What will you eat on Christmas Eve?
Total Voters: 8
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They say, one picture says more than a thousand words, so I thought my Christmas present to my readers this year would be “A Photo A Day”.
When you visit this blog you`ll see the daily picture posts in a box on the right side.
Enjoy and happy December everyone!
Look at this wonderful gingerbread town! Wouldn`t it be just the perfect centerpiece on the Christmas table?
Here is the recipe to delicious tasting gingerbread cookies. You can create your own town or regular gingerbread men, hearts to hang in the window, stars or other creative shapes.
Put some Christmas music on and combined with the smell of melting sugar, cinnamon and cloves you`ll get into the spirit of the season in no time.
What you need:
* 250 g sugar
* 2 dl light syrup
* 1 tbsp cinnamon
* 1/2 tbsp ground ginger
* 1/4 tbsp ground cloves
* 250 g butter
* 1 tbsp baking soda
* 2 eggs
* 800 g flour
What you do:
Have sugar and syrup in a small pan and heat up while stirring. Ad cinnamon, cloves and ginger – stirring all the time.
Ad the baking soda.
Have the butter in a separate bowl and pour the hot syrup mix over the butter. Stir, stir, stir till the butter is melted and the batter is cold. Whisk the eggs together and mix the batter. Now you ad the flour a little at a time till you reach the wished for consistency of the dough. You might end up using less flour than I have put in this recipe. Let the dough rest in the fridge for some hours – preferably over night.
Preheat the oven to 180°c /350°F.
Take the dough out of the fridge and on to a table covered with a little flour (so it doesn`t stick onto the table). Roll out and cut into desire shapes.
Bake in oven for about 10-15 minutes depending on the sizes of the shapes. Watch them closely towards the end!
Let the cookies rest on the baking tray for a couple of minutes before removing.
Repeat this task when the cookie jar is empty or wait till next Christmas. 
Happy holidays!
Throwing a New Years Eve dinner party is your chance to really go over the top with decorations.
Play with it and have fun – maybe think of a theme or subject your guests will appreciate.
I would advice you to stick to a three color palette and then I think you can add almost object.
More colors are usually more confusing to the eye than more shapes.
Other than that: no rules!
I have browsed the net for inspiration on how to decorate my own table for the last day of the year and these favorites I would like to share with you (click on images for larger view):
 Candles always sets the mood.Bring out the good napkins and old silver wear. |
 Scandinavian style – mix and match in snowy white and lot`s of candles.
Don`t forget to set the clock! |
 Dinner for two?Why not go with a rustic but elegant look? |
 Feeling shy? Hide behind a masque but let it drop at midnight.
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 Go graphical. Numbers, symbols and letters help you count down to a new year.
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 More is more!
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| Other ideas: |
 Cut out stripes of metallic paper and wrap around candle holders.
|
 Will there be kids at your party?
Prepare these festive hats for them or let them create their own during the party. |
 Twist metallic or colorful pipe cleaners into letters or numbers to make unforgettable napkin rings.
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Image sources: www.bruinbetas.com, www.thesweetestoccasion.com, www.marthastewart.com, www.wayfair.com, www.womansday.com, www.pinterest.com
Saint Lucia’s Day is the Church feast day dedicated to Saint Lucy and is observed on the 13th of December.
Its modern day celebration is generally associated with Sweden and Norway but is also observed in Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Finland, Hungary, Malta, Bosnia, Bavaria, Croatia, Slovakia, Spain and St. Lucia, West Indies.
In the United States it is celebrated with cookies on the mantel in states for a large number of people of Scandinavian ancestry, often centered around church events.
* 100 g butter
* 1 g saffron
* 5 dl milk
* 50 g yeast
* 250 g quark (Kvark, Kesella, cream cheese)
* 2,25 dl granulated sugar
* 1 tsp. cardamom
* 0,5 tsp. salt
* 1,5 l flour
What you do:
Melt the butter in a saucepan along with the saffron.
Pour in the milk and heat until it is lukewarm.
Crumble the yeast into a bowl and stir in a little of the milk mixture.
Add the rest of the milk mixture, quark, sugar, cardamom, salt and most of the flour.
Work the dough until it becomes shiny, smooth and let`s go the edge of the bowl.
Let your saffrons dough rise with a kitchen towel for 30 minutes.
Pour the dough on a lightly floured surface.
Knead until smooth and divide into two parts.
Roll them into lengths that are cut in 20 bits each.
Roll each piece of dough to a thin roll and shape the buns (see picture).
Place the buns on a baking tray and press the raisins deep into the buns.
Leave to rise for another 30-40 minutes in the towel.
Preheat oven to 225° C.
Brush the buns with egg.
Bake the buns in the middle of the oven for 6-8 minutes until golden brown.
Let cool under a towel.
Done! Now you can enjoy Lussekatter.
