Norwegian Fattigmann Cookies
Fattigmann (klenäter in Swedish and klejner in Danish) are made from a simple cookie dough spiced with cardamom, cut and folded into long diamond shapes and then deep fried. These date back to the Middle Ages and since they’re cooked on a stove, people without ovens could make them.
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Servings: 35 cookies
Equipment
- Rolling Pin
- pastry wheel or pizza cutter
Ingredients
- 6 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tbsp heavy cream
- 2 tbsp cognac
- 1/2 tsp freshly ground cardamom
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 16 oz lard or vegetable oil
- powdered sugar (for dusting)
Instructions
- Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a large mixing bowl until pale and fluffy (you can also use an electric mixer for this).
- In a separate bowl, whip the cream and add the cognac. Then fold the cream into the egg mixture.
- Add the flour and cardamom and mix until you have a smooth dough. Cover the bowl and set in the fridge over night (or four a few hours).
- Roll out the dough on a floured surface. If the dough is too sticky to roll, you might need to knead in a generous amount of flour until you can roll it out.
- Use a pastry wheel to slice the dough into long strips and then slice each strip into diamonds. Cut a slit in the center of each diamond and pull one end of the diamond through the slit.
- Heat the lard or oil in a large pot to 355°F (180°C). If you don't have a cooking thermometer, you can put the end of a wooden spoon or a wooden skewer into the fat - if it bubbles, it's hot enough to cook the fattigmann.
- Gently drop each fattigmann into the fat and fry until each side is a light golden brown. Cool on a wire rack covered in paper towels.
- Optional: dust the fattigmann with powdered sugar.