Rutabaga casserole - Lanttulaatikko

Christmas is just around the corner. So are the Christmas preparations. in Finland one of the traditional Christmas foods are different kinds of casseroles. 

Rutabaga casserole or lanttulaatikko, as we call it (lanttu=rutabaga, laatikko=casserole or box), is one of them and it is one of my all time favourites.  It tastes good on its own but even better with Christmas ham. This casserole takes a bit time to prepare but it is not difficult at all. Just try it. 

This recipe is my mother's and it is one of my favourite Christmas recipes even though it is not the most traditional one. I would say it is even better! Without this there really isn't a Christmas at all. 

I usually prepare this in the beginning of the December since it can be frozen. This way Christmas preparations are easier to handle and not make you dead tired. You even enjoy Christmas more if you aren't exhausted. Christmas should be joyful and not something you are forced to do. 

In this casserole you can clearly taste rutabaga and dark syrup. This is also one of the few recipes my family uses white pepper. Non of us truly enjoys that spice but in this, it is absolutely perfect addition.

3 kg of washed, peeled and cut rutabagas

enough water to cover the rutabagas in large pot

salt

about 3-4 g white pepper

about 400 grams dark syrup

(salt according to taste)

(some boiling water)

1. Wash, peel and slice the rutabagas.
2. Boil the rutabaga pieces in well salted water as long as the pieces become soft. Reserve part of the boiling water in case you need it later for the rutabaga mash.
3. Mash the cooked rutabagas with a potato pestel.
4. Add dark syrup and white pepper to the hot rutabaga mash. Don't add all at once since rutabagas taste a bit different each year and in some years you need to youse more syrup and some years less. Same with the white pepper. The amount are referential. Trust your taste since after all, you are eating it. Add some boiling liquid if the mash is too thick. It shouldn't be runny but not too thick either.
5. Butter the casserole tins and pour in the spiced rutabaga mash. If you wish you can make some pattern on the surface by using a spoon. Add a few smallish pieces of butter on the top. Bake about 3-4 hours in 125 Celsius degrees.

If you want to freeze the casseroles bake only about 3 hours since otherwise casserole dries too much .
Syrup will change the casserole darker each time you bake it since it caramellisizes.
I hope you enjoy the recipe!

If you are searching for a completely traditional version you prefer this one:

1 kg rutabaga
2 dl heavy cream
2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger

¼ tsp allspice

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

¾ dl dark syrup

1. Wash, peel and slice the rutabagas.
2. Boil the rutabaga pieces in well salted water as long as the pieces become soft. Reserve part of the boiling water in case you need it later for the rutabaga mash.
3. Mash the cooked rutabagas with a potato pestel.
4. Mix all the ingredients, add some more if needed.
5. Grease the casserole with butter, add the mix and level. 
6. Add some butter pieces and breadcrumbs on the top.
7. Bake in 175 Celsius degrees for about 2 hours. 

Gentry's Biscuit - Herrasväen Pikkuleipä

Small bowl "Kastehelmi" by Iittala
Platter Teema by Arabia

Gentry's biscuits are known as Herrasväen pikkuleivät in Finland. (herrasväen= gentry's, pikkuleipä=biscuit)

These biscuits are really nice to make. Traditionally they have been circles but I like to make heart shaped ones and nowadays people make what ever shape they like to. Cookie cutters are great! These are quite small in size - after all they are called pikkuleipä, small bread. The filling is usually  raspberry jam or marmalade but I have tried these with apple marmalade and they were heavenly! The dough is good too and sometimes I think I have eaten half of it before I am done with the biscuits!

My mother-in-law bakes these almost every time when we visit there and she also bakes these to almost every occasion. Many people make these for Christmas only but it's a shame to bake these only once a year. They are so delicious!

When we got married we had these biscuits on our coffee table. So there are quite a few memories to go with these. Maybe that's one of the reasons I like to make hearts instead of circles.

Makes about 60 biscuits.

400 grams (14.110 oz) soft butter

250 grams  (8.819 oz) sugar

2 eggs

480 grams (1.058 lb) all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder
(2 tsp vanilla sugar)

1. Whip the butter and sugar into soft foam.
2. Add eggs one at a time.
3. Add mixed all purpose flour and baking powder through a colander. Mix only what you need to get all mixed. We don't want the viscosity for this dough.
4. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let the dough cool in the fridge about an hour or so.
5 Roll out half of the dough. You need it to be about 3mm thick.
6. Use a cookie cutter to make the biscuits. Put them on a papered oven tray and let the tray with biscuits cool in the fridge for a while. That way biscuits keep their shape better.
7. Bake the biscuits in the center of the oven in 200°C (400°F) appr. 6-8 minutes. They need to stay light and not to get any colour what so ever so don't wait for them to turn into golden brown.
8. Once the biscuits have cooled so you can touch them, spread some jam or marmalade on a biscuit by using a small palet knife or cutlery knife. Don't add too much jam or it will mess the biscuit. Put another biscuit on the jam and roll the whole thing  in the caster sugar.
9. Store the biscuits in an air tight container.

Sissi's Date Cake - Sissin Taatelikakku

Christmas is my favourite time of the year so when my mom baked this cake during the summer months, in the middle of the heat wave,  it made me wish Christmas would already be here. And in a way it is, the scent in the house is wonderful and it is tempting me to listen to some Christmas songs...well, maybe next month...

This is my mother's recipe and she bakes this cake to us every Christmas and sometimes in other occasions too but during those cold wintry months around Christmas time this is the most wonderful scent in the house.

The cake preserves really well so this is usually made a couple of weeks before we are planing to eat it and it's best to store the cake in the fridge or in the cellar. As long as you store it in the cool place, wrapped in a plastic,  it will last easily a month or even more. The flavor gets better and better when the cake is stored this way and on Christmas it will be full of that flavor that is one of the building blocks of the childhood Christmas.

Many people in Finland make date cakes during the Christmas time and there are just as many recipes as there are bakers. This one is a bit different to many others I have tasted. My mother's cake has darker colour and more intense flavour and no cream, milk or coffee is used. I like this one more than the others since this is the cake which in  you can really taste the dates. There is no need to mix any other flavour in it. Cream and coffee will only take a crown away from the dates.

250g (8.819 oz) dried dates

200 grams (7.055 oz) water

175 grams (6.173 oz) sugar

200 grams (7.055 oz) butter

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla sugar

230 grams (8.113 oz) all purpose flour

1. Add the dates, water, sugar and butter into a pot. Boil them as long as it needs to get dates break.

2. Let the mix cool down and prepare the bundt cake pan in the meanwhile. Butter it well and dust with dark cocoa powder or a mix of all-purpose four and cocoa powder.

3. Whip the eggs into the mixture, one at the time.

4. Mix the dry ingredients together and then add them to the batter. Mix as little as possible.

5. Bake about 55-60 minutes in the center of the oven in 175°C (350°F).