Classic Danish Butter Cookies
Vaniljekranse, which literally translates to “vanilla wreaths,” are a classic Danish butter cookie that are shaped like holiday wreaths. They have a crisp, buttery texture, and lovely vanilla flavor. We bake them in the weeks before Christmas, so that we can enjoy them as a part of our holiday festivities. Luckily, they are fun and reasonably simple to make, so it’s not a huge project to take on!
These cookies are weirdly well-known because they are sold in that classic blue tin (see here* if you are confused). First of all, just to put it out there, these swirls are by far the best cookie in that tin (not taking any other opinions on this point, sorry). But also, we would argue that homemade always tastes better when it comes to these butter cookies. The texture is both crisp and tender because of the butter and almond flour, and the vanilla flavor is just unbeatable. Plus, it’s not a difficult recipe, so totally worth the slight amount of effort it takes to make them!
*Links marked with a * are affiliate links. As an Amazon associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.
Tips & Tricks
The recipe is straightforward – make the dough, pipe it, bake. If you don’t have a piping bag or any nozzles, you can just use a Ziploc bag and shape them as circles rather than wreaths. Some Danes also use meat grinders to shape these cookies, if that’s something you happen to have on hand. Use what you have! And then go ahead and eat like 10 in one sitting, because they are that addicting. Enjoy!
Watch Our Video:
Vaniljekranse (Vanilla Wreath Butter Cookies)
Ingredients
- 150 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 150 grams granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1.5 tsp vanilla extract
- 50 grams almond flour
- 200 grams all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 390 F (~200 C). For best results, turn on the convection bake setting if your oven has it! This will help make sure the cookies don't get too dark on the bottom before cooking all the way through!
- Mix together softened butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl, using a rubber spatula or a spoon.
- Add egg and vanilla and combine well, until the egg has been well incorporated.
- Add almond flour, all-purpose flour, and salt. Mix by folding and pressing the dough together in the bowl with the rubber spatula until a pipeable dough forms. Try not to overwork the dough!
- Add your dough to a piping bag with a star shaped piping tip. We use a cookie piping contraption but any piping bag will work!
- Pipe rings onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. We can fit about 12 cookies on each sheet, which usually takes 2-3 batches to get through the dough. We bake ours one at a time in the oven for a more consistent bake, but you can bake two baking sheets at once if you like!
- Freeze the baking sheet with piped cookies for around 5-10 minutes to keep more of the ridged definitions – if you don't, it may end up just looking like a circle!
- While the cookies are in the freezer, you can pipe a second baking sheet of cookies.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes until just golden on the bottom (you should see the golden color around the edges too) – these can burn quickly, so pay attention! If you need to leave them in the oven for longer, give them one minute at a time. Transfer to a cooling rack to cool and continue baking the batches from the freezer. Enjoy!
- Quick tip: if these cookies turn soft over time or didn't get quite as crisp as you had hoped in the oven after they've cooled, you can pop them back in a 350F oven for 3-4 minutes anytime and it should help them dry out! You may have to tweak the timing depending on your oven.
My father was Danish. My mother used to made many traditional Danish cookies for him at Christmas time. She made a cookie that was log shaped with both ends dipped in melted chocolate. Dad has passed and Mom has dementia now so I can’t ask her, but is this log cookie the same dough as Vaniljekranse and just in a different shape, or is it a different dough altogether. If you know, it would help my family a lot. Thank you so much, and merry Christmas from Ontario, Canada.
Hi Ruth! Thank you for your comment – we think you are referring to a cookie called Træstammer! The log cookies are made with a dough that you find in other Danish pastries such as romkugler; it basically consists of leftover cake and added flavors! We don’t currently have a recipe for these log cookies but we found one in English that you can reference: https://nordicfoodliving.com/danish-tree-logs-traestammer/
We hope this helps and is what you are looking for! Let us know if you were referring to something else and we can look into it some more! Merry Christmas to you and your family as well!
Thank you Sofie for your reply. Træstammer looks interesting but it is not the cookie I was thinking of. That is fine; please do not spend time looking for another. I already have quite a repertoire of Christmas cookies as it is. I had a beautiful Christmas with lots of fresh snow. I hope your Christmas was wonderful in its own way too.
Our mom had actually mentioned a little while ago that it could be Nøddehorn (here’s an example recipe: https://madensverden.dk/noeddehorn/) – I totally forgot to respond with that before – don’t worry, no extra time spent searching haha! Our Christmas was great too! Thanks for the response 🙂
Have you heard of a cookie called a swedish Bakkel? My mother in law makes them. The recipe is very similar and they look like wreaths.
I haven’t heard of them! I can’t find anything online either but I bet they are very similar to these! The Scandinavians all tend to have different variations of the same baked goods 🙂
I don’t have almond flour.. no extract either for flavour. what should i do?? thanks!
Hi, almond flour is pretty integral to the texture of these cookies so I wouldn’t substitute it. Instead, maybe you can make our shortbread recipe? Here it is: https://skandibaking.com/finsk-brod-danish-shortbread-cookies/