Sandbakkels

Out of all of the things I wanted to keep of my Grandma's, her Sandbakkel tins were first and foremost. Of all the many, MANY delicasies she make at Christmastime, these were my favorite.  Sandbakkels are a delicate almond-flavored shortbread tart.  I loved to use them to scoop up the homemade ice cream that was also a tradition at Grandma's house on Christmas night.

And so, today I got the ancient box down (the instructions even say to bake in a "middle-hot" oven), and took out the tins that her hands had pressed the sugary, buttery dough into time and time again.  I used her hand-written recipe to instruct me, and found myself smiling that my sandbakkels were definitely NOT up to Grandma standards.  Her's were always perfect.






Sandbakkels
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
3/4 tsp almond extract
2.5 cups flour

Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in egg and extract.  Beat in flour until dough is stiff.  Press dough (in about 1" balls) into tins and place tins on a cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes, or until edges just begin to turn light brown.  Remove from oven and let sit for a couple minutes.  Tarts should "pop" out of tins, or you can use the dull end of a table knife to gently pound them out.

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