Finnish Christmas Recipes

Patrice Lyle, author

Those of you who read author Patrice Lyle's blog on Julia Karr's Live Journal blog know she mentioned some delicious-sounding Finnish recipes for Christmas Eve. Luckily, for you we have undercover agents to rival Morgan Skully, the heroine of Lethally Blonde, who spies for the devil. We managed to get our hands on 3 (yep, 3 yummy recipes) and we're going to post one every other day leading up to Christmas Eve. So pop back for some more wonderful Christmas treats.

Here's the first secret recipe:

Finska Pinnars (my favorite cookie EVER!!)

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

½ cup sugar

1 tsp almond extract

1 and 2/3 cups sifted all-purpose flour

½ cup finely chopped blanched almonds

3 TBSP sugar

1 egg yolk

1 TBSP water

2 squares semisweet chocolate

2 teaspoons vegetable shortening

Royal Icing

Milk (or nondairy Original Rice Milk)

Beat the butter with ½ cup sugar and almond extract in a large bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Stir in flour until soft dough forms. Refrigerate at least 1 hour.

Combine chopped almonds and 3 TBSPs sugar on wax paper. Beat egg yolk and water in a bowl until blended. Set both aside.

Remove dough from refrigerator. Take about 2 level teaspoons of dough for each cookie and roll (with floured hands on a floured surface) into 3-inch length “finger shaped” pieces.

Brush each cookie with egg & water mixture, then coat each cookie with chopped almonds & sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees fro about 12 minutes or until golden. Note: cookies will flatten into ovals during baking. Cool on wire racks.

To decorate: melt chocolate with shortening; cool slightly and drizzle over cookies. Thin a small amount of Royal Icing (recipe follows) with milk (or nondairy Original Rice Milk) and drizzle over chocolate. Let set until chocolate and icing hardens. Makes about 3 dozen.

Royal Icing

Ingredients:

1 egg white

dash of salt

¼ tsp cream of tartar

¼ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup (or so) of confectioners sugar

Mix all ingredients together and drizzle over Finska Pinnars. Cover any unused portion in a bowl for later use.

And be sure to watch for Lethally Blonde, which releases February 14, but you can preorder a copy at the Leap Books store.