Season’s sweetings

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/12/2020 (2070 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s become an annual tradition at the Free Press to celebrate the holiday season with our readers by publishing 12 Days of Christmas Cookies, a daily feature in which we provide recipes of cookies, tarts, squares, pastries or any kind of treat associated with this time of year.

This year, we are focusing on recipes from Manitoba cooks, chefs and authors to put some sweetness into what has become a difficult year filled with bitterness and tragedy. So that means starting today and running until Dec. 23 (excluding Sunday’s Free Press), we will have a recipe a day that you can try to make, or maybe it will inspire you to reach back into your own recipe book to try an old favourite.

Perhaps it is appropriate we provide our first recipe for 2020 from a bakery that took on the COVID-19 pandemic head-on, and opened for business for the first time on June 30.

It was a time when there were hardly any coronavirus cases in Manitoba, and the province eased restrictions on restaurants and eateries, allowing for partial capacity for socially distanced customers who wanted to eat in.

White Birch Bakery, which is owned by Kristina Majowski and Shannon MacTavish, set up three tables and six chairs on that first day, serving breads and pastries as well as soups and sandwiches.

It was the culmination of two years of planning and construction at Unit B, 1108 Henderson Hwy.

“The name White Birch Bakery has a significant meaning to us. In the Celtic culture the tree symbolizes new beginnings, wisdom and hope. In the Slovenian culture it is found in the hearth of the home,” they write in an e-mail. “This tree is found in all three countries, Canada, Scotland and Slovenia, tying all three cultures together.”

COVID-19 cases began to rise in September and since the province instituted its code-red pandemic restrictions, White Birch is only open to takeout orders.

MacTavish and Majowski are still busy though. On Monday, a day when the bakery is closed, they were in at 6:30 a.m., getting a head start making and putting together pre-ordered items and preparing for the week ahead.

“(Last) weekend was wonderful. We had lots of people coming in, and it got really busy,” Majowski says. “Every week is kind of different. It all changes with every (provincial) announcement.

“This is our first Christmas, so we don’t have anything to compare it to.”

MacTavish and Majowski have fond memories of holiday seasons past, and it small part of the reason why they took on baking as a career.

“As long as either of us can remember we loved baking Christmas cookies with our family,” they write in an e-mail. “The smell of spices and butter in the air meant Christmas was truly upon us. We learned from our mothers and grandmothers the secrets and traditions of baking in our cultures. We now have brought those recipes to the bakery and we enjoy sharing them with our customers.”

Their recipe is for Medenjaki, also known as Slovenian Honey Cookies. They are a soft-style gingerbread cookie with a delicate ginger flavour, a nice crispy bottom and not-too-sweet icing.

Medenjaki – Slovenian Honey Cookies

Ingredients

300 g unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 large eggs

150 g honey

150 g icing sugar

500 g all purpose flour

5 ml (1 tsp) baking soda

5 ml (1 tsp) ground cinnamon

2.5 ml (½ tsp) ground cloves

Directions

Heat the honey until warm and set aside.

Cream the butter and icing sugar together. Add eggs one at a time and beat until smooth. Add the warm honey and beat until creamy.

In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking soda, and spices together. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix on slow speed until all the flour has been incorporated.

The dough will be very sticky. This is how it is supposed to be. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. It will become hard and easier to work with. In addition, the spices will work their magic and create a fragrant and flavourful dough.

The next day, on a well-floured surface, roll out the dough to a ¼-inch thickness and using your favourite cookie cutters, cut the shapes and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. The recipe makes 50 cookies, but the number will vary based on the size of the cookie cutter used.

Place the cookie sheet into a preheated 175 C (350 F) oven for 13-15 minutes or until the cookies are golden in colour. Let cookies cool before removing from baking sheet. Decorate as desired.

alan.small@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter:@AlanDSmall