Sandkaker, literal translation “sand cookies”, are very common in Norway during Christmas and can be found at nearly all seasonal holiday parties.
Make sure you use sandkaker or tartlet tins for baking these cookies. The cookie will turn out much prettier and more traditional in shape. If you don’t have tartlet tins, a muffin tin can be used instead. Although most Norwegians grind their own almonds for this and all Christmas cookies when made from scratch, I’ve used almond flour in this recipe with good results. These cookies can be served plain, or topped with multe cream, a mixture of whipped cream and multe berries.
- 200g (3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons) butter
- 250g (2 cups) all-purpose flour
- 100g (1 cup) almond flour
- 1 egg
- 100g (1/2 cup) sugar
- Using your hands or a pastry cutter, cut the butter into the flour. Small, gravel sized clumps should form.
- Next, add the almonds, egg and sugar to the mix and blend until small clumps resembling sand appear.
- Place the cookie dough in the refrigerator for an hour.
- After an hour, pre-heat the oven to 175C/350F.
- Press the dough firmly into tartlet tins.
- Place the tartlet tins onto a baking sheet in the middle of the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly brown around the edges.
- After the cookies have baked, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 7-10 minutes in the metal tins. Do not try to remove the cookies before they have had time to cool as they will fall apart.
- One the cookies have been removed from the tins, allow them to cool for an additional 20 minutes on a wire cooling rack.
- These cookies can be served plain, or topped with whipped cream and multe berries.

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[…] While there were a lot of great recipes to choose from, we really liked the blog of an American expat living in Norway and cooking her way through Norwegian food. As a support of her own quest, we based our own sandkaker off of her original reference recipe. […]