My sister recently collated and copied my Great Grandmother’s recipes as gifts for the whole family. Reading through the recipes brought back so many wonderful memories. Her cookies were always a highlight of our holiday traditions. Cookies that, today, seem classical and perhaps a bit vintage. Something our grandmother grew up with and baked for us in our childhood, but we rarely, if ever, bake in our own kitchens.

Not long ago, I was visiting a friend here in Numedal, and she served me coffee with a side of snipp. I certainly had never come across it and neither had my Norwegian husband. It’s one of those pillowy & soft sugar based cookies, with a sweet cloud of cardamom and cinnamon aroma surrounding it. It’s simplicity at its best and perfect with a cup of tea or coffee.

This cookie appears, however, very elusive in historical accounts. It has many aliases: tykke snipper, sigdalssnip, putesnipp, tjukk snipp, edvartsnipp, trysilsnipp, surmelksnipp, snipper, snipp and perhaps even more. The word snipp means ‘collar’ and they are shaped in the form of a collar. The origins are somewhat of a mystery, but it is clear snipp sits fondly in the nostalgia of many childhoods as a truly traditional Norwegian treat.

A holiday delight served once a year for some. For others, a perfect companion to coffee or milk any day of the year. For others, a tin-full nestled in a backpack while on a walk in the woods. Snipp can be enjoyed any day, and in any circumstance. And better yet, they are easy and fast to make, so they can be made right on the spot for any unexpected guests or urgent cravings.

Snipp from Numedal

(Recipe from Mat fra Numedal)

∗This recipe yields around 60 large cookies, so feel free to halve the recipe, or freeze most for later use

Ingredients:

• 900 g (7 cups) all-purpose flour
• 250 g (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) butter
• 400 g (2 cups) sugar
• 500 ml kefir (2 cups plus 1 tablespoon) *you can substitute the kefir with  1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon of plain, whole fat yogurt thinned with 1/2 cup of milk
• 3 teaspoons. hornsalt or baking soda
• 3 teaspoons cardamom
• Cinnamon & sugar for the topping

Preheat the oven to 200° C / 400° F.

Melt the butter over low heat in a small saucepan. Let it cool. Blend the melted butter together with the kefir.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, hornsalt or baking soda, and cardamom together. Add in the butter and kefir mixture and combine until you get a firm and smooth dough.

On a well-floured surface, roll out the dough into a thickness of about 1/2-inch (1 cm). Cut out ‘collar’ or diamond shapes and place on a non-stick baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops of each snipp with a good amount of cinnamon and sugar.

Bake in the oven for 10-12 minutes. Place on a cookie rack when finished to cool slightly. Enjoy!