Egyptian Christmas Cookies Along With Danish!

Are you getting ready for my favorite time of Year?  I've had a great couple of days spending time in my kitchen and baking my favorite Christmas cookies.

First on the list were my Egyptian petit fours.  I tweeked the recipe a bit and made them in single cookies without any filling.  And, I just had to add some green Christmas trees.  Every year my Danish grandma would make "spritz" cookies in the shape of green Christmas trees.  I have kept the same tradition for my family. If you want the recipe, you can find it here on my blog from a few years ago.  Remember, the key to this recipe is using clarified butter and powdered sugar which gives this cookie it's unique texture :)

Another popular Egyptian holiday cookie is Uraybee* or Ghorayebah* or as it's known in turkey, Kurabiyesi.  I bought this mix in Turkey and brought it home with me.  Luckily, it had only two ingredients I had to "translate" and again I used clarified butter and oil. (My oil looks green because it's grapeseed oil!)  The cookies came out perfect!  I'm sold on this cookie mix and plan to buy it again.  Kurabiyesi is a rich, buttery, shortbread type cookie with a very fine texture.  My favorite - yum!

Now, we're going to head back to Denmark and here's my pebernodder (peppernuts) that I made this year.  Again, this is one of my Grandma's recipes and I just had to make them since my brother will be joining us for the holidays and he loves these as much as I do!  You can find the recipe here from a previous blog post.  Remember, you need to prepare the dough the night before so that it can ripen  the wonderful, spicy flavor. I love to pop them in my mouth, savor the flavor a minute or two before I bite into this delicious crunchiness.

 

Today I made my Danish Kleiner.  It seems that every culture has their own favorite fried cookie and this is our family's tradition from Denmark.  Again, it's my Grandma's recipe that I treasure.  Hopefully, I can pass this onto my little granddaughter so that she can make them one day.  They will be put away in an air tight tin and wait the arrival of my son since this is his favorite cookie.

Four down and one more cookie to make.  Tomorrow I hope to make some plain, old, much loved, chocolate chip cookies but with a twist using Nestle's Holiday Baking Chips.  Don't you just love how colorful these are?  I'm using my dear friend Elizabeth's recipe which you can find here.

What are you baking?  If you would like to share, please feel free in the comments below.  That's  about all that is happening here at Lilly My Cat.  I hope to share another post soon.

Blessings to everyone,

Pat 

PS *the Arabic language can be hard sometimes to translate into the Latin alphabet since there is no standardized translation.  But, you can google this cookie and see what you come up with since it's a popular cookie for all the countries in the Middle East. 

Holiday Brune Kager Cookies

Hello dear friends.  The countdown is on . . . are you ready for the festivities?  I hope that wherever you are that winter is being kind to you.  We have had very windy weather down here in southern California.  And, when the sun sets, the chill sets in.  It's a perfect time to sit by the fire, sip a hot cup of tea and enjoy some Christmas cookies.

Being Danish, I look forward to making my Christmas cookies each year.  It's been over 40 years since I bought the little ornament above in Copenhagen.  I love bringing it out each year and putting it in a special place on my tree.

This cookie recipe is so easy to make as you mix up the dough and let it sit for two days in the refrigerator.  It's a new recipe that I tried this year.  I found the recipe here online via The Oregonian.

 

I followed the recipe as written using dark Karo syrup for the brown baking syrup.  You  may wish to add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt to the dry ingredients. After you mix the dough, roll it into logs and refrigerate for two days before baking.

This recipe made about 150+ cookies for me.  Do you like the new Emma Bridgewater Christmas plate I bought for myself?  It matches the teacup and saucer that my daughter bought for me last year.  These cookies are flavorful and very crisp.  I had to laugh to myself as they reminded me of poker chips the way they sounded when I put them in the serving plate!  And, no, I don't play poker :) 

There are many different recipes out there for brune kager.  You can search online or maybe you have a much loved cookbook with a recipe you could use.  Here's a small collection of my Scandinavian recipe books.

The brune kager are all tucked away my new cookie tin waiting to make their appearance on Christmas eve.  I just love these new Scandinavian cookie tins that my daughter gave me for my birthday.

Do you have a special holiday recipe that you make each season?  I wish each of you blessings during this special time of year.  And, thank you for visiting with me today.

With my best wishes,

Pat

Neopolitan Christmas Cookies 'a la Lilly

Hi Everyone.  It's me Lilly the cat from Lilly My Cat.  My Mom has been busy baking Christmas cookies and wrapping presents so I'm writing this post today to help her out. I've had my usual busy day of cat napping and eating and I did go hunting in the backyard for a bit today but I don't think it's gecko season right now :(

 

 Today my Mom made neopolitan cookies.  She told me they remind her of the Brachs coconut candy she used to eat as a child.  Obviously, that was a long time ago.

