Make Holiday Treats - Countdown to Christmas - Day 10

Today we made Lucia buns for St. Lucia Day. Although the holiday is actually on December 13th, the girls are singing at the St. Lucia service at church tomorrow (December 11th). So, we celebrate the holiday on the same day that the girls sing and the church holds the annual celebration.

Lucia buns that Sophia and Olivia made.

Many years ago, I was given a cookbook that was published by a local Lutheran church. For the first 25 pages in the cookbook, all of the recipes are traditional Swedish ones.

One of recipes that I picked out when we first celebrated the holiday (when the girls were 5 and 7 years old) was for Lucia buns. It seemed like a relatively "safe" food that they would enjoy...and they did.

Every year since I first made them, they look forward to making and eating them in December. We make the recipe with cardamom and a few drops of yellow food coloring rather than the saffron (which is a bit on the expensive side).

Creating the shape for the Lucia buns

by using two "ropes" of dough and

twisting the ends of the dough into swirls.

Once the dough is made and rises, it is punched down and the buns can be made. Each one is made from two "ropes" of dough. The ends are rolled in towards the middle, with the swirl going in the same direction for each point.

Some of the rolls have raisins pressed into their points, while others (at the request of both of the girls) do not.

Tomorrow we'll enjoy a roll for breakfast....although someone (whose name begins with an "S" and ends with an "a" and it's not "Santa") chose to have one of them for her dinner since she wasn't too hungry tonight.

I think she was just trying to see if they turned out okay. She said they did...and there were nine left so not to worry...there are plenty for breakfast in the morning. That's unless either of the girls sleepwalk and make their way to the kitchen for a night-time snack.

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We also finished making the peppermint shortbread cookies. The recipe for the cookies was given to me by a friend several years ago. Each year since trying the cookies at her home, we've been making them - but adapting the recipe so the cookies are dairy-free.

Sophia's cookies.

The cookies taste like plain shortbread. The frosting is made from powdered sugar, dairy-free milk, and peppermint extract. 

Olivia's cookies.

The toppings are a variety of decorations: no-flavored sprinkles, peppermint-flavored sprinkled, and crushed peppermint candy canes. 

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Between making the cookies and Lucia buns, the girls had a two-hour rehearsal for an upcoming Christmas play they are in. Sophia also had a rehearsal at church for a harp duet she is doing with her teacher on December 18th. It's been a full day...and we're all needing a bit of a rest at this point.