Hyvat Korput - Finnish Biscotti

My Mother loves biscotti. I found out the reason why she eats biscotti is because she can no longer make Korput -- Finnish biscotti anymore.  When I came to my visit my folks today, I found my Dad had made Korput by drying hot dog buns and sprinkling cinnamon sugar on them. They'd seen the recipe in a Finnish American newspaper.  I decided I'd find her Hyvat Korput recipe she used to make and make them for them.  She also used to dry out older pulla and make it into biscotti or korppuja as well. Here is the recipe her friend Piret gave her years ago.

Hyvat Korput

1 cube butter or margarine
pinch of salt
3/4 cup sugar
3 teaspoons baking powder
3 cups flour
1 cup milk

Cream butter and sugar well. Mix baking powder into flour then add alternately with milk. Mix batter into small buns and bake them 20 minutes until light brown. Split in half with a fork and allow the rusks to dry even more at a low temperature.

20 minutes
24 korppuja

Chocolate Dream Roll

This month's recipe theme is "chocoholic". I'm not really a chocoholic, but do like it. My chocolate eating is mainly chocolate candy bars with Reese's being my favorite, followed by peanut M&Ms. It's a real treat though when I get to eat Fazer (Finnish) and Marabou (Swedish) chocolate. I enjoy brownies too. I like my Grandma's Chocolate cake pudding.  I would love to get the commercial recipe for the cake our friends had at their wedding in California.  Well one of my family's favorites is my Mother's Unelma Torttu which translated means Dream Roll. She got this recipe from her Jukkarainen aunt. I made this for our recipe exchange and am glad I have some left over to share with my Mother.

Unelma Torttu

Ingredients:

4 egg yolks
1 cup sugar

4 egg whites
3/4 cup flour
4 T cocoa
2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt

Filling:

1 cube margarine
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 egg or yolk
vanilla

Directions:

Beat yolks until thick and lemon colored; gradually beat in 1/3 cup sugar. In a large bowl, beat whites until soft peaks form, gradually add remaining 2/3 cup sugar, beat until stiff peaks form. Fold yolks into whites. Sift flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt. Fold into egg mixture. Spread on greased wax paper on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.

Turn onto a dish towel sprinkled with sugar.

Roll, cool completely, unroll, and fill. 

Roll again. 

Cut in half and wrap in saran wrap and keep in refrigerator.

I prefer black strap molasses

Today, on the 12th day of Christmas, I made Finnish Gingerbread cookies at my Mother's. We'd been too busy earlier in the season. I was out of dark karo syrup and had heard one could use molasses instead. I used black strap molasses and it gave them the dark color they need. The smells were incredible and although it's time to have the oldest man in the village come to our home and sweep out the straw (it's what they decorate with in Finland), it felt we should keep Christmas up awhile longer. A friend on facebook asked for the recipe today, so here it is again.

Title: Piparkakut (Finnish Christmas Gingerbread Cookies)

Ingredients:
3/4 c margarine or butter
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
2 T dark Karo syrup (or black strap molasses)
1 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
1 t ground cardamom
1/2 t baking soda
2 1/2 c flour

Directions:
Cream margarine and sugar. Add egg, spices and syrup. Then add flour and soda sifted together. Form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill the dough overnight in the refrigerator. Roll out on floured surface very thin and cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter. Bake on a very lightly greased cookie sheet about 5 min at 375 degrees. Do not overbake! Store in an airtight tin and they will keep "forever".

Cranberry Apple Pies and Finnish Meat Pies

Today, for our daughter's birthday,

I made

Finnish Meat Pies

Click here for my Mother's Recipe

and 

Apple Cranberry Pie 

Click here for Recipe Girl's Recipe

and I've added her text below.

A different take on the apple pie.

CRUST:
3 cups rolled (old fashioned) oats
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ tsp (rounded measure) salt
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup + 2 T. brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup butter (2 sticks), melted

FILLING:
7 cups peeled, sliced Granny Smith apples
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
3 Tbs fresh lemon juice
1½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice (or ground cloves)
¼ tsp ground nutmeg (fresh is best!)
½ tsp grated lemon rind
3 Tbs unbleached all-purpose flour
¼ cup brown sugar (packed)
½ cup sour cream

1.  Prepare crust: Combine all crust ingredients in a medium-sized bowl, and mix well. Press firmly and evenly into the bottom and sides of a 9 or 10-inch pie pan, forming a thick crust. Reserve about a cup of the crust mix for the topping.

