Serves: Makes ~40 Cookies
Approx cost: €0.90
Approx calories (per cookie): ~55
Approx preparation time: 30 minutes
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #0B0B61;”]People seem to love the Swedish recipes I post so here’s another one for you all. Drömmar, or “Dreams” in English, pronounced a bit like “Drer-ma” really live up to their name. Fabulously short, melt-in-the-mouth, sweet little two-bite wonders (well, sure you could easily fit the whole cookie in your mouth at once but that’s just greedy, right?!). Best served up at coffee-time with some Chokladbollar and some Kanelbullar (speaking of which, I should do a “redux” post for those too!), if you’re anything like me you won’t be able to stop at just one or two. They’re just so darn light.
Best of all they’re super easy to make, require no special ingredients except maybe vanilla sugar and are really cheap. Traditionally they should be small, but if you want to make a giant one who am I to stop you? The texture might not be the same when finished though so maybe try and make a few “normal” sized ones first! Try not to eat all the raw dough either – I know, I know… it’s delicious and impossible to resist but just try and control yourself, ok? On second thoughts – pretend the raw dough is poisonous. Once you’ve tasted it once you’ll probably find half of it disappearing straight into your mouth before it even hits the baking tray! Enjoy your Wednesday everyone 🙂
Ingredients
- 200g Plain Flour
- 150g Caster Sugar
- 75g Butter (replace with non-dairy margarine for vegan alternative)
- 0.5 decilitres Oil (Vegetable/Sunflower/Canola etc)
- 1 tsp Vanilla Sugar
- 0.5 tsp Salt (skip if using Salted Butter)
Instructions
- Start by pre-heating your oven to 150 degrees Celsius and then mix together the butter, sugar and vanilla sugar. The butter should be quite soft, so if it’s fresh from the refrigerator then stick it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften up. Once the sugar and butter is blended pour in the oil and beat well until you have something which looks a bit like this
- Add in the flour (and salt if you’re adding this) and mix to form a dense, crumbly dough. Turn the dough out onto a clean board or surface and separate into 4 pieces. Divide each piece into a further 10 pieces each, to make roughly 40 small pieces in total. Roll each piece into a small ball.
- Transfer each ball to a baking sheet (or sheets). If the trays aren’t non-stick you may want to grease them. They don’t spread much when cooking so you only need to leave maybe 1cm between each ball. Flatten the balls gently with a fork and then place into the oven for 15 minutes. After this time the colour will be roughly the same, with hints of the beginnings of a light golden colour in some parts and they will also have flattened and spread every so slightly. Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes or so before transferring to a rack. The best thing about these is that they’re small so cool really fast so you don’t need to wait long before you’re able to plough in and demolish the entire batch! Enjoy 🙂
Marianna says
It looks so easy, but I know I can definitely find a way to screw it up ))
Charles says
Eating all the cookie-dough before it's cooked is definitely one major way of screwing it up. That's always a risk!
Marianna says
Yeah, you got me, thats what I do ((
Linda says
I'm one for small bites of sweets so this is ideal for me!! I love learning about new recipes from different nationalities. What I like too is that the ingredients are those that I would normally have on hand and could make a batch whenever!
Charles says
Thanks Linda – indeed, the ingredients needed are really "nothing special", so you can almost always whip some up in a hurry if you need to! Plus, they're really nice 😀
Sissi says
Charles, I love all your Swedish recipes! Everything seems delicious, not too complicated and strangely comforting… These biscuits sound just perfect for tonight's baking session! Now that you warned me against tasting the raw dough, you can be certain I will do this!
Charles says
Thanks Sissi – were you able to give them a try? I'm kind of tempted to make some more this weekend but I think I want to do something a bit more adventurous instead so I guess we'll see 🙂
Sissi says
Charles, I'm so ashamed… I was too lazy, I made a much much lazier cake yesterday instead. As an excuse I can say I had to gut several small horse mackerels, take out the main bone and head and make them in tempura… I was a bit tired 🙂 I will probably try your biscuits this weekend.
Sissi says
Charles, reading your answer and looking at the photos I couldn't resist. The butter is softening and I'm weighing the other ingredients! I will report the results in a couple of hours!
Charles says
O.o Oooooh, now you made me nervous. I hope you like them!
Greg says
Those look so light and tasty. And yep, I love all the Swedish recipes.
