Mittens: They're not just for hands anymore

These have changed my life.  I'm not joking not one little bit.

Originally intended as a gift, I freaked out at the last minute and decided they weren't right for the intended recipient. But they were right for me.

Pattern: Lulu Leggings, by Rachel Russ for Spud & Chloe

Yarn: Various fingering weights from my stash

Needles: US1/2.25mm and US3/3.25mm

Started: September 19

Finished: December 3

I honestly wasn't trying to be selfish when I settled in these for a Christmas gift, I was feeling inspired.  But sometimes it happens that I'll decide on a project for a friend, and then sometime later, usually right before I finish it, I realize that it's much more suited to my taste than to theirs (no worries, I made her something else and she loves it).  And so it went with these.

I fell for this pattern as soon as I saw it, even making a lunch hour run up to Purl  one day to purchase it.  I used almost all yarns from my stash, but I did buy a skein of Spud and Chloe Fine in Cricket.  One of the yarns that I used, the purple, was a total pain to work with.  It's super old and kept breaking, so I'd wet splice it back together when I could.  It was also pretty rough on the hands, which detratced from the fun of making these (side note: the offending yarn was blue at one time, but was one of the skeins that I dyed with grape Kool Aid last summer).  Each legging took me a week to complete, with a 2 month break in between.

Now, how did these change my life?  Well, I'm a skirt and dress person, all year long. Usually I get by with tights and my long down coat, but still, when it's 20F outside, the wind is whipping about and I'm running errands (remember NYC means no car for me), it can get cold.  But with these on, I don't feel a thing.  They are like mittens for my legs, only better, if you can imagine.  Trends come and go, but I am a leg warmer convert.  They just make sense!

(See the rabbit ear in the background?  That's right, no cable TV for me!)

Some of the gifts I made for friends last year actually were delivered to their intended recipients, like these:

Not soup crackers, but rather Pepparkakor, or Swedish ginger cookies.  I made them for Niclas, a Swede who married my friend Beth last summer and, since they live in Brooklyn now, spent the holidays away from home. I'd been reading a lot last year, on blogs and in magazines, about Swedish Christmas baking, and since I know what it's like to be away from one's family at the holidays, I thought he could use a little taste of home.  When I decided on these, I knew that I had a cookie cutter stashed away, and was pretty sure that it was of the Christmas variety.  Wrong.  My best guess as to how I ended up with a duck is that I made sugar cookies one Easter, but honestly, I have no recollection of doing so. 

These are a bit time consuming, as each batch must be returned to the refrigerator for a few minutes after rolling and cutting but baking, but they're worth it.  Simple and delicious on their own or with tea, they're also very nice with ice cream (but really, what isn't).

Here's the recipe (adapted from Saveur magazine):

Pepparkakor

3 ¾ C flour

3 t ground cloves

3 ½ t ground cinnamon

2 ½ t ground ginger

1 ¼ t baking soda

11 T unsalted butter, softened


1 C packed dark brown sugar


½ C golden syrup or dark corn syrup

½ C heavy cream

2 C confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 t fresh lemon juice

1 egg white, lightly beaten

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and baking soda; set aside. In another large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and golden/corn syrup using a handheld mixer set to medium speed until the mixture is pale and fluffy, 1–2 minutes. Add the reserved spice mixture and the heavy cream in 3 alternating batches, beginning and ending with the spice mixture, until the dough just combines. Transfer dough to a work surface, divide in half, and shape each half into a flat disk. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap; refrigerate for 1 hour.

 Heat oven to 350°. Unwrap 1 disk of dough and place on a floured work surface. Using a rolling pin, roll dough to a 1⁄8" thickness. Cut out cookies using the cookie cutters of your choice and place cookies 2" apart on parchment paper–lined baking sheets. Repeat with remaining dough, rerolling scraps. Refrigerate for at least 20 minutes. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until browned and set, about 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.

To make an icing, if you like, whisk confectioners' sugar, lemon juice, and egg white in a medium bowl until smooth. Transfer icing to a resealable plastic bag (or a pastry bag). Snip off a bottom corner of the bag and pipe icing onto cookies in a decorative pattern.

MAKES ABOUT 48 COOKIES

Note: I was able to make approx. 72 cookies from this batch, and the dough freezes very well so you needn;t use it all at once. Also, I didn’t have parchment, and had no problems removing the cookies from the trays, so I think you can safely skip it. Lastly, when a recipe calls for ground clove, buy ground clove.  Trying to grind whole cloves into powder fine enough for cookie dough may well drive you to drink (in which case, you should invite me over).

Let Them Eat Cake

I love an excuse to bake. Any excuse will do, but a good excuse is the best. And when the planets align to create the perfect excuse, well, I'm over the moon.

A couple of years ago I started watching a cooking show called New Scandinavian Cooking, which featured a perky and able cook, Tina Nordstrom, who prepared meals in her portable out-of-doors kitchen every week in a different region of Sweden. On the very first episode I saw, she was preparing a meal for a Swedish midsummer celebration, and while the entire meal looked delicious, what really struck me was the dessert. It was a sponge cake, layered with strawberries and covered in whipped cream, and looked to be so light and delicious! I have been obsessing over that cake ever since, but had yet to find the right occasion for which to make it. Until this weekend.

An old and dear friend was in town for the week on his way to visit other old and dear friends in The Netherlands, and I decided to invite a few folks over for a little BBQ get-together in my backyard. On the top of the guest list was my friend Beth, who is soon to marry Niclas, who is Swedish (see where this is going?). The cake was the one and only thing I was certain I would serve.

I was a little nervous, as I'd never made a sponge cake before (traditional American butter cakes are my forte), and had no reliable go-to recipe, so I started researching. My investigation taught me that there are two basic kinds of sponge cakes: American and the somewhat drier European. As this was to be a Swedish cake, I opted for the European version, and followed the recipe in The Simple Art of Perfect Baking. For the remainder of the recipe, I followed Tina's instructions, to, I believe, delightful effect.

The cake was crazy delicious, so refreshing and light. I followed Tina's advice and assembled the cake day before the BBQ, so the custard and strawberries soaked in to the cake a bit, keeping it nicely moist. I whipped the cream and frosted the cake a couple of hours before company arrived, and topped with strawberries immediately before serving (to prevent the juice from the berries from bleeding onto the frosting, a creepy look, to say the least).

The cake was a hit, and I look forward to making it again. The rest of the food was also delicious. Peter made refrigerator pickles (so summery), pico de gallo and grilled scallions, Beth made a pasta salad that was tasty that night and even tastier the next day, Jeffrey brought the crowd pleasing sage sausage, and Laura, Amy and Paula came through on beverage patrol (wine spritzer, anyone?). It was a memorable Memorial Day weekend.