Showing posts with label #ChristmasWeek. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #ChristmasWeek. Show all posts

Thursday, November 29, 2018

My Mother's Lefse

My mother's recipe for lefse--the soft potato flatbread beloved by Norwegians and their descendants at home and abroad. This recipe uses potato flakes for an easy, smooth dough.


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image of a blue Polish pottery plate with pieces of folded lefse piled on it


Lefse


To Viola Ouren
By Dallas Ouren

We sat amazed as Mother worked the dough.
Could her palms sense when it became too warm?
Within those hands a shape began to grow.
Rolled out, it moved towards its proper form.


She sprinkled flour as she rolled them out.
The rolling pin moved lightly in her hands.
She turned each lefse over and about,
As swirling worlds take shape when God commands.


First rolled up on a stick, and then unrolled;
The cookstove added age-spots to each side.
Once done, they were removed for us to fold;
A simple task that we performed with pride.


Each bite one takes can recreate this mood;
What we call "lefse" is not merely food.

This poem appeared in the February, 1989 issue of the Sons of Norway Viking.



I'm sharing my mother's lefse recipe today because, more than any other food, lefse represents a Norwegian Christmas to me. I want to leave a record of this recipe for my children in the technology available to me today.


A recipe for the soft potato flatbread beloved by Norwegians at home and abroad. This recipe uses potato flakes for an easy, smooth dough.



If you know lefse, then you probably get it. Unlike other traditional Norwegian foods, [cough lutefisk cough] lefse doesn't seem to divide people. It is universally loved. Who doesn't like a tender flat potato bread, spread with butter and sprinkled with sugar? For me, only dark brown sugar will do but I'll bend enough to add a shaker of cinnamon sugar to my Christmas Eve smorgasbord for those weirdos who may prefer it. You savory lefse eaters . . . well, keep on being you.


The reason that I'm sharing my mom's lefse recipe and not just pointing you to Alanna's cousin LeAnne's excellent video tutorial (found here) is simple. My mom's way is different than what LeAnne does, and I want to be authentic to my mom's recipe.



three generations of women making lefse in the kitchen together



It's a funny thing, the concept of authenticity. What makes a recipe authentic? Is it the way you or yours learned it or the way the most popular chef of the time chose to make it? In a FB food blogger group we recently had a lively discussion about authenticity and tradition as they relate to recipes. [Can a carbonara sauce be a carbonara sauce if you choose to use pig belly not pig cheek? I'm not going to touch that debate, but I'll happily eat a plate of whichever meat is used in the carbonara you prepare for me.]


a floured pastry cloth with a piece of rolled lefse, a rolling pin, and the stick to carry the lefse to the griddle



My mother learned how to make lefse when she was a county extension agent in Minnesota in the 1950s. Her office was in the Pennington county courthouse, and she had a demo kitchen complete with multiple ovens and an overhead mirror. One of her functions was to prep the 4H kids who were doing demos at the fair. [The county fair was very early in the season, before the produce was ripe for showing/preserving, so they did all sorts of demos instead.]


Early one summer Doris Belanger won a blue ribbon making lefse at the county fair. That meant she'd be taking her lefse demo to the state fair at the end of the summer. In order to help polish her demo, my mom first had to learn from Doris how to make lefse. [I guess this isn't even my mom's lefse method, it's at least Doris's mom's mom's method.]


Doris taught my mom, and all summer long the 4H leader and mom met with Doris while she practiced. They gave tips on how to improve her presentation. At the state fair, Doris won a blue ribbon. She was comfortable and relaxed while making lefse, and her picture even appeared in the Twin Cities paper! In thanks, Doris's grandpa made my mom a grooved rolling pin on his lathe, and Doris's mom took a slat from an apple crate and carved a lefse turning stick which we call a spuda [spoo-duh--I don't know how to spell this].


image of a piece of lefse being lifted off the pastry cloth with a stick



See one, do one, teach one.



My mom demonstrated this method during Scandinavian Week at the 1976 Bicentennial Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife on the National Mall in Washington, DC. If you know lefse, you get it, and tourists in the crowd who knew lefse would crowd around after each session, chatting and enjoying samples.


