JÓLAKÖTTURINN
The Christmas cat

The 'Christmas cat'

Jólakötturinn, the Christmas cat, is the pet of the witch Gryla and her 13 sons, the Jólasveinar. And as it should be for a witch, this is a different kind of cat. Large, malicious and I have an enormous hunger for human flesh. According to tradition, she shows up at Christmas and eats lazy people.

Children in particular are 'threatened' with the Christmas cat so that they can do their jobs. The only way to escape the cat is to be hard-working, shear the sheep, spin the wool, weave and make new clothes for Christmas. Because only those who have new clothes on Christmas Eve are safe.

Thinking about this story, I wondered what it would be like to bake cookies in the shape of the Christmas cat Jólakötturinn? I wanted to have a simple recipe, so I quickly changed the traditional scandinavian Jólbiscuits.

Preparation

Mix butter, sugar and egg until frothy. Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt.
It is best to leave the dough in the fridge overnight for at least 3 hours.
After the rest period, roll out in portions on a floured work surface approximately 3 mm thick

For the classic version cut out large (Ø 6 cm), round cookies with a hole in the middle.
Place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and brush with beaten egg whites.
Finally sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. For the cinnamon sugar I mix 50 g sugar with ½ tsp cinnamon.

For the Christmas cat version alternately cut out large cats with humps and small stars in between. Place on a baking sheet lined with baking paper. The cookies are baked as they are.

Bake

Bake until golden for 8-10 minutes at 200 ° C (or 170 ° C convection).

Finish

The classic version is ready after baking. When the cookies for the Christmas cat version ghave cooled well, you can decorate them imaginatively and at will with the decorative font.

And if you don't have enough of the Christmas cat or like to listen to music while baking, you can listen to Björks wonderful setting of an Icelandic poem

Gleðileg jól!