KRANSEKAKE

Contributed by Randi Adams of Sigrid Undset Lodge #32, Palo Alto

  • 1 pound almonds (half blanched* and half unblanched)
  • 1 pound confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar) plus some extra
  • 2 tbsp. unbleached flour
  • 2 medium egg whites (or 3 small)

Decoration:

  • 1 egg white
  • confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar)
Kransekake
  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Spray Kransekake rings (18 concentrate rings**) with oil [even the teflon coated versions}.
  2. Grind the almonds through an almond grinder until it is ground to cornmeal consistency.
  3. Combine both types of almonds together in a large bowl and mix thoroughly if ground separately. Add 1 pound sugar to almond mixture and mix thoroughly with wooden spoon or hands. Slowly add some of the egg whites and mix dough, add whites as needed until you create a firm dough. [Cover bowl with damp cloth to keep dough from drying out. If dough gets dry you can add a bit more of egg whites. If using extra large eggs, you will not need the entire amount.]
  4. Combine a small amount of additional ground almonds and confectioner's sugar in a bowl and use to dust rolling surface if rolling dough. Take out a small amount of dough and make a 4" snake like roll out of it about the thickness of a pinkie finger. This will be your tester.
  5. In preheated oven on greased or parchment lined cookie sheet cook the tester roll for about 8 minutes. You want to see if it comes out without any cracks and test for doneness. If the dough is too moist, you will need to roll another tester to test in about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, you can roll out the dough in rings that fit inside the cookie rings. Make sure rolls are not too thick as they will stick together. Each ring should try to have as seamless a connection as possible.
  6. If you had to wait for the second tester to bake and see if it holds together as one piece without bursting with cracks, do so after the 30 minutes. If it comes out good, then you can bake remaining rings on cookie sheet(s).
  7. Remember to cook for 8 – 10 minutes or less (depends on oven and thickness of the rings) until they are turning slightly golden. Place them on cookie racks. Let sit and cool slightly [about 5 minutes] and then turn them out of the rings onto the racks. Sit them upright on the racks and let them cool completely. [At this point you could pack them in tins and decorate later, or continue with decoration]
  8. Make icing when ready to decorate: Use 1 egg white and add confectioner's sugar to make a thick icing. Either use a fork, whisk or electric mixer and whip the egg whites as you slowly add the sugar to make the frosting a consistency of marshmallow whip. Put icing in a zip lock bag and cut a small hole in 1 corner (or use a small icing bag with small tip inserted). Cover remaining icing in bowl with damp cloth to keep it moist.
  9. Place your cooled rings so you can begin frosting them and so they don't touch. Pipe on garlands of icing. Let this dry before putting together or storing in tins. Place remaining icing in another new zip lock bag and store in refrigerator until ready to place together. When finally assembling this you can add dots on the bottom of rings to cement layers together and keep it from falling apart. You can add Norwegian flag pins (see links on side for sources) to decorate the cake and or attach bonbons or candy according to the occasion.
  1. *If you want to blanch your own almonds, do so 2 days prior to baking. You place almonds in boiling water in small sauce pan doing only 1/4 pound at a time. Cook one minute and remove with slotted spoon onto paper towels. Skins are now loose so you can remove them by squeezing them. Place blanched skin-free almonds on a cookie sheet to dry. Repeat with remaining 1/4# of almonds. Let the almonds dry in single layer for 2 days. Freeze them at that time if not using within the week.
  2. **If you don't have rings, make a template with 18 concentric circles that progress from about a 2" diameter and up. Place wax paper over the circles and use this for forming the dough rings. Place on cookie sheet. Rings can be purchased at many Scandinavian stores (see left links for a few).
  3. Yields: 18 rings
  4. Some people use food processor to grind almonds, but this is not recommended. The food processor can over grind them into a paste or underground them which makes it difficult to roll them successfully (they don't hold together where the big chunks are).
  5. Trader Joe's sells ground almonds which some people have used instead of doing half and half mixture and they had good results too with less work.
  6. Today, Norwegians in Norway tend to make Kransekake less in rings (except for very special occasions). They tend to make logs about 6" long. Instead of frosting, they may dip them in dark chocolate instead.
  7. Storing: Store at room temperature in airtight container (metal cookie tins are great) for up to 3 weeks. Put fresh crust of bread, or an apple slice, or piece of potato (these must be wrapped in waxed paper so they don't touch the rings) in the tin a few days before serving older kransekake so it gets it's "chewy" texture back. Do NOT refrigerate. You can freeze these for up to 6 months (bag well and separate rings with waxed paper so they don't touch). Some people say they are best after being frozen.
  8. These are usually served for any special occasion in Norway such as weddings, May 17th celebrations, baptisms, confirmations and Christmas.
  9. To serve these, you begin by taking the largest bottom ring and breaking that up into pieces for guests to take. Continue from the bottom so you don't loose the tower affect, you just make it shorter. However, in some of the older wedding traditions, the bride and groom would grab the top of the tower and pull up to see how many rings they would be able to take up. Each ring they broke off in this single pull would indicate the number of children they would have.
  10. These are amazing to eat and well worth the trouble to make.