Mom has even appeared on Norwegian TV in a program about how Norwegian Americans celebrate Christmas. Now it's my turn to demo this method, this time using the internet. I'm still using my mom and her equipment, though.

mixing up a batch of dough


GIF of mixing lefse dough and shaping into balls




shaping before rolling


image of grandmother showing grandson how to shape lefse before rolling out the dough




failure is always an option--and a tasty one too


photo of a misshapen piece of lefse cooking on the griddle



This video shows my mom making the first piece of a batch of lefse. She rolls out the dough until we can see the pastry cloth markings through it which is how we ensure it's thin enough. Then she checks to make sure it's not bigger than the paper towel it will cool on. Finally she rolls it up on the spuda and carries it to the griddle.



Once she's sure the griddle is very hot, she unrolls the lefse onto it. [Mom knows her griddle heats evenly and doesn't need to spin the lefse for even cooking.] After the lefse is blistered on one side, she flips it over and cooks the other side. Then she picks up the lefse and walks back to the paper towel, realizing on the way that we need a new location for the finished stack so we're not walking all over the kitchen while doing the lefse dance. It's kind of a cardio exercise.



Potato Lefse (Recipe from Marjory Olsen Olson)

This recipe was developed in a university agricultural research facility in Crookston, Minnesota in the 1970s. Crookston is in the Red River Valley where potatoes are harvested and processed into instant potato flakes.


Note:  This recipe requires chilling the dough before rolling it out. If I'm planning to cook the lefse in the morning, I'll mix up the dough the night before and leave it in the fridge to chill overnight. If I'm planning to cook in the afternoon, I'll mix up the dough while I'm having my morning cuppa and chill it until I'm ready to cook. You'll need several flat surfaces--to roll out the dough, to cook the lefse, and to hold the cooked lefse until you're all finished. Once you set everything up (and have flour all over the kitchen) you might as well keep on going until you've used up all the dough.


photo of a blue Polish Pottery plate piled with folded lefse




I know other folks' traditional recipes start with whole potatoes. For more recipes using potatoes, please see my Potato Recipes Collection. It's part of the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me eating from the farm share, the farmer's market, the garden, the neighbor's garden, and great deals on ugly produce at the grocery store.

I'm sharing more recipes on my Pinterest boards, follow me there. If you like a good peek behind the scenes like I do, follow me on Instagram. Need a good read? I'm sharing articles of interest on my Facebook page, follow me there. Want to know How to Use This Blog?



This was my 5th #ChristmasWeek recipe. I shared Finnish Pulla {Cardamom Coffee Braid}, Pecan Brownie Bites for a Cookie Drive, Scandinavian Fruit Soup, and Toffee Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies. I'm beat! Time to put on the fuzzy socks and curl up under a blanket to enjoy the Christmas lights.


This recipe was first posted in November 2014 and updated in November 2018.


Saturday, December 12, 2015

Fresh Cranberry Mini Scones

Tiny tender scones stuffed with chopped fresh cranberries and brightened with orange zest. Make these scones bite size to serve at holiday brunches or coffees.

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A recipe for tiny tender scones stuffed with chopped fresh cranberries and brightened with orange zest. Make these scones bite size to serve at holiday brunches or coffees.


This recipe wraps up #ChristmasWeek, a event started in 2012 and hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Kiss My Smoke. She gathered a bunch of us bloggers together to share holiday sweets for 6 days straight. We also chipped in for $800 worth of Amazon Gift Cards for a Giveaway. 

A recipe for tiny tender scones stuffed with chopped fresh cranberries and brightened with orange zest. Make these scones bite size to serve at holiday brunches or coffees.




I'm sharing the recipe first because I've got a story that is only tangentially related to the recipe. Reading my story will not affect your ability to make the scones, so skip it if you'd like. If you're just here to try and win $500 or use some fresh cranberries up go on about your business, don't mind my ramblings after the recipe. This is the blah-ggy part of blogging. Sometimes life ain't sunshine and rainbows.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Magic Cookie Bar Truffles and Amazon Gift Card Giveaway for #ChristmasWeek!


