According to my dad, after many other recipies were tested, this is the closest to his grandmother's Norwegian Butter Cookie recipe that he remembers from every Christmas growing up. His family is from the Chicago area, with a very large Norwegian/Swedish population.This recipe is adapted from Gourmet magazine. Many use a cookie press when doing this; dad said Greatgrandma always rolled the cookies into balls and flattened them with the bottom of a jelly glass, then decorated with colored sugars, so that's what I do. Sometimes I cross-hatch with a fork to better hold the sugar.