Sunday, August 15, 2010

Swedish Cream Cookies



Swedish Cream Cookies All Colorful and Happy
A few red and green sprinkles make these ones Christmasy.

Simple and delicious. Mmmmmmmm. Swedish cream cookies are basically smooth, creamy frosting sandwiched between two tender pie crust circles.  They're not really much to look at, but the flavors and textures are just one of those combinations that make your mouth happy. 
I originally got the recipe for these from my good friend Karla.  Her recipe had no salt, but I definitely tasted salt in this cookie.  She insisted she added no salt, which we finally discovered was true, but she had used self-rising flour.  Since I liked Karla's version better than the no salt & no leavening original recipe, I've added a little bit of salt and baking powder to this recipe.  I think it makes for a more tender melt-in-your-mouth kind of experience, and who doesn't want THAT?
Believe it or not, these cookies are a favorite for several of my friends, but beware: you can't stop eating them once you've started.  You've been warned.

Note: You can  just use one or the other of the extracts. If you do, use 1 tsp vanilla OR 1 tsp almond. You can also make the frosting vanilla bean flavor by following the instructions at the end of this post.*

SWEDISH CREAM COOKIES

INGREDIENTS
Cookie:

Frosting:

  • ½ cup salted butter
  • 1 ¼ cups powdered sugar
  • 1 ½ tablespoon cream
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • food coloring, if desired
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Mix flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl.  Cut 1 cup of the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the cream and form the dough into a ball. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. (Note: I do all of the mixing in my Kitchen Aid with the paddle attachment, and they turn out fine.  The original recipe calls for the cutting in of the butter.)

2. Preheat oven to 375°F.
3. Dust a cutting board with the sugar/flour mixture.  Roll dough out a third of the dough at a time to 1/8-inch thick and cut with a 1 1/2” circle cutter.  Place circles on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Prick cookies three times with a fork, or gently just stamp (don't cut) with a shaped cookie cutter.
4. Bake at 375°F for 8-11 minutes until lightly browned on the edges. Let cookies cool before frosting.
5. Beat ½ cup butter until fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and beat until creamy. Beat in the vanilla and the 1 ½ T cream. Adjust cream and powdered sugar until frosting gets to a nice spreading consistency. Add food coloring, if desired. Scoop frosting into a sandwich or quart size zip top bag, and cut about a ¼ inch tip off.
6. Squeeze some frosting onto the bottoms of half of the cookies and place the remaining cookies on top to make sandwich cookies.
Makes about 30 cookies.


Vanilla Bean Swedish Cream Cookies*
*For the vanilla bean frosting, warm two tablespoons cream with the vanilla bean seeds scraped from a two-inch segment of a whole vanilla bean.  Whisk to disperse vanilla bean seeds.  Pour into a small bowl/cup, cover, and refrigerate.  Use this vanilla bean cream in place of the heavy cream, almond extract, and vanilla extract.  I pour off about a half a tablespoon into another container and use the remaining vanilla bean cream in the frosting, making sure to scrape all of the vanilla bean goodness into the butter/powdered sugar mixture.  If I need more liquid in the frosting, I add what I poured off into another container.





These cookies won a blue ribbon at the 2008 Iowa 
State Fair Midwest Living Cookie Competition in the Frosted Cookie-Other Than Named class.



I think part of the fun is all the different color combinations.


37 comments:

  1. These look tasty. Nice pictures. Would love to see you over at http://www.dishfolio.com

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  2. These look really good! We're going to try and make them!
    Aidan Drake's family

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  3. Yay! Let me know how they turn out, Aidan! : )

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  4. I will attest: these things are crack in disguise! Amazing. You can't stop eating them.
    Krista

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  5. My Grandmother, Mother and Aunt's all make these, they are all Swedish (no surprise) They can be a bit tricky as you can over work the dough. I agree with the comment above, they are like crack in disguise!