An easy recipe for no bake dessert version of the classic Magic Cookie Bar: coconut, chocolate chips, and graham cracker crumbs. Just stir, chill, and roll into truffle balls--and you're ready to eat!


Have you tried those decadent squares of chocolate, coconut and nuts on a graham cracker base covered in sweetened condensed milk? I grew up knowing them as Hello Dolly Bars, but the Eagle Brand website calls them Magic Cookie Bars. By either name they are a tooth-cracking sweet treat that snazzes up a holiday cookie tray. I didn't make those for my 5th recipe for #ChristmasWeek. You can find that one on the manufacturer's website anyway, you know?  

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An easy recipe for no bake dessert version of the classic Magic Cookie Bar: coconut, chocolate chips, and graham cracker crumbs. Just stir, chill, and roll into truffle balls--and you're ready to eat!


Last time we made a pan of Hello Dolly Bars, for some 'shop the pantry first'-induced dessert craving, I wondered aloud about trying a no bake truffle version. Surely, I thought, the sweetened condensed milk folks have made one.


An easy recipe for no bake dessert version of the classic Magic Cookie Bar: coconut, chocolate chips, and graham cracker crumbs. Just stir, chill, and roll into truffle balls--and you're ready to eat!


I stopped calling myself Shirley and searched several large recipe sites and chocolate cook books using various combinations of names and never found the Magic Cookie Bar turned Truffle. I think I may know the reason.  This batter looks like suet.

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Cranberry Chai Tea Cookies with an Amazon Gift Card Giveaway for #ChristmasWeek

Cranberry chai blended into a lightly sweet buttery cookie dough. This delectable cookie is tasty with afternoon tea or morning coffee. The Holiday Embrace tea I used in this cookie was given to me by Plum Deluxe without obligation. 

A recipe for cranberry chai blended into a lightly sweet buttery cookie dough. This delectable cookie is tasty with afternoon tea or morning coffee.

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This is my 4th recipe for #ChristmasWeek. Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Kiss My Smoke gathered a bunch of us together to share a week's worth of holiday sweets and treats. We all chipped in for a massive Amazon Gift Card Giveaway. 


A recipe for cranberry chai blended into a lightly sweet buttery cookie dough. This delectable cookie is tasty with afternoon tea or morning coffee.


Dare to be different. You do you. I've realized that I aim for non-conformity in my life. I do not like to be 'one of the herd'. I strive to be just a little different, a little outside of the norm. If "everyone" is running to the Next Big Thing you can bet I'll be standing off to the side, watching and evaluating. When the brunch waitress wants to fill my cup with coffee--no thanks, I prefer tea.


A recipe for cranberry chai blended into a lightly sweet buttery cookie dough. This delectable cookie is tasty with afternoon tea or morning coffee.


When I was thinking about what kinds of recipes to share for #ChristmasWeek I knew I wanted an old family recipe [my Grandma's Scottish Shortbread], a recipe celebrating locally-sourced ingredients [the Maple Doodles], a recipe celebrating seasonal produce [the Fresh Cranberry Mini Scones coming up soon], a no bake treat, and a treat that would be an unusual addition to a cookie plate.

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Grandma's Scottish Shortbread with Amazon Gift Card Giveaway for #ChristmasWeek

Scottish shortbread made the way my Scottish grandma made it--3 to 4 simple ingredients, small pieces, and plenty of time to ripen before serving. This is the ultimate make ahead Christmas cookie.

A recipe for Scottish shortbread made the way my Scottish grandma made it--4 simple ingredients, small pieces, and plenty of time to ripen before serving. This is the ultimate make ahead Christmas cookie.

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Are you wondering what happened to the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share-centric recipes you've come to expect when stopping by the blog? I've been taken over by pod people in the form of joined with Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Kiss My Smoke, who is hosting #ChristmasWeek. Head on over to the Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient for veggie-centric recipes, and scroll down for holiday sweets!



A recipe for Scottish shortbread made the way my Scottish grandma made it--4 simple ingredients, small pieces, and plenty of time to ripen before serving. This is the ultimate make ahead Christmas cookie.



