Our Christmas traditions: Doggie biscuits & new labels

Yep, that's right. We make doggie biscuits every year. And we don't even own a dog. But our friends do, and my in-laws used to, so I started the tradition when I was quite pregnant with little brother.

This little guy here, routinely rolling out dough and cutting out bone and dog shapes.

Big brother also likes to help. We use this Epicurious recipe and the boys take turns measuring out ingredients, rolling out, cutting shapes out and carefully placing them on baking sheets and brushing them with egg wash.

This year I designed labels using PicMonkey. My favorite web-based editor for quick blog photo editing, and now it also lets me make all these cool labels using overlays and design elements that almost look like I know my way around Photoshop. Which of course I don't.

It's so easy that I made all kinds of labels for all our handmade gifts. I love it. Love it. LOVE it. Did I mention I really really like it?

Anyhow.

Here's to Christmas traditions and adding to them. Because maybe these labels will be a permanent addition, saving me the trouble of designing and making / stamping new ones every year, thinking about Christmas label design in September. I mean, not that I would ever think about Christmas labels and gift lists in September. Ha.

What's your favorite tradition?

Our Christmas traditions: Kulleraugen

These are hands-down my favorite cookies. Known as jam drops or thumbprint cookies to the rest of the world, we call them Kulleraugen, which translates to something like googly eyes.

Funny thing is, I hardly ever make them myself. My mom makes them, as one type of cookies in her annual Christmas repertoire of a dozen or more types of cookies.

And she only makes them because I request them. Every year she'll ask me what to make, and every year I don't care about all the elaborate confections and artfully decorated cookies and request Kulleraugen instead. And every year I ask her to make a double batch. She never does, but she also doesn't include these in the cellophane bags of cookies she gives to friends and neighbors. These are our to eat.

Of course, with two boys, my share of these cookies is getting smaller by the year. And on top of that, big brother has the Christmas get-together at his class this wee, and with me having to work both the day before and the day of the little party, I opted to bring cookies.

But what to bring? As pretty much every year, we made those cookies that by now make up our holiday cookie tradition: fig and cinnamon swirls, plum streusel stars, Christmas cantuccini. But those aren't necessarily for kids. At least not all kids.

There's only one answer to that: me making a double batch of Kulleraugen today. What makes them special is not just the fact that they belong to my Christmas for as long as I can remember or that I make them from a photocopied newspaper clipping that dates back to the Seventies. They are also filled with homemade red currant jelly from our own backyard. Bright red and wonderfully tart.

I have a feeling I have to hide these well or they'll be gone before I can take some to school. Or maybe I should just make another batch. Or two.

Kulleraugen (Jam thumbprint cookies)

250g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
100g sugar
homemade vanilla sugar or vanilla extract to taste
3 egg yolks (save the whites for another use, such as coconut macaroons. Just saying.)
150g butter
red tart jam or jelly such as red currant
1 egg white and some chopped almonds, optional

Sift flour and baking powder into the bowl of a standing mixer. Add sugar, salt, vanilla and egg yolks. Mix briefly with dough hook. Turn the mixer off and add butter in cubes. Mix until small crumbs form. Knead the by hand until the dough comes together. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least an hour.

Roll the dough into longs and cut off walnut sized pieces. Roll pieces into little balls and push a well into the with your finger. Place on a lined baking sheet. Fill cookies with a little jam and bake at 175 C for about 10-12 minutes.

Optional: once you have rolled your little balls, brush with a little egg white, dip into chopped almonds and proceed as above.

The cookies should not brown and just set, maybe turn a tiny bit golden around the edges.

We store them in Christmas tins where they keep for a few weeks. In theory, that is.

Homemade Orange Chile Pepper

The brother's daddy and uncle both had their birthdays last month, so we needed to stock up on gifts. It needed to be homemade (by the boys, of course), use mostly things we had around and be fairly quick to make, since the weeks before the birthdays were insane work wise. Tall order?

Nah.

Both daddy and his brother love to grill, so we made Orange Chile Pepper for meat hot off the grill. I had some oranges left over, so I used a vegetable peeler to get the skin off and a knife to scrape the remaining white pith off the back. Then I finely minced the peel and left it on a plate on the counter for a day or two. Voila, dried orange peel!

Then big brother and I took a trip to Ikea one Saturday afternoon and (among a select few other items, naturally) bought two of their spice mills.

While daddy was at going for a run, the boys took to their project. We got our dried orange peel, some coarse sea salt, black pepper and whole dried red chiles.

We started with some salt, then added the orange peel. We didn't really use a recipe, the boys and I pretty much eyeballed it.

 Add some black peppercorns and then some hot chiles.

Screwing the top back on the mills, giving it a few shakes and adding a tag - done!

Actually, that was too easy. Even for us. Luckily we had picked up some simple gray oven mitts at Ikea. We grabbed some fabric pens we had, and the boys drew a design, each one on one side of the mitt, so both mitts have big and little brother's artwork on them. It's a cat standing at a grill, btw.What, your cats don't usually grill your dinner? Ha.

