Rosettes are special crisp, tender pastries that are traditional in Sweden and Norway, they are a popular Christmastime treat. Besides flower-shaped irons, you can also find stars and snowflake shapes. Be very careful with the rosette iron. It gets very hot while the cookie is frying in oil. The rosettes should be stored at room temperature in an airtight box. They will stay crisp and tender for about four days. Heat 3 inches of oil in a frying pan to 365 F. Place a rosette iron in the hot oil for 60 seconds. There is no way to take the temperature of the iron; just know that it has to be hot. Dip the hot iron into the batter, making sure not to let the batter run over the top of the iron. If you do, the rosette will be impossible to remove. This takes some practice. Immerse the coated iron in the hot oil and fry for 25 to 30 seconds until light brown. Slip the rosettes off the hot iron using toast tongs or a chopstick, and place onto a paper towel. Once cooled, sprinkle the cookies with powdered sugar.

Rosettes
2 eggs
2 tsps. sugar
1 cup whole milk
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
vegetable oil for frying
1/4 cup powdered sugar for dusting

Special equipment: rosette iron

Whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl, then add flour and salt, whisking until combined. Pour batter into a shallow pan, this is so you don’t over dunk the iron into the batter.
Heat oil in large frying pan until thermometer registers about 365 degrees. Submerge the rosette iron into the oil to quickly heat it (about 1 minute), shake off excess oil and carefully dip the iron into the rosette batter so the batter covers the bottom and sides but NOT the top. Then submerge iron in oil and fry (batter adhering to iron) until golden, (do not let iron hit the bottom of the pan). Lift out iron, letting oil drip off, and, working over paper towels, carefully pry off rosette with toast tong or chop stick, the rosette may come right off the iron in the oil and this is ok too. Let rosette drain, hollow side down, on paper towels, then make more rosettes in the same manner, heating iron in oil 10 seconds before dipping into batter each time. Dust with powdered sugar when cooled. Store at room temperature in airtight container, will last several days. Makes 36 cookies.
*Do Ahead-Freeze the rosettes but do not add powdered sugar until after they are removed from the freezer and thawed.