Easy Swedish Dream Cookies (Drömmar Cookies) (2024)

Swedish Drömmar Cookies are a delicious, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookie that’s sure to become a family tradition.

Learn how to make Swedish Dream Cookies the easy way!

Note: This post may contain affiliate links for your convenience. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Swedish dream cookies are traditional European cookies that are similar to sugar cookies. They’re also known as drömmar, which means “dream” in Swedish.

These little cookies are crisp on the outside and practically melt in your mouth, making them a beloved staple in many homes.

Traditionally, Swedish dream cookies use an ingredient that is not readily found in the United States today. This ingredient is bakers ammonia, or ammonium carbonate.

But the good news is, you don’t have to have that ingredient to make these dreamy cookies!

And because these are eggless sugar cookies, they make a great sweet treat for those who can’t have eggs.

More European Inspired Sweet Treats:

• Copycat Walker’s Scottish Shortbread (also sometimes called Scottish dream cookies!)
• Golden Syrup Cake
• Stroopwafel Cake
• German Muffins
• Easy Snickerdoodles (without cream of tartar!)

Traditional Swedish Drömmar Cookies

Ammonium carbonate, also known as bakers ammonia or baker salt, was a leavening agent used traditionally in many European cookies and crackers.

It lends a crispness to the texture of the baked goods, and also helps with leavening.

This ingredient was commonly used prior to the availability of baking soda and baking powder, which are more commonly used today.

Unfortunately, baker’s ammonia has a major downside other than availability, and that is its smell.

Baker’s ammonia is the same chemical used to revive fainting ladies in the Victorian era, and even still used today in some hospitals (I’m a nurse who has had to use smelling salts for this very purpose).

Ammonia has such a strong smell that many people don’t want to use it in their home kitchens, and who can blame them? It causes a noxious odor while baking the baked goods.

The good news is, the ammonium cooks completely out of the food when it’s baked completely, so there is no remaining taste in the finished product.

That means it’s important that this ingredient is only used in items that will dry out completely during the baking process such as cookies or crackers, not something larger and more moist, like cakes.

Because I didn’t want to use bakers ammonia in my Swedish dream cookies, I set out to develop a recipe that uses baking powder instead.

While the texture might be slightly different than the traditional version, the result is still a melt in your mouth cookie with a lightly crisp exterior.

These little sugar cookies are in fact a dream come true. They only require a few basic ingredients, and don’t take long to prepare.

I personally prefer eating them when they are still slightly warm, but you can also let them cool completely.

How to Make Swedish Dream Cookies

It’s easy to make these delicious cookies!

Ingredients You’ll Need:

• Butter
• Sugar
• Oil (vegetable oil or canola oil)
• Vanilla extract
• Almond extract
• All-purpose flour
• Baking powder
• Salt

How to Make It:

(Full printable recipe card is located below)

Cream butter and sugar. To start, combine softened butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Combine these two ingredients, beating them together fluffy and incorporated.

Add the vanilla extract and almond extract,mixing until incorporated.

See Also

Kissel Pudding and The Legend of the Nisse — The Wondersmith

Add oil. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the oil to the ingredients, mixing until well-incorporated.

Combine dry ingredients. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together all purpose flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add dry ingredients to wet. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Mix just until incorporated into a soft dough.

Chill, scoop, and bake. Transfer the bowl of dough to the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes. After that time has passed, remove from the refrigerator and scoop dough into 1 inch balls, rolling them in your hands.

Placed on a lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart, and bake until the tops begin to crack. This will take about 20 to 22 minutes.

Serve. Allow the cookies to cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet once removed from the oven. Transfer to a cooling rack.

I like to serve these cookies warm, but you can let them cool as well. They do become a little bit more crispy over time, so if you prefer that, then wait until the next day to serve them.

Recommended Equipment:

• Stand mixer
• Baking Sheet
• Silicone mat or parchment paper

Be sure to pin this recipe to your favorite cookies board on Pinterest!