Hearthside Holiday Blog

This is a recipe to make either the night before the Winter Solstice or Christmas Eve night. Make sure you leave out a portion for the Tomte (house spirit).  Ingredients: - ¾ cup, plus 1 tablespoon white rice - 5½ cups high fat milk or cream (you can sub coconut milk for dairy free) - 1 tbsp vanilla  - 1/4 cup white sugar topping: - unsalted butter (if you are dairy free leave this out and just top with a bit more coconut milk) - ground cinnamon Directions: 1. Warm the milk in a saucepan with the vanilla and sugar. When it is warm to the touch, remove it from the heat.  2. Place the rice in a heavy-bottomed pot on the stove over medium-high heat. Take about 1 cup of milk at a time and pour over the rice, and stir it until it is absorbed. Continue to add another cup of milk until almost all the milk has been absorbed into the rice and the consistency is creamy and thick, but not too thick. 3. Remove from the stove. Serve immediately in bowls. It is traditional to top each ...

We had quite a dump of snow this weekend and I have been having some interesting dreams. This one is definitely heavy on the UPG, but also is the reason for me starting this Holiday Traditions blog. I was dreaming last night that I was collecting Yuletide recipes and associating foods with different deities. I don't remember most of it but I remember that the one for Holda was Snowflake Cookies. This is a recipe that my mother-in-law makes each year during this season. It is a chocolate cookie with a powdered sugar exterior. Chocolate Snowflake Cookies Ingredients 1 cup/250 mL flour 1 teaspoon/5 mL baking powder 1/4 teaspoon/1 mL salt 5 tablespoons/75  mL unsalted butter 6 tablespoons/90 mL cacao 1 cup/250 mL granulated sugar 1 teaspoon/5 mL vanilla 2 large eggs 1/2 cup/125 mL powdered sugar Directions 1. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. 2. Melt butter over low heat and then mix in the cacao. Blend well. 3. Remove from heat and stir in granulated sugar....