• Skip to main content
  • Skip to after header navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Nordic kitchen stories logo

Nordic Kitchen stories

Inspired by family recipes

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Baking
    • Breakfast
    • Brunch
    • Cakes
    • Desserts
    • Dinner
    • Drinks
    • Festive
    • Fika
    • Fish
    • Foraged Food
    • Gluten-Free
    • Healthy
    • Lunch
    • Main
    • Nordic
    • Pickling
    • Preserving
    • Salads
    • Sharing
    • Snacks
    • Soups
    • Sourdough Baking
    • Starters
    • Vegan
    • Vegetarian
  • Bespoke Cakes
  • Workshops
    • Sourdough Workshops
    • Nordic Baking Workshop
    • Pastry – Savoury Tarts
  • Work with me
  • Buy my book
  • About

Saffron & Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies

19th December 2020 by Louise
Saffron & Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies
Saffron & Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies

These golden saffron and hazelnut crinkle cookies are a foolproof treat that are fun to make and very easily devour! They’re a delicious Christmas cookie with a crisp exterior, a soft centre and a little crunch from the nuts.

If you follow me you’ll know that I have a fondness for saffron, a Christmas spice that you’ll see in many baked goods in Scandinavia in the festive season.  I adore the glorious colour and the subtly, earthy flavour and aroma, it has sweetness too, similar to floral honey.

A few tips on how to bake Saffron & Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies:

  • Make sure you start with room temperature ingredients so the butter and egg mix together easily.
  • Make sure you chill the cookie dough for at least 3 hours. The dough is quite sticky and easier to manage once it has been chilled (the longer, the better).
  • Once they’re rolled into balls and placed onto a baking tray, there is no need to press them down. They will naturally bake into shape.
  • You may wonder why there are 2 coatings of sugar? if you skip rolling the cookies in caster sugar the icing sugar just melts away as they cook.  So it’s a necessary step.
  • Make sure your oven is pre-heated before baking!

 

I urge you to give these little nuggets of sunshine a try, they’ll definitely brighten your day.

Saffron & Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies
Print Recipe

Saffron & Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies

Prep Time20 minutes mins
Cook Time14 minutes mins
Total Time34 minutes mins
Course: Fika
Cuisine: Swedish
Servings: 30 cookies

Ingredients

  • 70 g butter room temperature
  • 100 g caster sugar
  • a good pinch saffron
  • 1 Tbls milk
  • 1 medium egg room temperature
  • 90 g plain flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 35 g hazelnuts skinned and roughly chopped

Topping

  • 50 g caster sugar
  • 50 g icing sugar

Instructions

  • Begin by crushing the saffron stamens into a powder in a bowl, then add a tablespoon of warm milk and leave to steep for 10 minutes, to maximise the flavour.
  • Whisk butter, caster sugar, vanilla extract and saffron lightly in a bowl. Whisk the egg and add to the butter mixture in 3 additions, whisking in-between.
  • Place the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl and stir well. Add to the wet ingredients stir to form a smooth dough. Wrap and place in the fridge for a least 3 hours.
  • Set the oven to 175C fan.
  • Remove the dough from the fridge and divide into 30 pieces, rolling each piece into a ball.
  • Roll each ball in caster sugar then follow with a generous amount of icing sugar.
  • Bake in the centre of the oven for 12-14 minutes until the surface crackles. Love eaten soon after they have been baked. They will keep for 3-4 days in an airtight container.
Saffron & Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies – Perfect fika treats.

Tips:

  • If you’re dairy-free, this recipe works equally well with sunflower oil instead of butter.
  • Add the zest of an orange or lemon for additional flavour.
  • The dough can be kept in the fridge for 2-3 days.  Bake as and when want to fika!

Share this:

  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
Category: Baking, Festive, Fika, Nordic, Spring, WinterTag: baking, christmas, festive, swedish
Previous Post:Swedish Venison Casserole with Wild Mushrooms and Lingonberries
Next Post:Festive Saffron & Cinnamon Bread StarFestive Saffron Star

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Nordic kitchen stories logo

Sign up to receive my latest recipes by email

Copyright © 2025 · Louise Hurst · Privacy Policy · All Rights Reserved · Website by Callia Web