Danish Vaniljekranse is a sweet cookie with taste of real vanilla and almonds. This recipe is from 1866 and is used in the old town in Aarhus, Denmark. The old town is an open air museum with an interactive presentation of Danish history. Read more about it here.
In cities in Denmark before the mid 1800s it was illegal to have your own oven, mainly because of the fire hazard, but from the mid 1800’s the cast iron stove became common in Danish homes. This made it possible to bake, including cakes like vaniljekranse.
In the old town they bake the old version of vaniljekranse from 1866, but in grocery stores you will find a more modern version. The old recipe used real almonds which is different from the more modern vaniljekranse. The main difference is definitely the almonds, but also the look of them. The old one has a more rustic look to it and the modern one is nicely shaped. The modern vaniljekranse is shaped in a machine. The old recipe is therefore perfect to make at home because it doesn’t really require any machine.
Personally these are my favorite Christmas cookies. I just love the taste of real vanilla and almonds and I usually can’t wait to make them. I hope you will love them just as much as I do.
- 500 g flour
- 1 egg
- 350 g butter
- 250 g sugar
- ½ vanilla bean, finely chopped
- 250 g chopped almonds
- 15 g chopped bitter almonds (these might be difficult to get hold of. Replace them with sweet almonds).
- Toast the almonds in the oven for a few minutes. Let them cool and then finely chop them.
- Mix together the flour, egg, butter, sugar, chopped vanilla bean and the almonds.
- Put some flour on your hands and roll the dough into a long cylinder. Cut into small pieces. Roll the pieces into small cylinders and shape them into small wreaths/circles.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until light brown on 180 degrees Celsius.
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