She said the dough is so easy to make and then she divides it in three sections and flavors/colors each section.  The pink dough is flavored with almond extract, the brown dough with cocoa and the white dough has chopped walnuts.

After she finishes making the dough, she puts each layer of dough in a metal loaf pan with a plastic liner.  Just push each layer of dough down, one upon the other.  Then, you need to refrigerate this dough for about 4 hours or more.  After it has set, she sliced the dough in three parts lengthwise and then slices across each of these.  Ummm, my cat vocabulary is having a hard time trying to explain what she did, but you get the idea.

Anyway, I'm sure you get the idea of how it works.  Here they are after they have been baked.  I think they came out so pretty.  Too bad they aren't flavored with pink salmon, white fish and brown beef for my gourmet cat taste.  You can find the recipe for these fun cookies at the bottom of the page.

Do you like the look of this Christmas tree with it's twinkling lights?  It's my sister Heidi's tree and unfortunately, I haven't been to visit her at her home yet.  I'd love to snuggle up under this tree for my evening cat nap.  Maybe she will invite me over?  I need to be a good kitty since Santa will soon be arriving.

My Mom sends her best wishes to each of you.  And, I send you my meows and best wishes to all my little cat friends in blogland.

Meows from

Lilly

Pat's Neopolitan Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

-------------------------------

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

red food coloring

2 Tablespoons cocoa

1/4 cup chopped nuts

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars.  Add in egg and vanilla.  Add in flour, cornstach, salt and baking powder and mix well.  Divide dough into three equal parts (approximately 1 cup each).

For the first dough, add in almond extract and a couple of drops of red food coloring.  Blend until well mixed.

For the second dough, add in cocoa and blend well.

For the third dough, add in chopped nuts.

Prepare a metal loaf pan, 9" x 5" with plastic wrap.  Place the cocoa dough in the bottom of the pan and flatten dough until it is even.  Place white/walnut dough on top of cocoa dough, keeping the surface flat.  Add the pink dough last and flatten until it is smooth.  Cover with more plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to chill for approximately 4 hours or more.

Remove dough from loan pan and slice the dough lengthwise into three pieces.  Then cut across each long piece of dough  (about 15 slices out of each lengthwise piece of dough).  Place cut slices on a greased cookie sheet and bake in a 350 degree oven for approximately 10 minutes or until lightly browned on bottom.

Immediately remove from cookie sheet and let cool on a wire rack.  Store in a closed container. 

Enjoy! 

 

Another Egyptian Christmas Cookie Recipe ~ Sablee ~

Imagine yourself being raised in a large village in upper Egypt. You and your family's life evolves very much around the Coptic Church calendar.  On November 25th of this year (old calendar), the Copts began their nativity fast which means that all animal products are avoided (fish and seafood are OK).  The fast will end with the glorious Feast of the Nativity on January 7th; the birth of our Lord.

Copts have a lot of traditional Christmas foods and today I will share with you another recipe that is popular for the holidays.  I love baking Christmas cookies and this particular recipe is so dear to my heart.  My dear, dear friend Vivian gave it to me during the first Christmas I was married.  She had gotten this recipe from her sister-in-law, Zaizaf, who was an excellent baker.  Both Vivian and Zaizaf were raised in upper Egypt as was my husband.  The ingredients are very simple.

Recipe for Egyptian Sablee:
3 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla powder (use extract if you wish)
1 1/2 cups Crisco (vegetable shortening)
Little water if needed
Apricot jam for filling

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar and vanilla powder together.  Cut in the shortening until it resembles small pieces like the photo above.  At this point, you may add 1 tablespoon cold water and mix dough just until it comes together.  Please do not knead or overwork the dough :)

 

 Just mix the dough until it looks like above.  Now you are ready for the fun part of cutting out the dough.

Flour the board and take a small fist of dough and roll it out; not too thin and not too thick.  Cut into your desired shapes (round is the traditional shape).  Place cut out dough on an ungreased cookie sheet.

You will have some scraps left over so take those scraps of dough and add a small piece of fresh dough and roll out again and cut out the shapes.  Keep repeating this until all the dough is used up.  By using the scraps along with fresh dough each time, your cookies will not become tough.

