Baking Finnish Fingers

Finnish Fingers...or as they say in Finland, Finska Pinnar, a classic Finnish cookie!

This is the second recipe I've made from my vintage cookbook "Visions of Sugarplums". This is all a part of incorporating my children's heritage into our holiday season. I'm enjoying these old recipes and the kids are getting familiar with where their ancestors came from. So far, we are really enjoying this!

The Finnish heritage comes in on my husband's side of the family, through his father's ancestors.

I really enjoyed these cookies! They are bite sized, crunchy, nutty and sweet! In my opinion, they are the perfect tea cookies! They're not overly sweet and heavy and they are the perfect size to snack on with your afternoon cup of tea or coffee!

The dough for this recipe really surprised me...just butter, sugar, flour and vanilla...no baking soda, no baking powder, no eggs! Although, an egg yolk wash is used to help "glue" the ground nuts and sugar to the top of the cookie..the perfect finishing touch!

I just LOVE the simplicity of old fashioned recipes. I love the fact that you don't need fancy ingredients or a bunch of steps to make something that tastes really good!

I think our ancestors had the right idea...basic, wholesome, good ingredients..put them together..and it's classic and timeless!

How can you go wrong with basic baking ingredients like real butter, sugar, molasses, oats, honey, farm fresh eggs, pure vanilla extract, semi sweet chocolate, almonds, walnuts, lemon rind, raisins, dates...I could go on, but I will stop...my mouth is watering as I type!!

I guess I'm just an old fashioned girl!

By the way, here's a couple of interesting facts about Finland's flag! Once again, simplicity..I love it!

Here's the recipe:

FINNISH FINGERS
FINSKAR PINNAR

1 c. unsalted butter

1/2 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla or almond extract

2 1/2 c. flour

1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 Tbsp. cold water

1/2 c. finely chopped almonds

sugar for sprinkling

Cream slightly softened butter with sugar.

Add vanilla or almond extract.

Mix in flour.

Roll into ropes the thickness of a little finger.

Cut into 2 or 3 inch lengths.

Press top of cookie lightly with the back of your finger.

Brush with egg wash.

Sprinkle with almonds.

Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes in 375 degree oven.

Enjoy!!

Brandy Ring Twists, a traditional Swedish Christmas cookie

I've got the bug to bake!

I've pulled my vintage "Visions of Sugarplums" cookbook off the shelf and now I want to make everything in it's content!

What I especially love about the book is the traditional Christmas recipes from around the world.

Most of the recipes are from Sweden, Italy, Germany, Finland, France and a few from the Pennsylvania Dutch, which were German immigrants who settled in Pennsylvania.

I have German ancestors who settled in Pennsylvania.

It got me to thinking!

This holiday season, why don't I make recipes that honor my children's heritage. On my husband's side, there's Finnish and Swedish...and on my side, there is German and Polish. My kids can join in on each recipe so they can feel a part of their heritage.

The first recipe we made was in honor of their Swedish roots. It is a cookie called Brandy Ring Twists.

Let me tell you...I love them! They are buttery, crisp and sweet.

My youngest son had the day off school and I had already made the dough the day before. The dough should be chilled while working with it. We had fun making these and they were quite easy.

I thoroughly enjoyed the process, romanticizing the possibility that my children's great grandmother had stood in her own kitchen, mixing this very same recipe, creaming the butter eggs and sugar, adding the flour and such, then rolling ropes of dough to twist into beautiful sweet wreaths.

I wish I could see through a tiny window into the past...maybe I'd see a strong, handmade, wooden table for a work space, a fire crackling in the kitchen warming the drafty home, flour on Great Grandma's apron, her hands working the dough.

As my sweet little boy and I worked side by side, questions about his Great Grandma filled my mind...Wonder what kind of person she was? Wonder what kinds of hardship she's endured? Wonder what were the great moments of joy in her life?

This is why I keep a journal. So far, I have four journals to pass on to my children, my grandchildren and future generations.
I include simple details of daily life and I know one day, someone will appreciate it.

Here is the recipe for Brandy Ring Twists.

I hope you enjoy making these for your family.

Maybe this recipe will inspire you to look up traditional Christmas recipes from your ancestor's homelands.

If you do, I would love to hear about it.

