and there was cake...

Finnish Karelian piirakkaa are a favourite with Hazel's family at any time of the year.

Filling

2 cups water

1 cup uncooked rice

2 cups milk

salt

 2 tbsp. butter

Rye Crust

¹⁄₂ cup water 

1 teaspoon

1 cup rye flour

¹⁄₄ cup plain flour

 1 tbsp. vegetable oil

Glaze

• ¹⁄₂ cup of warm milk
• 2 tbsp. butte

Egg Butter

• 2 eggs, hard boiled and chopped
• seasoning
• 3 tbsp. soft butter

1. For the Filling:
2. In a saucepan combine the water and rice. Bring to a boil.
3. Stir, cover, and cook over low heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the milk, cover, and continue cooking until the milk is completely absorbed and the rice is soft and creamy.
5. Preheat oven to 220C
6. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
7. For the Pastry:
8. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the water, salt, oil and rye and white flours to make a stiff dough.
9. Shape the dough into a log and cut into 16 portions and shape each into a round.
10. On a lightly floured board, roll out each round into a 6-inch circle.
11. Spread about 3 tablespoons of filling evenly on each round.
12. Fold two opposite edges of the pastry over the filling and crimp the edges of the dough toward the centre to make an oval-shaped pastry, allowing about 1/2-inch of the crust to overlay the filling and leaving the centre of the filling exposed.
13. Place on the prepared baking sheet.
14. In a small bowl, stir together the melted butter and hot milk and brush on the pastries.
15. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, brushing once during baking, until the pastries are golden on the edges.
16. Remove from the oven and brush again. Cover with a clean tea towel.
17. For the Egg Butter:.
18. In a small bowl, cream the butter. Stir in the eggs.
19. Season with the white pepper and salt.
20. Cool the pastries and serve with the egg butter at room temperature.

Stitching some hygge in time for Christmas

Now that the darker evenings are here we are really getting into our stitching for the festive season. We love the idea of hygge, the Danish concept that seems to be becoming increasingly popular in the UK at the moment. A word without any real translation (pronounced 'hoo-gah') it describes that cosy, comfy feeling of being indoors with a roaring fire, candles, hot chocolate and family and good friends on a winter's day.

Students visiting the studio today were treated to a Danish inspired workshop.  The day was spent designing and stitching a small cushion using colourful boiled wool felt.

We've been saving old woollen blankets for years which we then dyed and felted in the washing machine (note to self: remember to clean out the trap after every wash...)

InStitches friend, Anne Gallagher, was on hand to guide the students through the designing and stitching.  We'd first seen Anne's delightful woollen cushions when she was demonstrating at Farnham Maltings in January and knew instantly that they would be a great Textile Adventure!

Anne brought lots of samples and ideas for us to try and before long everyone was rummaging through the piles of coloured blankets, cutting, snipping and stitching!

Pippa added snow flakes to her holly and berries

whilst Liz chose a variegated thread to add detail to her giant snowflake!

Elizabeth enjoyed adding decorative stitching to each layer of her star,

Ann started to stitch a Christmas woodland

and the other Anne chose to decorate another snowflake

But there's always one who decides to do it differently - Mavis chose a more summery colour scheme:  Warmer days to look forward too!

Keeping with the Scandia feel we had 'pepper cookies' with our morning coffee, Karelian pirakka and egg butter with soup for lunch and finished off with a slice of warm Danish apple cake with a pot of tea;  recipes coming soon!