Storing Christmas biscuits: how to make the baking last until Christmas

Christmas baking lasts longer than most people think, but only if every kind sits in the right place. Some biscuits get better for a couple of weeks' rest. Others are finished the day after.

The bakes that improve with keeping

Dark, spiced baking made with golden syrup or honey matures. The syrup holds on to the moisture, the spices settle, and the sharp edge of ginger and cloves rounds off. Pepperkaker, the thin Norwegian gingerbread biscuits, and sirupssnipper, the diamond-shaped syrup biscuits, taste rounder after a week or two. That is why the old Norwegian custom was to bake as early as November.

Kransekakestenger, the almond and marzipan sticks, belong in the same group. The marzipan holds on to the moisture, and the sticks turn chewier and better over the first few days.

The bakes that should be eaten fresh

Butter biscuits go the other way. Serinakaker, sandkaker and berlinerkranser, the classic Norwegian butter and shortcrust biscuits, are at their best in the first week, and then they start to taste dry. Fattigmann and smultringer, the deep-fried biscuits and doughnuts, keep for even less time: the fat they were fried in goes stale on its own.

Krumkaker and goro are a case of their own. Krumkaker are thin rolled wafers and goro are flat patterned wafer biscuits, and the crispness disappears within hours in damp kitchen air. They should go straight into an airtight tin as soon as they are cold, and they should sit there on their own.

Crisp and soft should never share a tin

This is the most common mistake, and it is easy to put right. Moisture always travels from the damp to the dry. Put sirupssnipper in with krumkaker and the syrup biscuits give up moisture, the wafers soak it in, and after two days both of them are chewy. Smell travels the same way: gingerbread spice settles quickly into a plain sandkake.

The rule is simple: one tin per texture, not per kind.

• Crisp in its own tin: krumkaker, goro, pepperkaker.
• Soft in its own tin: sirupssnipper, coconut macaroons, kransekakestenger.
• Baking paper between the layers, so the biscuits do not stick together.
• Cool and dark, a pantry is ideal. Never in the cupboard above the cooker.

The same goes for everything crisp in the kitchen, see the guide on keeping crispbread and biscuits crisp.

How long Christmas baking keeps, kind by kind

Cream cakes, julebrød and julekake

Cakes with cream belong in the fridge and should be eaten within a couple of days. Cover them, or they take on the taste of everything else in there. How to do that without cling film is in the guide on storing cake without plastic.

Julekake and julebrød, the sweet Norwegian Christmas breads, are yeast bakes, and sweet yeast bakes dry out faster than an ordinary loaf. An ordinary loaf keeps fresh for 7 to 10 days in a bag that breathes, while the julekake is at its best in the first few days. It too is best kept in something that breathes, so the crust does not turn clammy and the crumb does not go dry. A sealed plastic bag gives you a chewy crust. Freeze the rest the same day, ideally sliced, see the guide on freezing bread properly.

Lefse, the thin soft Norwegian flatbread, lompe, its small potato version, and flatbrød, the crisp dry one, have rules of their own, see the guide on storing lefse, lompe and flatbrød.

Baking Christmas biscuits early: freeze now, thaw in good time

1. 1
   Cool them completely before you pack them

   A lukewarm biscuit gives condensation, and condensation gives chewy biscuits.

2. 2
   Freeze them in portions

   Several small boxes beat one big one. Then you thaw only what you need.

3. 3
   Label them with kind and date

   In December every frozen box looks exactly the same.

4. 4
   Freeze the dough instead if you prefer

   Gingerbread dough and shortcrust take freezing well, so you can bake fresh whenever you want.

5. 5
   Thaw crisp biscuits with the lid off

   With the lid on, the moisture settles on the biscuits.

6. 6
   Thaw yeast bakes in their wrapping

   The julekake draws the moisture back into itself. Allow a couple of hours on the worktop.

The crispness comes back with a few minutes in the oven at 150 °C. Let them go completely cold before they go into the tin, or the condensation starts all over again.

The plan: bake now, eat later

The point is to move the work away from the busiest days. The same thinking for everyday bread is in the guide on baking once and eating all week.

Frequently asked questions