Many folks get their ethnic on especially during the holidays, and I am in this crowd. No matter if it's a new tradition or an old one, this time of year is the time to celebrate my heritage through food. Most of the holiday-specific recipes I've shared on the blog are Scandinavian [I even have a Scandinavian Holiday Pinterest board--follow me!] because 75% of my grandparents trace their lineage back to Scandinavian countries. The other 25% is my mom's mom. Alison Brown Grant emigrated from Scotland to Canada when she was 13, and from her I have my tradition of shortbread at Christmas time.


A recipe for Scottish shortbread made the way my Scottish grandma made it--4 simple ingredients, small pieces, and plenty of time to ripen before serving. This is the ultimate make ahead Christmas cookie.



Shortbread is a pretty simple cookie--it's just flour, sugar, and butter. My aunt Ruth (mom's sister) added in the cornstarch, but My Mom's Sister's Version of her Scottish Mom's Shortbread is just not really an SEO friendly title. The key with shortbread is that it needs to ripen. Do not bake it and plan to serve right away. It will taste utterly boring and bland and is probably why so many people are in a rush to doctor it up with chocolate or nuts or something, which is silly. Appreciate shortbread for what it is, and be patient. If you put that plain cookie in an airtight tin and stick it in a cool dry place for a while . . . well, when you bring the tin back out a magical alchemy will have occurred and those 3-4 ingredients will have aged into a lovely little bite.


A recipe for Scottish shortbread made the way my Scottish grandma made it--4 simple ingredients, small pieces, and plenty of time to ripen before serving. This is the ultimate make ahead Christmas cookie.


Growing up, my mom would bake shortbread around Thanksgiving weekend and store it, wrapped in plastic wrap, in coffee cans in the coat closet. She'd bring it out for the Christmas Eve smorgasbord and we'd enjoy it on the cookie tray alongside a bowl of Scandinavian Fruit Soup. One year she forgot about a tin, and she swears those 13 month old shortbread cookies were the best ever. Any cookie that gets better with age, that I can make in the early stage of the holiday rush, is a win in my book.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Maple Doodles with an Amazon Gift Card Giveaway for #ChristmasWeek


Pure maple syrup sweetens these seasonal treats. Rolled in a maple sugar and cinnamon coating, this refined sugar free version of the classic Snickerdoodle celebrates the bounty of a northern winter. A perfect recipe for #ChristmasWeek.


Pure maple syrup sweetens these seasonal treats. Rolled in a maple sugar and cinnamon coating, this refined sugar free version of the classic Snickerdoodle celebrates the bounty of a northern winter.


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Regular readers will notice that I've taken leave of my senses a departure from my usual recipes celebrating farm share produce. It's #ChristmasWeek, hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Kiss My Smoke, and I'm sharing 6 days in a row of sweet treats.  If you came here looking for some local produce recipes, please check out my Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient.


Pure maple syrup sweetens these seasonal treats. Rolled in a maple sugar and cinnamon coating, this refined sugar free version of the classic Snickerdoodle celebrates the bounty of a northern winter.


I went on a cookie quest for "something maple" at my library. I had a small jar of granulated maple sugar from my daughter's French class trip to Quebec. I associate maple with winter, so I wanted a maple contribution to #ChristmasWeek. Since I like to support local business and keep my cash in my local economy, I buy my maple syrup at the farmer's market. It's delicious and affordable. If you don't live in a place that produces maple syrup, I'll recommend Barn2Door where you can buy direct from the producers and have maple syrup delivered to your door!

Monday, December 7, 2015

Spiked Hot Cocoa Gift Mix and Giveaway for #ChristmasWeek

Give the gift of hot cocoa to the entire family with this allergen-friendly mix. Add a bottle of the spike of your choice so that the entire family can enjoy a treat. This post is the start of #ChristmasWeek, a sweets-filled extravaganza hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Kiss My Smoke

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Note: I am taking a break from my usual routine of posting recipes using local produce from my Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, the farmer's market, and the garden. If you've got a pile of veggies you're looking to use, may I suggest checking out my Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient


Give the gift of hot cocoa to the entire family with this allergen-friendly mix. Add a bottle of the spike of your choice so that the entire family can enjoy a treat.
Does this photo look like the chaos that ensues during tree trimming time?  It's supposed to. Or maybe that's just my house.