Just remember to cut out the middle of half of the cookies you are making.  You will be sandwiching these two cookies together with the cut out on top.  My recipe makes approximately 40 cookies so that means 40 whole and 40 with cut out tops!  Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for approximately 8 to 9 minutes or until lightly golden brown.  Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on a rack.

I usually bake these ahead of time and store them in a tight container without the jam filling.  When I'm ready to serve them, I add a small spoonful of jam and sandwich them together and sprinkle a bit of powdered sugar over the top before serving.  As to the jam, I used some raspberry jam that my son brought me from Ukraine but the traditional jam to use is apricot.  I'll be filling the remainder with apricot as the apricot jam is dry versus the watery raspberry!

From you photo above, you can see the mix of traditions in my house as the little tablecloth with the nisseman is from Denmark and the cookies are Egyptian!  Fun time for the holidays . . .

I hope you will enjoy these if you make them.  And, as always, thank you for stopping by.  Until next time

My best wishes,

Pat

Valentine Cookies

Thank you to all my readers for your kind get well wishes for my grandchildren.  They seem to have recovered from the flu and are doing well.  Valentine's Day will soon be here.  I originally posted this recipe back on February 7, 2013  but since it's a favorite of mine, I thought you might enjoy seeing it again (or maybe if you're a new reader, you'll see it for the first time).  And, I'm joining in with Amy over at Five on Friday.

 

Here's how they look when they're decorated.  They make a great sweet gift for your friends.

I have such fond memories of making these cookies for my children.   I bought the cookie cutter from the Hallmark store about 30 years ago.  It's marked 75 cents!  The recipe is great as the dough does not break like many sugar cookies recipes.  I think this is because it's made using powdered sugar.

So, here is the recipe:

1 cup butter (I use margarine or half butter &  half margarine)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt

In large mixing bowl blend butter and sugar until creamed.  Add in egg and vanilla and blend well.  Add dry ingredients and mix (with mixer or by hand) until well blended.

Take about 1/4 of the dough and roll out on a floured board.  Cut with cookie cutters of your choice.  Repeat with remaining dough.  I like to gather the used dough and replenish a little at a time with the fresh dough.  That way the dough doesn't get too stiff from the flour added on the board.    Place cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees approximately 10 minutes.
Remove from cookie sheet and let cool.

The cookie cutter will produce a large heart and a smaller companion heart...

I came across this recipe years ago from the Dairy Farmers of Washington.  It can be doubled but do not double the soda or cream of tartar.

The solid heart cookies that are a result of this cookie cutter, make a cute little companion when decorated to the larger cookie.  You can wrap these up as a set in a cute goodie bag or just display on your cookie plate.  I make a simple icing with powdered sugar and milk, tint with red and green food color and put in a decorator tube to decorate.

I hope you enjoy this recipe.  And, I'd love to hear from you if you make this recipe!

Before I sign off, I wanted to share with you one more Valentine themed idea; a felt shaped heart ornament...

To make one of the above you will need:
1.  Red felt
2.  Stuffing
3.  White crochet thread
4.  White embroidery floss (or substitute similar thread)
5.  Sharp needle/crochet hook/ beads are optional

I found the pattern for this lovely little crocheted heart at Teresa's blog.  She was gracious to share such a beautiful pattern on her website.  For the felt heart, I just cut out the heart shape free hand and stitched the crocheted heart to one side of the felt heart.  I did a blanket stitch around the outer edge and filled with stuffing (before sewing up the outside).  You can add beads or other embellishments as you wish.  It took me about 45 minutes to make one of these.

To all my dear friends and readers, I hope you have a lovely Valentine's Day.  As for me and my beloved husband, we will be staying home that day.  We'll probably celebrate the day before as I dislike the crowds and hiked up restaurant prices that occur on this holiday.

Hugs,

Pat

Egyptian Sugar Cookies for Christmas

I wish I could write like I think.  There's lots of blogs that I read and I love the way they are written.  But when it comes time for me to write, it all jumbled.  So, here's what I'm trying to say.....It's almost here....the house is decorated (the trees have been up since November 30th), the cards have been sent, the packages are wrapped and the Christmas baking is done.  I love this time of year and have always looked forward to preparing for the holidays.  In years past, I use to spend hours going through recipe books and seeing what Christmas cookies I would make.  Now, since I've grown older, I have also gotten slower with lots of things.  The problem is I'm a perfectionist and like to do things in a timely manner.....but after all these years I sometimes feel like a clock that been wound too tight.  I have to let go and just take things easy.  It isn't easy to change....I was knitting the other night and found I made a mistake..I unraveled 20 rows to fix it!