BRANDY RING TWISTS

1 1/4 c. unsalted butter
2/3 c. sugar
1 egg yolk
3 Tbsp. brandy (you can substitute rum)*
3 1/4 c. flour, approximately
cinnamon sugar (3 Tbsp. cinnamon mixed with 1 cup powdered or granulated sugar)

Cream butter and sugar. Beat egg yolk with brandy or rum and mix into creamed butter. Gradually mix in just enough flour to make a smooth but soft dough. (I used 3 cups total) Form dough into 2 balls and chill for 1 to 2 hours. When dough is chilled, pinch off small pieces of dough and roll into 5 inch, pencil thin ropes. Pair 2 ropes together and twist around each other. Bring ends together and pinch to form a ring shaped wreath. Dip cookie into cinnamon sugar and place on cookie sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10 to 13 minutes. These cookies will stay fairly light in color when fully baked.

*If you don't want to purchase a full bottle of brandy or rum just for 3 Tbsp. in a cookie recipe, you can buy tiny 50 ml. bottles at the liquor store for $1.99 a piece. They measure out to be about 3 1/2 TBSP, perfect for one recipe.

Mr. and Mrs. Fiddler Crab come to stay

My son's 4th grade class is studying fiddler crabs. The students created habitats and are observing their behavior. In nature, fiddler crabs live in salty water along sea beaches as well as inter-tidal mud flats, lagoons and swamps. With a parent's permission, the children are allowed to "adopt" the crabs. Just yesterday, I went to the school and picked up a male and female fiddler crab. The crab in the photo above is Mrs. Fiddler...both of her claws are small.

Here is Mr. Fiddler..he has one large claw. He uses it to fight and to attract Mrs. Fiddler.

"Hey baby, check out my claw!"

The male crab will try to impress the female crab by waving his large claw high in the air then bringing it down to tap on the ground.

"You like that, don't ya?"

Males crabs will fight over a female crab using their big claw. If the big claw is lost in battle, the smaller claw will grow large to compensate, and the other claw will grow back and stay small. Pretty awesome, huh?

These crabs will grow a little, but within their different species, the largest grows to be only 2 inches across. Like all crabs, they will shed their shells as they grow. It will be fun to save the shells!

The welcome back sign is for when the crabs return back to the beach after going for a swim in the salty water...it's a "welcome back to the beach" sign, as my son would put it.

You may be curious about whether Mr. and Mrs. Fiddler will have babies....well, I was curious too. I have read that it is next to impossible to produce baby crabs in an aquarium. Although, IT IS possible for them to produce eggs and the female will carry them on the underside of her shell...it is not likely the eggs will survive as in the wild, the larvae grows in deep ocean waters and then returns to shore at maturity.

I pray we can keep these little crabs healthy and happy. They can live up to 3 years in captivity...usually about 2 years in the wild. We'll see!

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

When you're in the mood for a simple, sweet, soft, chocolate cookie....look no further than this! These cookies are SO good...made with unsweetened Hershey's cocoa powder...they just hit the spot.

One thing I like about this cookie is the simplicity of it. If you're a baker, you will undoubtedly have all of the ingredients on hand...no running to the store for the ONE specific ingredient.

CHOCOLATE SUGAR COOKIES

1 1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. softened butter {1 stick}

1 1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. vegetable shortening {Crisco}

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt and set aside.

In electric mixer, beat butter and sugar.

Next beat in the vegetable shortening.

Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.

Finally, gradually add the flour mixture until just combined.

Use a one inch ice cream scoop, or melon ball scoop to portion out cookie dough onto baking sheet.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 10 minutes.

When completely cooled, sprinkle a dusting of powdered sugar on cookies.

Enjoy!

{Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart}

My personal version of pizza dip!

Pizza dip is awesome..especially when you tailor it to your owns tastes! Here is my version of a good pizza dip..complete with black olives, anchovies and pepperoni. This is the perfect snack for watching the Steelers play football on Sunday. {Cause that's the only team anyone routes for. LOL! hahahaha! Just kidding!! Hey, I can't help it we have Troy Polamalu and Hines Ward! Hee Hee!!}

PIZZA DIP

4 oz. softened cream cheese

1/4 c. sour cream

1/4 c. mayonnaise

1/2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 c. pizza sauce

whole black olives

pepperoni

anchovies

Mix cream cheese, sour cream, and mayo. Spread in bottom of pie pan.

Next spread pizza sauce on top.

Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese.

Top with chopped pepperoni, whole or chopped black olives and anchovies.

Sprinkle a little more mozzarella over toppings.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

Scoop dip with your favorite crackers or tortilla chips.

Enjoy!

P.S. Yes! I do love anchovies!

**Don't forget to stop by my journal...located on the right of my blog just above my profile picture. :)