I'm going to come across as a total booze hound in this post and I apologize in advance. I know that turning to alcohol will not solve any of life's petty little annoyances nor cure any chronic behavior issues. I know that alcohol is not a long term coping solution for any of life's stressors. If you are concerned about giving a gift with alcohol, please feel free to substitute any of the flavored syrups posted below as your spike of choice. Those flavored syrups are going in our Christmas stockings (and hopefully my kids aren't reading this).


Give the gift of hot cocoa to the entire family with this allergen-friendly mix. Add a bottle of the spike of your choice so that the entire family can enjoy a treat.


With that caveat out of the way . . . it can be pretty damn hard to solo parent teens, or really kids in general, and the extra activities of the holidays make it doubly hard. Please consider giving the gift of a jar of Spiked Hot Cocoa Mix to anyone you know who would enjoy it--even yourself. What a wonderful way to unwind after a busy holiday than with a cup of hot cocoa--spiked with a little something for mom & dad, [mom & mom, dad & dad, solo parent] left plain for the kids. I've had such fun working on this recipe and I looked forward to my nightly recipe testing!


Give the gift of hot cocoa to the entire family with this allergen-friendly mix. Add a bottle of the spike of your choice so that the entire family can enjoy a treat.


You'll notice a couple of subtle changes from the standard hot cocoa gift mix recipe. First off, there is no powdered milk in this recipe. That means you need to get to mix it with the milk of your choice. An extra step to be sure, but I have my reasons. I grew up drinking the occasional milk-stretched-with-powdered-milk and personally can't stand the taste of reconstituted milk. I'll bake with it no problem, but I will not drink it by choice. I'd rather literally walk a mile down the street to pick up a gallon of organic milk for me and my kids. [It's good exercise for the dogs, too.] If you have a dairy allergy or are avoiding cow's milk, this mix is for you as it is dairy free. Please feel free to mix up your hot cocoa with the rice, soy, or nut milk of your choice.

Amazon Gift Card Giveaway for #ChristmasWeek


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Welcome to Day 1 of Christmas Week. This annual event was started in 2012, and is hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic. This year we have over 35 bloggers sharing festive sweet recipes for the event. 

Participants for Christmas Week:



The winners of the giveaway are:

$500 Gift Card-> Ruth Deaton (her entry was via Kate of Food Babbles, Pinterest Follow)
$250 Gift Card-> Jeanna Schirm Massman (her entry was via Christie of Food Done Light, Pinterest Follow)
$50 Gift Card-> Michele Behlen (her entry was via Stephanie of Daily Appetite, Pinterest Follow)

Congratulations!



Are you looking for recipes using seasonal produce from the farm share, the farmer's market, or your neighbor's prolific garden? Check out my Visual Recipe Index by Ingredient, a resource for folks like me wondering what to do with Swiss chard, beets, and that case of oranges from the band fruit fundraiser. Follow me on Pintereston Instagram, and on my FB page for even more recipe ideas and behind the scenes snapshots. Want to know How to Use This Blog? Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, December 18, 2014

Toffee Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies #ChristmasWeek

[the title pretty much says it all]
Welcome to Day Four of Christmas Week. This event is hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen. We hope to inspire you to break out those holiday sprinkles and get your bake on!

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/toffee-pecan-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

There are times when I feel like an utter failure as a food blogger. It's not the recipes/writing/photography/technical computer stuff, you know, the business of blogging, that gets to me--it's the capital F Foodie part.

I may have 6 different vinegars in my pantry and 20 recipes for beets in my Beet Recipes Collection, but I am not a real Foodie. I have eaten at only one of the 20+ fancy schmancy restaurants in my town [and that was because my book group met there!]. In fact, I'm perfectly happy with a Five Guys burger and fries or a plate of Waffle House Chocolate Chip Waffles. The recipes I share on this blog are, for the most part, pretty basic stuff like these Toffee Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/toffee-pecan-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

I'm sharing them today for #ChristmasWeek simply because I like to celebrate all that is simple and good--from a breakfast of beet greens or a side dish of Chinese cabbage from our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share to a tasty and flavorful cookie like these.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/toffee-pecan-chocolate-chip-cookies.html

