Drömmar

Name: Drömmar
Yield: 40 to 45 small cookies
Cuisine: Sweden
Ingredients: 100 g unsalted butter, soft; 250 g granulated sugar; 13 g vanilla sugar, or 2 tsp vanilla extract; 100 ml neutral oil (sunflower or canola); 1 tsp baker's ammonia, lumps crushed to a fine powder; 240 g all-purpose flour; a pinch of salt (optional; not traditional)

Also called Swedish dream cookies, drommar, dreams

Pale, crackled, airy cookies that shatter and then melt, leavened with baker's ammonia and baked low.

Makes: 40 to 45 small cookies

Cookies Freezes well

Ingredients

Scale

Amounts are for the recipe. Sizes, times and temperatures in the method are not scaled.

100 g7 tbspunsalted butter, soft
250 g1¼ cupsgranulated sugar
13 g1 tbspvanilla sugar, or 2 tsp vanilla extract
100 ml7 tbspneutral oil (sunflower or canola)
1 tspbaker's ammonia, lumps crushed to a fine powder
240 g2 cupsall-purpose flour
a pinch of salt (optional; not traditional)

Amounts worked out from the other system are rounded.

Method

Heat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Line two sheet pans with parchment.
Beat the butter (100 g7 tbsp), granulated sugar (250 g1¼ cups) and vanilla until pale and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.
Beat in the oil (100 ml7 tbsp) a little at a time, until smooth.
Whisk the crushed baker's ammonia (1 tsp) into the flour (240 g2 cups), with the salt if using, then mix into the butter mixture just until a soft, crumbly dough forms. Press it together with your hands if needed.
Roll into balls about 1 inch (2.5 cm) across, roughly 15 g each. Set them 2 inches apart and flatten each slightly with your fingers or a fork.
Bake one pan at a time on the middle rack for 18 to 22 minutes. They should stay pale, with only a trace of color at the edges, and look crackled and dry on top.
Cool completely on the pan. They crisp as they cool.

Notes

The oven smells strongly of ammonia while they bake. That is normal and it bakes off. Don't lean over the door when you open it, and don't taste the raw dough.
A cooled cookie that still smells of ammonia was underbaked or too big. Give the next pan 2 to 3 minutes longer.
If a pan spreads too thin, chill the remaining balls 15 minutes before baking.
Storage. They keep 2 to 3 weeks at room temperature in glass or a metal tin. Plastic holds old smells and passes them to fatty cookies. Baked cookies freeze for about 3 months. Check that the oil smells fresh before baking; in a cookie this plain, slightly stale oil shows after a few days.
Brown butter and cardamom version. Start with 115 g butter and brown it in a light-colored pan over medium heat until the solids are deep golden and it smells nutty, 5 to 7 minutes. With its browned bits it should weigh about 100 g; top it up with a little soft butter if it is short. Refrigerate until solid, then soften to cool room temperature, about 1 hour in all; if it goes in melted, the cookies spread. Add ½ to 1 tsp freshly ground cardamom with the flour and use a full ¼ tsp fine salt. Expect a slightly deeper color, and judge doneness by the crackled, dry top.