Cinnamon Spelt Cookies

I made these cookies in December when I wanted to have s scent of cinnamon in the house. The yard did not have white snow on it but there was some frost on rocks and moss. The air was nippy and your cheeks would become wonderfully red after a walk in the silent forest. walking in the forest is one my favorite things to do. It is just you and the wind and the trees - you can really relax and hear your own thoughts. It's magical.

These cookies ended up being loved by the whole family and what's best they were really simply and quick to make and the scent of cinnamon prepared the  Christmas spirit.

250  (8.8185 oz) grams butter
200  (0.44092 lb) grams sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp vanilla sugar
2-3 tsp baking powder
350  (0.77162 lb)  grams Spelt flour

sugar and cinnamon for covering the cookies

1. Mix soft butter and sugar to tunr it into a soft foam.
2. Add the eggs
3. Mix the dry ingredients and and add them to the butter/sugar mix.
4. make about 30 round balls in your hands.
5. Put some cinnamon-sugar mix in to a small bowl and put the balls in it one by one and cover them with the sugar-cinnamon mix. Put the cookies on the papered baking tray.
6. Put the cookies into fridge for about 20 minutes and bake them in  the center of the oven for about 12-14 minutes in 200 °C (400°F).

Forest biscuit - Mettäkakko

Forest biscuits are something that people who lived in northern Finland used to take with them when they
went to work in the forest. Just by looking at the recipe you can tell it's old one since nowadays no one uses that much butter and sugar since it is considered unhealthy. Mettäkakko sure was a calorie rich eating! And it needed to be since the work at the forest was hard and lots of calories were needed. This was also easy thng to take with you and it preserved  for a long time. Sometimes it was made by using sour milk or mix of cream and milk (half and half). I made these by using milk.

These cookies are sort of mix between Finnish pulla and biscuit. It's crunchy like biscuit from the outside and inside it's beautifully mellow and when the first bite melts in your mouth you simply got to have another one. Surprisingly the biscuit is not overly sweet. I would have thought that with this much sugar in it it would be disgustingly sweet but it's not. And that's a good thing. Store them in an air tight container.

People used to bake a big batch of these and the dough was not divided in order to make a smaller portion so I made a big portion too just for the old times' sake. :)

1 kg ( 2.205 lb) milk
500 grams (1.102 lb) butter
1 kg ( 2.205 lb) sugar
2 kg (4.409 lb) all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder

1. Heat the milk and melt the butter and sugar in it. Don't let it boil. Mix the flour with baking soda and baking powder. After the it has cooled a little add the flour mix and knead it into the liquid.
2. Let the dough cool in the fridge over night and bake in the morning.
3. Roll out the piece of dough and roll it into 0.5 cm (0.2 inch) thick sheet and take pieces by using a drinking glass as a cookie cutter.
4. Put them on a papered baking tray and bake in 225°C (450°F) for about 10 minutes or until they get a tiny bit color.

Traditionally these are made without sugar or almond toppings but I wanted to try out those too - just for a change. :)  Either way they are nice.

Serina biscuits - Serinakakut

Vase by Muurla

Serina biscuits are great. (Serina = Serina is a woman's name, kakut=cakes)  The demerara sugar gives it a bit more deeper taste and those little almond pieces on the top really crown the whole beauty.

My husband's grandmother liked these a lot. And today when I baked these one of the children said that these are awfully good and I have to keep baking these more often. So I guess I will bake these more often then!

I found the Serina biscuit recipe from my grandmother's old cookbook. It was printed in a time when cookbooks had hardly any pictures. For some reason the lack of pictures does not matter when you read a really old cookbook but modern cookbooks seem somehow less interesting if they have very little photos. When baking and cooking photos are essential. It's nice to know how things are supposed to look like. At least I like to know. But in the end it's the recipe that really counts.

I am simply love old cookbooks. I have found a few from a antiquarian bookshop and a few I have found as a new editions. Those are great too but I do prefer the ones I can find from a antiquarian bookshops. They feel nicer, they have stories to tell and it's nice to give an old book a new home. Books are like good friends - they listen to you when you need an ear and they never abandon you - and in real good occasions they even give you a priceless advice.

