Almond Wreaths ‒ Mantelikranssit

Random facts about Finnish coffee culture #17: The first and the last piece of every pastry are considered important, and no one is usually willing to take them without a direct encouragement by the hosting family. In case it's someone's birthday or name day, and there is a layer cake, the lucky boy or girl is expected to cut the cake and take the first piece before anyone else, and it would be considered extremely rude to queue-jump before him/her.

One more biscuit recipe! There are a few versions of the classic wreaths, like vanilla wreaths or lemon wreaths, and you could add pretty much any flavouring to their subtle delicacy. I bet lavender or meadowsweet would work here great. The most common one though is the almond version. What I love in them is how easily you can get something that looks like you've gone through a whole lot of trouble.

- 250 g margarine

- 1,5 dl icing sugar

- 3.5 dl wheat flour (or 4 dl)

- 1 dl almond flour
- 2 tbsp soy cream (or 3 tbsp)

- 1 tsp vanilla sugar
- 1 tsp baking powder

Shift the icing sugar to the same bowl with the margarine. Whip until fluffy and fair. Mix the dry ingredients and shift into the bowl. Add cream just about enough to get a sturdy mixture but the kind which is still possible to pipe. (Add more flour or cream to balance this.)

Pipe the dough into wreath shape, straight onto a baking sheet. Bake 5‒7 minutes in 225°C. Watch them very, very carefully at the end of the baking. I managed to get both burned and underdone wreaths on the same batch. If you're oven bakes a little unevenly like mine does, it may even be a good idea to turn the baking sheet around at halfway.

If you wish, you can decorate the wreaths with chocolate stripes after they've cooled down.

Nutritional values / 673 g:
energy 3224 kcal
fat 223 g
protein 48 g
carbohydrates 255 g
fiber 14 g

Cinnamon Snakes ‒ Kaneliässät

Random facts about Finnish coffee culture #16: When coffee availability was limited, coffee grounds were used at least twice. Roasteries and individual makers both created their own substitutes. Grains, acorns, peas, beans, dandelion roots and chicory were all used (and haven't been touched since). Usually a good "replacer" involved a carefully pondered mix of several of these. Salt was also a common addition because it made the coffee seem stronger.


The halfway mark of MoFo has passed! At this point I notice some tiredness again. The plans have been made and now it's just fulfilling them and my brain is already elsewhere. But there's still a lot to post: two more biscuits, a tour from Åland to Lapland

Here's the first of the two. They're called cinnamon esses in Finnish, but since that sounded odd to my ear and cinnamon biscuit sounded just dull, I thought I'd call them snakes in English. After all, the S shape is quite slithering! I imagine upper class ladies had them with coffee when coffee had just arrived. They're still one of the every standing table must haves, but if you love cinnamon as much as I do, that's definitely not a bad thing.


- 6 dl flour
- 200 g margarine
- 1.5 dl sugar
- 0.5 dl hot water
- 1 tsp baking soda

To dust:
- 1 dl sugar
- 4 tbsp cinnamon

Dissolve the sugar in water. Mix the rest of the ingredients with them. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or two. Mix the dusting ingredient on a plate.

Roll pieces of the dough into bars. (If necessary, use some four to help.) Roll the bars in the cinnamon and sugar dust. Arrange into S shape on a baking sheet. Bake about 14 minutes on the upper shelve of a 175°C oven.

Nutritional values / 842 g:
energy 3327 kcal
fat 149 g
protein 52 g
carbohydrates 443 g
fiber 20 g

Aunt Hanna's Cakes ‒ Hanna-tädin kakut

Random facts about Finnish coffee culture #15: Many Finns love to dip pulla and other pastries in the coffee. This procedure softens up biscuits, rusks and dried pullas, but it's also done with fresh pulla. Laplanders may even do this with salty snacks to soften up for example dried meat and on the other hand, to get a drop of salt in the coffee.

These baking experiments tend to make my jaw drop. How can you achieve so different structures with almost identical ingredients and procedures? Aunt  Hanna for example presents us this biscuit-like little cake that is soft, crumbly and airy all at the same time.

This looks like an easy recipe, and in a way it is. But you can end up with aunt Hanna's biscuits if you stray too much from the instructions. Sometimes this is only evident the day after, which of course shouldn't worry you if you plan to eat them right from the oven. Traditionally this has been a way of using a cream gone sour, so you have a few options. The easiest one is to use 2 tsp baking powder instead of the soda. You could also just leave the cream on the table for a few days. I this version I have added vinegar to get the soda work.

- 5 dl wheat flour
- 3 dl potato starch- 3 dl sugar
- 150 g margarine
- 1.5 dl soy cream
- 1 tbsp aplle wine vinegar
- 1 tsp baking soda

Melt the margarine and mix all the ingredients. Refridgerate for half an hour. Gather up all your patience and form into small balls between your hands. (This isn't kosher, but I keep applying flour to my hands while I do this.)

Place sparsely on a baking sheet, since they swallow a whole lot. Bake 8‒10 minutes in 200°C.

Nutritional values / 1090 g:
energy 4061 kcal
fat 139 g
protein 46 g
carbohydrates 650 g
fiber 16 g