Charles says
Thanks Greg! I'll post some more Swedish recipes in time 🙂
Nami | Just One Cook says
Really beautiful food styling and I love the feeling these pictures give… Very classy! I wasn't familiar with the name of the cookies, but these definitely look delicious! The color of cookies are lovey. I'd be really happy to have this along with a nice cup of tea.
Charles says
Thanks so much Nami. It's such a simple little cookie, but so sweet and light. Really difficult to stop eating I find, so best not to make them *too* often since they have so much sugar inside 😀
Jen says
Looks like perfect little bites! I could def eat a few of those! Nice photographs too 🙂
Charles says
Thanks Jen 🙂 They're really simple to make. It was my first try making them, although my wife makes them from time to time. It was pleasantly surprised how easy they ended up being 🙂
Kelly says
Ah, flour, butter and sugar, the basis of all good things ;0 This recipe reminds me a lot of shortbread – does it have the same consistency? I can easily imagine how yummy the raw dough is… I'm in serious trouble! :). Very fancy styling Sir with the lovely looking rose… The colour of the biscuit and the flower go very nicely together.
Charles says
Hi Kelly – yeah, they're actually very similar to shortbread. I should have mentioned that but I just didn't think of shortbread at all for some reason. They're slightly different… in a way I can't really describe. More crisp, maybe, but really good, that's for sure.
Thanks for your kind comments about the photos! 🙂 I'll be in the kitchen this weekend making another little sweet delight to post here. Can't wait 😀
Sadhana says
This looks fantastic, melt in mouth cuties.
Charles says
Thanks Sadhana – they're really good! Hope you have a chance to try them yourself one day 🙂
kristy says
That last picture is just gorgeous! Totally romantic. 🙂 I have no doubt that very few cookies would actually make it to the oven with this dough – especially if both Miss A and I are baking them. We have no will power. Usually having egg in the dough makes me stick to just licking the beaters, or spoons since I can easily scare myself about salmonella; but with no egg in the batter…I'm not sure we'd end up with too many cookies. These do look irresistible. They are now on my list of cookies to try! 🙂
Charles says
Haha, I'm the same – I always gingerly lick the spoon thinking "oooh, dicing with salmonella here, I'm so risqué" and then decide it's too delicious and just go to town on the whole lot 😀 But yeah – it's definitely fun to eat the dough on it's own, especially since there's no eggs in it. Went out to take a few photos tonight – when I came back, my wife had made me a batch with a nice mug of tea <3
Sissi says
Charles (it's me, probably for the third time today 😉 ) I have made Drömmar. They are delicious! Crumbly, so easy to prepare and so easy to eat! I was very tempted to add something, but finally I decided to stick to your recipe (experiments with pastry are a bit risky). I'll play with them next time! Thanks for a wonderful idea and please give us more Swedish food!
Charles says
You could always add some cumin! 😀 I'm glad you liked them – I always worry when people try things I post here. Sounds silly maybe! Pastries and other cakes can be indeed difficult to experiment with. You can of course adjust the decorations, but the core cake itself is usually the result of many, many iterations of cake by generations of cooks everywhere. I find it's always best to try to make something as it is first, and then start playing around from then on. For example – I can imagine these would be great dipped halfway in dark chocolate to offset the sweetness!
Pure Complex says
I'm not a coffee drinker at all, but I can totally see myself eating this mouth watering Drömmar with some tea and enjoying the day with some online traveling 🙂
Charles says
Thanks Kay! Sounds like a great day to me! Add a few sandwiches into the mix and it's perfect! 😀
Karen (Back Road Jou says
Simple little cookies like this can be addictive.
Charles says
Absolutely, though the unfortunate thing is, because they're so small you end up eating more of them than you normally would if it was just combined into one bigger one! Food trickery! 😀
mjskit says
Glad to see we have another cookie dough fan here! The last batch of cookies I made were suppose to make 4 dozen, but "somehow" I only ended up with 3. 🙂 These cookies sound and look absolutely delicious! I don't drink coffee but I'm sure they would be excellent with my afternoon tea.
Charles says
Haha, I'm terrible with that, and cookie dough is so good – there's a reason that cookie dough flavour Ben & Jerry's ice-cream is SO good… it's all in the sweet, sweet dough! 🙂 Tea or coffee, they make a great accompaniment – hope you're able to give them a try sometime! Have a great weekend! 🙂
Caroline says
I'm loving the Swedish recipes, Charles, keep 'em coming. And yes, there's a possibility I'd eat a large portion of the raw dough. I'm a sucker for it. These look delicious!