2.  Preheat oven to 375°F.

3.  Place sliced apples and cranberries in a large bowl. Drizzle with lemon juice and sprinkle with spices; toss until well coated. Add rind. Sprinkle in flour and mix again. Gradually add brown sugar and sour cream as you mix. Don't worry if the apple slices break a little while being mixed and tossed.

4.  Distribute the filling into the unbaked crust. Sprinkle the reserved crust crumbs over the top and pat neatly into place.

5.  Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the apples are soft and the crust is nicely browned on the edges. Note: If the top appears to be browning too quickly during baking, cover loosely with foil (check after about 30 minutes).

6.  Serve hot, warm or at room temperature. This is doubly good with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Yield: 1 pie

Cooking Tips

*Depending on how thick you'd like the crust, you may have some crust mix left over. Use any remaining crust crumbs in little ramekins to make a couple of extra "apple crisps!"

Recipe Girl's Recipe Source
Adapted significantly from The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest

Hubby makes Prime Rib

After I cooked (yet had lots of help from all of the family) several traditional Finnish Christmas dishes on Christmas Eve, my hubby decided he'd make the dinner on Christmas. He chose prime rib.

Here are some pictures he took while he was making it. I know he packed it with just the right granulation and amount of salt and tested the temperature often.

When it came out of the oven, we put *yesterday's casseroles back in cooling oven to reheat as we'd opted to just have left overs for the rest of the meal:)

Wonderful Roasted Prime Rib

The recipe my hubby used says "This method makes the BEST roasted prime rib. It never fails to produce a tender/juicy prime rib for me. Don't worry, the salt mixture will not affect the taste. It's purpose is to seal in all the flavor and juices".

SERVES 10

Change to: Servings US Metric

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 4
• 5

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Ingredients

• 1 (3 lb) box of morton kosher salt
• 4-6 lbs prime rib roast

Directions

1. Slowly add a little of the water to the Kosher salt and stir; then add a little more water and stir. Continue until the salt becomes the consistency of "snow" so that you can "pack" it on the roast and it sticks like snow (Sometimes you may need a little more or less of the water) -- YOU DO NOT WANT TO DISSOLVE THE SALT.
2. Pat some of the salt mixture in a foil-lined pan in a rectangle big enough to put the roast on.
3. Place the roast on the salt and pat the remaining salt mixture on the roast, covering completely.
4. Inset a meat thermometer.
5. Bake at 425 degrees for about 2 hours.
6. (140 degrees for rare, 160 for medium).
7. Remove the roast when the thermometer registers 5 degrees BELOW desired doneness.
8. CRACK AND REMOVE ALL OF THE SALT CRUST.

*Christmas Eve Dinner included:
smoked salmon
rye bread
havarti cheese
rye and rice pastries (karjalan piirakka)
egg butter
ham
sauerkraut salad
rutabaga casserole (my Dad made this:)
carrot and rice casserole
potato casserole
strawberry rhubarb kisseli
pulla
lingonberry juice

Show Off Salmon-in-a-Crust

Tonight's recipe party theme is "Show Off".  This came immediately to mind for me.  I've only made it a couple of times a few years ago, but my Mother used to serve this at ladies luncheons or a small group.  She was first served this on an official visit to Heinavesi by Ambrosius in a Russian Orthodox Monastery and started serving it when they returned home.  

Salmon-in-a-Crust

Lohipiirakka--Finland

Every Finnish hostess has her own version of this fish pie.

1.5 cans salmon 

2 T butter

1 T lemon  juice

2 T minced fresh parsley

4-5 T dried dill weed

salt and pepper to taste

1 t onion powder

1 1/2 cups cooked rice

3 hard-boiled eggs

1 egg, thoroughly beaten

lots of melted butter:)

Lemon wedges for garnish

Drain water off of salmon, open second can, just scoop out half of it.  In a small bowl, mix together with a fork:  salmon, lemon  juice, parsley, dill and salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate at least 20 minutes.  

Cover a large ungreased baking sheet with parchment paper.  Or grease baking sheet; set aside.  Shape on end to resemble a fish tail, not less than 6 inches wide.  Arrange pastry on prepared baking sheet.  Cut pieces of dough scraps to represent fins; press in place.  Spread salmon, parsley mixture over pastry within 2 inches of the edge.  Drizzle with butter.  Now make a layerof  rice and drizzle with more butter and sprinkle more dill weed over it.  Next make a layer of chopped boiled eggs and again drizzle with butter and dill weed.  

Roll remaining half of dough to a 20" x 10" oval.  Moisten edges on bottom crust with water.  Arrange top crust over salmon layer.  Press top and bottom crust, shaping fins and tails.  Brush surface with beaten egg.  

