Pass the Plate

I didn’t know this was a thing until someone asked me to make them. To me, they’re a lot like those Royal Danish butter cookies you might get as a gift in one of those blue tins. I tried looking into if there is a difference between Norwegian and Danish butter cookies, but couldn’t find anything. I have a sneaking suspicious they’re the exact same thing, but don’t tell the Norwegians or Danes this as they’ll likely get offended by the notion. 😉

I did a double-take when I saw that these required hard-boiled egg yolks, but I tried it and they works great. This must be what gives the cookies a light, fluffy texture. The only downside I feel this recipe has is that it yields much less than you would expect from one that requires two eggs. I would strongly suggest making a double batch so you don’t eat everything in one sitting! The upshot is that they’re really easy to make and you’ll already have everything you need to make these on hand.

Ingredients

• Butter, at room temperature ½ cup 115 g
• Egg yolks, hard-boiled 2
• Granulated white sugar ¹⁄3 cup 85 ml
• Flour 1 cup 250 ml
• Vanilla extract ½ tsp 3 ml

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 375°F / 190°C.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and egg yolks.
3. Add the sugar gradually.
4. Add the vanilla.
5. Add the flour gradually.
6. Drop teaspoonfuls of batter on an ungreased baking sheet and flatten a bit with a fork. These don’t expand all that much, so it’s fine if they’re only about 1” / 3 cm apart.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges start to get a little golden.
   

   It’s tricky to find the balance between under- and overbaking cookies. The key is to make sure they don’t look wet, but that they still give a little when you touch them. They’ll harden as they cool.

8. Let cool for about two minutes before removing the cookies from the baking sheet.

Makes about 24 cookies of 1½” / 4 cm diameter. While they’re good warm, I prefer to serve them cooled. The flavour and flakey texture is more apparent when they’re not right out of the oven.