Swedish Dreams
A crumbly, melt-in-your-mouth Swedish Christmas cookie, enriched with nutty aroma from butter cooked until golden brown.
Ingredients
unsalted butter
16 tablespoons (2 sticks)
sugar
3/4 cup
pure vanilla extract
2 teaspoons
all-purpose flour
2 cups
baking powder
1 teaspoon
whole blanched almonds
About 40
Instructions
1
Prepare ice bath
Have ready a large bowl filled with ice and a second large bowl for pouring the browned butter into when it’s done.
2
Brown butter
Melt the butter in a heavy, medium saucepan over moderate heat. Swirl the pan occasionally for 6 to 8 minutes until the butter is caramel-colored with brown specks and smells nutty. Immediately pour into the empty bowl. Set the bowl inside the ice bath and cool until room temperature and mostly congealed but still soft (30 to 50 minutes).
3
Preheat oven
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
4
Mix dough
Remove the bowl of butter from its ice bath. Add the sugar and beat until white and fluffy, about 1 minute. Beat in the vanilla. With the beaters on low speed, mix in the flour and baking powder until thoroughly combined. Gather the soft, crumbly dough into a ball with your hands.
5
Shape cookies
Pinch off small pieces of dough and roll into 1-inch balls, arranging them about 1½ inches apart on the prepared sheet. Gently press an almond onto the center of each cookie.
6
Bake
Bake for about 22 minutes or until the cookies are golden. They will feel a little sandy on the outside. Carefully transfer them to a rack to cool.
