K ranskake is my favorite cookie to enjoy, especially around the holiday season.
If you've never heard of it, it is a traditional Norwegian tower cake, and it’s also gluten-free. It's made with almonds, icing sugar, and egg whites. I like to add a little bit of vanilla paste for better flavor and some glucose for extra chewiness.
My aunt Bjørg from Norway gave me this recipe. She always makes these cakes for the holiday season and sells them to her friends and family because she's really skilled at it.
She taught me that it's best to grind your own almonds for a better taste.
It is a cake for a special occasion; In Norway, we love it so much that it has become a national symbol, covered with Norwegian flags on any festive occasion.
The cookie dough needs to rest for at least 24 hours, so plan accordingly when making these chewy cookie treats; the result is just one amazing chewy and gooey kransekake cookie.
Before you bake
Read the recipe completely, and make sure you have everything you need. Adjust your oven rack, and preheat the oven.
For all the step-by-step pictures, scroll to → Notes and click on the clickable link; I highly recommend doing this if you have never made these cookies before.
For questions related to my recipes, ask me on my inbox on Instagram @passionforbaking to reply to you with an audio message.
Bakers Tip
→Whenever I make these cookies, I prefer using whole almonds with the skins intact. It just tastes better, and it gives a nice texture to the cookies. You can also buy super-fine natural almond flour made from whole almonds; A good brand is Bob´s Red Mill which has one that is called "Super-fine natural almond flour from whole almonds," available at whole foods.
→ Use fresh egg whites if possible for the best taste; my aunt wrote four egg whites in her original recipe; you should use 90 grams up to 120 grams ( 3 to 4 egg whites). You want the cookie dough to come together well; you don't want it to be too wet and loose, so start with 90 grams and add more if needed.
→ Forming the dough into rings to make a kransekake tower requires a set of special kransekake molds, I bought mine in Norway → here . You can also get them on Amazon → here or at special thrift/baking stores.
You can also google kransekake molds to see if something comes up at your location. Someone suggested that you can use a donuts mold to make rings in the same sizes.
→If you are unsure how to make these cookies. Scroll to see a → video that I made a few years back.
In this video. I use my cookie attachment to make rolls instead of rolling the dough by hand. Using a cookie attachment gives the cookies a more nubbly texture; I prefer rolling out the dough by hand.
almond cookies
- 500 gram whole almonds with skins intact or storebought super-fine natural almond flour from whole almonds *note
- 500 gram powdered sugar, sifted
- 90 to 120 gram fresh egg whites ( about 3 to 4 large eggs whites) *note
- 1-2 tablespoon glucose syrup or light corn syrup, optional
- 1 to 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract, optional
Icing
- 300 gram confectionary sugar, sifted
- 20 to 40 grams egg whites
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
"As mentioned earlier, this recipe comes from my aunt in Norway, who always emphasized the importance of chilling the cookies in the fridge overnight. I’ve made these cookies numerous times, and I agree that this step results in chewier and generally better cookies. However, if you're short on time or patience, feel free to skip the wait. Another tip is to warm up the dough on the first day, which can also contribute to a chewier cookie, but this is entirely optional. If you'd prefer to streamline the process, you can combine all the ingredients in a mixer and then just leave the dough in the fridge for an hour. This method works quite well too. The longer, traditional Norwegian method I've described is there if you're interested, but feel free to take the shortcut if that suits you better. Either way, the cookies will still turn out delicious."
Cookie dough; Day 1
- Grind 500 grams of whole almonds with the skin on.
- Preheat your oven to 100C°/ 212F°. This next step is optional, but by heating the cookie dough in the oven for 30 minutes, you get even chewier cookies, and the cookie dough becomes more pliable. This step is optional.
- If making your own super-fine natural almond flour from whole almonds with the skins intact, use a nut grater ( I used the grinder that I attached to my ankarsrum mixer.) to make finely ground almond flour from whole raw almonds. ( if using a food processor, scroll further down to see how to make this cookie)
- In a bowl of a stand mixer, add 500 grams of almond flour, and 500 grams of powdered sugar, one or two teaspoons of vanilla bean paste, and one tablespoon of glucose. Attach the paddle attachment and mix at low speed until you see everything is blended well.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add in the egg whites a little at a time ( the cookie dough needs to come together, You might not need more than (90 grams) 3 egg whites) and mix on medium speed for 3 minutes until everything is well combined.
