Holiday Recipes from the NIU STEAM Team

Shared by Kristin Brynteson, NIU STEAM Director

Julekake was a Christmas staple when I was growing up. I remember watching both my Grandma Gustafson (my Dad’s mom) and my mom making it every year. My favorite way to eat it was lightly toasted with lots of butter! 

Recipe information

Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients

• 1 stick plus 2 ½ Tbsp. (150 g) butter
• 2 cups plus 2 Tbsp. (500 ml) milk
• 50 g fresh yeast
• 4½ cups (650 g) flour, plus extra for dusting
• ⅔ cup plus 1 Tbsp. (140 g) sugar
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. ground cardamom
• 1¼ cups (150 g) raisins or other dried or candied fruits
• Egg wash (see note at top)

Preparation

1. Melt the butter slowly in a medium pan. Pour in the milk and warm very gently to a temperature of about 98.6ºF. Add the yeast and stir to dissolve.
2. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the flour, sugar, salt and cardamon. Knead with the dough hook until the dough is shiny and smooth and comes away from the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with a clean dish towel and leave to rise for 30 minutes, or until almost doubled in size.
3. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the dough on a lightly floured work counter and add the dried fruits. Work the dough by hand until the fruits are evenly incorporated. Divide the dough in half and shape into 2 large round buns. Place them on the prepared baking sheets. Cover with a clean dish towel and leave to rise for about 20 minutes, or until doubled in size.
4. Preheat the oven to 345ºF. Brush the buns lightly with the egg wash and bake for 30–40 minutes. They should have a nice golden color to them when ready.

Recipe excerpt from The Nordic Baking Book by Magnus Nilsson © 2018. Published by Phaidon. From https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/julekake-norwegian-christmas-bread

Shared by NIU STEAM Educator Jess Winn

My favorite holiday recipe is a modified Lebanese recipe. It came with my grandma from Lebanon when they immigrated here from the old country. My mom, her sisters and all my cousins would spend days cooking all sorts of Lebanese food together. We would laugh and share memories, and the whole idea was just being together. As time has gone on and all my cousins have moved on or away, we haven’t spent the holidays cooking like this in a long time. But the joy, friendship, love and sense of belonging still remain every time I make a batch of Fatayer or a dish of Kibee. The recipe below is just as it was written by my grandma and then modified by my mom. I will always hold the memories with me, and I hope you find ways to share the moments and joys with your family, too.

Fatayer
Yield: 3 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 pkg. Bridgford White Rolls (18 frozen white rolls in a pkg. – let thaw and rise)
• 4 C. (1 1/4 lbs.) ground beef
• 4 C. shredded, squeezed potatoes – (squeeze out as much water as possible to equal 4 cups)
• 2 C. chopped onion – (only used 1 C. last time we made them)
• 2 T. butter, softened
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1 T. salt
• 1/3 tsp. pepper
• 1 mint leaf

Instructions

1. Use one raised white roll and pat or roll thin into a round shape (or use small ball of dough, golf ball size)
2. Place 1/4 cup mixture in each
3. Pinch edges
4. Place on cookie sheet, sprayed with Pam
5. Bake 15 min. @ 375º or until bottom is golden
6. Flip fatayer to brown other side -or- Broil 1 min. until top is golden

Shared by NIU STEAM Educator Becky Swiontek

When I was growing up, my great grandma would make these almond crescent cookies every Christmas, and in her passing I have kept the tradition going. Our family looks forward to them every year! One year I was pressed for time, and I made almond “not crescents” (circular shape), and my mom was not happy with me. So now I make sure to have enough time to form the crescent shapes! One of my favorite memories is when my college roommate’s one-and-a-half year old son put one of them in his mouth. He closed his eyes, smiled, and said, “Delicious!”

Ingredients

• ⅔ cup almonds
• ½ cup softened, unsalted butter
• ½ cup vegetable shortening
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 1 ⅔ cups sifted flour
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. Use a small food processor or other tool to chop your almonds into smaller pieces.
2. Toast the chopped almonds until the develop a light to medium brown color.  One way to do this is to heat them in a sauté pan.  Keep a close eye on them as they can burn quickly.
3. Transfer the toasted almonds to another container to cool down.
4. Use a hand mixer on low speed to cream together the butter, shortening, sugar, and toasted almonds.
5. Slowly mix in the sifted flour and salt.
6. Transfer your dough to a piping bag, and cut the tip so the dough comes out approximately the size of a pencil.
7. Pipe the dough into crescent shapes that are about 2 ½ inches long.  They will spread during baking, so include space between the cookies when piping.  If you have parchment paper to line your pans, this makes for an easy cleanup.
8. Place your pans in the refrigerator to let the dough chill for approximately 15 minutes.
9. While the dough is chilling, preheat your oven to 315°F.
10. Bake the cookies for 14-16 minutes until the dough is set.  The cookies should not turn brown.
11. While the cookies are baking, combine the powdered sugar and cinnamon together.
12. Allow the cookies to cool until they are warm to the touch (approximately 5 minutes).  If the cookies are still warm but not hot, the powdered sugar will adhere better to the cookies.
13. Use a fine mesh strainer to sprinkle the powdered sugar & cinnamon the cookies.
14. Use a small spatula to transfer the cookies to an airtight storage container.