Little Christmas in a BIG WAY

HAPPY LITTLE CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

Or, as I should say today: HAUSKAA PIKKUJOULU!

FROM WIKIPEDIA: 

"Pikkujoulu (Finnish for "little Christmas") is a Finnish traditional party held to anticipate Christmas. The Pikkujoulu party is non-formal, highly festive, and themed after Christmas. Pikkujoulu parties can be held by various communities, organisations, companies, or just among friends. Pikkujoulu differs from Christmas as more free-form and less religious. It is traditional to serve Christmas food and drink at a Pikkujoulu party, such as rice pudding and glögg."

BEETLE NOTE: It is also traditional, as of this year, to serve goat-shaped gingersnaps with red icing harnesses. 

"Pikkujoulu is based on the Advent: the Advent signified the waiting for Jesus Christ and the fasting, which ended on Christmas. In the 19th century, the Advent was sometimes called "the little Christmas", i.e. Pikkujoulu. The proper Pikkujoulu tradition started in Helsinki after World War I. The basis for the party was "Christmas tree parties" held in schools. The supper parties held at the end of autumn by student nations gradually formed into the modern Pikkujoulu. Pikkujoulu parties started by student nations grew out to other communities in the 1930s. Before World War II, the parties were sometimes called "porridge parties"."

BEETLE NOTE: Only in Finland would something be deemed "festive" when it involved porridge.

"Joulupukki is a Finnish Christmas figure. The name "Joulupukki" literally means "Christmas goat" or "Yule Goat" in Finnish; the word pukki comes from the Teutonic root bock, which is a cognate of the English "buck", "Puck", and means "billy-goat". An old Scandinavian custom, the figure eventually became more or less conflated with Santa Claus."

BEETLE NOTE: Hence the goat-shaped cookies. They are CHRISTMAS GOATS. 

Because nothing says "Christmas!" like a goat. And possibly porridge. 

"The Joulupukki or "Yule Buck" is originally a pagan tradition. He is connected to the ase Wōden of the norse mythology and said to wear red leather pants and a fur trimmed red leather coat. Under the Winter Solstice - going by the names of Jólnir (yule figure) and Langbarðr (long-beard) - Wōden led the Wild Hunt accompanied by Thor driving his a flying wagon drawn by goat bucks. The Joulupukki may also be a man turned into a goat-man on Christmas Eve, as it is seen in Elsa Beskow's Peter and Lotta's Christmas. There persists today in some parts of Finland the custom of persons dressing in goat costume to perform for leftover food after Christmas. Historically, such a person was an older man, and the tradition refers to him as a nuuttipukki."

BEETLE NOTE: This is why I made approximately seven million Joulupukkis. 

Seven million is only a slight exaggeration.

Also. THOR IS INVOLVED IN CHRISTMAS. 

Also. I read Peter and Lotta's Christmas every year. It's sweet. It's also insane. If THIS ever happened during Christmas dinner: 

I would freak out SO BADLY. I imagine it would be hard to feel like "yay presents!" and "yay seasonal cheer!" if you are weeping in fear under the table begging the giant goat man not to kill you.

HOWEVER, DEAR READER. 

This post is NOT to muse on the insanity of certain pagan Christmas traditions, but to wish you all a very VERY VERY VERY Happy Little Christmas! And to mark this, what better cookie to make than "Suomalaiset Pipparkakut" (Finnish Gingersnaps) shaped like Joulupukkis? 

Exactly. 

The recipe is OF COURSE one of Beatrice's. It involves a ridiculous amount of ginger and molasses and black pepper. The dough comes together essentially black, very stiff, very dense and dark. The baking result is a thin, super crunchy, spicy spicy spicy mouthful of Christmas amazingness. And I can only imagine that having a red icing harness thrown into the mix makes them all the more tasty. Mum seems to think so, at least. 

FINNISH GINGERSNAPS (goat shape optional) 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup molasses or dark corn syrup
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 tbs ginger
• 1 tbs cinnamon
• 3 - 3 1/2 cups white flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the syrup, brown sugar, and butter until smooth. Add the cream, ginger, cinnamon, flour, baking powder, and salt, and continue mixing until the dough is stiff. Chill for several hours.

Roll out small portions of the dough into 1/4 inch thickness, and cut into 3 inch rounds. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

BEETLE NOTE: These are supposed to be crazy thin. They are supposed to be so thin that they will snap if you look at them for too long. Hence "snap." Ha!

At this point the dough was the approximate thickness of gold leaf.

It's like an army of Christmas Goats.

An army of Spicy, Paper-Thin Christmas Goats.

I got my Housewife on an lugged out the enormous wooden rolling block that takes up the entire counter. This meant I had LOTS of space to make the Joulupukki's extra extra extra thin. So thin, in fact, that 8-10 minutes was too much.

Mine were done in SEVEN.

TAKE THAT, BEATRICE. 

They baked up quite nicely, and I decided that the small bubbles that appeared in the surface were just irregularities that occur naturally in the fur of Christmas Goats. Because. Why not.

I rolled out the dough twice but after that didn't want to re-roll and push the flour-to-dough quotient over the edge, so instead I just spatula-ed what was left from the cut outs onto a baking sheet and made what as of this year I'm dubbing "Abstract Gingernsnaps" or "Gingersnap Shards." Mum says they look like something you'd get at one of those restaurants where you are served a single bubble of pale pink foam the size of a golf ball which, when punctured at table, releases "essence of rhododendron" that is supposed to make your dining experience not just three but FOUR dimensional.

Anyway. Mum got the first round of harnesses, when I was getting the hang of it.

And these are the good-looking ones of that round. The others look like the Joulupukki were in a traffic accident.

The Lovely Librarians got the nice ones, natch. An enormous box of them was delivered last night with STRICT INSTRUCTIONS that it was only to be opened on Pikkujoulu.

I hope they obeyed.

Since it is traditional to give small presents on Pikkujoulu, Mum got snazzy running socks this morning, along with the messier of the Joulupukki's for breakfast. Though actually, in our house, socks are always a welcome present, given to each other for almost every occasion. I guess in Germany you are supposed to leave your shoes out overnight and they are filled with presents the next morning, so I suppose taking that into consideration, socks are actually quite appropriate.

Marching towards Christmas! One gingery cloven hoof at a time! 

So Happy Little Christmas and Hauskaa Pikkujoulu to one and all! And let it be known that as of today, CHRISTMAS IS ON.

WE'RE AT ELFCON LEVEL 5 OVER HERE. 

I'm sure the terrifying old-goat-man would approve. Right before he killed you and ate you for dinner.