Ingredients: |
Ingredients: Dissolve 2 pkgs. yeast in ½ c. warm water.
Warm 2 cups of milk and add ½ c. butter, 1½ cups sugar and crushed cardamom to taste.
Combine and stir both mixtures together.
Beat 3 eggs. Add beaten eggs and 3 ¾ c. flour to above mixture in large bowl. Beat with electric beater until well mixed.
Please in a warm place, covered, and let rise about 1 hour.
Add approximately 4 c. flour and mix with hands, continue adding until it starts to form a soft ball.
Knead and add ½ c. melted butter (Dough will be sticky, but will become less sticky after you add butter.)
Cover bowl and let rise, punch down and let rise again.
Knead dough for 5 minutes. Divide into two sections and knead again. Make into ropes and braid. Let this rise again and then brush with beaten egg, water and sugar.
Bake for ½ hour at 350º.
When braids come out of oven, brush again with egg mixture and sprinkle with sugar.
Enjoy!
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Directions: |
Directions:A GRAMMA HILDA STORY: Gramma was born in Finland in 1900. When Hilda was 15 years old her mom, Olga, made plans for her and her brother, Leonard, to sail to America and reunite with their husband/father, Robert Pellanen (later "Bell). He had left to "make his fortune" in the northwoods of Michigan's upper peninsula. The day before they were to set sail from Helsinki they were arrested by the local police, accused of being spies for the Russians. You ask, how could that be? And indeed, that is a very good question. As it was, Olga had run a bakery where Russian soldiers would come and buy baked good. Someone evidently suspected more than cookies sales going on in that store and accused Olga of passing secret papers for the Russian army. The three of them were hauled to jail and spent the night listening to inmates in the next cell, wailing and praying. Those men were to be executed the next day. Can you imagine how Hilda and her family must have felt? I'm guessing they didn't get much sleep that night! Fortunately, the truth came out, they were released, and ready to board their ship for America. Unfortunately, the ship had left without them! All of their worldly goods were gone, BUT... they were alive and somehow made it to Ellis Island in America on another ship. When they arrived in New York City they were told that the ship that their baggage was on had sunk. Another close call for this threesome! (I'm thinking that there must have been some divine intervention taking place.) They finally DID make it to Michigan, and DID find their father. He was a lumberjack in the northwoods, and through the forest grape-vine had heard about a hard-working, mighty fine cook from Helsinki with two kids who had just started working at a boarding house nearby. Not too much later they found themselves in MN. But that's another story!! |
This recipe for Gramma Hilda's Finnish Cardamom Biscuit (Pulla) is from