We will celebrate our "anniversary" tonight by setting up our Christmas tree and decorating it. One thing we always did in America while decorating our tree was to drink eggnog and listen to Christmas music. Well, eggnog is not readily available in Denmark, so Randell found it online and ordered it from amazon.dk. It arrived a couple of days ago, so we are all set.
While we chose our tree from the plant nursery down the street, traditionally, the Danes would make choosing the tree a family outing. Dads would pull the kids on their sleds while toting an ax in the other hand, while mom would carry the lunch basket and thermos of warm drink. A Norwegian spruce would have been chosen in the older days but now that the homes are not so cold a Normann spruce is cut. It not only has softer needles, it also withstands the normal room temperature of modern homes much better.
The lighting of the Christmas tree is considered one of the highlights of Christmas Eve. Many Danes insist that you have to use real candles and not electric lights on the Christmas tree. We string our lights up before we begin hanging the ornaments and they are electric which we plug in and burn every chance we get.
The Danes Christmas tree itself is decorated with a silver or gold star on the top (never an angel), festoons of national flags, cornets with fruit, candies or cookies, woven paper heart baskets, small toy music instruments and the entire tree is often given the final touch with scatters of white fairy hair or strips of tin foil, reflecting the light from the glowing candles.
Previously it was the father in the family who was in charge of lighting the Christmas tree. After dinner he would go to the adjacent room on his own and light up the candles. Then he would invite the rest of the family to join him and admire the splendor of the tree. Today it is more common for the whole family to take part in all the traditional Christmas rituals, as it is with our family.
We arrived in time last year to set up and decorate a tree. Here is a picture of it with some Danish traditional ornaments (paper cones and hearts filled with nuts and candies) that I made...
It is very traditional to set out and/or have on hand certain sweets during the holidays in Denmark. One of my favorites is a simple cookie called "Jodekager". It is a very thin cinnamon cookie and very easy to make. Here is the recipe for any of you who wants to try it...
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Cinnamon Cookies (Jodekager)
INGREDIENTS
COOKIE DOUGH
- 1 1/4 cups Soft Butter
- 2 cups Flour
- 2/3 cups Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Egg Beaten
- Cinnamon and sugar mixed
DIRECTIONS
Mix first 4 ingredients together. Cover dough and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour. Remove from refrigerator and roll dough very thin. Use a round cookie cutter, brush cookies with beaten egg and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar mixture. Heat oven to 350°F. Place on greased cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes
Pebernødder is another cookie that is a Christmas favorite in Denmark. You will find a small bowl of them on store counters, in offices on desks and always accompanying the afternoon or evening coffee/tea time. Pebernødder is often put into the decorative cones hung on the Christmas tree. Pebernodder means "pepper nuts". NO worries, they are actually sweet and there is no pepper involved in making them! In the olden days "to pepper" meant to season. Pebernødder is thought to be the oldest Christmas cookie in Denmark, coming from Germany (Pfeffernussen). Here is a recipe for these tiny treats...give them a try, they are delicious!
Pebernodder
Ingredients:
80 gram butter (6 tablespoons)
225 gram sugar (1 cup plus 1 tablespoon)
1 egg
1 deciliter whipping cream (1/2 cup)
350 gram flour (3 cups) (add more flour if needed to bring dough together)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cardamom (in the ginger family)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 225 degrees C (400 degrees F). Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, cardomom and set aside.
In your mixer using the paddle attachment, mix together butter and sugar until creamy and smooth. Add egg and mix. Then add whipping cream and mix. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix just until combined. Remove dough from mixing bowl onto a floured surface. Using your hands bring dough together, adding a little more flour if needed until it holds together and forms a ball. Divide dough into smaller pieces and roll into long rolls measuring the width of your fingers. Cut into 1 1/2 centimeter pieces. Place on baking sheets about 1 inch apart and bake for approximately 12 minutes until just turning golden.
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