Norwegian Sandbakkels
Norwegian sandbakkels are a traditional Christmas cookie that are made in sandbakkel tins, are lightly seasoned, and have a slightly crumbly texture.
Sandbakkelse take me right back to my grandma’s kitchen, circa 1988.
My grandma used to make the same Christmas treats every year: White sour cream fudge, chocolate fudge, krumkake, and sandbakkelse. Each were tucked into a decorative tin. Each recipe was perfected over the years. And each was made with love.
Do traditional Norwegian recipes take you back to your happy place? If they do, then we have something special in common!
Today, I’m sharing a very special recipe for traditional almond-flavored Norwegian sugar cookie called sandbakkelse (also spelled sandbakkels) (translation: sand tarts) or sandkaker (translation: sand cakes).
What Are Sandbakkelse?
I bought a vintage box of sandbakkelse tins from Gladd Co at a garage sale in St. Paul last summer.
The original recipe and pamphlet were included in the box, and this is how it described sandbakkelse:
“Sandbakkelse are sugar cookies that are baked in tins of various sizes and shapes. These cookies are traditionally served as a shell tipped upside down on your prettiest blue plate. Mouth watering when they are filled, too, with fresh fruit, whipped cream mixed with crushed peppermint candy and so on.“
Recipe Tips: Sandbakkels
The trick to making great sandbakkelse is to make sure the dough is pressed down thinly and evenly into the individual tins. This will ensure even baking and thickness.
Although we have always eaten them plain/unfilled, you can certainly add filling like whipped cream and fruit.
How do you fill sandbakkelse (sand tarts)? I’d love to hear your family’s preferred method. Please comment below!
Where To Find Sandbakkelse Tins
If you’re here for the Norwegian recipes, I’m going to guess that you already have a set of sandbakkels tins. Or maybe your mom, aunt or grandmother does.
If you’re lucky (and from the Upper Midwest) you can maybe find a set of sandbakkelse tins at a thrift shop, antique shop or garage sale (that’s where I found mine).
If you don’t have your own set, you can buy them on Amazon. Here are 2 options:
Sandbakkelse Tins from Bethany Housewares
Bakerdream Mini Tart Tins (6 pcs)
More Norwegian Recipes
Do you love exploring your Scandinavian roots through traditional recipes? Me too! Here are some other recipes to try:
- Sweet soup (sot suppe)
- Potato dumplings (klub)
- My Norwegian Grandma’s meatball recipe
- Swedish meatballs
- Flatbread (flatbrod)
- Open-faced sandwiches
- Lefse (no special equipment needed!)
- Norwegian Christmas bread (julebrød)
- Norwegian cream pudding (rommegrot)
- Norwegian rice pudding (risgrot)
- Almond kringler
- Norwegian almond cake
- Norwegian cranberry almond cake
- Krumkake
- Goro cookies
- Rosettes
- Kringla cookies
- Norwegian pepperkaker cookies
- A Scandinavian snack board
- – Wash it all down with a pot of Norwegian egg coffee or non-alcoholic gløgg
Sandbakkelse Recipe
These Norwegian sugar cookies are delicious in their simplicity. Eat them with or without filling, with a cup of coffee.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 small egg, unbeaten
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
Instructions
- Cream butter. Add sugar and beat well. Add egg and almond extract. Stir in flour.
- Place dough, covered, in the refrigerator at least 3 hours - or overnight.
- Take dough out of refrigerator and get ready to assemble cookies. The dough may be easier to handle after it has sat at room temperature for a few minutes.
- Turn on oven to 375F. Take a small ball of dough and press it into a sandbakkel tin. The dough should be about 1/16th of an inch thick. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Place filled tins on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes, until golden brown.
- Remove from oven, tip upside down, and allow to cool slightly until comfortable to touch. Gently pinch the sides of the tin to remove the cookie.
I make Sandbakkelse every year for Christmas. My husbands family is Norwegian and Swedish, his parent second generation from the Dakotas. I found you when looking for a Sweet Soup recipe to compare to my MIL’s recipe. Your recipe is almost like my MIL’s except she used minute tapioca (quicker!) and included some orange juice. I LOVE it..
I have seen sandbakkelse recipes which include toasted ground almonds in the dough..and have started using it too. It seems to make the dough a little more “sandy”. My method for pressing into the forms (I have moulds like yours and also a set of Nordic Ware Sandbakkel or Tart, cookie sheets that are really handy) I place the scoop of dough on a cut and floured plastic bag, covere and I press it with the bottom of one of my sauce pans until really thin..then press the flattened dough into the moulds. Makes the dough a more even thickness in the mould. Just thought I’d share that with you..
Thanks for posting so many recipes that we share in common from our Scandinavian family! Enjoy your holidays!
Thanks for your tip, Susan! Glad you enjoy the Scandinavian recipes as much as I do 🙂 More to come…
What kind of filling might be suggested to put in this if you wanted to make a tad more festive?
Good question! Maybe some cranberry sauce with a dollop of whipped cream, chocolate ganache, or an unbaked cheesecake filling with some colored sprinkles on top.
I have made sandbakkels for about 45 years now. My heritage us both Swedish and Norwegian. I have always turned these upside down and shed a rich homemade lemon butter filling. Don’t use store bought. For my tastebuds it has a metallic undertone
I also yes ground almonds in my recipe. About 2T
My grandma always filled these with pecan pie filling and they were everyone’s favorite. I like to keep up the tradition since many people have never tried these.
My sister and I are getting together and making these in March of 2021. :o) Our 87 year old mother will help us by taste testing them to see if we did it right. Mom is 98% Norwegian, I am 87% and I think my sister is a little less. But we all share a love of Norwegian food. My sister is also learning some Swedish cooking as her husband is mostly Swedish.
Love it, Julie! Sounds like a beautiful way to spend a day. Hope you enjoy this recipe!
Hi, my Grandma’s recipe called for whole cardamom seeds, crushed. Adds a wonderful flavor. That’s the only way I know of making them. I have my grandmother’s tins!
I have put a “pecan pie” type filling in. It’s very good, mini pecan pies!
Ah – my grandma used to do that too, and I forgot about it. Thanks for reminding me!
Thanks for all the suggestions about getting these thin enough. I tried making them for the first time today and although they were beautiful and tasted great they were too thick, I’ll work on that with the suggestions. I filled mine with lingonberries and a dollop of whipped cream. Really tasty!