A Pleasant Afternoon

Jarkko and I went to his cousin Heini's confirmation party yesterday and I took some photos of our rather pleasant afternoon there. Jarkko has a really nice family and they, hopefully, didn't think it too strange when I took photos of the absolutely divine cookies for which I had to hunt the recipe down.

I decided to put the photos into a mock-up photo album of what I hope to have perl and mysql do for me soon but I wanted to get a feel for the presentation since I'm working in reverse. It was a good exercise as I have a much better idea of what I need to do and noticed small details from the one I am copying the layout from such as the thumbnails are carefully chosen bits from the picture instead of just a miniature version of the whole picture. I'll have to look into some of the graphics utilities to see if there is anything that will select a 50x50 chunk of a picture based on pixel variation.

Aside from its pleasantly austere display of the photos it really forces you to choose the best photos in a series and limit them to a small number since too many would ruin the effect. I really like this as I've been through far too many picture collections on the web where there is only 1 interesting photo in 25 or more which is a waste of time, especially since they are often not sized for the web.

Herewith follows the recipe for the cookies I could eat far too many of and still want more :)

Lusikkaleivät - Teaspoon cookies

Ainekset (ingredients):

• 200g Voita - 1 cup butter
• 1,5 dl Sokeria - 1 cup sugar
• 2 tl Vaniljasokeria - 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar or 3 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 tl Soodaa - 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 dl Vehnäjauhoa - 3 cups sifted white flour
• Omenasosetta - apple puree/jam
• Sokeria - granulated sugar

Ohje:

Kiehauta rasva kattilassa välillä sekoittaen. Kun vaahto alkaa laskea, kaada rasva kulhoon. Lisää sokeri ja anna seoksen jäähtyä. Sekoita jäähtynyt seos tasaiseksi. Lisää keskenään sekoitetut kuivat aineet. Painele taikinaa soikeaan, mielellään melko syvään lusikanpesään ja vedä tästä pellille leivinpaperin päälle kupera puoli ylöspäin. Paista 175°C asteen lämmössä 12-15 minuuttia. Pane vähän jäähtyneinä kaksi vastakkain ja väliin sosetta tai marmelaadia. Kierittele pikkuleivät sokerissa tai siivilöi päälle tomusokeria ennen tarjoilua.

Directions:

Brown the butter in a heavy saucepan. Cool. Stir in the sugar and vanilla and mix well. Sift the flour with the soda and slowly add to the butter mixture, mixing until a smooth dough is formed. To shape, press dough into a teaspoon and level off with a knife. Place oval flat side down onto a greased baking sheet. Bake in a slow oven at 350°F for 12-15 minutes. While they are still warm, gently roll cookies in a shallow bowl of coarse granulated sugar and/or sandwich 2 cookies together with a bit of jam.

note: I am told the jam is not often used as the cookies are very delicate and are difficult to eat when sandwiched together. I also suspect that it would make the cookies a bit too sweet so a jam that isn't overly sugary like apple would likely be better.