Sunday, March 9, 2008

FATTIGMOND, FRUIT SOUP, & SAND BAKKELS




One of the foods that my grandmother used to make was called fattigmand.


Fattigmand is made with eggs, butter, cream, salt, soda, and enough flour to roll it out. It is fried in fat. It looks something like fried pie crust only its richer and bubbles up so you have a crunchy like taste. Sprinkle each piece with sugar, or cinnamon and sugar.


Fattigmann (Poor Man), from Norway, also dates to the Middle Ages, and, along with rosettes, is typical of traditional cookies deep-fried in unsalted fat.



My mother used to talk about what a treat it was to go to the senior center and have Norwegian fruit soup. I’ve never eaten this but I’m probably old enough now that I might even like it. Mother would make this for my grandfather who thought it was the best dish ever. He ate it hot or cold.


Fruit soup is made from apple’s, oranges, lemon, sticks of cinnamon, sugar, prunes, Sago, two quarts boiling water and raisins. The recipe seems simple; cut fruit into small pieces boil slowly for one hour. Sago is a powdery starch. What would we use instead of that as a thickener? Would tapioca work? Corn starch? Why couldn’t one make this in the crock pot? Could one use juice instead of water? Notice this has cinnamon and sugar too?



Other Frukt Suppe recipes include more exotic fruits such as melons and pineapple.. I am inclined to believe those sort of delicacies weren’t available. It’s possible to use dried apricots and dried cherries. In looking for fruit soups online you will find a variety of combinations to fit your taste. I must sound like a finicky old woman; I just don’t think I’d be mixing the apricots and cucumbers.


Sandbakkels, or Sand Tarts are baked in special little tins. They are pictured here with fruit, but we used to eat them plain. The recipe and method is:

1 cup butter, 1 cup margarine,
1-1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. almond extract
5 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
dash of salt

Cream together the butter, margarine and sugar. Add the eggs, almond extract and flour, then mix well. Press dough evenly and as thin as possible into sand bakkel molds. Bake at 350° for 10 minutes. As you take the molds from the oven, turn them over and let them cool. Remove from molds.


Shirley inherited all of her mother's molds. I knew a lady in her 80's who made the best sand bakkels! Think about the time it takes to make this treat and how delicate they are! Imagine what a gift it is to recieve this special treat?

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