I like to bake chocolate chip cookies because the whole process fits in with my schedule. Unlike brownies which need to be mixed and baked all at once [and when you're making 8 dozen Pecan Brownie Bites for a Cookie Drive that's a big chunk of time], chocolate chip cookies taste better when they are done in installments. When I expect to have 30 minutes free I'll set the butter out to soften ahead of time, then mix up the dough when I'm ready. I will chill this dough overnight or up to a couple of days. When I'm ready to bake I scoop up what I want to use, and I can re-chill or even freeze the rest until I need it. Making cookies this way--in small chunks of kitchen time--fits with my schedule best and leaves me more time to try and get a decent shot of the dogs in their thrift shop holiday finery. Here's an outtake:

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/toffee-pecan-chocolate-chip-cookies.html
Simon is patiently waiting to be allowed to leave while Robert Barker keeps trying to eat his hat  (it tastes yummy) and Vincent in his Santa Paws coat just wishes everyone would cooperate so he can have his turn to shine. Oh, and I went and got my hair done did. It's been a year--it was time.
Swing by all the #ChristmasWeek participants to see what they've been whipping up for the holidays:
Coconut Filled Sandwich Cookies by Cravings of a Lunatic
Peppermint Sugar Cookie Bars by Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts
Cranberry Ginger Margaritas by Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks
Rocky Road Chocolate Bark by Cooking In Stilettos
Apple Streusel Bars by That Skinny Chick Can Bake
Rum Blondies with Cinnamon Chips by From Gate to Plate

Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Pecan Brownie Bites for a Cookie Drive #ChristmasWeek

Need/want to make 8 dozen brownie bites for a cookie drive or a whole bunch of cookie plates? Look no further! My second recipe of #ChristmasWeek is well suited to mass production and full of chocolatey goodness as well. I share my 3 lessons learned so you don't have the failures I did.

http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/pecan-brownie-bites-for-cookie-drive.html

Welcome to Day Two of Christmas Week. This event is hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen. We hope to inspire you to break out those holiday sprinkles and get your bake on!

Hanging in my house is a poster of Life's Little Instructions. On it are such gems as 'overtip breakfast waitresses' and 'when you borrow a car, return it with the gas tank full', but one of my favorite ones is 'never refuse a plate of homemade brownies'. I don't care if the ingredients for the brownies came out of a single box or from multiple containers in your pantry--to me, if the brownies come out of YOUR oven they are homemade.


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/pecan-brownie-bites-for-cookie-drive.html

What if you want to give homemade brownies to 1,500 single Airmen who are spending Christmas away from their families? Or, more realistically, if you wanted to contribute several dozen brownies to the Airmen's Cookie Drive? You need a few Mass Production Techniques to enable you to churn out tray after tray, and that's why I wrote up this post for #ChristmasWeek.

Making individual sized treats for a cookie drive is a Big Project. Making brownies for a cookie drive [is that even legal? I mean, they're not technically cookies, whatever the technical definition of a cookie is] is another level of hassle. You either need to cut your pan nice and even [no 'you cut and your sister chooses first' here] or you need to make individual brownies and get them safely out of the pan.
http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/pecan-brownie-bites-for-cookie-drive.html

Lesson #1:  Use paper liners.
Trust me and the pile of failures I shared with my kids and on my FB page. [Perhaps the kids would prefer we skip this lesson and just have 8 dozen less-than-perfect brownie bites piled up around the kitchen.] To spray or not to spray the paper liners I leave up to you. I didn't spray, nor do I spray my brownie pan normally. There are 3 sticks of butter in there, for crying out loud!


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/pecan-brownie-bites-for-cookie-drive.html

Lesson #2:  If you're using nuts, GO BIG.
I like nuts in my brownies, but I'd never put nut-filled brownies in a cookie tray for my friends who have food allergies. While the Cookie Drive Organizers said that nuts were OK, I didn't want the volunteers to guess if my brownies contained nuts.  Instead, I went big and glued a big ol' pecan half on top of each brownie using a candy melt. You can see through the lid that these treats belong with the other nut-filled goodies.


