My lovely Swedish friend recently lent me one of her baking cookbooks and I’ve been having a fabulous time translating recipes and learning the Swedish words for certain ingredients and cooking techniques. So far I’ve baked two cakes, as well as these delicious chocolate biscuits… all in the space of a week. They’re really quite easy to make and they taste just as wonderful as they look on the plate!
For those as fascinated by foreign languages as I am, I’ve included in italics after each ingredient, the Swedish equivalent. Hopefully, I’ve got them all right… along with my conversions from decilitres to grams… otherwise, who knows, perhaps quite a different little biscuit would be making its way from the oven.
The Swedish name ‘Märtas Skurna Chokladkakor’ translates to ‘Märta’s Sliced Chocolate Cookies’. Sadly, there was no added information in the cookbook as to who Märta is (or was). She certainly is to be celebrated for passing on to the world her sliced chocolate cookie recipe.
Swedish Sliced Chocolate Cookies (Märtas Skurna Chokladkakor)
Ingredients
- 200g (¾ Cup + 1 Tbsp) Butter – smör*
- 220g (1 Cup) Caster Sugar – socker
- 1 Large Free-Range Egg – ägg
- 1½ tsp Vanilla Extract – vaniljsocker*
- 300g (2 Cups) Plain Flour – vetemjöl
- 1 tsp Baking Powder – bakpulver
- 4 Tbsp Cocoa – kakao
For the Glaze/Topping:
- 1 Free-Range Egg (beaten) – ägg
- Pearl Sugar (to sprinkle over the top) – pärlsocker
Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 200°C and line 2 baking trays with parchment/baking paper.
Using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat in the egg and vanilla extract, until well combined.
Into a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt.
In 2 lots, add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine.
Separate the dough into 6 fairly even sized portions and form a log-shape with each portion. Place 3 logs to each baking tray, allowing room between each for spreading. Brush the logs with the extra beaten egg and sprinkle with the pearl sugar.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for approximately 15 minutes.
After removing from the oven, allow to cool a little, before using a sharp knife to cut the logs, on an angle, into about 10 slices each. It’s important to do this while they’re still warm. Then, allow the biscuits to cool completely, before serving.
Notes:
- I used Unsalted Butter when making these biscuits and added in a pinch of salt to the dry ingredients. Feel free to use salted butter if you prefer.
- The original recipe calls for 1 Tbsp Vanilla. I assumed that this meant Vanilla Essence and so have substituted 1½ tsp Vanilla Extract, as this is what I usually have in my pantry.
- This recipe comes from the Swedish cookbook called ‘Sju Sorters Kakor’.
Gather & Graze 
These look lovely Margot, and well done for translating! I made some similar German biscuits with pearl sugar and hazelnuts on top, and I particularly liked that the shape is so different from most biscuits.
Thanks Beck! These would also work really well with some chopped hazelnuts on top or mixed through. I keep meaning to make some sweet gougères with the leftover pearl sugar in the cupboard… perhaps this week sometime. Hope you’ve had a lovely weekend!
Sounds and looks wonderful! Thanks for sharing 🙂 I made cranberry muffins with cream cheese topping and they were fantastic. You can check them out here 🙂
Cheers! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Reminds me a little of biscotti, they look delicious. They would be wonderful with a cup of coffee!
Yes, very similar technique, just without baking a second time once sliced. The whole family loved these… perfect with any kind of hot beverage or even dunked in a glass of milk (as my youngest will attest to!) 🙂