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut a hole where eye of fish should be.  Insert a small ball of dough to keep hole open.  With tips of scissors blades, cut top crust to simulate fish scales.  These also serve as air vents during baking.  Bake 35 minutes or until crust is lightly browned but still pale.  To serve, cut in crosswise slices.  Serve with melted butter, lemon wedges and Horseradish Mayonnaise.  Makes 8 servings.  

Cottage-Cheese Pastry

Rahkakuori--Finland

Use this lovely, flaky pastry for sweet or savory pies.

1 cup cold, firm butter

2 c all-purpose flour

1 small-curd cottage cheese

1-2 T ice water, if needed

In a large bowl, cut butter into flour until mixture is crumbly and pieces are about the size of peas.  Stir in cottage cheese until mixture forms a crumbly dough.  Knead lightly to shape into a ball, adding ice water a few drops at a time, if necessary.  Chill 30 minutes before rolling out. 

Keeps well in refrigerator if you'll use it within 2 days.  It freezes well, so make it ahead of time. 

Horseradish Mayonnaise

This is excellent with any cold fish.

1/2 cup whipping cream

1 cup mayonnaise

3 Tbsp. grated fresh horseradish

In a medium bowl, beat cream until soft peaks form. Fold in mayonnaise and horseradish until blended. Refrigerate 15 to 30 minutes for flavors to blend. Makes about 2 cups.

Beet Salad goes well with this.  Apple Juice is nice to serve as the drink.  Dessert could be lemon souffle. 

Beet Salad

Punajuuri Salatti

2 cans of whole beets

1 apple

1/2 tsp horseradish

Drain the beets and grate them.  Now peel the apple, remove the seeds and then grate it.  Add the horseradish and as you keep stirring it, tastes it and add until it has enough of a kick for you.  

Meat Pies for Sale

Finnish Meat Pies are sold at the train stations in Finland. I remember buying them at the "kioski" to eat. Apparently so does another woman whose Mother is also Finnish. I ran into her at the grocery store and she said she most remembers the meat pies at the "asema" but has never made them since she doesn't have a recipe for them.

Well my Mother has the meat pie recipe and I grew up eating them -- especially at my brothers' teenage parties and other fun events. I guess since they could be considered a Finnish hamburger, my Mother would serve them to teenagers. I've never made them myself though as I remember them being time intensive -- at least in ratio to how quickly they are consumed.

Recently our daughter has been asking me to make them, so I guess it's time to make them for my kids and to share the recipe.

Finnish Meat Pies (Lihapiirakat)

from Finlandia Ranch

Dough:

2 cups milk, heated

1 Tbsp. dry yeast, dissolved in a little warm water

2 tsp. salt

4.5 - 5 cups flour

1/2 cup shortening

Mix as you would any bread dough, working in the shortening last with your fist, kneading well. Cover and let rise 1 hour.

Meanwhile prepare the filling as follows:

In a quart size kettle, boil 1/2 cup Quick Pearl Barley in 2 cups water for about 20 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. Stir now and then during cooking.

In another kettle, prepare the following:

1 1/2 cups chopped onions

1 beef bouillion cube

1 cup water

Boil these together until onions have wilted; approximately 10 minutes.

Then add to onions, 1 lb. hamburger, stirring until hamburger is cooked. Take off heat and now add the cooked barley and the following spices:

1 tsp. onion powder

1 tsp. white pepper

2 tsp. dill weed

and salt to taste.

Now your dough should be ready, so roll it out real thin, using 1/4 of the dough at a time. Use an empty Crisco can as your cutter. Place a tablespoonful of meat filling in the center of each round, moistening edges with a little bit of cold water. This helps seal it. Fold it in two and pinch it to seal it. Place on counter top to raise. By the time you have all of them filled, the first ones are raised and you can star t deep fat frying them. Drop as many pies into heated oil as you can. Let cook on one side, then turn over and cook the other side. Keep turning over a few times until brown. Take out with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain. Place another paper towel on top and a heavy bath towel, to soften the pies. Then cool and heat before serving. And of course eat some as soon as they are cooked. That is when they are best. Make a slit in the pie and squirt mustard or ketchup in.

Handy and quick snack to have on hand. Goes well in a lunch box or take along on a picnic. They freeze well. You may reheat them individually in the microwave or put a batch in the steamer to reheat them.

Hope you enjoy them as we do.

Delivering Harvest Treats to Harvest Workers

Twice this week we made  my Mother's Finnish recipe for  Old World Fresh Apple Butter Cake. Click on the title above and you'll find the recipe from a post I made last year.  

This year one of our sons helped his Dad make this as a bundt cake for my birthday.  We visited the place I first had my birthday cake during harvest time and ate my birthday cake there.  

