This recipe for gyðingakökur, “Jewish cookie” in Icelandic, comes from “The Culinary Saga of New Iceland, Recipes From the Shores of Lake Winnipeg” compiled by Kristin Olafson Jenkyns, a writer with forbearers from Iceland. Her book documents the history and culinary traditions of immigrants from Iceland who settled in North America at the end of the 19th century.
Read more about the fascinating history of gyðingakökur here.
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Icelandic Jewish Cookies
Thin, buttery cookies topped with sweet nuts.
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 2 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 3/4 cup butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 1 egg
- 1 cup cold, strong coffee
- 1 cup blanched slivered almonds, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup crushed sugar lumps (coarse bits, not fine)
Instructions
- Stir flour, salt and cardamom together.
- Work the butter into the flour mixture by rubbing it between your fingers, as if you were making a pie crust.
- Beat egg with a fork and add to dough. Combine well. Wrap in wax paper. Chill thoroughly (at least 1 hour) until firm.
- Roll out dough on wax paper until 1/8-inch thick. Cut in 1 1/2-inch rounds with a cutter. Brush tops with coffee; mix the almonds and sugar and sprinkle generously on top. Press down gently with your hand to help the almond-sugar mixture stick. Place on greased baking sheets and bake at 350°F for about 12 minutes or until lightly golden brown.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes + 1 hour chill time
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
This looks promising, but have to omit the nuts, for a family member’s allergies. Any suggestions for an alternative topping?
I attempted to make the dough. Never having made a pie crust. I looked it up in another cookbook. Once I added the egg. It made very little difference in the dough. I ended up adding water in order for it to come together. Waiting for it to chill now.
Same problem here. Did adding water help?
I had the same issue. I added another half of a beaten egg. I managed to get it to form a ball.
What makes them Jewish, and how did that cultural mix come about?
Quote from the article linked in the recipe: “According to Gil Marks, author of Encyclopedia of Jewish Food, Jewish butter cookies originated in Holland. Many of the Jews who were expelled from Spain and Portugal in the 15th and 16th centuries found a safe haven in Holland. There they merged, “…their Moorish-influenced Iberian fare with the local Scandinavian cuisine. Instead of olive oil, they used the butter found in great quantity in Dutch cookery to create small rich morsels, still called Joodse boterkoeke (Jewish butter cookie) in Holland.” Until today, Dutch Jews serve those cookies on Hanukkah and Shavuot and at other dairy meals.” They may have gone from Holland to Denmark to Iceland.
This recipe is not quite right; virtually every other recipe I’ve seen for these includes a few tablespoons of milk or other liquid, and includes some sugar. Many have a somewhat higher ratio of butter to flour as well, to make it come together better. I modified accordingly. Some others also include citrus zest in the dough, and an egg wash instead of coffee–I bet you could use candied peel to top if you like that. I added about 4 tbs of sugar to the dough, as well as a couple tablespoons of milk and of vodka (the alcohol burns off and avoids making the crust soggy–a pie crust trick). I also swapped crushed-up cardamom seeds for cinnamon, along with adding a tiny amount of fine coffee grounds to accentuate the coffee wash. You can skip the nuts, but if you like them, there are recipes for these cookies that incorporate both ground almonds and bitter almond extract. According to food historians, these “Jewish” cookies most likely came from Portuguese Jewish refugees/bakers in Amsterdam, who adapted their Sefardi pastries to a butter culture–and created a hit throughout Scandinavia.
These were sooo good and not too hard to make! I used tea instead of coffe.