I had a long to do list.  First thing, I needed to get the laundry started, so that the washer could do some work for me, as I moved on to other tasks.  Entering the laundry room with an overflowing basket of dirty clothing, I found a rather unwelcome sight.  There on the floor was gathering pool of water, which seemed to originate from the storage room.  Tracking the stream back to its headwaters, I found the culprit.  The top of the water heater looked like a volcano ready to burst.  Setting down the dirty clothes and jumping into action, I soon had the water heater / time bomb disabled and properly draining.  Next I scanned the side of the aspiring water fountain and found a phone number.  Quickly dialing, my ears were met with the sound of a helpful plumber who promised to be on his way shortly.

Christmas miracle if I ever saw one, the plumber actually did arrive shortly and repaired the water heater in a jiffy.  After he had finished, I asked if he could take a look at something else that had been stumping my limited plumbing abilities.  Back in the warm Summer sun, my youngest son Ben had decided to play with sand in the powder room sink.  During the course of this funfest, he jammed the drain shut.  In all my plumbing wisdom, I tried to fix it with a hammer.  Yes, a hammer.  My friends, some free advice, do not try to fix drains with hammers.  My attempt only resulted in one very broken sink and after two failed attempts to procure plumbers, I had mostly given up hope.  Since I had promised my wife that I would have it fixed by Christmas, I had resigned myself to failure.  Now, there was a real live plumber, who could potentially fix my sink.  Was he really a plumber or an angel in disguise?  After looking at the sink, he informed me that he could fix it, but he would need to purchase a new drain and would most likely return later today.  Then the best part arrived, as he said, “When I finish that sink, we can settle up.”  What?  No payment until the sink was fixed, too?  Yes Virginia, he would return to fix my sink.  I would keep my Christmas deadline sink repair promise to my wife.  An angel sent to repair a water heater would also save a man’s home repair reputation (exaggeration, since my reputation in such handyman areas is already rock bottom, but it sure sounds good).  It was indeed a Christmas miracle.

Looking back at the sand that helped break the sink, let’s celebrate a “sandy” cookie, the Norweigian Sandbakkel.

Sandbakkels in the 2 and 3 inch varieties.

SANDBAKKELS

“Sandbakkels translates to ‘Sand Tarts’ in Norwegian and I will admit that until earlier today, I thought their name was actually ‘Sand Buckles.’  You can however cut me a break, since I am not Norwegian, but rather am married to one.  These delightful little sugar cookie cups are just begging for a filler.  Use some jelly, lemon curd, or Nutella to really finish off these Christmas treats.”

1 cup Butter

½ cup Superfine Sugar

1 Egg, beaten

2 cups, plus 2 Tablespoons, Flour

1 teaspoon of your favorite flavoring (almond extract, vanilla extract, lemon extract, rum extract, the list goes on and on)

Filling of your choice (popular options include jelly, lemon curd, or Nutella)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly grease Sandbakkel tins using cooking spray.

If you don’t have Superfine Sugar on hand (who does?), you can make some easy enough.  Take ½ cup regular Sugar, plus 1 extra teaspoon full, and pulverize it in a food processor for 30 seconds.  Presto!  ½ cup of Superfine Sugar is now at your disposal.

Cream the butter and sugar.

Mix in the egg and flavoring (I selected rum extract and they turned out tasty).

Mix in the flour.

Use 1½ Tablespoons of dough for each Sandbakkel tin.  Take the dough, place it in the tin, press down with your thumbs to cover the bottom and sides.  Make sure to cover the inside with only a thin layer of dough or else your Sandbakkels will turn out too thick and won’t leave much room for filling.  If you have too much dough in the tin, simply take off the portion that rises above the edge.

Sandbakkel tins destined to be filled with dough happiness.

Place tins on a baking sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes or until they are lightly brown.

Remove from oven and let cool a little.  Flip tins over onto a baking rack.  The tarts will fall out on their own, but if they are reluctant, simply encourage the edge out with your finger or lightly tap on the bottom of the tins.

Cool completely before adding filling.

 

Makes about 40 tarts.

Revised Source:  Kari Diehl’s “Basic Sandbakkelser Recipe” on scandinavianfood.about.com.