Notice the white icing on it?  

Well, when I was 3 my Mother made me a beautiful white cake with white frosting and took it out to the field to share

 with the workers.  

When my Dad brought the combine to a stop, 

the white cake was suddenly a "chocolate" (dusty) cake!!  After that, my birthday cakes became bundt cakes.  This one is a favorite of mine.  I had to laugh when he put a white glaze on it because we were in the spud field after all.   Thankfully, this year, it had already been harvested there and we avoided the "chocolate".  

Next we went to the spud cellars and delivered mini bundt cakes they'd made to the Harvest workers.  

Then I made them for the Young Women's activity where we deliver a treat one day of harvest to the other Young Women who are working in the Potato Harvest.  

I just love the memories, smell, sight, sound and touch of "Spud Harvest"!  

Finnish Cucumber Salad

My Aunt and Uncle brought my folks some fresh cucumbers from their garden, so I made two of the cucumbers into this traditional Finnish version of cucumber salad. My brother and some of his family came for a visit today, so we served it then. His granddaughters ate pickles over this which is vinegar with salt, vs. vinegar with sugar and dill in this recipe.  This is a recipe we enjoy though because our Mother included it at most of her Finnish dinners. 

Finnish Cucumber Salad

Kurkku Tilli Salaati

2 cucumbers or 1 long european cucumber

Rinse the cucumbers. 

Do not peel, but score the skin 

by peeling the tines of a fork 

lengthwise through the peel. 

Slice cucumbers into very thin slices. 

Put into bowl with a lid. 

In a separate bowl, mix the following well;

1/3 c. cider vinegar

5 Tbs. water

5 Tbs. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 Tbs. dill weed

dash of white pepper, optional

Pour over the cucumber slices and toss lightly. 

Cover with a lid and shake to coat evenly. 

Chill several hours to allow flavors to blend. 

It keeps well for days!

May Day May Day It's Snowing!!

Hauskaa Vappua!  Happy May Day! 

It's snowing here today and in Finland it's a beautiful spring May Day.  

My Mother almost always served sima as the drink with her Finnish meals for guests.  In Finland, her Mother only made it on  May Day.  My Dad made the sima a few days ago and I'm making the sugar dougnuts, something they used to make in her town as well.  See last year's blog post for the other pastry usually made in Finland. 

As I understand it, to make sima, my Mummo, would first wash and clean her milk bucket.  Second, she'd prepare the lemons and add the sugars and then pour the boiling water over it.  Next she'd let sit until it cooled enough to add the yeast.  After that, she'd cover the milk pail tightly and let it sit overnight.  In the morning, she'd strain out the lemon pulp and peel, and bottle it.  So, to make sima, you will want to make it 3-4 days before you want to drink it.  Here's my Mother's Sima recipe:

Sima 

1 lemon, (peel and pulp)

1 kettle of 4 quarts water

2 1/4 cups white sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

Boil a few minutes. Cool.  Add 1/4 tsp. yeast (mixed in a little warm water).  Cover tightly.  Let stand overnight.  In the morning, strain.  Bottle, add a few raisins and cap.  Put in dark, cool cellar for 3-4 days.  Serve chilled. 

Note:  Much more yeast is used as you make it at sea level, as Finland is.  As my Mother experimented in the mountains, she had a few surprises:)

Pikamunkit -- Quick Sugar Doughnuts

2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cardamom
1 1/4 cups cream
2 eggs

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl. Add the cream and eggs. Mix into a smooth dough. Take small dabs of dough and drop them immediately into hot 350F oil . Cook until light brown, about 4-5 minutes. Roll in sugar while still warm and serve as soon as possible.

My Aunt Had a "Flour Thumb"

My Mother's sister, Maija Karvanen had a "flour thumb". She was an excellent baker!! Our family's favorite of hers is made with something we don't have here, "rahka" and vanilla sugar, you can only get at a Scandanavian store. Growing up, our Mother used to use small curd cottage cheese, which she'd strain the whey from and mix some cream cheese with it for the "rahka". When I came across her handwritten recipe this week, I made it with ricotta cheese and it tastes pretty close, yet not perfect. Vanilla sugar looks like powdered sugar with flecks of vanilla bean in it. You can try just vanilla instead.

Rahkapiirakka Crust

150 gr. voita 1 1/3 cubes butter
1 dl. sokeria 3/4 c sugar
1 kanamuna 1 egg
4 dl vehnäjauhoja 3 cups flour
1 tl. levinjauhetta 1 tsp. baking powder

Mix the ingredients above together and press it into a lightly sprayed round quiche pan, including up the sides, to form the crust. Now make the filling below.

