Russian Tea Cakes

These are messy, but delicious!

• 1 c butter
• 1/2 sifted powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 c flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 c finely chopped pecans
• Additional powdered sugar

Cream butter in large mixing bowl.  Gradually add 1/2 c powdered sugar, beating until light and fluffy.  Stir in vanilla.  Combine flour, salt and pecans in another bowl.  Gradually add to creamed mixture, blending well.  Chill until firm.  Shape dough into 1" balls and place about 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Roll in additional powdered sugar while still warm.  Cool on wire racks and roll again in powdered sugar.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

Green Bean Casserole

This is the classic casserole that many people make at holiday times.  Although many people make this with frozen or fresh cut green beans, my family prefers the french cut green beans for this dish.  In fact, this is about the only way I can get my husband to eat green beans.  This is the amount for a single recipe.  For a larger crowd I would double or triple the recipe.

• 1 can French-cut green beans, drained
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 can French Fried onions

Layer 1/2 of the green beans on the bottom of a 1-qt casserole dish.  Spread 1/2 of the cream of mushroom soup on top.  Sprinkle 1/2 of the onions on top.  Repeat layers. (If you were making a double batch you would put the whole can of beans on the bottom of a 2-qt casserole, and so on.)  Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes, or until casserole is bubbling and it looks done.  Enjoy!

Gumdrop Cookies

I think the original name for these cookies is "Jewel Top Jumbles".  I'm not sure where it came from originally, but this is one of those cookies that we make every year at Christmas time.

• 1 c butter, softened
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 3/4 c flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 c miniature gumdrops, halved

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease a cookie sheet.  In a large bowl, combine butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs; blend thorougly.  Sift together flour, baking soda and salt and stir into butter & sugar mixture.  Mix in gumdrops.  Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls about 2" apart on prepared cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown.

Pistachio Pudding Salad

This has been one of my favorite fruit salads since I was little. 

• 1 (3 oz) pkg pistachio pudding mix (Don't prepare the pudding - just the mix.)
• 1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip
• 1 (20 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 1 c mini marshmallows
• 1/2 c chopped nuts (optional)
• 1/2 c chopped maraschino cherries
• a few cherries cut in half to garnish the top of the salad (optional)

Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl.  Chill at least 2 hours before serving to let the flavors blend.

Serving suggestion: Arrange cherry halves in the bottom of a jello mold, then place the salad mixture on top.  Chill, unmold to serve.

Swedish Apricot Nut Bread

This is my mom’s recipe.  She has made it for several family holiday gatherings.

• 1 c dried apricots
• 1/2 to 1 c brandy
• 1 c sugar
• 2 Tbsp softened butter
• 1 egg, slightly beaten
• 3/4 c chopped walnuts
• Grated rind of 1 lemon (Make sure you only grate the rind/zest and not the white part.  The white part is very bitter.)
• 1/2 c orange juice
• 2 c flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

Soak apricots in brandy to cover for 2-3 hours.  Drain, reserving 1/4 c brandy and cut each apricot into 6 small pieces.  Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  Add egg and lemon rind and beat until mixture is smooth and well-blended.  Add reserved 1/4 c brandy and orange juice.  Sift flour with baking powder and salt.  Resift into batter gradually, stirring between additions.  Fold in nuts and cut-up apricots.  Butter an 8″ loaf pan, line with buttered brown paper (or parchment paper) and pour in batter.  Let stand 20 minutes.  Bake in prehated 350-degree oven for 1 hour or until top is golden brown.  Turn out of pan while hot, peel off paper and cool on a wire rack.  Let mellow 24 hours before cutting.

Norwegian Christmas Salad

One year my mom and aunts had a bright idea to figure out all of the many nationalities of them and their spouses, and have at least one food from each of the countries for our Christmas meal.  This is one of the Norwegian salads we found.  It’s yummy!

• 1 pkg lime Jell-o
• 1 c hot water
• 1 c crushed pineapple (drained)
• 1 c walnut meats
• 1 (3 oz) pkg cream cheese
• 1/2 to 3/4 c maraschino cherries, chopped
• 1 c whipped cream

Dissolve cream cheese with Jell-o and hot water.  Beat until creamy.  Let stand until it begins to thicken.  Then whip well.  Add whipped cream, cherries, pineapple, and nuts.  It will look kind of runny at this point.  Refrigerate until set.  This can be made the day before serving.