Of course we also had to come up with the matching card. A quick Pinterest search later, we made these BBQ cards where you can actually open the top of the grill. That's fish on the grill. Guess the cat went to get himself another beer then...

So, now I have some time before I need to come up with a father's day craft...

What kid-made gifts have you done recently?

Swenja

Yum. A.k.a. hot chocolate on a stick

I was actually going to post these for Christmas. Because we did them for Christmas, to make up for the lack of cookies this year and give to neighbors and friends instead.

Oh well.

I think they're pretty perfect for Valentine's Day, too. Or basically any day you could use some hot chocolate. Which, with current temperatures is every day, if you ask me.

I used the recipe from giver's log, which you can find right here. There's also a helpful review at TheKitchn.

I think I made about six batches in total, and after a while found that it worked best if I doubled the recipe. We also added some spice to the chocolate. As for what kind of chocolate, well, I mixed what I had on hand, nothing with less than 70% of cocoa though. For a mold, I used those tiny flowery mini muffin tins I've had for ages and never seem to be able to find the right muffin recipe for. They were perfect and after popping the whole tray in the fridge for it to set, they came out easily. The silicone molds were even easier, but mine are quite big which makes for a very chocolatey cup later...

For the Christmas batch I ended up printing those lovely tags from A Pair of Pears to go with them. They were perfect and added just the right touch. Of course I did not manage to get a photo of them. Sigh.

I think they look pretty just wrapped individually and tied with some ribbon, too. Or you could write a message on the stick, tape a little flag to it...

As for the hot chocolate, well, we made extensive quality assurance tests, let me tell you. The brother's verdict: pretty good. In fact, good enough to have everyday. Morning, afternoon and at night, please. If you ask little brother, he'll also tell you that you absolutely must make some freshly whipped cream to go with it. And while you're at it, some sprinkles don't hurt, either.

Red heart sprinkles, maybe?

Happy Valentine's Day,

Swenja

{the simple things} apricot jam

Ahhh, summer. I know I've been a little absent here lately, but hey, summer is finally here. Some years that is a big deal in these parts of the world.

So there are other things to do than sit in front of a computer and type.

Like watering the garden. Cutting lavender. Cooking pizza on the grill. Sitting outside on the porch doing nothing at all. Maybe having some grilled white peaches with vanilla ice cream and biscotti for dessert. Watching the sunset at 10pm. Getting up early the next day, looking out and just knowing it's going to be another wonderful, sunny day. Getting kids dressed in 10 seconds flat. Eating tomatoes right off the plant.

Or cooking apricot jam.

Fresh, ripe and fragrant French apricots from the Friday market. I bought enough for two batches of jam but since I ended up, uhm, trying a few, at the end I had to throw in two peaches to make it work. The peaches gracefully agreed to mingle with the apricots, triple sec and vanilla and work together. Yum.

I usually cut my fruit for jam up the day before, let it sit covered with sugar overnight and then cook jam the next morning.

There is nothing that says summer to be more than this bright and deep yellow little glass of sunshine, bursting with flavor and eaten on a freshly baked roll with lots of butter on a very, very cold Sunday morning in the middle of winter.

Isn't that one of the best things about making jam? To know that you preserve all this flavor, all this sunshine for darker and colder days.

Hope you enjoy this week's simple things as much as I do.





Swenja

Strawberry cupcakes

So. Strawberries. As you know, we went picking. Came home with about five kilograms each trip (yes, we've made multiple trips). 

We made lots of jam, froze strawberry puree for using in yogurt and I made a giant batch of strawberry syrup, using eight cups of strawberries and yielding more than 2 liters of gorgeous pink syrup (if you haven't tried it, you must. I used this recipe and the syrup is as great in icy cold milk as it is in equally cold sparkling wine).

If you know me at all, you know I also made a cake. Well, several, actually. I made one chocolate cake with a strawberry yogurt mousse, well, actually I made three of those and another one to come this weekend. Hopefully this time around I'll get some decent photos to share.

Meanwhile, grab yourself some strawberries, a blender, a large bowl and a handful of ingredients you're bound to have on hand and make this strawberry cake from a dash of sass. First recipe I ever saw using actual strawberry puree. Plus, it's got to be the world's easiest recipe: pour everything into a bowl, mix, pour into cake pans and bake. Done. I didn't even go through the hassle of straining my strawberry puree, simply because I never do. Raspberry puree, yes, but strawberry puree? Can't be bothered.

I actually ended up making two small bundt cakes plus a batch of mini cupcakes, topped with fresh whipped cream and wild strawberries or fraises de bois from our garden. Yum. 

Oh, and I did add some red food coloring to make sure these would come out nice and pink, which they did. Perfect for a little girl's birthday party. Not that I have any girls. Hmmmmm.... 

Enjoy,

Swenja

PS: I'm actually starting to shoot in manual mode. Well, aperture priority when I'm pressed for time (and we all know that never happens... right.). Love it. Exactly why didn't I try this before?!

{the simple things} picking strawberries

Ah, strawberry season. It's always too short, but it's so sweet while it lasts. We decided to make the most of it and go strawberry picking last weekend.

Hello? Strawberries? Anyone there?