Makes about 45 biscuits:

100g (3.527 oz) demerara sugar
200g (7.055 oz)  butter

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla sugar

225-250 grams (7.937 - 8.818 oz) all purpose flour

-----

egg

nib sugar

crushed almonds

1. Mix the butter and sugar into a foam.
2. Add the egg and mix well
3. Mix the dry ingredients and add them to the dough.
4. Take small pieces of the dough and shape them in to balls and put on the papered baking tray.
5. Brush with egg and sprinkle with chopped almonds and  nib sugar.
6. Bake them in the center of the oven appr. 10 minutes in 200°C (400°F).

And like always remember to enjoy!

Rolled Oats Biscuits - Kauralastut

These rolled oats biscuits (rolled oats= kaura, lastut=chips) are something so delicious that  when you start eating them you can't really stop so be sure to wear something loose and stretchy while starting to make these! Usually people like these when they are crispy and that they are if you store them in an airtight container. I however like these when they are NOT stored in an airtight container and they became a little chewy. I think then they taste even better! But even in this household the opinions vary so  it is safest to store some in a container and some in a bowl. That way everyone gets what they want.

The great thing about these is that they are terribly easy to make - and quick! 

You can prepare these without any flour if you wish - just add some more oatmeal when you do that. Or you can use rye flour instead of the wheat. Do what ever you wish - all options work really well. Tested them each. The ones in the photo are made with rye flour. Many of the coeliacs can eat rolled oats so without the flour (or you can use gluten free flour) these can be included in gluten-free diet as well. 

80 grams (2.822 oz)  rolled oats

75 grams (2.646 oz) melted or really really soft butter

100-140 grams  (3.527 oz) sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp all-purpose flour (or rye flour or rolled oats)

1 tsp vanilla sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1. Mix rolled oats and melted/really soft butter.

2. Mix the flour, vanilla sugar and baking powder and add the mix into the bowl with the rolled oats and butter. Mix well.

3. Add sugar (I usually make these with 1dl sugar. They are sweet enough like that.) and eggs. 

4. Use two tea spoons to shape small balls and put them on the papered baking tray. Be sure to left enough space between the balls since these will spread quite a bit.

5. Bake in the center of the oven in 175°C (350°F) about 8-10 minutes.

If you wish you can easily decorate these with chocolate stripes. Even though I do love chocolate I prefer these without it.

Fork Biscuits - Haarukkaleivät

My mom has baked Fork biscuits (haarukka=fork, leivät= breads) for as  long as I can remember. They are actually one my oldest's  favourite treats and one of my favourite recipes. The recipe is not complicated at all, it does not require many ingredients - mostly just basic ones which can almost always be found  in the pantry.

These biscuits have that childhood flavour in them and they reminded me of this old doll I got when I was tiny. The doll carries a lot of memories and stitches. It does not only remind of these biscuits but it also reminds me of my granddad who died almost 30 years ago. When I visited him at the hospital for the very last time I left this doll for him. So in a way I was with him till the end and he was with me.

It is funny thing that so many memories are connected with baking. Different scents bring different memories and today this was the memory that floated into my mind. It's a dear memory.

200 grams (7.055 oz) soft butter

175 grams (6.173 oz)  sugar  

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla sugar

2 tsp baking powder

490 -  520 grams (1.080 -  1.146 lb) all-purpose flour

1. Beat the sugar and butter into a foam.
2. Mix the dry ingredients and add them into the butter-sugar mix.
3. Divide the dough to two pieces and make a "rope" which you divide into 20 pieces. You should have about 40 pieces from the two "ropes".
4. Shape them into balls and put them on the papered baking tray.
5. Do the same things to the second piece of the dough.
6. Once the all biscuits are on the baking tray press a fork pattern on each. Then another one from another direction so that the patterns will cross.  Please, see the photo to get a better idea.
7. Bake in the center of the oven in 225 °C (450°F) for about 7-9 minutes.

Many times we make the biscuits bigger than these. Then this recipe makes only about 20 biscuits but they are really great like that. Then you need to bake them a little longer 10-15 minutes should make it.

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.