What else belongs to Christmas time besides baking? Perhaps Christmas decorations and music. Nevertheless, baking is simply an integral part of the Christmas season. My mother would look at me in horror if I told her that I had already baked Christmas cookies before All Souls' Day. In Catholic regions of Germany, it is traditional not to decorate or bake for Christmas before All Souls' Day. All Souls' Day is on November 23 this year, so I was only 11 days early.
Last week at university, we baked flatbread and lefse, and I also baked flatbread again this week. Flatbread is probably eaten as a side dish with some Christmas meals, but it is not classified as a classic Christmas food. Accordingly, my mother would probably have no objection to me baking flatbread.
Last week at university, we learned how to make traditional Norwegian flatbread. Since we had some dough left over due to time constraints, I simply used some of it. So, I don't actually have any experience in making the dough, but I'm very happy with the taste and consistency.
Flatbread with Oats (40 pieces) from Go'Bitar fra Besta si kokebok
Ingredients:
• 1 kg whole wheat flour (coarse)
• 1.5 liters boiling water
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Oat flour
• Wheat flour
Preparation:
• Pour boiling water over the whole wheat flour and salt. Let it sit overnight.
• Knead in oat flour and wheat flour. The dough should be smooth and easy to work
with.
• Roll out the dough on a floured surface, using a mix of oat flour and wheat flour for
rolling. Check to make sure the dough doesn't stick to the surface.
• Bake the flatbread on a hot griddle until golden brown on both sides.
• After baking, fold the flatbread into two and then into four. Store them in a brown paper bag.
Flatbread on the hot grill Sources: Stine Koopmann
Finished Flatbreads Source: Stine Koopmann
Our second task was to make cookies or pastries from our home country. Optionally, we could also make a pastry that we eat at Christmas. Germany is ideal for this as it is a great baking country and there are many different Christmas cookies that vary from region to region, even if it is sometimes only the name that differs. Germany still has over 44.000 bakeries all over the country. (Zentralverband des Deutschen Bäckerhandwerk e.V., 2024)
My family still bakes cookies at home once a year, even though all the children have moved out and only my parents still live there. Since my father was little, theay had a tradition of baking Frisian cookies at Christmas. Traditionally, however, they are not actually baked in Germany at Christmas. This is only a tradition in my family.
The Frisians are people in Germany and the Netherlands who live on the North Sea coast. In Germany, there are still around 60,000 people who belong to this ethnic group. (bpb, 2025)
Unfortunately, my grandmother passed away a few years ago during the Christmas season, and my father inherited this recipe. Since then, I have associated these cookies even more with my grandmother and the Christmas season. The recipe I used to bake these cookies originally came from my grandmother.
This time, I halved the recipe, but the original recipe makes about 60 cookies.
Friesenkekse Oma Ute (Frisian cookies)
Shortcrust pastry:
- 375g flour
- 250g butter
- 125g sugar
- ½ vanilla pod
- 1 pinch of salt
- 2 egg yolks
For brushing:
- 1 egg white
For rolling:
- 125g coarse sugar
- 125g chopped almonds, shelled
For topping:
- 200g halved almonds, shelled
Preparation:
- Make a shortcrust pastry and roll it into a roll about 3 cm thick.
- Brush with egg white and roll in the chopped almonds and coarse sugar.
- Leave to rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 190°C fan oven.
- Cut into slices approx. 0.5 cm thick, place on a baking sheet with some space between them and press a halved almond lightly into the center.
- Bake in the preheated oven for approx. 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
- Once cooled, store in an airtight container in a dark place.
Cookies before baking Source: Stine Koopmann
When I went shopping to bake cookies, I encountered two small problems. I couldn't find chopped almonds at my regular supermarket here in Volda. So I bought whole almonds and chopped them myself. However, I didn't have the patience to peel them first, as I'm used to doing with chopped almonds from Germany.
Crushed almonds for the cookies Source: Stine Koopmann
Another problem was that I couldn't find any “Hagel“ sugar. I found pearlized sugar, but it's a little too fine for my taste. “Hagel“ sugar is somewhere between Norwegian pearlized sugar and white kandis in size. There isn´t even in english word fort hat kind of sugar.
Not finding these ingredients wasn't a problem. I just found it interesting that these two products aren't available in Norway, or at least I couldn't find them. I always have both of them in my baking drawer at home and use them regularly.
The baking went very well and both products taste great. I'll probably make the flatbread again in the near future, but not this one. Unfortunately, I don't have the equipment for it in Germany, and to be honest, I'm not the biggest flatbread fanatic. I find it a bit too boring. However, I think it's very good as a snack between meals. I will definitely bake the Frisian cookies again next year.
Baking has also shown me once again that I am sometimes a little too impatient for certain things. For example, I could have simply peeled the almonds for the cookies and kneaded the dough a little better. I can still improve in that area.
Overall, however, it was a very successful baking session.
Finished Friesenkekse Source: Stine Koopmann
Sources:
Fischer, Ute. (n.d). Friesenkekse. Personal communication.
Lyster, I., & Hatløy, O.M. (2011). Go' bitar frå besta si kokebok – Traditional Food from Sunnmøre. Brattvåg: Sanseleg Forlag DA.
Schneider, G. & / Toyka-Seid, C. (2025). Friesiche Volksgruppe in Deutschland. Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung (bpb). https://www.bpb.de/kurz-knapp/lexika/das-junge-politik-lexikon/339342/friesische-volksgruppe-in-deutschland/
Zentralverband des Deutschen Bäckerhandwerk e.V.. (2024). Bäckereien in Deutschland. Zentralverband des Deutschen Bäckerhandwerk e.V.. https://www.baeckerhandwerk.de/zahlen-fakten
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