Finns like a cold beer, cider or “lonkero” in the sauna or in summer time on the terrace. Lonkero came first out at the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki and it consists out of gin and grapefruitjuice. There are many variants nowadays available, but the blue lonkero is the classical one and really refreshing when its hot i.e. either in summer or sauna.

Even if this those cookies are called “cakes”, they are small round cookies. They can be baked with cream or sour-cream. The recipe here is from the “Kotiruoka” (Home-Food) book from 1945 17th edition, but I read that the oldest recipe dates back to 1910. The cakes are named after Hanna Rehnbäck (in Finnish: Reinilä) (1877-1935) from Raahe. Raahe is a beautiful old town at the west coast of Finland where many old wooden houses still exist. She was a “kotitalous” teacher and d

Those simple cookies are an all-time favorite in Finland. Excellent with hot coffee or hot chocolate.   Ingredients: 200 g Butter (soft) 2 dl Sugar 2 Eggs 5 dl Flour 2 teaspoon Vanilla sugar 2 teaspoons  of Cinnamon 1 teaspoon Baking powder Covering: ½ dl Sugar 2-3 teaspoons of Cinnamon Instructions: Whip the butter, vanilla sugar and the sugar fluffy. Add the eggs one-by-one. Mix in a different bowl the cinnamon, baking powder and flour. Carefully mix the butter and the flou

If you are looking for an easy crowd-pleasing dish for non-Finnish guest, I can recommend this soup. It is easy to make, and its creamy taste is pleasant even to kids. In my opinion best to serve with hot Rieska-bread or if you have more time at hand try the rich Saaristonleipä. This recipe also works very well with smoked fish, but if the fish is very fat replace the cream with milk. Ingredients: 50 g Butter 2 Carrot (about 200 g) 600 g Potatoes (the firm kind) 1 Leek (mediu

Spinach soup is an old-fashioned soup for lunch or light dinner. It is a typical sight in the supermarket shelves with ready-made-lunch-food. Commonly served with one to two boiled eggs cut into halves.  Some rye bread with butter or creme cheese spread would be typically accompanying this dish. In old times, the dish was commonly made not with spinach but with nettles, which are one of the first edible plants that appear in spring after a long winter. If you want to use nett