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Gingerbread Cookies

Makes about 48 3″ cookies Any time, any place. There are no rules when it comes to cookies. In fact, when I was little my mom made gingerbread cookies so often that I didn’t realize that most people only ate them in December. We ate homemade gingerbread/vanilla ice cream sandwiches in the summer – one of my all-time favorite, cry-until-you-get-another-one, crave-it-for-the-rest-of-your-life snacks. Although gingerbread can be found all over north america and Europe, today we made them for our Estonian Global Table. Ingredients: 3 cups all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking soda 1 tsp baking powder Spices: 1 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp ground cinnamon 1 tsp ground cardamom 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1/8 tsp ground cloves 1/8 tsp black pepper a pinch salt 8 Tbsp softened butter (1 stick) 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 large egg 1/2 cup molasses 1 tsp vanilla extract Method: Get your baking shoes on. Whisk together the flour with the baking soda, baking powder, and the spices. Gosh that’s pretty. Let’s all move to gorgeous Spice Land. Whaddya think? …

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Hembesha-Inspired Sweet Loaf

Makes one 8″ round loaf My sister and I whipped up this Eritrean-inspired sweet bread and proceeded to stuff our faces with it all day long, until even the crumbs were gone. The cumin flavor is unusual, but goes perfectly with the sweet raisins. While most Hembesha are made thin and extremely ornately, my sister and I decided to make this thick, quick and dirty version so we could spend more time playing with Ava on a balmy 70F degree day in February.  And so we could have more surface area to slather the hembesha with butter. Purist or not, I hope you can understand the lure of springtime in the winter. Ingredients: 4 – 4 1/2 cups all purpose flour 2 tsp  instant dry yeast 1/4  tsp ground cardamom 1 tsp cumin 1/2 cup (1 stick) softened butter, plus extra for brushing 2/3 cup raisins 1 tsp salt 1/3 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 cup lukewarm milk Method: Grease an 8 inch springform pan. In the bowl of a standing mixer, add the flour, …

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Smoked Salmon | Smørrebrød

Makes 12 canapés Throughout Scandinavia the smørrebrød, or open faced sandwich is the pretty way to eat lunch. I’ve turned them into dainty finger food, perfect for parties. Yum! Ingredients: 12 slices of dark rye bread or pumpernickel softened butter 1 package of smoked salmon 1/2 a cucumber, halved & sliced thinly thinly sliced red onion, to taste 1 lemon a few sprigs of fresh dill Method: Slice up all your ingredients so they are ready to go. Then, lay out the bread like a little chess board. I used pumpernickel because the petite 2″x2″ size is way too cute. Next butter up the bread. This keeps the bread from getting soggy. Then, lay thinly sliced cucumber halves on top of the bread. The thinner they are, the easier they’ll lay down. Next, up? Smoked salmon (one of my favorite ingredients). Folding each piece in half makes for a pretty presentation. And then? Sliced red onion. Again, thin is the name of the game here. Just look at the vibrant colors of this smørresbrød… you are making …

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