Smultring
Encyclopedia
Smultring and hjortetakk (sometimes spelled hjortebakkels) are Norwegian
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

 doughnut
Doughnut
A doughnut or donut is a fried dough food and is popular in many countries and prepared in various forms as a sweet snack that can be homemade or purchased in bakeries, supermarkets, food stalls, and franchised specialty outlets...

s. They are smallish and usually prepared without glazing or filling, and are often flavoured with cardamom
Cardamom
Cardamom refers to several plants of the genera Elettaria and Amomum in the ginger family Zingiberaceae. Both genera are native to India and Bhutan; they are recognised by their small seed pod, triangular in cross-section and spindle-shaped, with a thin papery outer shell and small black seeds...

.

Smultrings are torus
Torus
In geometry, a torus is a surface of revolution generated by revolving a circle in three dimensional space about an axis coplanar with the circle...

 shaped and sold from trucks and, at Christmas time, from stalls. They are described as being "thick heavy dough fried in lard – best eaten while hot and with the grease still dripping!" Smultring are popular with expatriate Norwegians including those in Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 who serve them with krumkake
Krumkake
Krumkake or Krum kaka is a Norwegian waffle cookie made of flour, butter, eggs, sugar, and cream. Krumkake are traditionally made during the Christmas season....

, riskrem (rice cream), and fattigmann
Fattigmann
Fattigmann , also known as Fattigmann Bakkels , are a type of Norwegian fried-dough cookie. They are also eaten in the areas of North America where Scandinavians settled during the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century...

 at Christmas dinners.

Hjortebakkels are made from rolls of dough looped with the ends overlapping. Brandy
Brandy
Brandy is a spirit produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35%–60% alcohol by volume and is typically taken as an after-dinner drink...

 is often used as an ingredient. The Norwegian name comes from the fact that hartshorn
Hartshorn
Harts' horns, are the horns of the male red deer. Various substances were made from the shavings of the animals' horns.The oil of hartshorn is a crude animal oil obtained from the destructive distillation of the deers' bones or horns....

 (Ammonium bicarbonate) was used as a raising agent
Leavening agent
A leavening agent is any one of a number of substances used in doughs and batters that cause a foaming action which lightens and softens the finished product...

.

Caution should be taken during the frying, as the lard is extremely hot. Furthermore, should the lard catch fire, use a lid to asphyxiate the fire. Never use water as the heat will cause the water to boil before it even touches the fire. The resulting steam will catch fire and cause a large fireball.

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