Norwegian Christmas Bread

This is almost the same as the Christmas Bread my husband's mother makes. I usually make it in our bread maker for convenience, with the following adjustments: Add liquids first, flour, then yeast on top. After first knead, add fruits. Bread makers tend to further chop up the fruits, so if you want big chunks you may want to knead them in by hand. Also, due to the warm milk and eggs, make immediately (vs delayed timer, which may cause spoilage). The last time I made it I mistakenly added too much sugar (2x), but it actually made the bread rise better. Finally, if you don't like the candied fruits, try making it with other dried fruits (raisins, applies, apricots, cherries, etc.).

I have been looking for this recipe since my mother passed away three years ago. I am so happy to have found it. She never wrote it down and my sister and I wanted to make it for last Christmas and could not locate the recipe anywhere. Thank you so much for posting on allrecipes! I have since made it and it is exactly like the bread my mother, who was Norwegian made for us every Christmas as a breakfast gift for us to have on Christmas morning. We alway toast the slices and serve with lots of yummy butter. Thank you for bringing back my memories of all the wonderful years we shared this with my mother. I am 54 years old and was so sad not to have it the last two years!

I made this today for my mother, whose mother was from Norway. She used to make "YuleKake" ever year and send it to us. We've been trying to find a similar recipe and this is it! I used the fruit cake candied fruit mix instead of just citron to add more color and also dusted the raisins and fruit with flour before mixing them in. I may soak the raisins next time to plump them up. Anyway, great blend of tastes. Nice and subtle. No one item overwhelms the other (such as the cardamon). Thanks for this!

I couldn't find candied fruit in the stores so I used dried fruit pieces (Sunmaid brand, contains raisins, apples, apricots, etc). The bread was to DIE for! I brought a loaf into work and it was gone in about 20 minutes. People came back later asking for another slice. I'm making it again today. Just a wonderfully fragrant, perfectly sweet bread.

My bread did not rise properly and I don't like Christmas Bread -- not even Norwegian Christmas Bread -- but it tastes amazing! So I like Norwegian Christmas Bread now! Thank you!

I have an older male friend of Nowegian heritage and as a little Christmas surprise I made this for him. His warm blue eyes lit in delight when he saw the first loaf. He ate the first slice, asked for a 2nd, and then a 3rd. His beloved told me he NEVER goes back for 2nds on anything, and 3rds is unheard of. In his endearing, succinct way, he said "This is just like my grandmothers." I don't have a Norwegian grandmother, but I do know that we all enjoyed this wonderful bread. It is a tender bread, just the right amount of sweet, and fragrant and delicious with the cardamon. I also had a bit of difficulty with the bread rising. The 2nd rise took closer to 2 hrs, and it was still only filled about 3/4 of the height of the cake pan. I realized that this was not going to be a tall bread because of all the heavy fillings. The loaves rose further during baking, and the loaf was equal to the height of the cake pan, cresting a bit in the middle. Thank you so much, Deborah, for sharing this wonderful recipe. It is going into my keeper file!

I haven't tried the recipe yet, however it is very close to the one that I use. I am not at my home, and cannot get to my recipes there. This is the closest I have found to my recipe. Try it with geitost cheese, a unique brown goat cheese, you can usually find in a good grocery store or cheese shop around the holidays. We call the bread Julekake - Christmas Bread. Thank you for sharing.

I've been making julekage for years. I'm never quite happy with my recipe, but, forget by the next year and make the same recipe all over again before I remember. This year I remembered to look for a different recipe. I made this one in my bread machine pretty much as given, though I know I like a little more salt in my bread so I put in 1 tsp. I held out 1/4 cup of the flour and didn't end up needing it. It turned out wonderful. Just the flavor I was looking for!

Very good. Reminds me of Christmas with family!

Just like my Norwegian grandmother's! I use white raisins, but Grandma used currants. She had a bush in her garden in Northe Dakota! We grew up having this for Christmas morning breakfast.I grated my own cardamon for years, as the ground was impossible to find.

My first time making this. My boyfriend who is half Norwegian and half Swedish said that it tastes correct. The only changes I made was omitting the dried candied fruit. I added a teaspoon of orange zest. Also, the bread did rise as much as I had hoped.