Täyte Filling

1 purkki (2 dl) rahkaa 1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1 kanamuna 1 egg
1 dl. sokeria 3/4 c sugar
2 tl. vaniljasokeria 2 tsp. vanilla

Mix together and pour onto the unbaked crust. Bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes or until the filling is set and a knife comes out clean.

Enjoy this taste of Finland!

Earliest Easter for the rest of our lives

Easter Menu March 23, 2008

Appetizer -- Veggie Rabbit (see recipe in previous post)

Leg of Lamb -- I fixed lamb for my Mother.  I found this recipe at http://www.recipezaar.com/55600 and like it much better than what I tried on my Easter 2007 post.  If I didn't cook last year's so long, it would have been much better.  

Spiral Ham (our kids haven't grown lamb tastebuds yet)

Small yellow potatoes with drippings from lamb

Karelian Rice Pastries (see recipe below)

Egg butter

Broccoflower and Carrots, steamed
Jello Eggs on bed of lettuce

Blueberry muffin bunnies

Peeps tulips
Dessert -- Strawberry Shortcake

Title: Karjalan Piirakka (Karelian Rice Pasties)

Description:
Comes from the Eastern part of Finland, Karjala, where Mummo was born. Nowadays they are popular all over Finland. Served often at our Finnish dinners. Always a part of our Christmas Eve dinner.

Ingredients:
For the Rice Filling, use the recipe for Rice porridge on this site (Dec. 2006).   Just omit the sugar.

For the crust:
1 c water
1 1/2 t salt
1 2/3 c rye flour
2/3 c all purpose white flour
Mix water in bowl, salt, stir, add flours slowly. It will be a sticky messy job. If too sticky to roll, just add a little more flour. Can make ahead and put in a ziploc bag and roll out when ready.

For egg butter:
1 cube slightly softened margarine or butter
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped,
a tiny bit of salt since butter already has salt
Mash and mix together.

Directions:
Roll out crust in a thin oval shape. Place rice porridge in the middle. 

Pinch sides of crust up around the filling. 

Place on cookie sheets close together. 

Bake at 375 or 400 depending on your ov

en, until light brown. When light brown, open 

your oven and lift up one to make sure the bottom isn't brown. They do not taste good if they are. One the stove top, melt a stick of margarine and some water in a kettle. Use tongs to remove each pastry and dunk it completely in the mixture. Prepare a couple of old towels laid out with wax paper on them. Place the dunked pastries on the wax paper and then wrap the wax paper and towel combination up over them to keep them warm. This process softens them. Mummo says to keep them under the towel as long as you can stand it. She samples them at many stages.

Serve with egg butter, or cheese or lunchmeat or plain butter on top of the rice part.

Meat and Potatoes

When a friend of mine asked what Finnish recipe recipe I'd suggest she make her husband, knowing he's a big meat and potatoes eater, I shared this Karjalan Paisti recipe.  This comes from the Eastern province of Karelia in Finland.  Since the Karelian colors are red and black, I suggest serving it with a red and black place setting. It's the type of recipe you just put in all the ingredients and cook on low in the oven all afternoon.  I suspect you could leave it in the slow cooker or crock pot all day, but I've yet to try it that way.

Then it's served over boiled or mashed potatoes. My Mother served this a few times a year growing up, mainly when guests came.

Karelian Ragout
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 4-5 hours
Oven temperature 300 degrees F
Suitable for freezing

1 lb. pork (try to get meaty pork, so you don't have to cut out the fat)
1 lb. mutton (this is optional, as it's expensive or just use a little bit of lamb)
1 lb. beef (or other meat like venison)
water
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
2 onions, quartered
15-20 whole allspice
1 bay leaf

1. Cut up the meats into chunks and place in a casserole dish. (She always used her old yellow largest pyrex bowl).
2. Add the salt, allspice and onions and pour over enough water to just cover the meat.
3. Cook in a slow oven until tender. Cover the dish with a lid towards the end of the cooking time.

Here's another recipe to serve over mashed potatoes I need to try sometime. Just gotta find the reindeer first:)

Braised Reindeer
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Suitable for freezing too.
3 lb frozen reindeer meat or venison
3/4 - 1 lb. freshside of pork or bacon
1 tablespoon salt
10 whole allspice
1 1/4 cups water
1. Cut up the pork or bacon into thin strips and brown in a cooking pot. Cut the frozen reindeer or venison into thin strips, add in small amounts to the pot and brown.
2. Add the seasoning and the water. Cook slowly with the lid on until done.
Butter or oil can be used instead of the pork or bacon.

