"First, we drive everyone to despair, then we eat all the cookies"

Erika Janik

Christmas isn't Christmas without knepkaker, a delicious brown cookie so important to Norwegians that they came to play an important part in the 1940 Norwegian film Tante Pose (Auntie Bag).

The movie tells the classic house guest from hell story, in this case Auntie Bag. In response to her outrages, the Bals family daughters, encouraged by their grandfather, the Colonel, refuse to treat Auntie Bag with the respect she feels she deserves. Auntie Bag, in a fit of rage, goes on a hunger strike that threatens to wreck the holidays. But it turns out that Auntie Bag wasn't quite as starving as she claimed...



A recipe for the beloved brown cookies appears about 3 and a half minutes in.  Christmas cookies really can make or break the holidays it seems.