Skip to main content

Lemon Cardamom Nisser Cookies


This is an iced Christmas cookie that I made because D is a little nisser-obsessed. If you aren't sure what the heck a nisse is, read this post: Glædelig Jul, Nisser, and Mormor Agnes’ Æbleskiver. In any case we have nisser galore around the house and I thought it would be a fun cookie to make.


I started with a Santa cookie cutter and trimmed down the pom-pom at the top of the hat because everyone's a critic. "That doesn't look like the profile of a nisse!" Oye.


Because of the nisser's Danish roots, I made a lemon-cardamom spiced sugar cookie as the base along with a lemon icing. The nose is a chocolate-covered salted caramel ball.

Ingredients

Lemon Cardamom Sugar Cookies
  • 2-3/4 C flour
  • 1 t baking powder
  • 1 t salt
  • 3/4 C butter, softened
  • 1 C organic granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • zest from 1 organic lemon (I used a Meyer lemon), approximately 2 t
  • 1 t ground cardamom

Royal Icing
  • 3 egg whites, or more to thin icing
  • 6 C organic powdered sugar
  • juice from 1 to 2 organic lemons (I used a Meyer lemon)
  • 1/4 t pure vanilla extract

To Finish
  • food dye (I used a natural dye)
  • Also needed: any round candy that you can use as a nose
Procedure

Lemon Cardamom Sugar Cookies
Sift together flour and baking powder. Set aside in a bowl.

Beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add eggs, lemon zest, and cardamom. Mix well. Gradually add flour mixture, until completely combined.

Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill dough for 1 to 2 hours. Roll out between two pieces of parchment paper.


Preheat over to 400 degrees F. Shape dough with your cutters, using flour to keep them from sticking. Place on a silicone mat-lined baking sheet and place in the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes to firm up.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 9-11 minutes, depending on size of cookies.


Cool completely on wire racks. Make the royal icing while the cookies cool.


Royal Icing
Beat the whites until stiff but not dry. Add sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice. Beat for another minute. If the icing is too thick, add more egg whites; if it's too thin, add more sugar. Divide the icing into two separate bowls. Dye one of the bowls whatever color you want for the hat; I made a light lilac shade. Leave the other bowl - for the beard - white.

To Finish
Smooth the colored royal icing over cooled cookies to make the hat. Cover the beard part of the cookie with the white icing.


Press a round candy between the hat and the beard to form the nose. Let icing set completely before serving.

Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing such beautiful information with us. I hope you will share some more information about lemon.Please keep sharing.
    Health Is A Life

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Quick Pickled Red Onions and Radishes

If you've been reading my blog for even a short amount of time, you probably know how much I love to pickle things. I was just telling a friend you can pickle - with vinegar - or you can ferment - with salt - for similar delicious effect. The latter has digestive benefits and I love to do that, but when I need that pop of sour flavor quickly, I whip up quick pickles that are ready in as little as a day or two. I've Pickled Blueberries , Pickled Asparagus , Pickled Cranberries , Pickled Pumpkin , and even Pickled Chard Stems ! This I did last night for an upcoming recipe challenge that requires I include radishes. Ummmm...of course I'm pickling them! Ingredients  makes 1 quart jar radishes, trimmed and sliced organic red onions, peeled and thinly sliced (I used a mandolin slicer) 3/4 C vinegar (I used white distilled vinegar) 3/4 C water 3 T organic granulated sugar 1 T salt (I used some grey sea salt) 6 to 8 grinds of black pepper Proce

Aloo Tiki {Pakistan}

To start off our Pakistani culinary adventure, I started us off with aloo tiki - potato cutlets. I'm always game for tasty street food. I found a couple of different recipes and incorporated those together for this version. Ingredients 6-8 small red potatoes, scrubbed 1 T cumin seeds 1 T fresh chopped parsley 1/2 t ground coriander 1 t minced garlic Procedure Boil the potatoes until they are tender. Drain and let cool. Mash the potatoes. Traditionally they are mashed without their skins. I left the skins on. In a small pan, toast the cumin seeds on high heat until the begin to give off an aroma and begin to darken. Remove from heat and transfer to a plate to keep them from cooking any more. Blend all of the spices into the mashed potatoes, then shape into small patties. If you wet your hands, the potato mixture won't stick to them. Heat a splash of oil in a large, flat-bottom pan. Dip each patty into beaten egg and carefully place in the oil. P

Meyer Lemon Custard-Filled Matcha Turtles #BreadBakers

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. You can see all our of lovely bread by following our  Pinterest board  right here. Links are also updated after each event on the  Bread Bakers home page .  We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient. This month Stacy of Food Lust People Love  is hosting and she wrote: "Your bread can be large, as in one big animal, or small - animal-shaped rolls. Use your imagination! Points for flavor and shape!" If you are a food blogger and would like to join us, just send an email with your blog URL to Stacy at foodlustpeoplelove@gmail.com. Here's the animal-shaped bread basket from the #BreadBakers... Beef and Sweet Onion Dim Sum Pandas from Karen's Kitchen Stories Bird Bread Rolls from Ambrosia Easter Bunny Buns from Cook with Renu Ham and Cheese Elephant Rolls from Food Lust People Love Hedgehog Bread from Making Mir