Sweet "Good and Plenty" and Salted "Planters" Peanuts Combine

My good friend came to visit and I realized I didn't cook anything for her, but instead we ate cold cereal, pizza, went out for our traditional Mexican lunch, etc. and thoroughly enjoyed our time spent not cooking!! When I mentioned to her that I hadn't made her anything special, she said, "Yes, you have! You introduced me to "Good and Plenty and Peanuts". Good and Plenty is the candy coated black licorice pieces and they taste great mixed with salted planters peanuts. 

I used to eat this sweet and salty combination while "at the movies" in Finland, since I couldn't get popcorn to eat at the Movie Theaters. While she and I were out looking for shoelace black licorice for the eyelashes for a Sponge Bob Cake for her son, we found these, so I introduced her to them. We bought them at KMart and they were stale. We'd found a generic Western Family brand of them which were fresh at my local grocer's and they tasted much better.  Any salted peanut will do. 

My brother likes to eat raw peanuts and raisins together, something he learned to eat in Finland. I prefer my combination better. I also like to eat plain M&Ms mixed together with peanut M&Ms.

A good Finnish Hostess offers 7 varieties

We had our Home Teacher and his family over for dessert this week. He is such a great home teacher who always come prepared to teach our children and offer them a new physical challenge, which he ties into teaching the gospel, they love and we appreciate as parents.

We served cookies and hot chocolate. An "Old World" Finnish hostess must serve 7 varieties at her "hot chocolate" table. My Mother always had quite a spread. The 7 varieties we ended up serving include:

1. The traditional American Butter Spritz Cookies
My Mother said she just used the recipe included with her Spritzer, so since I don't know what it is, I googled Spritz, read several and chose this one found at
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1910,157180-228196,00.html
Yield approximately 4 dozen.

Cream 1 cup butter. Add 1/2 cup sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in 1 egg and 1/2 teaspoon almond extract or vanilla extract. Blend in 2 1/4 cups sifted all purpose flour. Divide dough into thirds.Add a few drops red food coloring to one third. Green coloring to one third.

Leave one third plain. Fill cookie press with each color or combine colors for rainbow effect. Form into desired shapes and decorate. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes.

2. Finnish Joulu Torttuja -- you'll find my Mother's recipe posted here under December
2006
3. Six Layer Cookie Bars -- my sister-in-law's version you'll find posted as FHE Baked Bars here November 2007. My husband likes her version better because it's not so gooey!
4. Belgian Speculaas Cookies -- Sunset magazine's recipe is posted December 2006. My husband's family and our guests each have special ties there.
5. Pull aparts -- bread dough rolled in melted butter, then dipped in brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. They are then arranged in a bundt pan and baked at 350 degrees. I also remember these from my childhood, but hadn't had them in years.
6. I ran out of time to make Finnish gingerbread, so so I served Anna's from IKEA.)
I was just sending this recipe to another Mom who is making them for me for our kids' School Christmas party, so here's My Mother's recipe.

Title: Piparkakut (Finnish Christmas Gingerbread Cookies)

Description:
My Mother says, "The aroma of these cookies baking takes me back to my childhood in Finland." We make various large to small sizes of these in heart shape and hang them in the kitchen window during Christmas. Heart is the symbol of Christmas in Finland. We also had plenty of other shapes to eat as well.

Ingredients:
3/4 c margarine or butter
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
2 T dark Karo syrup
1 t cinnamon
1 t cloves
1 t ground cardamom
1/2 t baking soda
2 1/2 c flour

Directions:
Cream margarine and sugar. Add egg, spices and syrup. Then add flour and soda sifted together. Form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill the dough overnight in the refrigerator. Roll out on floured surface very thin and cut into desired shapes with a cookie cutter. Bake on a very lightly greased cookie sheet about 5 min at 375 degrees. Do not overbake! Store in an airtight tin and they will keep "forever".

7. And our guests brought Oreo cookies dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with crushed peppermint candy -- her trademark for dressing up any cookie! She says she just melts chocolate chips in the microwave, dips any cookie halfway and either adds sprinkles or drizzles chocolate on it.

Serve Raisin Soup over Rice Porridge

I'll make a quick post of the Raisin Soup recipe Finns pour over their Rice Porridge. The rice porridge recipe is in the previous post.

