How to Make Swedish Broomstick Cookies

Baking these delicate, lacy cookies is a holiday tradition in Swedish households. It takes some practice to master the technique, but it's worth the effort.

Difficulty: Moderately challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/4 c. sifted flour
• 1/2 c. butter
• 2/3 c. finely diced blanched almonds (3 oz. package)
• 2 tbsp. light cream
• Brooms
• Groceries
• Baking Sheets
• Saucepans
• Spatulas
• Saucepans
• Spatulas
• Baking sheets

1. Wash a broom handle with hot, soapy water and suspend it between two chairs.

2. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.

3. Grease a baking sheet and dust it lightly with flour.

4. Gather your ingredients (see shopping list, below).

5. Melt butter in a saucepan and add other ingredients.

6. Cook the mixture over medium-high heat until it bubbles, stirring so it doesn't burn.

7. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir it briskly for a few seconds.

8. Drop teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheet, 4 inches apart.

9. Bake three to four minutes, until the cookies turn brown at the edges.

10. Cool 1 1/2 minutes on the baking sheet.

11. Remove each cookie carefully with a spatula, and immediately drape it over the broomstick.

12. Leave the cookies in place until they're cool and crisp ' roughly two minutes ' then gently transfer them to a plate.

Tips & Warnings

• This procedure takes concentration. For best results, perform it in a child-free kitchen.
• If the cookies harden while they're cooling, put them back in the oven for a minute or two until they soften up.

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on 11/22/2005 I realize the 'backbone' of these cookies is the trick in 'finishing' them over a broomstick. But who wants to clean a broomstick? More related to my situation is who would want to use a broomstick that has peeling, chipped paint on it? You can find a clean stick at most good kitchen stores. An alternative to the broomstick is to use a rolling pin (a kitchen, not utility room, item which would probably already be clean).

The REAL alternative to the broomstick is to not use one at all. My dear, departed Mother used to make these cookies and never used a broomstick (except perhaps to sweep up after any spilled flour or sugar). She stuck to using just the pans, merely let them cool a bit longer on the pan, overlooked the broomstick, and just made them flat.

Not having 10 pans (about what you need for a double batch if you don't repeat-use your pans) and not having the time to regrease/reflour pan(s) after each batch is done, my twin sister and I made a recipe change and swapped the greasing/flouring exercise and the broomstick for aluminum foil!

This is simple. Make a DOUBLE batch of the cookie dough (these are so good, one batch at a time is just not enough). Get three cookie sheets and cover them with aluminum foil. (By having three sheets, you can 'recycle' your pans and have an assembly-line going - always having a batch in the oven and being able to cover the pans with foil without burning your hands!) Baking pans will work OK but not as well as cookie sheets. Do not wrap the ends of the pans with the foil tightly and make sure you leave a 'tab' piece extended at each end so you can grip and easily remove (slide) the foil off the pan after cooking.

We can get 12 cookies to a sheet. This may be because our version of the recipe calls for dropping the cookings onto the sheet in tsp. amounts. We bake ours at 365 degrees for 5-6 minutes. Our original recipe instructions (obtained, by the way, from a long-gone Pillsbury Recipe Service) say not to let the cookies brown.

Once cooked, put the cookie sheet on a wire rack to cool for about 1 minute. Carefully pick the foil away from the pan (grip the hang-over piece at each end to avoid burning your fingers!).

Place the foil with cookies on a flat surface, as necessary, smooth down any edges poking up to prevent curling of cookies. Put the foil on your kitchen table or counter - whichever has the cooler surface. Cool the cookies further.

The trick is in getting the cookies off the foil with breaking them (although our rule is that ALL broken cookies have to be eaten so I try to break at least two each batch!). The cookies must be cooled enough but over-cooling may cause sticking to the foil. Experiment with the timing on your own cookies. Optimum removal times for each batch may vary according to the size of the cookies and their 'doneness'.

To remove them from foil, pick up the foil from one end and carefully peel the foil back from the cookie as you slide your (clean or plastic-bagged) finger under the edge of the cookie. With all the butter in these, the cookies provide their own greased backing and slide right off the foil! Too-big cookies or those placed on crimped foil will be difficult to remove (these are also subject to the must-eat rule).

Our cookies are easily removed after cooling for 2-3 minutes. Put the cookies on paper towels to absorb any additional grease. Pack cookies loosely in tin before you eat them all!

As far as ingredients, we've also substituted heavy whipping cream for the light cream as well as a substituting a combination of the heavy cream with milk. The heavier the cream, the creamier the cookie!

A further warning goes to those who attempt the recipe...do NOT pulverage the almonds! We buy slivered almonds and use an electric nut chopper to chop them up. Don't fret the bigger pieces; they add character and 'body' to the cookie! Also, do NOT overcook your batter. Burnt batter makes for burnt-tasting cookies. Since we make a double batter batch each time, we leave the batter on the stove between "low" and "off" and restir it occasionally to keep it from browning/burning. This keeps the batter from becoming overly hard and easy to drop on the pans.

Happy Baking and Best Regards!

Hatsie Charbonneau
Sterling, Virginia