Isn't is funny how roles in life can be reversed?  I remember going to my dear parents home with my children and how much fun they used to have at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  My Dad would be watching his favorite TV show and my Mom would be in her house clothes with her slippers on puttering around in her kitchen.  Now it's my daughter who brings my little grandson to our home.  And I feel and act exactly like my Mom and my dear husband is watching his favorite TV show (stock market channel or FOX news!)

 We went to Oliver's Christmas play this past week and he was the angel Gabriel.  He did a great job.  Here's Oliver's pictures from his Christmas program at his school.  He was four years old in the photo on the left and this year's photo is on the right....quite a difference!

This year we ordered a Christmas hamper from Fortnum and Mason.  I absolutely love that store!  I ordered some other items too since the 30 pounds sterling shipping is a bit much....

We're a small family and I know Christmas isn't about gifts, but I feel for my children since they no longer have grandparents.  I come from a small family and Fouad's family is back east, so I try to make this time of year enjoyable for my family.

(my tree looks so bare....Lilly my cat loves to play with the decorations and she knocks them off!)

But, this is the most precious gift we have from this blessed nativity season....

I will leave you with another cookie recipe.  This is a popular cookie in Egypt and all the middle east to serve during the Christmas or Easter holiday.  The original version uses clarified butter which you whip and then add the ingredients.  This particular recipe is from my good friend Nadia.  It's easy to make the comes out great.

Recipe for "Ghorayebeh" or Sugar Cookies
1 cup Crisco (vegetable shortening)
1 cup powdered sugar
1 3/4 cup to 2 cup flour
1 T orange blossom water (or use you can vanilla if you wish)

Mix shortening with sugar and orange blossom water.  Add in flour (add 1 3/4 cups first and save 1/4 cup if needed) and blend until mixture holds together (if dough is a bit dry, you can add a little bit of water).  Take a piece of dough and knead it in your hand and then roll into a rope shape.  Cut and form into "S" shape on ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes until slightly golden.  Let sit on cookie sheet for one minute before placing on cooling rack.

Shape cookies into "S" shape and place on ungreased cookie sheet

Enjoy!

 I wish each of you a blessed Christmas holiday.  I'd love to hear from you.  Please take a minute to comment if you wish.  I hope to write again before the New Year.

Merry Christmas,

Pat

Danish Pebernodder - Peppernuts

I'm back again with another Christmas cookie recipe.  This time we are going to Denmark to make one of my family's favorite traditional treats.....

My Grandma Jorgensen was an excellent cook and baker.  She came to America as a new bride when she was 19 years old.  She and my Grandfather settled in Ellensburg, Washington, a farming community that had lots of Danes back then.  Grandma made these pebernodder every year for Christmas.  When she passed away in 1992 I had gathered most of her recipes but this recipe was not included.  It took me a few years of experimenting with different doughs.  This recipe comes the closet to Grandma's recipe.

This dough needs to be mixed and let sit overnight in a cool place.  Don't worry about letting the dough sit at room temperature as there are no eggs in the dough.  The dough will be stiff but it will easily roll out to be cut into small pieces.  So without further delay, here it the recipe.....

3/4 cup dark karo syrup
1/4 molasses
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cardamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves (I left this spice out since I don't like cloves...)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon mace
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
3 1/2 cups flour

In small saucepan, mix karo syrup, molasses, butter and sugar.  Bring to a boil, stirring, over medium heat.  Remove from heat and let cool.

Mix all spices and baking powder together in a small bowl.  In large bowl, place flour and mix in spice mixture until well blended.  Gradually pour in warm syrup mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until blended.  Be careful as the dough may be a bit warm.  Dough should mix up and form a ball but not be too sticky.  Gather dough in ball and place in tightly covered container and let sit on the counter overnight.

Take a piece of dough and roll into a rope shape....

Roll the ropes in flour....

Cut ropes into small pieces.....

Places pieces of peppernuts on a greased cookie sheet...don't let them touch each other.....

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 15 to 17 minutes until lightly browned...

Remove from cookie sheet and place on a brown paper bag to cool...

There you go - you will now have a large container of Danish pebernodder. But, I must caution you...this cookie is rather hard.  Place one in your mouth and savor the flavor for a minute before you bit into it.  

I wish you each a blessed holiday season.  If you like reading this post, you can sign up to receive updates from my blog.  Just fill in your e-mail address at the right or follow via Bloglovin!