Rusina Soppa (Raisin Soup)

6-7 cups water
1 cup raisins
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 sticks cinnamon
3 tablespoons potato starch (you can substitute corn starch)

Place water, raisins, sugar and cinnamon sticks into a kettle. Let it come to a boil. Lower heat to medium and let boil for 20-25 minutes. Mix starch in a little cold water. Take kettle off burner and whisk starch into the soup. Place kettle back on burner for a couple of minutes. Remove from burner and pour mixture into a pitcher or bowl large enough to contain. Sprinkle sugar on top. This keeps a film from developing. Cool and keep at room temperature. DO NOT KEEP IN REFRIGERATOR, as the soup will separate and become watery.

No Crock, it's Crock Pot Rice Porridge

Tonight is our recipe exchange themed "Crock Pot Recipes". The idea being that in this busy month, we need to eat good food amidst the sugary temptations and hustle and bustle. There are a myriad of foods, even beverages, one can make in a slow cooker. Stephanie Ashcraft from
http://www.recipes-101.com/ says, "The slow cooker can do what no oven or stovetop burner can--cook flavorful and healthy food while its owner goes blissfully about the business of the day."

If you are new to crock pots or slow cookers, I suggest investing in one or both of the 101 books Stephanie Ashcraft has -- each full of 101 recipes for beverages, dips and fondues, main courses, side dishes, desserts, along with suggestions for how and what to serve with each dish, time-saving meal preparation tips, and easy modifications to fit your family's tastes.

I'm anxious to try her wassail, hot chocolate, appetizer meatballs, and fondue during this busy Christmas season. It sure has me thinking about what else I can make the slow cooker way.

For me, it's also about which traditional foods I'll make anyway this month, can I make the slow cooker way, while I'm blissfully doing other things and time them ready to serve when I need/want them served. Since I want my rice porridge ready for Christmas morning, and since I'm blissfully busy Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, I'm going to try this out and see if it will work to have it cook overnight and be ready for breakfast to serve with Pulla boys and girls. (See my Dec. 20006 pulla blog for the recipe.)

So, today I'm going to try something different -- make rice porridge or "Santa Food" as my nephew calls it, in a slow cooker. It will be interesting to see if it turns out this way or not.

Okay, here's the traditional recipe I use to make Rice Porridge on the stove top. My plan is to combine all of the ingredients in my greased slow cooker, cover it and cook it on low heat for 4-6 hours, or until the rice in done.

Title: Riisi Puuro (Mummo's Rice Porridge)

Description:
Often served as the dessert on Christmas Eve or as the breakfast on Christmas morning with a lone almond placed in before serving. The one who gets it in his/her bowl will receive good luck in the coming year.

Something new I read in Christmas in Finland edited by World Book, Inc. Staff, World Book Encyclopedia, is "the almond bearer must rise to entertain the others or may be assigned a job for the day to earn his or her good fortune." Oh, this will be fun to incorporate into our tradition starting this year!!


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
3 cups boiling water
1/2 t salt

4 cups of milk (can use mixed powdered milk)
1/2 cup sugar
2 T margarine
1/2 c heavy cream

Directions:
Steam covered for 20 minutes on low. Then start adding milk, stirring it well and let cook on a little higher heat. Stir occasionally, adding more milk when needed. Keep adding milk until it is all used up. It usually takes about 1/2 hour. Then add 1/2 cup of sugar or a little more and 2 T margarine and stir well. After the porridge is done, you may add (optional) 1/2 c heavy cream for a real creamy taste. If making for Karjalan Piirakka, (posted later) omit the sugar and heavy cream.

Serve warm with either milk, cinnamon and sugar or traditional Raisin Soup (posted later) poured over it. I'm not a raisin fan, so we're used to the first version.

The lid to my slow cooker broke, so I heard I could just place foil over it instead. It works!! I read a slow cooker tip you may find useful also. To speed up cooking time, place the ingredients first into an oven bag and it will speed up you cooking time -- especially useful when slow cooking a roast.

Since I'm in the market for a new crock pot or slow cooker, I saw this advertisement for one I think I'll find especially useful. http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/products/cooking-slow-cookers.phpSome of its features include:
# Clip-tight lid locks on to prevent messy spills
# Large, full-grip handles make carrying easier
# Convenient lid rest keeps lid out of way for stirring and serving
# Dishwasher safe stoneware and lid

Check it out at: http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/products/cooking-slow-cookers.php

It's "Spud Harvest" so it's time to glean, bake or mash, etc. some potatoes.

The kids are out of school for "Spud Harvest"! That's the name given to the time to harvest and the vacation from school to help with the harvest.

The "Activity Days" girls are out today "gleaning" the Bishop's spud fields. Last time they made bags they'll put the potatoes in to give to local needy families.

I have fond memories of this time of year working in the spud fields. I also remember going to the high school football games and buying piping hot "baked potatoes" at the concession stand. I like baked not steamed potatoes! When you wrap the potatoes in foil, they become steamed.

