Finnish Christmas Stars

We have been making these cookies for so many years that I can’t remember the source. As usual, over the years we have found ways to tweak the original anyway. They are very distinctive-looking among the assortment, and like the Cream Cheese Frills, are delicate and not overly sweet. Also like the frills, they have a tendency to open up in the middle when baking, so we have applied the toothpick trick to these as well.

Prunes have gotten a bad rap over the years as food for constipated old folks, but we always liked them. In order to overcome the marketing hurdle, they are now being sold as dried plums. Funny how a plum is something so desirable, yet drying it into a prune makes it undesirable.

One of the ways in which the recipe was tweaked was to add a star of royal icing leftover from the gingerbread cookies in order to cover the hole left by the toothpick and make sure the corners would not pop up.

Probably ten years ago, Adele discovered that a special cookie cutter existed to facilitate this particular shape of pinwheel cookie and purchased them for both of us. Making these has become a whole lot easier ever since.

Finnish Christmas Stars

• 1 cup pitted prunes
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1-1/4 cups small-curd cottage cheese, sieved
• 1 cup butter
• 2-1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour (I use Ceresota or Hecker’s)

Heat prunes, water and sugar in a small saucepan, stirring occasionally, to boiling. Reduce heat; simmer covered until prunes are tender, about 5 minutes. Cool slightly. Purée in blender or food processor 3 to 5 seconds. Stir in lemon juice. Refrigerate covered 3 hours.

Meanwhile, cream cottage cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Mix in flour. Refrigerate covered with plastic wrap until firm, about 3 hours.

Heat oven to 400°F. Divide dough in half. Roll one half on lightly floured surface into an 18 x 12-inch rectangle. (I use a pastry cloth and stockinette-covered rolling pin.) If dough becomes too soft, refrigerate during shaping to firm. Cut into 3-inch squares. Cut slits with sharp knife from each corner toward center, about 1-1/2 inches (Figure 1). Alternatively, use pinwheel cookie cutter.

Place on ungreased baking sheet. Place about 1 tsp. of the prune mixture in the center of each square. Fold half of each corner over the center, pressing to form pinwheel (Figure 2). Put a plain wooden toothpick down through the four corners in the center to help hold them in place while baking.

Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes in a conventional oven, 8 minutes in a convection oven. Remove toothpicks. Cool on wire racks. Repeat with remaining dough and prune mixture. When cool, pipe a star or dollop of royal icing into the center to cover the hole and keep the corners together. Makes about 4 dozen.

Once icing has set completely, cookies may be stored in a single layer in covered shallow trays in the freezer. (If only the people who design plastic ware would design shallow trays for storing single layers of cookies in the freezer! Are we the only people in the world who freeze large quantities of cookies?)

Royal Icing
(See blog post for gingerbread people or click on the link above.)