Wish you the very best during this magical time of year,

Pat

Pat's Christmas Shortbread Cookies

I'm writing today from glorious, sunny, rain drenched southern California.  Yes!  We received our long awaited rain and we had two days of it.  But, sadly some areas in our state suffered horrribly with flooding and landslides.  I feel so so bad for those people.  The sun is shining today and Lilly is so happy to be out and about in the back yard (really no yard since the pool takes up all the space) since she was cooped inside for two days without any gecko hunting!!

I think the Christmas baking bug has hit me and I'm on a roll!  Did you enjoy reading about the recipe for Egyptian  fayesh (tea rusks)?  I love baking my Christmas cookies and each year I make a list and ponder which ones I should make.  There's always favorites like my Danish kleiner which my children love and I always make some Egyptian cookies too.

Here's my easy recipe for shortbread.  You will need the following:

1 cup unsalted butter (slightly room temperature for easy mixing)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla powder (or you can use vanilla essence)
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cornstarch

In a mixing bowl, blend butter with a fork or pastry cutter until softened.  Add in sugar and mix until well blended.  Add in flour and vanilla powder.  At this point I use my hand to mix in all the flour.  Then add the cornstarch.  Blend well (dough should not be sticky but should be soft).

Roll dough out on floured surface about 1/4" thick.  Cut with cookie cutter of your choice and place on ungreased baking sheet.  Prick surface of cookies with fork for a fun design.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes or until edges become slightly golden brown.  Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on wire rack before packaging.

 

 Here they are cooling...

And here they are all tucked away safely until the holidays arrive!

I have really enjoyed my watercolor hobby that I even incorporated it into my cookie baking.  Here's a photo of some cookie tin labels I made for my holiday baking:

As you can see, there's still a few cookies left to be made......(stay tuned for next week's Danish pebernodder "peppernuts" recipe)

I hope you enjoy this recipe.  The dough is so easy to work with that it's always a pleasure making these cookies.  I'd love to hear how your holiday baking is getting along.  Feel free to comment!

Many thanks,

Pat

And...don't forget to stop by Handmade Harbour to see some great crafty ideas!

Johanne's Meringues (gluten free)

My daughter, Heidi, hosted a party this week and I made some goodies for the refreshments. I made green tea (matcha) cookies that required 3 egg yolks.  So, I had 3 egg whites left over and because I hate to throw anything away, I decided to make Johanne's meringues.

Johanne was my great aunt.  She immigrated from Denmark to America during around 1919.  She originally came to Ellensburg, Washington where her sister (my grandma) was living.  But since Ellensburg was a small farming community, Johanne wanted a big city.  So, she settled in Seattle.  She used to come and visit us for the Easter holidays and she was always so elegant in her style.  She was a private chef for the old establishment of Seattle.  This was way before the fad of being a chef.  She cooked for private parties where the dress code was the proper black and white.  She knew all the protocol of hosting a party.  When she passed away, I received her cookbooks which I treasure.  She shared her recipe for merginues with me years and years ago.  It's gluten free for those of you who would like to try it.

You will need:
3 egg whites (preferably room temperature)
1 teaspoon water
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla (if you use white vanilla or vanilla powder it will keep the meringues white)
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup sugar

In small mixing bowl (with beater attachment), place egg whites and all ingredients EXCEPT sugar.  Beat at medium speed until frothy and medium soft peaks appear.  With mixer running, gradually add sugar a tablespoon at a time.  Continue to mix at high speed until very stiff peaks appear.  You need to be sure that the egg whites will stand up at this point on their own or else they will not bake properly.

Now for the fun part.  You will need a piping bag and a piping bag tip.  This is a reusable piping bag but you can buy disposable piping bags at your local craft store.

I used a closed star number 8 tip:

 (these tips are from my Aunt Johanne - can you imagine all the wonderful goodies they made all these years!) Place piping tip in piping bag and fill bag with meringue mixture. 

Take a baking sheet and cover it with parchment paper.  Pipe meringues directly on the parchment paper and bake in a 250 degree oven for 1 hour.  You can taste test one of the merginues at this point. They should be dry and only a tiny bit soft in the center.  If you wish, you can turn off the oven and open the door and have them sit there a few minutes so that they will continue to dry out.

Let them cool completely before serving.  I sprinkled some fairy dust on half of them and some cocoa powder on the other half...

Here's what left from the party.....I store them in an airtight cookie tin......

I hope you enjoyed this little bit of baking history.  They are so easy to make and they look so pretty on a cookie try.

If you're new to reading this blogpost, I want to welcome you and say "hello".  I love making new friends via Lilly My Cat.

Until next time, have a wonderful day,
Pat

*Please remember to visit my friends over at Handmade Harbour.