Holiday recipes from May’s Kitchen

By May Esther, Semiahmoo resident and host of Finnish cooking show, May’s Kitchen

During holiday parties, I like to serve warm glogg, open-face smoked salmon sandwiches and prune pastries – all of which are an easy way to entertain in true, traditional Scandinavian fashion. Every kitchen in Finland has a warm simmering pot of glogg on the stove during the Christmas season; the aroma of sweet cloves and cinnamon lingers in the air. Here’s how to make these recipes at home:

Glogg:

1 bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon

1/2 cup water

3 oz. white sugar

15 whole cloves (wrap in a cheese cloth and tie with kitchen twine)

1 cinnamon stick

Raisins and sliced almonds for serving

Heat wine in a pot until just below the simmer point. Add water, sugar, cloves and the cinnamon stick. Cover pot with a lid. Keep on low heat for approximately 15 minutes. Do not let boil. Strain.

Put 1/2 tsp. raisins and sliced almonds in mug and pour over.

Open-face smoked salmon sandwich:

Thin rye bread slices

Smoked salmon, sliced thin

Cream cheese

Butter

Capers

Fresh dill

Butter bread, top with cream cheese and sliced salmon. Add capers and fresh dill.

Christmas prune tarts:

2 puff pastry sheets

Prune jam:

8 oz. pitted prunes

1/3 cup sugar

1 cinnamon stick

Water

Place the prunes, sugar and cinnamon stick in sauce pan and cover prunes with water. Let simmer for 15–20 minutes until the water has evaporated and prunes are completely softened. Remove the cinnamon stick. Mash the prunes with a fork. Let cool.

Thaw the pastry sheet according to the instructions on the package. Divide each pastry sheet into 9 even size squares. Make diagonal cuts in each corner of every square about halfway to the center, leaving the middle of the square uncut for the jam. Place a teaspoon of jam in the center of each square.

To make a windmill shape, lift every second corner of a square and fold into the middle on top of the jam.

Set oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for 15 minutes or until the corners appear golden brown.

Sprinkle some powdered sugar on top and serve warm or cold.