Quick Cranberry Salad

In our family we call this salad “Cranberry Fluff”.  I’m not a big fan of cranberries, but I love this salad.  In fact, for many years this is the only way my mom could get me to eat cranberries.

• 3 c whole fresh or frozen cranberries (fresh chops up better)
• 2 1/3 c miniature marshmallows
• 1/2 c chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans work best, but we've also used sunflower nuts)
• 1 (8 oz) can crushed pineapple, drained
• 8 oz Cool Whip (the Extra Creamy variety is best)

Put cranberries through food chopper, using coarse grind.  Chill 2 hours.  Add marshmallows, pineapple and nuts.  Fold Cool Whip into the cranberry mixture.  Spoon into bowl, cover and refrigerate or freeze in 8″ square baking pan or a jello mold.

Lefse

My Sister-in-law Melinda and Cousin Heidi making lefse in 2007

One tradition we have in my mom’s family around the holidays is making lefse.  For those that aren’t familiar with this delicious Scandinavian tradition, lefse (pronounced LEF-sa) is similar to a tortilla made with potatoes. 

My great-aunt Lois used to make this for the whole family every Thanksgiving and Christmas.  She helped me earn one of my badges in girl scouts by teaching me how to make lefse when she stayed at our house one Christmas Eve.  Unfortunately, Lois passed away before teaching anyone else, so I inherited all of her lefse supplies including her griddle.  Since then I’ve taught the rest of the family, so we’ve made a new tradition of making lefse together every year. 

This is the recipe that came with the lefse griddle.  I’ve updated and simplified the directions somewhat.  The amounts listed are for a double batch.  When we make this for the whole family we normally make 4 double batches so there is enough to enjoy during the family gathering plus enough for each family to take some home.

• 2 cups water
• 1/2 cup (1 whole stick) butter
• 2 cups milk
• 6 cups Hungry Jack potato flakes (the ones in the red box)
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 c flour

Heat water in the microwave until boiling (usually takes about 8-10 minutes on high).  Meanwhile, combine potato flakes and salt in a very large bowl.  (I use the HUGE Tupperware mixing bowl for this ~ I believe it’s called the Thatsa Bowl or something like that.)  When the water is boiling add the butter to the water and stir until butter is melted.  Add milk to water & butter.  Add to potato flakes & salt in the huge bowl.  Stir until somewhat combined.  Work in the flour with your hands.  When flour is worked in shape into balls.  Some people like to make larger dough balls that take up the whole lefse griddles.  We prefer to make dough balls slightly larger than golf balls so the lefse is a good appetizer size.  Cool dough in refrigerator. (If you have more than one layer of dough balls put a slightly damp paper towel between the layers so it doesn’t dry out.) 

When it’s cooled roll out dough slightly thicker than pie crust on a well-floured pastry board.  Use a lefse spatula to lift the dough off the pastry board and onto a lefse griddle preheated to 500 degrees.  Cook on each side a couple minutes.  Cool on a plate and dust off flour.  Put in a cake taker and freeze until ready to serve - be sure to put a damp paper towel on the stack in the cake taker after every 4 pieces.  Thaw in refrigerator for at least 24 hours before serving.

Notes:

• Don’t use any other brand of potato flakes.  They don’t turn out as well or taste quite as good in the lefse.
• Many people serve lefse with butter and white sugar, but we discovered that it tastes better with butter and brown sugar instead.  This is also great to make a wrap sandwich instead of using a tortilla.  Yes, many Scandinavians eat lefse with lutefisk, but that’s another story. lol
• Make sure to use plenty of flour when you’re rolling out the dough.  It tends to stick to the rolling pin and/or pastry board if you don’t use enough flour.
• I inherited my lefse griddle, but you can buy them at most hardware stores and at Target.  I don’t know if they have the accessories like the lefse spatulas (the long turning sticks), but I recently found a couple websites that have them.  One that looks like they have most of the accessories you’d need as well as several choices of griddles at reasonable prices is www.lefsetime.com.