That Eclectic Chick: Christmas Recepie // Kringla

I can picture your face as you read this... "Kringla? Um... What?" Most people have never heard of Kringla. Let me introduce you to it... It's a cross between bread and a cookie (and who doesn't like those things, right?). Not overly sweet and nice and soft. It's a Norwegian thing {coming from my mom's side of the family}. We made big batches of Kringla every single Christmas I can ever remember growing up, and this year I made my first batch in our own home. Here are some pictures and below everything you'll find the recipe. Feel free to print it out if you want. The easiest way to do it is probably in something like a Kitchen Aid Mixer, but I don't have one so I made it in a bowl the old fashioned way and it worked just as well.

Begin my creaming the butter, sugar and eggs.

Then add the buttermilk (I use a buttermilk substitute like milk and lemon juice) and baking soda. The mixture will look kind of curdled. Tasty right? ;) Then add the vanilla.

Combine all of your dry ingredients in a separate bowl.

Mix the wet and dry ingredients together until it looks something like this. Then cover it and put it in the fridge to chill for a couple of hours. This is a double batch and it chilled for about 4 hours.

Then roll out pieces of dough on a floured surface. Try to handle them as little as possible so they don't become dense.

Place the dough on a greased cookie sheet or stone. Some people make them into other shapes, but I really don't know what the true traditional Norwegian shape is. But this is what I grew up with and I think I'm emotionally attached to it, so its too late to switch it up. Bake at 400 degrees for 9-10 minutes, depending on your oven, until they are {very} lightly browned.