Thursday, May 15, 2008

Norwegian Sour Cream Cookies

Here it is! My Great Grandma Melby's recipe for sour cream cookies! Great Grandma Melby was from Norway. She and Great Grandpa Melby came to the US when my grandfather was a very young boy.

Necessity is the mother of invention they say. And this seems to hold true for many recipes as well. To my understanding, in earlier times, people (whether from this country or not) tried to use every ounce of everything to avoid waste and to be thrifty. Bread pudding was created as a way to use stale bread. I believe the strong spices in India and Southern Creole cooking were originally used to mask the fact that the meat or fish was not exactly on the fresh side and didn't have the best smell or flavor.

So these cookies are made with SOUR cream. Not Knudsen sour cream. No dollop of Daisy but cream that is no longer good. It is sour and putrid smelling and often thickens and has little clumpy things. It is really disgusting actually! I often don't tell people what is in them until they take a taste. WARNING! If you are pregnant, proceed with caution. I personally didn't have morning sickness when pregnant but if a smell was really really bad... it could send me over the edge. This may just do it to you.

These cookies are so good though that I save my bad cream for months just to make them. I don't use it if it has gotten at all solid or yellow or has any growth of any kind. Doesn't this all sound just SO yummy and appetizing?

The recipe is quite simple actually.
1/3 cup butter (softened)
2/3 cup sugar
1 beaten egg (I rarely bother to beat it first)
1/3 cup SOUR cream (NOT commercial sour cream but cream or heavy cream that has gone sour/bad)
1 tsp vanilla
1 2/3 cups sifted flour (I don't think I've sifted flour since I was in high school)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

Mix together your wet ingredients (top 5 above) until smooth. Then add the dry ingredients (bottom 4). You know the drill.

Drop onto un-greased cookie sheet. Then dip the bottom of a glass into your bowl of cookie dough or smear a little dough on the glass. Dip the glass into cinnamon sugar.

Cinnamon sugar is made with a few tablespoons of sugar and about 1/2 tablespoon ground cinnamon.

With the glass coated in sugar, lightly tap down each ball of dough on the sheet. Continue with remaining dough. I sometimes use a spoon and sprinkle just a little more cinnamon sugar on each one as well.

Bake for 10 minutes in a 400° oven.

Voila! There you have your sour cream cookies! Note, I don't pay much attention to time when baking. All ovens cook differently too. I prefer these cookies done only until the bottom just gives the faintest faintest sign that it may color. They seem more moist that way. My mom likes them a little more done as you see in the above photo.

But any way you bake it these ARE good! No great! And with a cup of coffee in the morning? Well it is THE best breakfast EVER. My mom sisters and I could eat several in a sitting for breakfast. They are not too sweet.

PLEASE let me know if you make these. I am so curious as to what you think!

Well off to do the last minute stuff.
Au Revoir!
Until next week some time. Keep me in your thoughts!

Norwegian Sour Cream Cookies

This is my Great Grandma Melby's recipe for sour ...

See Norwegian Sour Cream Cookies on Key Ingredient.

18 comments:

Judy Schwartz Haley | CoffeeJitters.Net said...

you know, I've always had the same suspicion about highly spiced foods from warm climates.

The recipe does look good and I can imagine the sour cream used in such a manner.

My grandmother would sometimes add vinegar or lemon to her milk or cream when baking. I wonder if there was a similar intended result.

Jaime said...

Ok, I am saving this recipe and as soon as I have some sour cream I will be trying it out. I may have to buy some and just let it sour on purpose. ;) These look so good!

addy said...

Hmm. These look and sound SO good that I may have to brave my apprehension for sour cream/milk long enough to make them!

Also - maybe the vinegar/lemon does the same thing?? That seems like an ok alternative...

taste memory said...

What a delight - this recipe looks grande! I'll have to try....looks super kid friendly + luv the pix.

btw - FINALLY, appropriately posted about you + BWAP award!

Also, would love to present the Arte y Pico award to you :)

Check out my site for details....

Emily said...

Not having a home of my own it may be tricky to convince my Mum not to get rid of any sour milk that we may have. As well the fact that there are two large males in my house means that we rarely have enough milk to satisfy them. That being said I am dying to try these cookie. Enjoy yourself in NY and we will see you when you get back.

That Girl said...

Thank you SO much for posting this! I have some sour cream in the fridge that I'm hoping we don't use so it goes bad. Too bad that stuff usually last forever!

Gloria Baker said...

Nicole these cookies look wonderful!! xxGloria

Laura in Paris said...

Easy to keep you in my thought, I'm about to bake those cooking and will have them for breakfast!

Abby said...

Ha. That pregnancy message was just for ME I bet.

Actually, I'm doing okay with smells right now. Morning sickness is still her at 30 WEEKS, but that's okay. Almost there.

I've never heard of using actual sour cream! That's wild. Great post.

RecipeGirl said...

Yay! Next time my cream has soured I'll have to give these a shot!

Anonymous said...

Hey! Where are you? I can't see you! Have fun on your trip, okay! Don't work too hard. How long are you staying?

Thanks for the family recipe. I bet it's fantastic!! :-)

Betty Carlson said...

Good luck on your trip! These cookies look great. I am of Swedish heritage and I think I have tasted something similar...

Jaime said...

I know you've already gotten this award, but you deserve it again! I love your blog!

http://myburnttoast.blogspot.com/2008/05/love-makes-world-go-round.html

Anonymous said...

I may have to build up the courage to try these one.... But, I will try them. Funny - just 2 days ago I threw out some cream that just went bad. Obviously I should have checked your blog earlier.

Hope things are going well in the big city for you!

xoxox Amy

Lauren said...

Why oh why have I not yet learned to avoid your blog when I'm hungry? Plus our oven is broken so I can't make yummy baked goods until the new one arrives on Tuesday!

Nicole said...

Judy- My grandmother did put lemon or vinegar to sour the cream sometimes but it never tastes the same. It is never just right.

Jaime- Let me know how it turns out if you make them.

Addy- Welcome! Vinegar/lemon can work so-so as does commercial sour cream. But nothing is quite the same as the real thing.

Taste Memory- I will check it out. And thank you for the other award!

Emily- I understand. NY was great but exhausting!

Kate- Let me know if you try them. Cream does last a long time though.

Gloria- Thank you and welcome!

Laura- How did they turn out for you????

Abby- Good luck with the rest of the pregnancy. I hope the morning sickness subsides soon.

Lori- Let me know how it goes.

Zen- You didn't see me because they stuck me in a booth in the far back corner! Worst spot in the whole Javits center! I got back late late last night. Busy trip. I never came up for air.

Betty- Yes I think there are a lot of similarities in all the Scandinavian countries.

Jamie- Thank you so much. I will check it out.

Amy- Do try them!!! You will be pleasantly surprised. NY was great and horribly exhausting. I will post about it soon.

Lulu- Good luck with the oven.

Anonymous said...

i have been trying to find a recipe for these kinds of cookies for a long time. A friend gave me the recipe but didn't tell me about the SOUR cream so i used sour cream. They turned out excellent but cant wait to make them again with SOUR cream. My kids loved them and are begging me to make some more. This recipe is so easy to use...Thank You

Nicole said...

Anonymous- Thank you so much for coming to my blog and commenting. I hope your cookies come out fabulous. Do come back again for more easy and tempting treats!