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Sandnøtter — Norwegian Christmas butter cookies with the classic fork pattern, dusted pale and golden

Sandnøtter (Norwegian Christmas Butter Cookies)

Sandnøtter are tender, melt-in-your-mouth Norwegian Christmas butter cookies — one of the traditional syv slag.
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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chilling (opional) 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings: 40 cookies
Course: Cookies, Dessert
Cuisine: Norwegian, Scandinavian
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 250 g butter 1 cup + 2 tbsp | softened to room temperature
  • 250 g granulated sugar 1¼ cups
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla sugar or 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 500 g potato starch 2⅔ cups | potato STARCH, not potato flour (see Notes)
  • 125 g all-purpose flour 1 cup

Equipment

  • Stand mixer | For creaming butter and sugar to a light, airy base
  • Digital kitchen scale | Essential here — potato starch is nearly impossible to measure accurately by volume, so weigh it
  • 2 Baking sheets | Bake in batches and don't overcrowd
  • Fine-mesh sieve | For sifting the starch and flour into the dough so it stays smooth.

Method
 

  1. Cream the softened butter and sugar together until pale, light and airy.
  2. Add the egg and beat until fully combined.
  3. Sift together the vanilla sugar, potato starch and all-purpose flour, then sift into the butter mixture.
  4. Knead gently until you have a firm, smooth dough. (Chill 30 min if the dough feels too soft to roll.)
  5. Roll into small balls and place on the baking sheets — no more than about 20 per tray so they don't spread into each other.
  6. Press each cookie down gently with a fork to make the classic ridged pattern. If the fork sticks to the dough, dip it in a little potato starch first — and again between cookies as needed.
  7. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for about 10 minutes. Sandnøtter should stay pale — do not let them brown.
  8. Cool completely on the tray, where they firm up.

Notes

Chef's tip — the starch is the whole point. The high ratio of potato starch is what gives sandnøtter their signature sandy, melt-in-the-mouth crumb (that's the "sand" in the name). US bakers: reach for potato starch (sometimes labeled potato starch flour), not "potato flour" — they're different products and potato flour will ruin the texture. Keep the cookies pale; they're done when set but still light, and they crisp up as they cool. Store in an airtight tin.
If the fork keeps sticking as you press the pattern, dip it in potato starch between cookies — a quick fix that keeps the ridges clean.