This year I started preparing for Christmas essentially 4 days early (if you count the gingerbread house as preparation, considering that won't be placed on the dinner table, it is merely a house decoration). I made a list of all the things that needed to be done and spread them somewhat equally to the four day period. Of course lots of small things were placed on Saturday; all the last-minute prep happens that day. Making schedules and lists tends calm my stress I guess, or maybe it's just a habit I have yet to shake from my figure skating days... Anyway, here are a few of the things I made. Well, mostly just the ones I had time to take pictures of. None of these include recipes I'm afraid.
The Gingerbread House
I came up with this simple two-room design for the house, and drew it by hand. There is a downloadable template at the end of this text, however I would not hold it to a very high standard... Firstly, the roof for the big house (BH) is a tad bit too small, i'd add 1-2cm to the length of it just to make sure it fits perfectly, even if the dough would bend a little when baking (speaking from experience). And the patio line I drew is not straight, so if you end up using this template, I'd correct that. But yeah, overall it turned out okay I guess. Attaching the pieces with heated sugar was the most difficult part and I ended up attaching the small house (SH) in a bit of an angle from the back so it does not even touch the ground... Ah well.
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| Planning... |
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| In the making |
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| It is possible to insert a fake candle from the back of the smaller house if you'd like. Or just to use the same template as the front of the house. Both work. However, if you like the candle idea (as I did) make sure to add a "door" to the big house wall where you'd attach the smaller house to. Please ignore the horribly attached wall in the picture, and the poor attempt to cover it up with frosting... |
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| I used tin-foil and a cutting board to create the tray for the house. I guess you could also make one out of gingerbread, i just found this one easier to carry around + it sort of looks like ice. Well it doesn't really but let's just all pretend it does. |
Last tips:
#1: You'll need a lot of dough. I used one and a half pack of Sunnuntai ready-made dough. One pack is about 1kg I believe.
#2: You can use candy canes to make the front-porch look cooler.
#3: Right after you've taken the pieces out of the oven, you can carefully straighten/trim the edges of each piece with a knife if you'd like. I skipped this step this year, but it does make the building of the house a lot easier.
#4: You should most definitely use heated sugar to attach the pieces together. Or edible glue. Frosting will not hold this baby together. It'll collapse. And you will cry.
#5: To save paper & ink, print each paper only once, and for the BH use the same wall template, only folding the triangle at the top to make the two other walls. Only cut the window pieces off, it is easier to create the door by free-hand.
#6: If you prefer an oversized roof, add 1-3 cm to each of the roof measurements.
#1: You'll need a lot of dough. I used one and a half pack of Sunnuntai ready-made dough. One pack is about 1kg I believe.
#2: You can use candy canes to make the front-porch look cooler.
#3: Right after you've taken the pieces out of the oven, you can carefully straighten/trim the edges of each piece with a knife if you'd like. I skipped this step this year, but it does make the building of the house a lot easier.
#4: You should most definitely use heated sugar to attach the pieces together. Or edible glue. Frosting will not hold this baby together. It'll collapse. And you will cry.
#5: To save paper & ink, print each paper only once, and for the BH use the same wall template, only folding the triangle at the top to make the two other walls. Only cut the window pieces off, it is easier to create the door by free-hand.
#6: If you prefer an oversized roof, add 1-3 cm to each of the roof measurements.
Karjalanpiirakat / Karelian pastries
Honestly if anyone knows a better/the correct translation, please let me know. This was my first attempt at these. Ever. I think they turned out okay. The preparation did not take as long as I thought it would, and they smelt amazing coming out of the oven.
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| In the making... |
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| About to throw them in the super hot oven. |
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| All done! |
Gingerbread Cookies
A classic. I think this is the most Scandinavian Christmas thing there is. I know it is a Christmas thing all around the world, however: to make your own dough and then cut & decorate the cookies with your parents/siblings is a part of a Scandinavian tradition at this point. Now, I've not had gingerbread in a lot of countries, but :Clark's Bakery, love you, but what the hell? Their gingerbread cookies literally do not taste like anything. They just look pretty. Anyway, the smell of gingerbread is one of the tree basic Christmas scents in my opinion. #1 being the smell of an actual Christmas tree, #2 being rice porridge with cinnamon and sugar.
In addition to these, I prepared a cowberry-caramel cheesecake with a gingerbread crust, a sweet potato casserole/bake (casserole is the only translation i found and it is not accurate in my opinion...), a vegetable bake, cinnamon buns etc.
Overall I enjoy spending Christmas at home. Scandinavian traditions are something I hold close to my heart, even though running off to the UK has got to be one of the best decisions of my life.
I hope you're all having a peaceful and lovely holiday season!
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| Is there anything more annoying than the black bit on the top left corner... I'm too lazy to do anything about so we are all just gonna have to suffer. |
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| Just a few cookies. They'll all be gone within a week, just a prediction. 10 points for you if you're not from Finland and recognize the pattern of the top 2 cookies. |
In addition to these, I prepared a cowberry-caramel cheesecake with a gingerbread crust, a sweet potato casserole/bake (casserole is the only translation i found and it is not accurate in my opinion...), a vegetable bake, cinnamon buns etc.
Overall I enjoy spending Christmas at home. Scandinavian traditions are something I hold close to my heart, even though running off to the UK has got to be one of the best decisions of my life.
I hope you're all having a peaceful and lovely holiday season!
