardt cookies last week, this week I was in the mood for something more simple. Norwegian butter cookies, or serinakaker, are incredibly simple but oh so delicious. I brought these to a film night with my friends and they were quickly gobbled up!

Serinakaker are especially popular in Norway as a Christmas cookie, but you can of course make them any time of year.

You can find all of my Scandinavian Christmas recipes here.

You won’t really see variations in serinakaker recipes aside from different toppings. Here I’ve followed the classic serinakake recipe and they turned out perfect.

This is a cookie dough that you mix with your hands, first crumbling the butter into the dry ingredients. Try to use high quality salted butter here, as the flavor of the butter is the highlight of these Norwegian butter cookies.

Then you’ll add the egg and sugar and roll the dough into a couple of long sausages. Slice them into small pieces and then roll each slice into a round ball.

Lightly press the cookies down when a fork. They’ll puff up a bit in the oven instead of spreading out, so you can press them down quite a bit.

Some people skip the egg wash when decorating the cookies, but I love the shiny finish the egg gives the serinakaker, and I swear it makes them taste better.

I’ve seen serinakaker dipped in chocolate, jam, and all sorts of other toppings, but traditionally you would simply sprinkle them with some almond pieces and granulated sugar.

While I usually love a warm cookie fresh out of the oven, I actually think these Norwegian butter cookies taste best once they’ve fully cooled. I even store these in the fridge because I like them chilled. They’re perfect as a sweet treat with your afternoon coffee or tea.

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