Mus, a Danish Cookie Game

• December 16, 2014  |
• by Kirstin Uhrenholdt

Here is a little pre-holiday gift for you, it is a Danish cookie game that must come with a warning, for there will be some shrieking, some startling and hopefully lots of laughter .

For this we usually use tiny spicy button sized cookies called peppernødder (see recipe below), but you could use any kind of small candy or cookie, even a bunch of nuts would do.

Put all the cookies/candies or whatever out on a tray. Pick a person to be “it,” tell them to close their eyes… while the rest of the group points to one cookie on the tray. This one cookie is the “mus” (pronounced “moos”). Now the “it” person gets to open their eyes and start taking the cookies one at a time, trying to get as many cookies as possible, hopefully not picking the “mus”…. Once the “mus” is touched everyone else gets to gleefully and loudly shout “MUS”.

Pebbernødder (Peppernuts)

You need

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1egg, lightly beaten
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon finely ground pepper
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

To make a whole bunch of tiny cookies

Preheat your oven to 325°F.

Put the butter in a small saucepan and simmer until it starts to turn golden brown, add the brown sugar and stir until combined, pour into a bowl and let cool until room temperature. Fold in the remaining ingredients and stir well. Roll the dough into little marble sized balls and put them on a well-oiled baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden and crisp.

Kids can: Be very helpful rolling all the little cookies.