Yum! Eating as many strawberries as you possibly can is the best part about picking strawberries.

Don't they look lovely? We had a bit too much rain the week before, but they're still delicious.

The boys were pretty good actually, not stepping on the plants or berries and not picking the green ones.

This is what we came home with: 5kg (that's 11 lbs). We made strawberry cakes (yep, plural), pureed some with confectioner's sugar and froze them for eating with yogurt when the season is over, ate a lot of them and....

...made two batches of strawberry jam.

Of course I need more. I still haven't tried strawberry syrup and oh, there are so many cake recipes I want to try! Also, I need to stock up some more on jam and the frozen strawberry puree to get us through that bleak not-strawberry-season.

What's your favorite strawberry recipe?
Swenja

PS: Linking up with the simple things. Thanks everyone for stopping by!

{the simple things} elderflowers

Early summer is one of my favorite seasons, especially those couple of weeks from mid May to early June. The weather is often better than later in June or even July, there are no pesky insects out yet that want to eat your cupcake on the porch or drown in your lemonade. Summer still feels new, you're still surprised the trees are all nice and green all of a sudden and the garden, oh the garden. There are blossoms everywhere. My favorite geraniums (the real geranium, not the pelargonium) and white catnip blossom.

But the best part? Early summer harvests! Strawberries. Asparagus. And elderflowers.

I love elderflowers. Every year when we're back from vacation, we run to pick some elderflowers. Well, baskets of them, actually. They grow everywhere along the fields, but you have to catch an at least somewhat sunny day to make sure the flowers are all the way open and there is this fine, yellowish dust on them. That's the best part.

We then gently shake them off to remove insects and soak them with sugar, water and lemons for a few days to make elderflower cordial. My mom has her own recipe, and this year I'm trying out this one in direct comparison (there's an English version, too, if you scroll down). She makes a simple syrup first and lets the flowers and lemons soak in the cooled syrup before straining it and briefly heating it, while my mom's recipes add the sugar as is - either during the infusing part or later when heating. Anyway.

The elderflower syrup is perfect for flavoring drinks or, in this case, a lemon cake (recipe from here).

Yum! Now I hope the season lasts long enough to make a few more batches and also elderflower jelly and oh, lots of strawberry jam of course. What's your favorite early summer treat?

Have a great weekend,
Swenja

PS: Will be linking up with the simple things sunday later. Have a safe trip back, Rebecca!

Sugar? Nope, butter cookies

This is one of my all-time favorite recipes. My boys love to bake, and while they like cakes and muffins and all that, there's nothing better than making cookies. You know, the kind of cookie that you actually cut out and decorate. Like we do for Christmas. Except we do these for just about any occasion, like dog parties or Halloween or, well, Easter. Partly that's because I collect cookie cutters. They're small, come in all shapes and it's something cheap and small to collect.

Anyhow. I usually make the dough a day or so ahead. Ok, maybe a few days if I just can't muster up the strength to face two boys with lots of cookies and a big pot of flour on my counter. Sometimes I chicken out and bake with little brother alone while big brother is at swimming lessons with daddy or at his grandma's. We take the dough out of the fridge and start kneading a bit until it's just about soft enough to roll out. But never let it get too warm or it'll just stick to everything and become one gooey mess instead of a buttery cookie.

Then pick your favorite cookie cutter(s). Bunnies were an obvious choice.

Start cutting out. Occasionally dip your cutter in flour. Little brother will tell you how important that is. Not that that has anything to do with the fact that he loves dumping flour all over the counter.

Check if it comes out alright. If it doesn't, then that's your perfect opportunity to eat it right away. After all, it's broken anyway, right?

Keep cutting until you have your first cookie sheet full.

Bake for about 8 minutes or so but watch closely. The edges should just about brown a tiny bit. Of course you could also try to take photos and simultaneously work on the next batch with your little boy sitting on the counter, playing with the flour pot, while your husband calls to tell you that the plumber will be over in five minutes to fix the outdoor faucet. In that case they might end up just a tad more on the brown side. But they'll still taste good.

Now, you can call it a day at this point. Or you could always get your icing sugar and lemons out.

Add some food coloring. Guess who screamed "I want yellow, mommy!". Yep.

There are lots of creative ways to get the sticky icing on your cookies. The old way of holding the cookie at the edges and just using your brush is entirely overrated. Especially since this makes your fingers all sticky. Now, that's ok when it comes to some icky stuff, but sweet icing? No way. Better use a plate and soak your cookie in icing. Really.

Always hide that other hand!

Same on big brother's side. He used a spoon to get the icing on the cookie.

See that left hand?

The end result will be almost too pretty to eat. At least if you ask your mom. Too bad she won't allow you to eat all of them right now.

Oh, here's the recipe, btw. But quick, you should do this before summer, because they don't like high temperatures.

125g butter
75g icing sugar (plus more for decorating)
Salt
1 egg
250g flour

Cream soft butter with sifted sugar and a pinch of salt. Add the egg. Then add flour and mix only until crumbs form. Using your hands, form a dough and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.

Yum.

Enjoy!
Swenja