Charles says
Thanks Caroline – as they don't spread too much, they're the sort of little bites which would be wonderful if they could be piped, or shaped somehow, but I'm a little uncreative in that respect alas! Hope you're having a good weekend so far 🙂
Jean | Delightful Re says
Charles, these lovely little "two-bite wonders" are just the sort of thing I love with a good cup of tea! These are sure to appear on my tea table very soon.
Charles says
Thanks Jean – they can be quite sweet, so they make a great accompaniment for something like spiced tea-bread or something less sweet. Hope you're able to give them a try – let me know if you so! 🙂
shuhan says
i've never heard of drommar before but they do look perfect for nibbles andtea!
Charles says
Just wait until Christmas time – then I'll be able to post all sorts of other bizarrely named Swedish festive treats! Hope you're able to try these… everyone I give them to really enjoys them! 🙂 Have a good weekend Shuhan!
A_Boleyn says
As an earlier poster mentioned, the simple ingredients, reminiscent of shortbread, are easily available though I make sure to buy the best quality unsalted butter in my grocery store (price is about double the no-name brand) and quality vanilla extract or vanilla sugar because the taste depends on so few ingredients and I want to make every mouthful count. 🙂
Charles says
Definitely – France in general tends to have good butter (unsurprising for a country which consumes as much as they do. Apparently the best butter comes from Normandy here, and it's the one I usually try to buy) – I remember when I lived in England – for something which is basically churned cream, it's incredible how much the flavour and so forth can differ. An irish butter I bought sometimes used to sour in just a couple of days, despite being pasteurised!
Eva kitcheninspirati says
I'm a sucker for raw dough! This looks delicious, Charles. Do they ever roll them in ground nuts? Or colored sugar? In north America, we have a thumbprint cookie that sounds similar. They will often putvavwhole lemon in the middle and squish it down.
Charles says
Hi Eva, sorry – I’ve never seen them served any way but this, but don’t let that stop you! Speaking of thumb-print cookies, my mother has a recipe for the most incredible chocolate cookie I’ve ever had, rolled in oats I think and then pressed down with a thumb or a fork… it’s just – incredible. Rich, powerful, chocolatey… so wonderful!
cate says
Drommar was my favourites back home in Sweden, but never made them since moving to Australia as thought ammonium carbonate (hjorthorns salt) was an essential ingredient as per all my old recipes. Not necessary?
Charles says
Hej Cate, tack så mycket för ditt besök! I've never seen anything like hjorthornssalt in France, where I live (nor did I even know what it was until looking it up, prompted by your comment. Apparently it was used as a raising agent, before baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. The quantity required is tiny for the recipe – probably just enough to give a small amount of lift, so I think to be honest it's not necessary. My wife, who's Swedish, will hopefully testify that they're fairly similar, if not the same, to the original thing, although many factors can change the final product – the shape you make them in, how big they are etc.
I'd always assumed that the hjorthornssalt was used purely as a flavour enhancer or something (salt), but next time I make them I'll try adding a little baking powder to see how it impacts the final product!
In any case – I've had them in Sweden too and they were pretty darn similar so if you gave them a try, even without the raising agent for a little "smak av sverige", hopefully you wouldn't be disappointed 🙂 Have a nice day!
Angela says
It's a leavening agent that gives the cookies a nice, fluffy texture (more so than baking powder, but baking powder is an acceptable substitute). I get mine from houseonthehill.net, but I'm sure there are other places where you can obtain it. I won't make Springerles without it! 🙂
Charles says
Thanks for the advice Angela! I checked out the website you mentioned… now I have a big problem. Those molds look absolutely amazing and now gave me yet another thing I want to make! So cute! I've never heard of Springerles before… I'll go and look them up now!
Francis says
Woow, simple and great recipe! All these nice photos make me want to cook them as soon as possible heheh goodbye diet! 😛
I’m thinking to ass chocolate drops in the dough, or some italian liqueur, or top them with melted choccolate… Hehe 😛
Charles says
Hi Francis – I think chocolate would go just amazingly with these… mmm, great idea 😀 Both some chocolate drops IN the dough, and a chocolate coating on the top too… nice one 😀