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  6. I'm Swedish (and living in Sweden) and I've never heard of or seen or ever tasted these before but they do seem delish. Should try them. Know their name in Swedish? / jennifer

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  7. I was at a very "uppercrust" mall over the holidays (where even the children are carrying coach bags) and there was a kiosk selling these very cookies for the holidays. I'm so glad I found your recipe, I can't wait to try them.

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  8. I hope the cookies live up to the "uppercrustness" of that mall. :)

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  9. Oh, and Anonymous on November 12, I only got the name of these from a friend and then I googled it to get a recipe. Sounds like they're not really Swedish then, eh?

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    Replies
    1. I had a recipe almost the same from a friends great grandmother and they were called swedish wedding cookies. The cookie part is dip in sugar, just the tops before baking and they are wonderful!!! The smaller the better. They wont last long!!

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  10. I'm only 11 but I'm making these for a class party (LOOK YUMMY) :)

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  11. Replies
    1. T=tablespoon. I changed it in the recipe above. :)

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  12. Yum! I love simple, but tasty recipes! Glad I found this. I'll be making these today. I'll let you know how they turn out and what my 'tasters' think of them.

    Cheers!

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  13. Has anyone tried to freeze these?

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    1. My Swedish great-grandma made these and yes they freeze well. We ration them all Christmas season...they make it on every holiday cookie platter.

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  14. I just made these for a work potluck, and everyone loved them! They were so yummy, and very easy to make. Thank you for sharing - I'll definitely be trying more of your recipes!

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    1. Well, thanks for letting me know, Jaede! I love these cookies too, but I'm always surprised with how pleased the crowd is when I make them too. :) I'm glad you've found some recipes you like on the blog. It's why I do it.

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  15. I have made these before. They are so delicious.

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  16. I have made these before and they are delicious.

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  17. I made these yesterday, I only had fat free half and half but it still turned out delicious and I love the frosting!

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    Replies
    1. That's good to know about the fat free half & half. These cookies need some lightening up. :)

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  18. I have been looking for this recipe for four years !!! Ever since I tried them by a catered party.Couldn't ask the caterer for the recipe.I tried so many different recipes trying to get this right.Wah La ,I hit the jackpot today when I found this one.They are PERFECT !! I didn't have any cream and only had Skim Milk and I want to make these NOW ,so I made my own cream with 3/4 cup evaporated can milk and 1/3 cup melted butter ,mix well and measure what you need. Can not THANK YOU enough they are just PERFECT.
    Thank You,Thank You ,Thank You !!

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    Replies
    1. Oh! You made my day! I'm so glad it worked for you. :) And you are very welcome!

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    2. I also wanted to add that I devided the dough into three sections onto saran wrap and made them into tubes about 1 1/2 inch. Than refrigerated them a couple hours than sliced them about 1/4 inch rolled them in sugar both sides and baked. They still came out PERFECT !! They are not as pretty as yours, but the taste is there !! I didn't want to take the time to roll them out, if they were going to be like all the other yucky batches I had made in the past.My husband LOVED them too!!

      Nana Karen :D

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    3. Thanks for the tip on the shortcut. Now I"m wondering what your "yucky batches" were like. :)

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  19. My grandmother made these cookies for years at Christmas. The recipe is a little different as hers only has three ingredients for the cookie, and four for the frosting. The result however looks the same. These are a family favorite. It's nice to see that someone else enjoys them!

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    1. My mom makes these at Christmas too! We have always called them "Swedish Wafers". They freeze very well, although they don't usually make it to the freezer because we can't resist them!

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    2. When you freeze these cookies, did you freeze them with the frosting already in, or frost them after they thaw?

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  20. Hi Kelly! How long do they keep? I was thinking of making them for Easter. Miss you!

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    1. Hey, Kathi! I can't say exactly how long they keep, but two or three days for sure. I've known people to have eaten them after a longer time than that, but that weirds me out a little. :)

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  21. do you have to use that flour ?

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    1. Judy, you do NOT have to use the King Arthur Flour. It's just the brand I prefer. For these cookies, any all-purpose flour should work for you.

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  22. what can i use instead of King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

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