I like to wash the skins well, poke a couple of fork holes in each (You must poke each potato whether you bake or microwave them or they'll explode out of their skin) and sometimes roll them in salt. To me, the best way to bake potatoes is to bake them in a 400-425 degree oven for about an hour for 6 medium sized potatoes. Where I live you can buy a box of potatoes based on their size, so you can buy a box of 90s, 80, 60s, 50s, etc. The higher the number refers to how many potatoes fit in the box. I just heard another tip about baking potatoes. Put your potatoes in muffin tins, so that you can remove all of them from the oven at once by taking out the tin. Great idea!!

Baked potatoes can be served so many ways. Growing up my brother would empty the potato out of its skin, mash it down on his plate and smear butter and corn on top of it. If I only ate half of my baked potato, he'd ask me if he could eat the other half with the rest of his meal. I like to keep bake potatoes in their skin and even eat some of the skin -- this is why you wash it well.

Names of potatoes:

spuds:
In Dec 2006, I discussed spudnuts, delicious doughnuts made with potatoes, on this blog.

taters:
I love to order tater tots vs. fries to eat, when they are available.

murphies:
I understand that my paternal Grandfather used to call potatoes this, since potatoes supposedly came to America with the Irish.

tatties:
When my husband lived in Scotland, they used to boil turnips with their potatoes and call it "nips and tatties". I really like the taste of these mashed together. I use about 2/3 potatoes to 1/3 turnips. Another variation is to add carrots. We were at a friend's house for Sunday dinner and the husband was making mashed potatoes, but he threw in some dehydrated carrots from their food storage. This combination also tasted great.

My Father tells us cream was often their gravy for mashed potatoes, since it was readily available growing up on the ranch. I like to combine red potatoes with yellow or other potatoes in the same mashed potatoes too. What do I add, whatever I have on hand -- anything from real butter to butter buds, minced garlic or garlic salt, cream cheese sometimes but always milk (if you warm it, your potatoes won't cool off as quickly). Smashed potatoes versus whipped potatoes seem more satisfying to me.

peruna:
This is the Finnish word based on the fact that potatoes came from Peru.

papas:
This is Spanish for potatoes of course, but we call my Dad's mashed potatoes Papa's papas.

"Massilan Pojat" The Massila Boys -- When my Mother was young, her Mother always read to them while they ate. Sometimes she had a hard time getting them to eat. It become a tradition to here this story about 2 magpies stealing shiny jewelry from the neighbors window as her parents got them to eat their boiled potatoes. My maternal grandfather liked his "Massilan Pojat" or boiled potatoes with just a little bit of butter on top of each bite her ate. We still call them this.

Share how you like your potatoes.

Something's fishy

Do you like to eat fish or have you heard you should be consuming more Omega -3? I just heard a butcher share his 3 favorite suggestions for cooking fish. Since my Mother grew up eating fish daily, our family likes fish, so I'm going to try all 3. Please add your comment if you have more ideas or like these fishy suggestions.

Salmon Fillet: Put skin side down on grill, cover top with honey butter. Cook about 8 minutes. Gently flip over and the skin will peel off. Add honey butter to this side as well. You'll have a crispy honey butter side and a moist honey butter side.

Halibut Fillet: Spread mayonnaise on top of it as it grills.

Tilapia Fillet: Melt lemon yogurt in a frying pan and spread it over the tilapia as it cooks.

When I lived in Finland, I got to go fishing for Pike. It was so fun to fishing because you are constantly casting and reeling in. I like that better than sitting and waiting. Anyway, if you caught a fish, you were given a fillet knife. The superstition is you must pay for a knife or it brings bad luck, so you give a quarter or something to the gifter. I still have my fillet knife and enjoy filleting trout, etc.

Our sons went fishing for scouts and caught Bass in a local private pond, in exchange for clearing up some logs for the owner. One son's bass was large enough to eat and the others needed to be returned. Dad fried it in lemon pepper.

When I cook salmon it's in tin foil in the oven with lemon pepper and butter buds.
When I cook trout I fillet it and coat it with flour, salt and pepper and fry it in butter, as my Mother did.

Finnish May Day Celebration

Hauskaa Vappua!

Some of you may be interested to read this link
http://www.dlc.fi/~marianna/gourmet/season4a.htm
entitled Finnish May Day Celebration. You will
even find recipes at the bottom of the article.


In Finland, the traditional dessert served are May Day Fritters. I'd never made them before, but we made our 1st attempt and served them this year with sima. My Mother explained I just need to make them look like a bird's nest and indeed they did.