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/pecan-brownie-bites-for-cookie-drive.html

Lesson #3:  Just do it. It will make you feel good.
Doing for others makes you feel good. If you love to bake, then baking for others is an exceptional way to feel good. You don't need an Airmen's Cookie Drive either--police stations, fire stations, animal shelters and hospitals would be glad to follow the instructions to 'never refuse a plate of homemade brownies'.

Are you trampled by turnips? Collared by kohlrabi? Buried in beets? For recipes using my usual suspects, please refer to my Visual Recipe Index until #ChristmasWeek ends and I return to my local food, mostly savory ways.  If you're tempted by sweets and looking for holiday ideas--yesterday I shared Finnish Pulla {Cardamom Coffee Braid}, tomorrow I'll share Scandinavian Fruit Soup, Thursday brings us Toffee Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies, and I'll close out the week with Norwegian Lefse on Friday.

Swing by all the #ChristmasWeek participants to see what they've been whipping up for the holidays:


Turtle Hot Chocolate by  The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen

Rum Raspberry Tart by Cookistry

Chocolate Saltine Toffee (aka Christmas Crack) by Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts

Pecan Brownie Bites by Farm Fresh Feasts (that's me!)
Peppermint Brownie Cookies by Mind Over Batter
Bourbon Brownies by Cooking In Stilettos

Monday, December 15, 2014

Finnish Pulla {Cardamom Coffee Braid}

This is a recipe for Finnish Pulla, a cardamom-spiced lightly sweet braided bread. It is delicious plain or with butter, served alongside tea or coffee, or as an after school snack. The recipe makes three loaves which is terrific for gift giving during the holidays. 

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http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/finnish-pulla-cardamom-coffee-braid.html


Baking: art or science? Discuss.

When I first saw this bread being made it was all art: building the fire in the wood stove, mixing the ingredients until the dough looked right then braiding, decorating, and finally baking the bread. To my young, fresh-out-of-college eyes Eila Akkanen's ability to create this bread was purely magic. [Looking back on that summer, Eila was doing her weekly baking in the the farmhouse kitchen where she'd raised her family and had probably performed that 'magic' thousands of times.]


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/finnish-pulla-cardamom-coffee-braid.html


I think baking used to be considered an art, or perhaps more accurate, a series of crafts. Building a fire to the proper baking temperature is as much a learned skill as kneading dough or even beading bracelets. Nowadays I don't need to know much about building a baking fire--I use the keypad on the oven to type in the precise temperature I'd like, and double check it with my oven thermometer. I could re-learn the chemical equations which describe the reactions of a pile of ingredients turning into a loaf of bread, but I don't need to know how it works--just that it does.


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/finnish-pulla-cardamom-coffee-braid.html
I braid one side towards the middle, then the other, then finish by pinching the end pieces together.

My approach to this recipe is a mixture of science and art. Because my kitchen temperature averages 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, I use my bread machine to mix the dough [don't worry if you don't have a freezing kitchen and a bread machine, I'll provide directions for mixing the dough]. When the machine is finished, though, my experienced eye takes over and shapes the dough until it looks right.


http://www.farmfreshfeasts.com/2014/12/finnish-pulla-cardamom-coffee-braid.html


The inspiring recipe came from Beatrice Ojakangas' book Fantastically Finnish. Instead of starting with whole cardamom pods I use the ground spice, and because I first had this while working on a dairy farm I like to use a richer milk. I have made this bread using all cream--very rich dough, very tender crumb, great way to use up 2 cups of heavy cream--as well as half & half and even 2% milk. Normally I'll say 'use what you have on hand' but if you've only got fat free milk please go grab a pint of half & half before making this. It is the holidays after all. 


Speaking of holidays, I'll be sharing sweet recipes each day during #ChristmasWeek. Tuesday I'll be sharing 3 lessons learned making Pecan Brownie Bites for a Cookie Drive, Wednesday it's back to Scandinavia for Fruit Soup, Thursday we're keeping things simple with Toffee Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Friday I finish getting my ethnic on with My Mother's Norwegian Lefse
If you're not into sweets, check out my Visual Recipe Index for more savory ideas for what to do with the produce from the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm share, farmer's market, and garden.