Danish Klejner
Danish klejner are crisp, twisted Christmas cookies flavored with cardamom and fried golden in hot fat. Each diamond of dough is pulled through a slit in its middle to make the twist.
Servings: 70 servings, makes about 70 klejner
Equipment
- slotted spoon
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-purpose flour see notes
- 2/3 cup cold butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 3 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream or whole milk
- 1 teaspoon hartshorn salt baker's ammonia, see notes
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
- 2 pounds lard, Palmin or neutral frying oil for frying, see notes
Instructions
- Rub the cold butter into the flour with your fingertips until it looks like coarse crumbs.
- Mix in the sugar, hartshorn salt and cardamom.
- Add the eggs and cream, and knead everything together until the dough is fully combined.
- Cover the dough and chill it in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or overnight.
- On a floured counter, roll the dough out a scant 1/4 inch (5 mm) thick.
- Cut the dough into diamonds about 3 inches long and 1 inch wide (8 by 2.5 cm) with a klejnespore or a knife.
- Cut a 1-inch (2.5 cm) slit lengthwise down the middle of each diamond, keeping it away from the ends. Fold one end through the slit and pull it out the other side to make the twist.
- Melt the fat in a heavy pot, filling it no more than halfway, and heat it to 350°F (175°C).
- Fry a few klejner at a time. Turn them once they're light brown at the edges, and fry until golden all over, about 1 to 3 minutes per batch. Let the fat come back up to temperature before the next batch, and never leave the hot fat alone.
- Drain the klejner on paper towels and let them cool completely.
- Store them in an airtight tin at room temperature.
Notes
Yield: This batch makes about 70 klejner.
Weights: Danish recipes are written in grams. For this batch, that's 500 grams of flour, 150 grams of butter, 150 grams of sugar, 50 ml of cream or milk and about 1 kilogram of frying fat. If you're frying in oil, that's about 4 1/2 cups.
Hartshorn salt: Hartshorn salt is baker's ammonia, the traditional leavening in Danish Christmas cookies. Baking powder works in the same amount, though the klejner won't be quite as crisp. It smells of ammonia as it heats, which is normal, but don't add extra.
Frying: Use a heavy pot that holds at least 4 quarts, filled no more than halfway, and keep the fat at about 350°F (175°C) with a deep-fry thermometer. Fat that's too cool makes greasy klejner, and fat that's too hot browns them before the middle cooks through.
Storage: Klejner keep for about a week in an airtight tin, and they freeze well.
Nutrition
Serving: 1klejne | Calories: 54kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 10mg | Sodium: 16mg | Potassium: 11mg | Fiber: 0.2g | Sugar: 2g | Vitamin A: 72IU | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 3mg | Iron: 0.4mg