- Stop the mixer, scrape the side and bottom, and scrape everything off the paddle attachment. Then attach the paddle attachment again and mix for 3-5 minutes or until the dough is smooth.
- This next step is optional, but by heating the cookie dough in the oven for 30 minutes, you get even chewier cookies if you want to skip this part. Cover the dough with plastic wrap for an hour or preferably overnight.
- Scrape the dough ( It´s a stiff cookie dough) out of the bowl and onto aluminum foil. Press the cookie dough flat, wrap the cookie dough in aluminum foil, and place it on a baking sheet in the oven at 100C°/ 212F° for 30 minutes.
- When done, take the cookie dough out of the oven, don’t remove the aluminum foil, and refrigerate the cookie dough for 24 hours or up to 3 days.
Using a food processor
- Add 500 grams of whole almonds and 500 grams of powdered sugar in a food processor and grind until fine-try not over-grind, or it will knock out the oil from the almonds resulting in the cookies spreading when you bake them.
- Add one or two teaspoons of vanilla bean paste and one tablespoon of glucose or light corn syrup ( optional) with the mixer running; add 90 grams or up to 120 grams of egg whites. You might only need 90 grams of egg whites as you only want the cookie dough to come together and not be super wet or loose. Scrape the dough out of the food processor bowl. It´s stiff cookie dough. Knead the dough by hand for a few minutes.
- Scrape the dough ( It´s a stiff cookie dough) out of the bowl and onto aluminum foil.
- Press the cookie dough flat, wrap the cookie dough in aluminum foil, and place it on a baking sheet in the oven at 100C°/ 212F° for 30 minutes.
- When done, take the cookie dough out of the oven, don’t remove the aluminum foil, and refrigerate the cookie dough for 24 hours or up to 3 days.
Day two
- Preheat oven to 200C°/392°F
- Adjust the oven rack to the lowest rack.
- You will need kransekake molds, as seen in the photo above. I use a row of rings that decrease in size from the bottom to the top. Brush the rings with soft butter, Dust the rings with a little semolina or gluten-free flour, and shake out the excess.
- Knead the dough for 2-3 minutes by hand, then roll out the dough into finger-thick rolls ( not too thick as you need enough dough for all the molds) and place them in the molds.
- You can re-roll the cookie dough as many times as you need to get the right thickness of the rolls, as this cookie dough is gluten-free, and it won't toughen up.
- Press the dough gently together at the seams to create an even ring; make sure you have enough for all the rings.
- Place molds on baking sheets and bake for about 8 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. (every oven is different so keep an eye on it, also, keep in mind how thick you make your cookies, the thicker the cookies, the longer the baking time is.
- Do not overbake; if you do, they will not have a chewy center.
- Let cool completely in molds before you remove them from the rings.
- Once cooled, release the baked rings by gently knocking the molds against the work surface.
- If not enjoyed right away or you want to make the kransekake tower, later on, place the cooled cookies in a zip lock bag and place it in the freezer; these cookies get even more chewy and delicious if placed in the freezer, they also defrost very quickly once you removed them from the freezer.
Icing
- To assemble the cookies into a kransekake ( almond wreath cake)
- Combine 300 grams of confectioners’ sugar, 20 to 40 grams of egg white, and one teaspoon of vanilla bean paste into a medium bowl to make an icing that will serve as “glue” for the rings.
- Organize the rings by size.
- Place the frosting in a piping bag and pipe a swirly pattern on each dough ring.
- Assemble the cake by stacking each dough ring on top of each other, using the frosting/icing as glue.
- In Norway, we often use little Norwegian flags to decorate and fill the middle with candy.
- Or just decorate the cookies/ icing with sprinkles and serve it without stacking each cookie on each other.
- The kransekake must be stored in the freezer. Defrosting the kransekake takes about 15 minutes. It is possible to refreeze.
- Leftover cookies keep them in a zip lock bag if you find the cookies are getting dry, add one slice of bread into the bag of cookies, and it will make the cookies moist again, keep leftovers in the freezer.
F or step by step pictures how to make
→Kransekake
Click → here