Friday, December 23, 2016

Christmas Bake, Breakout Star: Finnish Rye Cookie

Hello everyone!

Wow. We have come upon the end of 2016 and I for one and very grateful. It has been a long, hard, trying, tiring, sad, happy, great, successful year and I am beat. On Monday, I finished my MA program through Boston University, so I am now a MASTER of something! I've always wanted to be knowledgeable in something that I would be considered a master. Check.

It has been a while since I have had any type of time to do any type of thing that I enjoy, so I am kicking off my new found freedom with a recipe!

My mom's best friend passed away a few years ago, they were friends for some 49 years! Before she passed, she sent me a bunch of old magazines filled with glorious recipes and I am sharing one of those with you today. It is from 1993, I was in third grade then...

The magazine did a few pages of 'Old-World Cookies'. The selection I made is from Finland. Supposedly, Finnish settlers brought frosted ginger cookies (thank you!), Brown-Butter Cookies (thank you!), and Rye Cookies! It is the recipe for rye cookies that will be given unto you today. These cookies call for simple ingredients and they are a cinch to make!



Rye Cookies

1/2       cup butter, room temperature

1/3       cup sugar

1          cup rye flour

1/2       cup all-purpose flour

4          teaspoons cold water

Sugar (for sprinkling)

Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl tip smooth. Add rye flour and all-purpose flour; mix till well combined. Add water, tossing mixture with a fork tip dough is moistened. (The dough is pretty dry. I did not use the fork, I just beat the heck out of the dough with the paddle attachment on my mixer, until a dough was formed.)

Cover baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease a cookie sheet.

Roll dough on a lightly floured surface to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut into 2-1/2-inch rounds. With a fork, pierce each cutout all over. With a small cookie cutter, cut a hole in the center of each cookie. Sprinkle cookie with sugar. (I used whatever cookie cutter I wanted and you should too!)

Bake in a 350ºF oven for 8 to 10 minutes or till cooked are firm and begin to brown on the edges. Carefully transfer to a are rack. Makes 30.

That's it! If you make these, let me know how they turn out. I for one am very glad I came across this recipe, this Christmas! Side note: This is a cookie that can be enjoyed all year long. It does not have to be attached to Christmas!