Rosette Cookies
Rosettes are very delicate but incredibly delicious Norwegian (or Swedish) cookies that have been a treat for many generations. Rosette cookies are as pretty as they are rich and delicious.
Typically made only during the holidays as they are quite time consuming to make.
The original recipe called for deep frying in lard, but we recommend Extra Virgin Olive Oil as an acceptable and more healthy substitution.
This recipe is what the Gjenvick family has used for generations in creating these most delicious but fragile cookies.
Ingredients
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 5 drops of pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup flour
- Confectioners Sugar
Prerequisites
- minimum of 16 fluid ounces of EVOO
- Rosettes Irons (minimum of two recommended) Below is an example of the different types of rosette irons and molds typically available. These sets were manufactured by Nordic Ware.
Making the Batter
Break eggs into a bowl, add sugar, salt, vanilla, milk and flour. Beat ingredients until mixture is well blended. Do not over beat as mixing too much makes the rosettes blistered and tough.
Directions
In a deep kettle or heavy large pot, heat your EVOO to between 350 and 375 degrees. Put the rosette irons into the hot oil so that they are hot before you dip into the batter mixture.
Dip your rosette iron into the batter being careful not to go above the edge of the form. Quickly place the iron in the hot oil, submerging the rosette completely. Fry until evenly browned. Remove the deep fried rosette onto a cooling rack and carefully remove the rosette form assisted by a fork. Carefully flip the rosette so that the form is right side up and repeat the process until batter is used up (about 45 rosettes). Once they have cooled, use a sifter to shake a light coating of confectioner sugar on top of the rosettes. Store in an air-tight plastic container.
Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 02:30
Total time: 3:15
Yield: Approximately 100 Rosettes
Problems with Rosettes?
- Rosettes don't come off of the iron
- They are likely undercooked - they should be a golden brown color when they are done. Also if you dipped the iron in the batter over the top, it will be difficult to remove without breaking the rosette.
- Blisters are forming on the rosettes
- Eggs have been over mixed (beaten)
- Rosettes drop off from Rosette iron while deep-frying
- This typically happens when you don't have the irons placed low enough in the oil. Be sure that they are fully submerssed into the oil when deep frying.
- Rosettes are not coming out crisp
- Your oil is too hot. Reduce the temperature of the oil and continue.
Angel Parfait with Scandinavian Rosettes
Boil one cupful of sugar and one-third of a cupful of hot water to a thread. Heat the whites of two eggs light and add the syrup in a hue stream, beating steadily until a meringue is formed.
Let this cool. Fold in two capfuls of cream beaten solid, then turn into a mold previously wet with cold water. Cover carefully, pack in ice and salt for two. three or four hours. Serve on the rosettes garnished with strawberries.
Alternative Finishing Touches to Rosettes
Whether the rosettes be eaten with a fork or from the hand depends largely upon the nature of the • filling” used with them. A rosette sprinkled with cheese, or a compact mixture, would be eaten from the hand. One dressed in preserves or whipped cream would probably be listed with pie and treated accordingly.
Scandinavian Rosettes © 1902 The Boston Cooking Scool Magazine
For Parties and Afternoon Teas
If you are fond of cooking and like to make things to eat which are attractive to the eye, get a rosette iron, then you can make rosettes and sell them at thirty-five cents a dozen.
The following recipe will make four dozen:
- 1 cup sweet milk
- 1/4 teaspoonful salt
- 1 cup pastry flour
- 2 tablespoonfuls sugar
- 2 eggs
Break the eggs directly into the milk. Sift the sugar, flour and salt and add this little by little to the milk mixture. Now put the whole batter through the flour sifter. This does away with all lumps and makes a perfectly smooth mass filled with air bubbles. A tablespoonful or two more milk may be added if too thick.
Put the lard over the fire to heat in a deep, not too large dish,— the top of the double boiler is suitable. Have the fat hotter than for doughnuts — for doughnuts it should just give off a blue haze; for rosettes it wants to be about two degrees hotter than that.
Dip the iron into the hot lard and let it stay there until it is heated clear through. Now dip it into the batter, being careful not to let the batter come over the top of the iron, as that will prevent the rosettes slipping off.
Now dip the batter-covered rosettes quickly into the hot lard and out again. Only a few seconds are required to fry them. They are crisp and delicious and especially suitable for parties or afternoon teas.
They are so different from the ordinary cakes and cookies that they sell readily, and they are so pretty that they add to the attractiveness of any table.
Frying Scandinavian Rosettes
Frying Scandinavian Rosettes © 1908 Practical Cooking and Serving
Beat four eggs without separating. Add one pint of milk, and stir gradually into three cups of flour, sifted with half a teaspoonful of salt and two tablespoonfuls of sugar. Beat very thoroughly, when half the liquid has been added.
The eggs might be added with half the milk, as all the milk may not be needed. Heat the rosette iron in hot fat. Dip into the batter to half its height, and return to the hot fat, until the cake is cooked a delicate brown.
Shake from the iron on to soft paper. Serve, sprinkled with powered sugar, as a dessert dish, or spread the rosettes with jam or preserves and ornament with whipped cream.
The batter should stand an hour after being mixed before the rosettes are fried. In winter it may be kept for days, and used as occasion requires, either for this or other purposes, as to coat quarters of banana for frying.
