kammerjunkere

this is how we deal with an 'excess' of strawberries in denmark. we put them in koldskål, which normally only needs kammerjunkere and buttermilk with lemon, vanilla, and perhaps some eggs to thicken the soup. the addition of berries makes this nice summer dish even more refreshing. now, kammerjunkere are cheap cookies... but it's such a simple recipe, why even waste that much money on it?

kammerjunkere
ca. 75 stk

ingredienser:
250 g hvedemel
2 tsk bagepulver
1 tsk vanilje eller revet skal fra en økologisk citron
35 g sukker
75 g smør eller margarine
1 æg
1/2 dl mælk - vælg variant alt efter, hvor meget fedt, du ønsker i kammerjunkerne

Sådan gør du:
Mel og bagepulver blandes. Tilsæt sukker og vanille/citronskal. Smør eller margarine smuldres i, mens det er koldt. Æg og mælk tilsættes. Ælt dejen til den er ensartet og rul den ud på bordet i en pølse og skær den i 75 små stykker, som du ruller til små kugler.

Læg kuglerne på en smurt plade og sæt den ind i en forvarmet ovn. Bag dem i ca. 6 minutter på 200 grader. Efterfølgende skal de afkøles, halveres. Herefter skal de igen i ovnen og tørres i ca. 20 minutter i eftervarmen. Inden de færdige kammerjunkere pakkes i pose eller kagedåse, skal de være helt afkølede.

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kammerjunkere
yields approximately 75 pieces

250g all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla or zest from an organic lemon
35g sugar
75g butter or margarine
1 egg
½ dl milk - choose variation depending on how much fat you want in your cookies

mix flour and baking powder. add sugar and vanilla/lemon zest. cut the butter or margarine in, while it is cold. add egg and milk. knead the dough until it's uniform and then roll it into a sausage on the table and cut it into 75 small pieces, which you roll into small balls.

put the doughballs on a greased plate and then place in a heated oven. bake them for about 6 minutes at 200°C. after they cool, half them. afterward return them to the oven and dry for about 20 minutes in the after heat(?). before the finished kammerjunkere are packed in a bag or caketin, they must cool completely.

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didn't quite understand "after heat." i turned off the still-hot oven after i returned the cookies, but even after 30 minutes they were still a bit soft inside. so i turned it back up to 150°C and set the hot air. this seems like a better deal. the other problem i found with this recipe is that it states you must cut 75 pieces but then half them, yet the recipe is supposed to make 75 cookies! either the article's author is bad at math or i didn't translate the danish correctly... and the latter is much more likely. in any case they turned out well, though not as sweet as store-bought. the ingredients are inexpensive enough for me to experiment. (:

i know these cookies don't look as clean-cut as the ones you see in supermarkets... but come on. they're gonna get crumbled up in your koldskål anyway.