Traditional Danish Fedtebrød – Coconut Cookie Slices with Rum Glaze – beautifully short buttery cookies packed with desiccated coconut and topped with a rum glaze.
I’m so excited to share these Danish Fedtebrød – Coconut Cookie Slices with Rum Glaze with you today!
My mum found my Danish grandmother’s Saffir Mel (flour) collection of cookie recipes down the back of a shelf the other day.
The recipes were printed on thin magazine paper, A5 in size and very faded so I borrowed the booklet and scanned it in to my computer.
On flicking through all the recipes one stood out to my mum, Danish Fedtebrød.
After school mum said she’d often pop into the local bakery and put one or two of these Coconut Cookie Slices on her mum’s tab. I can imagine what a fabulous treat this was for a hungry school girl!
So I set about making the Danish Fedtebrød with pretty scant instructions but imagined the size I was aiming for would be quite big if they were sold in a store.
I also had to improvise with the hjørtetaksalt as it translates as bicarbonate ammonium which we don’t have in the UK so mum said to use bicarbonate of soda.
The original recipe used a specific brand of margarine but I changed that to butter and it also called for rum essence but I only had real rum and couldn’t find any rum essence in my local supermarket.
Mum had never made these Danish Fedtebrød but her mother made them for her as a child so I was really intrigued to try them. I’m not the biggest fan of desiccated coconut but I really like these cookies and the rum flavoured glaze was subtle and not overpowering.
My family loved the cookies and I ended up making a couple of batches over 2 days.
I mixed my first batch of Danish Fedtebrød by hand and made them a bit too big. On day 2 I made them a bit smaller and as I had a cut finger I decided to use my food processor which made the rubbing in and mixing last a couple of minutes rather than ten or so.
However after tasting both batches I think the hand mixed cookies with their course short texture had more character than the machine mixed ones where the desiccated coconut was ground down further.
However opinion was divided in the family over which was best so if you’re pushed for time or find rubbing in difficult then do use your food processor.
Do you have to use rum in the glaze?
If you don’t like the idea of rum then you can substitute if for lemon juice instead and not need to add any water.
More Scandinavian or coconut cookie recipes
I do hope you try these Danish Fedtebrød with an afternoon cuppa, they are incredibly short and buttery with just the right amount of added sweetness from the rum glaze. Here are some more cookies I’m sure you’ll love!
- Finsk Brød – Fab Food 4 All
- Danish Vanilla Wreaths – Fab Food 4 All
- Marzipan Macaroons – Tin & Thyme
- Chocolate & Vanilla Coconut Butter Cookies – Family Friends Food
- 4 Ingredient Hazelnut Cookies – Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary
As this is an old family recipe I am entering these Danish Fedtebrød into Inheritance Recipes over at Pebble Soup which is also run by Coffee & Vanilla.
Pin for later!
Danish Fedtebrød – Coconut Cookie Slices with Rum Glaze
Ingredients
- 125 g plain flour
- ¼ tsp hjørtetaksalt or bicarbonate of soda
- 125 g unsalted butter cut into cubes
- 65 g dessicated coconut
- 65 g granulated sugar
- For Rum glaze:
- 150 g icing sugar
- 2 tsp rum* or rum essence to taste
- 2 - 3 tsp water or enough to form a glaze if using essence
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 200ºC.
- Line a large baking sheet with baking paper.
- Sift the flour and bicarbonate or soda into a bowl.
- Rub in the butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add the sugar and dessicated coconut and mix well.
- Use your hands to form a dough.
- Divide mixture into 3 equal portions.
- Take one portion and squeeze into a long sausage shape and place on baking paper.
- Use your hands to shape into a long rectangle about 5.5 cm by 27 cm.
- Then repeat with the other 2 portions and space apart well on baking sheet as they will spread.
- Bake on middle shelf of oven for 10 minutes (or until golden).
- Make up the glaze by mixing the icing sugar with the rum and water.
- When the cookies are ready and whilst still warm, spoon the glaze down the middle of each length and then make diagonal cuts.
- Transfer to a cooling rack.
- Store in an air tight container.
Alica
These look delicious!!
Alison
How lovely to find your grans book down the back of a shelf. I love finding memories like that. These look delicious
Camilla
Thanks Alison, they are fab and I shall be exploring more of the recipes:-)
Heather Haigh
Mmmm, I am a big fan of coconut and rum
Camilla
Thanks, you’d love them then:-)
Laura@howtocookgoodfood
What a treat these must be and even better that these slices have memories attached to them. I especially like the sound of a rum glaze!
Camilla
Thanks Laura, they are fab-)
Julia @ HappyFoods Tube
These cookie slices look soo good. Granmothers’ recipes are always the best, aren’t they? 🙂
Camilla
Thanks Julia, yes they really are:-)
Katie Crenshaw
These look so cute and sweet. My mother would love these cookie slices. Can’t wait to make a batch for her.
Camilla
Thank you Katie, that’s wonderful, hope your mother enjoys them:-)
Kavey
Something so wonderful about sharing family recipes, isn’t there? My mum has shared many from her father on Mamta’s Kitchen and now I share some of them too via my blog. It’s a connection through the ages, a sense of nostalgia and continuation and legacy! And they look delicious!
Camilla
Thank Kavey, yes there’s something very special about reliving a recipe from your family’s past:-)
Elizabeth @ SugarHero.com
These look great! I love trying new-to-me recipes–it’s one of the greatest joys of baking.
Camilla
Thanks Elizabeth, I love trying new recipes too:-)
Meg | Meg is Well
That’s so amazing that you found those recipes! It’s hard to translate old recipes but you also had to deal with being in a different country too. They look buttery, flakey, and super delicious!
Camilla
Thanks Meg, yes my Danish isn’t too hot these days but between my mum and Google translate I got there:-)
Michelle @ Greedy Gourmet
This remind me of my childhood memories. How I was so eager to eat cookie slices all the time. Thank you for the recipe.
Camilla
Thanks Michelle, I must post the one’s that my mum used to make for us:-)