Christmas Baking

Poor blog, I've been neglectful again. Perhaps these delicious treats will make up for my absence.


I've been making these for the past couple of days. They are called Karjalan Piirakkat, they are Finnish Karelian Potato Pies and are oh so delicious! I managed to find a gluten free recipe and I can't believe how much they taste like the original. The different flours were a bit annoying to find but it was well worth the effort. Normally a rice mixture is put into it like in the linked recipe but I prefer to put in potato mash, that's how my mother's family has always made it, I think it's more Karelian or something? I also didn't bother glazing it, there's really no need and I cooked it for 25 minutes so it's more brown on top.


Then this morning I made Pannukakku (Finnish Oven Pancake)! It's a bit like a pancake you make in the oven but it's not very solid, it has a bit of a custardy texture to it. I substituted the flour for plain gluten free flour and put in rice milk rather than regular milk. My pannukakku didn't come out as nice as it should. It was a bit too soft, I think there was too much butter in the recipe. When I make it again I'll halve the butter (dairy free) and maybe put in a touch more flour. I topped mine off with Finnish style Strawberry Jam. It's very syrupy in texture but oh so delicious! Took me about 2 and a half hours to make though. Can't wait to try it on regular pancakes too.

I still intend to make some Gingerbread cookies and Cinnamon Rolls (finnish style). In case you're wondering why all the Finnish food, my mom is from there and I adore the food. Piirakka isn't a Christmas food but we always make it for Christmas. It's a little time consuming to make so we only have it once or twice a year. And the pannukakku, it's a regular dish, you can make it sweet or savoury with toppings and can be had any time you want a light snack. And I'm making everything gluten and dairy free because I have Crohn's Disease and doing this type of diet helps with the symptoms.